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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Carrie King, Member of East Harlem 125th St BID Steering Committee and Director of Uptown Grand Central, on the East Harlem 125th Street Business Improvement District
0:08:31
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3 min
Carrie King, a resident near the proposed BID corridor and director of Uptown Grand Central, testified in support of establishing the East Harlem 125th Street Business Improvement District. She outlined the history of community efforts to improve the area and emphasized the need for a BID to address challenges such as cleanliness, safety, and economic development.
- King highlighted that East Harlem is the only Manhattan community district without a BID, despite facing unique challenges as a transit hub and having an overconcentration of drug treatment programs and shelters.
- She explained how the proposed BID would help stabilize the East 125th Street Corridor, supporting small businesses, cultural institutions, and public spaces.
- The testimony emphasized the goal of fostering culturally responsible development for Northeast Harlem through the establishment of the BID.
Carrie King
0:08:31
Good morning, everyone.
0:08:31
I'm so happy to be here and want to offer my thanks to deputy speaker Diana Ayala and council member Salam for their support in this process.
0:08:39
My name is Carrie King.
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I'm a resident of East 120 Sixth Street, which is just a block away from the proposed bid corridor.
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I'm also the director of Uptown Grand Central, a nonprofit that got its start about ten years ago, in large part because there was no bid to serve the area.
0:08:55
To this very day, East Harlem remains the only community district in Manhattan that has no business improvement district.
0:09:01
In 2013, a group of local small businesses, mostly women and people of color, got together and held a series of volunteer street cleanups.
0:09:09
Later, they formalized into a merchants association called the New Harlem East Merchants Association or NEMA.
0:09:15
A few years later, we formed Uptown Grand Central, a five zero one c three nonprofit focused on cleaning and greening public space and public art, small business support, community development, and neighborhood advocacy.
0:09:27
Thank you.
0:09:28
Over the years, we have thankfully been supported by grants from New York City Small Business Services, our council member and deputy speaker, Diane Ayala, as well as other city agencies and donors.
0:09:39
Three years ago, it was Uptown Grand Central that brought together the individuals who became the steering committee and began work on forming what we are now calling the East Harlem 120 Fifth Street bid.
0:09:49
What Uptown has found over the years is that the work of cleaning East 120 Fifth Street and the surrounding blocks is much too large for a small nonprofit.
0:09:58
The area is a transit hub, meaning that we have tens of thousands of people per day commuting through on the Lexington Avenue 456 subway line, as well as the Harlem 120 Fifth Street Metro North Station, as well as the m 60 bus to LaGuardia, which is a lot of people to clean up after.
0:10:14
As many of you know, over the past fifty years, the area has also become home to an overconcentration of drug treatment programs and shelters.
0:10:21
And one of our main intersection of intersections of 120 Fifth Street and Lexington Avenue is the drop point for some 2,000 people per day from the programs and shelters on Randalls Island.
0:10:31
Resulting sidewalk conditions and garbage needs require a much more robust response than our small nonprofit can maintain.
0:10:41
The East 120 Fifth Street area is home to a number of great businesses with great products, including some of our founding members, Sisters Caribbean Cuisine, The Brownstone, and Omoshade Skincare, as well as newer businesses such as Jin Jin Cafe.
0:10:54
However, they consistently face depressed sales due to depressed foot traffic simply because potential customers find the East 120 Fifth Street area too unsightly to visit, too chaotic to linger, and to continue to spend.
0:11:07
Our goal in creating the bid is to bring together greater resources to keep our sidewalks clean and feeling more safe and walkable.
0:11:14
Our goal is to help stabilize the East 120 Fifth Street Corridor so that our small businesses, cultural institutions, and public spaces can thrive.
0:11:21
We look forward to working together with the bid to provide more resources and to advocate to the city to help us solve the challenges of the East 120 Fifth Street Corridor.
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It is our goal that by so doing, we will help to foster culturally responsible and responsive development for Northeast Harlem.
0:11:37
Thank you.