After the 125 th Street Rezoning: The Gentrification of Harlem's Main Street in the Bloomberg Years (original) (raw)
This article investigates the impact of the 2008 rezoning plan for 125 th Street in Harlem on long-time residents and independent local businesses. It starts with a brief history of development at 125 th Street from its beginnings as a popular commercial corridor in the 1910s and 1920s through the decay of the neighbourhood during the Great Depression and in the post-WWII years, to its renaissance in the late 1990s and 2000s. The paper then focuses on the Bloomberg years, and on the contentious decision-making process that led to the approval of a rezoning plan for 125 th Street corridor in 2008. The plan is analysed in detail, followed by an assessment of its impact on neighbourhood character, on local retail and on housing affordability. I use data from the 2000-2010 Census, along with figures on rental values, business openings and closings, to illustrate the process of residential and commercial gentrification of the area during the years of Bloomberg. I demonstrate how, although the sweeping gentrification of the areas surrounding 125 th Street had begun in the late 1990s, the pace of these transformations has accelerated tremendously after the 2008 rezoning.