Northattan

“I was born in this hospital 90 years ago,” Katherine Nickson exclaimed as she rose to make her point at an emergency town hall meeting held at Harlem Hospital Center’s main auditorium Saturday morning. Nickson’s emotional declaration summed up the feelings of many in the Harlem community, who have depended on the hospital for over a century — and who gathered there this weekend because of a spate of rumors that it was about to close.

Hospital management, City officials, Doctors union, elected officials and community board representatives gather to address community concerns. Photo by Zahra Raja/Northattan.

Called by the hospital’s Community Advisory Board and the four community boards of Upper Manhattan, the meeting was an effort to squelch the rumors and calm fears. A bevy of local politicians — State Sen. Bill Perkins, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and Rep. Charles Rangel were on hand to add heft to the message: “Harlem Hospital is not closing.”

But the rumors reflect well-placed concern. While it may not be closing, the hospital faces a host of problems both complex and controversial, all of which share the same root: New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corp.’s $1.2 billion budget deficit caused by Medicaid cuts, rising expenses and an increasing number of uninsured patients. This has threatened to cause a reduction of medical services and their quality at Harlem Hospital, forming the backdrop for the concerns within the local community.

Harlem Hospital has taken nine cuts to its budget in 36 months, resulting in 41 layoffs – including 13 doctors – by the end of this year and possible reduction in services, in particular rehabilitation and neurosurgery. Second, HHC has started cutting costs by restructuring the affiliations of the hospitals it oversees: it has ended Harlem Hospital’s 48-year contract with Columbia University Medical Center, causing uproar amongst doctors who marched in protest against the disaffiliation in October. Thirty doctors (out of a staff of 200) are reported to be threatening to leave, and the doctors’ concerns have fed into wider community concern about the future of the hospital.

On this chilly Saturday morning, those affected may have gathered to quell the rumors, but it was these concerns about the future of the institution that brought the 80 or so residents together.

The chairman of Community Board 10, Franc Perry III, said that while the meeting was necessary, turnout was far from desirable. “It’s a shame that a lot of the people who need to know the answers aren’t here,” he said. “You already know the answers, you already know that Harlem Hospital is not closing.”

The panel included the senior management of Harlem Hospital, New York City’s Health and Hospital’s Corp., the doctors unions, elected officials and community board representatives. The session began with a standing ovation for Rangel (D-N.Y.), who was censured by the House of Representatives last week.

Rep. Charlie Rangel speaking out against tax breaks for the rich. Photo by Zahra Raja/Northattan.

Rangel reminded the audience that he was not a “Johnny-come-lately” to the troubles of Harlem Hospital, and stressed the importance of allaying community fears. “We’ve got patients in this hospital, and we don’t want to scare the hell out of them,” he said.

Criticizing continued tax cuts for the wealthy, Rangel predicted rough months and years ahead. “There are people who truly believe that whatever they get from the federal government is theirs and whatever poor people get should be cut back,” he said.

The hospital’s executive director, Dr. John Palmer, highlighted the main cause of Harlem Hospital’s troubles.

“The important thing is that Harlem Hospital is at the center of this particular concern, but we are not at the epicenter. The epicenter, of course is the budget of this country, and the budget deficits of the state of New York, the Medicaid cuts that have ensued since then and the negative impact that has on our ability to provide service.”

He took care to explain the situation to those present: “As you reduce funds coming in and revenues coming in, you can no longer provide the staffing and services you need. Part of HHC’s plan is to reduce and consolidate services, preserve necessary medical services and create centers of excellence to improve the quality of care provision.”

Apart from layoffs, 10 percent of the doctor positions at Harlem Hospital have been vacant and unfilled for over a year. The disaffiliation from Columbia, however, remains the thorn in the side of Harlem Hospital’s doctors. Perkins’ analogy seemed most fitting: “There was a marriage and if there’s going to be a divorce, what’s going to happen to the children?”

The divorce between Harlem Hospital and Columbia, carried out by HHC, marks the end of the arrangement that had allowed Columbia to employ and manage the hospital staff since 1962. The Harlem Hospital doctors will lose all benefits and privileges of association with an Ivy League university, except their academic titles. (Benefits include reduced college tuition for physicians’ children, and access to Columbia libraries and e-mail, among others.)

“The way they did it was extremely precipitous,” said Dr. Matthews Hurley, president of the United Doctors Association and second vice president of Doctors Council, both doctors unions. “That is, they only gave us four months. It should have been graduated.” The contract ends Dec. 31.

HHC has awarded the contract to manage the Harlem Hospital staff to the Physicians Affiliate Group of New York, a multipractice physician group practice, which as one physician put it is a “young, inexperienced entity,” adding that it could compromise their professional lives as well as the quality of healthcare provided.

The change in affiliation will allow the HHC to get one step closer to becoming an accountable care organization, a new type of arrangement proposed in the federal health care reform law, that proposes to save fledgling health institutions vast amounts of funds by better managing the doctors within. All this is part of the wider adjustment being made in a “post-healthcare reform” world.

A few doctors in the audience said the town hall had not addressed the root of their grievance: the loss of the financial managerial arrangement with Columbia. Hospital management has been very nervous about press coverage of the disaffiliation issue and does not allow its doctors to speak to media. As such, the physicians cannot be identified.

“Columbia is Columbia University,” explained one physician. “It has a whole lot of implications to be part of the academic setting rather than a private organization, especially a private organization which is a new creation.”

“We’ve been hired by a different entity, and that’s made a whole lot of people leave.”

One of the physicians said he will be joining what he said is the “large number” of senior physicians who have already left. Numbers cannot be confirmed as the hospital management will not give reasons for departure.

“They wouldn’t read my controversial question,” another doctor complained. “It said, ‘Why has Harlem Hospital always been the stepchild of the HHC? Why are we always at the back of the HHC bus?’”

This is how he explained trying to run the hospital after the disaffiliation: “Essentially they towed our car by mistake, but then they said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry! You can have it back, but someone took the wheels.’”

Still, that doctor said: “We will beg, borrow and steal, we will go around the corner. We’ll get someone else’s wheels. And stay in business. We’ll do it like we’ve always done, which is basically circle the wagons to make it happen.”

This doctor says he’s not leaving. “Just like we’ve been fighting for our resouces here, we will continue to fight for them.”

The HHC representative on the panel, senior vice president LaRay Brown, spoke in favor of the new contracts the doctors would be getting, in an effort to garner more support. A few of the doctors in the audience shook their heads at her comments. Hurley, apparently aware of the political sensitivities, especially in the presence of the local community, did not press the issue further.

Raybblin Vargas, a community organizer, was the main organizer of the meeting. She was keen to stress the significance of the issues at hand to the wider community.

“When you go to Washington Heights and Harlem, you see a lot of people wearing scrubs, because the healthcare industry is the largest employer in Northern Manhattan.”

Merchants at the “Off the Map” holiday market celebrated their neighborhoods with distinctively uptown products like limited edition “Inwood Hill Park” poster prints signed by the artist, original photography with Northern Manhattan as its subject and T-shirts with scribbled neighborhood slogans.

Will Alicea is a local T-shirt designer and entrepreneur whose designs show off neighborhood pride. Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan.

This first annual market on Saturday afternoon at Inwood’s Bread and Yoga studio, just steps from the 207^th Street subway station, was the first time that small business owners and artists in Inwood and Washington Heights came together to showcase their talent.

A steady stream of neighbors stopped in to support 14 local artists and small business owners and to peruse tables of eclectic handmade goods, from all-natural, vanilla-scented Play-Doh to a holiday wreath made from the pages of a book.

Sasha Schwartz, founder of Scribble Art Workshop, sells homemade, all-natural play-do called "Scribbledo." Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan.

Inwood designer Pat Tillery sold this holiday wreath, made from pages of "a bad book." Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan.

The market was sponsored by the newly formed Inwood Merchant Association and organized by Leopold Vasquez, artist M. Tony Peralta and Bread and Yoga director Marcela Xavier. Vasquez, who founded The Sound of Art, said the idea behind the market and the Inwood Merchant Association, which he also helped start, is “getting small, local businesses together as a unit” to make a difference in Inwood and Washington Heights. “People have tried to start one before,” Vasquez said, but always without success. He attributes the Inwood Merchant Association’s success to the support of the Audubon Partnership.

These hats were designed for community pride by M. Tony Peralta. Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan.

Other projects aimed at supporting local businesses, like Small Business Saturday last month, have also fallen short in Inwood and Washington Heights. “The community is in dire need of this, so we just had to get it jumping off,” Vasquez said.

“It had a good community feel,” Jocelyn Gottschalk, who sold leather purses and bracelets, said of the market. “And it was also good for my business,” she said, noting that she sold far more than she usually does at farmers markets.

Jocelyn Gottschalk helps a customer choose a leather bracelet. Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan.

At events like the “Off the Map” market, Inwood feels more like a small town than a New York City neighborhood. And Inwood’s proud of it.

“It’s a hidden treasure,” said Amanda Hall-Smith, a dog trainer and walker. Referring to her fellow young entrepreneurs in Inwood, Hall-Smith said, “We’re all trying to help each other make it.”

Gottschalk greeted friends and neighbors at her table and said, “For me, it was nice to see people that I know.”

Sofia Ramirez handed out handmade confections from her home-based baking company, Batter sweet. Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan.

The market’s name is a reference to Inwood frequently being left off city tourist maps. “It’s called ‘Off the Map’ because we are not the Bronx,” Vasquez said. “We are not Harlem. And sometimes, we’re not even Manhattan!”

But while being “off the map” enhances Inwood’s small-town feel, it also means that some residents think they have to venture out of the neighborhood for their holiday shopping. Vasquez thanked visitors for instead “supporting your local business here” and for not showing up with shopping bags from downtown retailers.

Anina Young owns Brazen Lingerie at 253 Dyckman St., where she sells sassy loungewear, including thongs that read “Uptown’s finest.” She joked with market visitors that, “I don’t want Chelsea girls wearing that. Or Midtown” girls, either.

Young says people have pre-conceived notions about her shop “because it’s on Dyckman Street and it’s in Inwood.” When customers tell her that her store is not what they expected from a lingerie shop in Inwood, she replies, “You thought it was a hoochie-momma store, didn’t you?” Young says “the block has been changing and changing” with a burgeoning restaurant and retail scene.

In keeping with the neighborhood theme, artist Sasha Schwartz, who owns the Scribble Art Workshop, offered a canvas bag featuring Inwood staples like Inwood Hill Park and the Dyckman Street subway station. “There are so many artists in this neighborhood and it’s great to get them all together,” Schwartz said.

Sasha Schwartz sold canvas bags adorned with iconic Inwood locations. Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan.

Inwood resident Jessica Wells-Hasan left the market with armfuls of handmade goodies, including multicolored, striped Hula-Hoops, custom-made canvas totes and limited-edition prints. Wells-Hasan said, “It’s so much better knowing money is staying in the neighborhood and going to your friends and neighbors,” rather than big brand stores.

Ryan McPartland, 16, sells customized Hula-Hoops that he sells with his business, Inwood Hoops. Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan

The community support reached beyond the four walls of the Bread and Yoga studio to Inwood’s vibrant online community. Inwood resident Annie Szymanski posted on Twitter after the market that: “this neighborhood has truly made me understand how community makes a home.”

Since the market was hosted at a yoga studio, attendees were asked to peruse its offerings without shoes. Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan.

The Off the Map Market will return to Bread and Yoga next Saturday from 1:30 to 9 p.m. and again on Dec. 18 at the Audubon Partnership Headquarters from 3 to 9 p.m.

Story updated Dec. 8 to include more information about the Audubon Partnership.

Jacinto Cuenla was riding his bike on East 137^th Street on an August night when he got mugged for the second time this year. Cuenla had just delivered a large Domino’s pizza to a nearby apartment when four men ambushed him, knocked him off his bike at the corner of 137^th Street and 7^th Avenue, beat him and stole the $34 in cash that he carried from pizza payments.

Jacinto Cuenla has been robbed twice this year working for Dominos Pizza. Martin Markovits/ Northattan."

“It was like three to four minutes and then a woman called the police, and I was waiting for the police to come, but they didn’t come,” said Cuenla.

After an hour of waiting, Cuenla left; he had another pizza to deliver.  For him, money is tight and he could not afford to wait any longer.

Jacinto Cuenla’s story is an unfortunately familiar one for Domino’s delivery people in Harlem. Managers at the Domino’s Pizza restaurants at 409 W. 125^th St and 2554 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard say that bicycle deliverymen working for each of their stores have been robbed at least 15 times this year.

“Since I have been managing at this store in 1997, I have had over 1,000 robberies,” said Amid Ruhul, managerof the Domino’s Pizza on 125^th Street.

Ruhul said the frequent robberies make it hard to keep enough staff to deliver pizzas. Of the 32 delivery people his store employs, almost one-quarter have left the job this year.

Ruhul and other Domino’s store managers have taken steps to try to reduce the robberies. They have ordered their delivery people to take pizza only as far as the lobby in Harlem housing projects – not upstairs to an apartment. Ruhul said that has reduced the risk somewhat, because a common tactic for muggers was to wait in the courtyard while Domino’s Pizza delivery people made the climb upstairs, then grab them once they came down.

The new policy isn’t popular with many customers, though. Ruhul said they don’t want to come downstairs to get their pizza, “But we just tell them no matter how much the food costs, if you don’t come downstairs I won’t deliver food to you,” he said.

The Domino’s Pizza on Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard takes even greater precautions. The store sometimes makes customers who live in the Polo Grounds Towers Housing projects meet the pizza deliverer a block away, at the 155^thStreet subway station.

“If the weather is good and we know people are hanging out on the streets at night, we won’t take that chance” of going to the building, said store manager Amir Hossan.

Domino’s deliverymen in Harlem are particularly vulnerable.  Many Domino’s customers live in Harlem’s crime-plagued public housing projects. Also, the uniform that Domino’s Pizza delivery people are required to wear is a big red flag.

“Because we are in the uniform and they see us getting out on the street, they wait for us outside,” said Ruhul. Most delivery restaurants in Harlem don’t require their delivery people to wear uniforms. Ruhul says that Domino’s huge bureaucracy makes it difficult to request a change in its mandatory uniform policy – even though it might increase security for the delivery staff.

“We’re just one of 7,000 stores, but we did notify them,” said Ruhul.

There are hundreds – or perhaps thousands – of delivery people who ferry pizza, curries, Chinese dishes and other food all over Manhattan each day. According to the website Payscale.com, the average wage for bicycle delivery riders is $7.25 – the current federal minimum wage level. But with tips – often 15 percent of the cost of the meal – bicycle deliverers can earn more than they would in most other service jobs.

Dominos Pizza does not provide its deliverymen with

bikes, locks or even helmets to their employees. Although it is required by law to

wear a helmet, it’s fairly rare to see a delivery person on Manhattan streets wearing a helmet. Because they all are required to carry at least $ 20 in change, they are always a potential target for robbers.

The New York Police Department acknowledges that robberies of bicycle deliverers is a big issue in Harlem, but 26^thprecinct officer Jason Harper said tight budgets make it hard to effectively combat them.

“We have very limited resources,” said Harper. “We’re down to a few hundred officers, and were trying to do more with less.”

Harper also said that many robberies of delivery staff are never reported to the police. Domino’s manager Amin Ruhul acknowledged that he had only reported 10 of his store’s 15 delivery robberies to the police this year. The reason, he says, is pessimism that the New York Police Department will follow up.

“Calling the police is a waste of time unless one of my guys is seriously hurt, ” said Ruhul.

Last April , 19-year-old Assami Semde, a Famigilia pizza deliveryman in East Harlem, became a local hero among his colleagues when he fought off two robbers who held him up at gunpoint. Semde managed to hold onto one of the robbers until police came to arrest him.  His story was widely reported here and abroad – one successful blow for the safety of bicycle deliverymen.

But things have not been so heroic for Domino’s deliveryman Jacinto Cuenla. He fears that every time he goes to deliver a pizza he might be attacked.

“When I go late at night, I get scared,” he said, “but I just make sure to bike where there is a lot of light.”

Cuenla arrived in New York City from Oaxaca, Mexico, six years ago, virtually penniless. He now lives in a three-bedroom apartment in Harlem with seven relatives.   With no college education or skills, this was the best job he could land after two years being in the United States without a steady job. But despite the dangers of his job, he cannot afford to leave it.

“This is the only job I have right now,” Cuenla said. “I’m working here, where else can I go?”

The new Target that opened in East Harlem in August. Photo by The Daily News

East Harlem may be bracing for another new chain store, as retail giant Walmart is reportedly looking at the area to open its first New York City location. But some small business owners fear that Walmart’s addition to the community will further cripple their businesses, which have seen sales go down in the aftermath of the recent opening of two other large chain stores in the area.

John Albahri, the owner of a City Audio, a small electronic store on Third Avenue, said he would not be able to compete with Walmart’s prices.

“Walmart is trouble,” said Albahri. “Every single business here will close.”

He said that since the opening of a Target superstore this past summer, sales at his store have gone down by 15 percent.

DNAinfo reported two weeks ago that Walmart was considering East Harlem, Chelsea, and Queens among the sites for its first store in New York City.

This comes on the heels of a new Target superstore that opened this past summer and a Costco that opened its doors last year in East Harlem. Despite the recession, business at both stores have been brisk and some Costco shoppers recently expressed joy that a Walmart might open in the area.

“Walmart is a good because it sells things that poor people can afford,” said East Harlem resident Mina Echevarria.

Walmart has been silent on where exactly in East Harlem they might build the store. In the last year Walmart has been aiming to increase their presence in urban markets by building smaller stores, called Marketside stores. There are now four in the United States.

Despite Marketside’s smaller size, some small businesses fear that the amenities that Walmart provides will further put them at a disadvantage. David Ben, the manager of a clothing shop on 116th Street, says he understands why people prefer big chain stores.

“They go there because they have parking,” Ben said. “They come to my store and if they are not careful, they will get a parking ticket”.

Walmart has had a controversial past. The retailer has been attacked by union leaders for low wages and limited benefits. Walmart, along with Target and Costco, are nonunion stores.

Chain store supporters have pointed out that these stores help the local economy by hiring residents in the neighborhood, where the current unemployment rate, according to the New York State Department of Labor, is 17 percent. Also for many shoppers, these chain stores have huge inventories, which makes it easier to shop.

“Here they have everything, and its cheaper, that’s why we come here”, said Costco shopper Andrea Rodriguez.

However, Alibahri of City Audio believes Walmart is making a big mistake if it decides to open a store in East Harlem.

“There is not enough money in the area to support a Costco and Walmart” Alibahri said. “They are going to compete with each other and kill each other”.

At Manhattan's only Target, shoppers got an early start on Christmas shopping, as well as black Friday deals.

At a quarter to 4 of the morning after Thanksgiving, the line snaked around the second floor stairwell of East Harlem’s big box shopping center.  About a hundred people gathered here late Thanksgiving night to engage in a ritual taking place in parking lots and shopping malls across the country: the dawning of black Friday.

Manhattan’s only Target store is located just a few blocks from the No. 6 train on the banks of the East River and it is marking its first black Friday since the store opened in July. On this November night, Manhattanites braved the damp and cold to join in a tradition that has long been the province of the suburbs.

Jean Maracruz stayed up all night so she could be one of the first in line for the store’s 4 a.m. opening. ”I’m going to go in, get what’s on my list. Then I‘m going home and passing out.” Staking out black Friday sales is something of a holiday habit for Harlem resident Maracruz: “Last year I was at the Target in Queens, but I’m glad there is one here. It’s a lot closer.”

For other city dwellers, this was the first time they had ever engaged in the rite. “I never saw the point before” said Edwin Gutierrez, “but then I heard it was like, $500 dollars for a flat-screen television, and I thought, I’d lose sleep for that.” It helps that the Target is only a few blocks from where Gutierrez lives.

Apex Televisions were a popular pick for black Friday shoppers at East Harlem's Target.

At a 75 percent markdown, Apex televisions like the one Gutierrez wanted were practically flying off the shelves. “There is one sticking out of every other shopping cart,” said NYPD Officer Eddie Arroyo, one of a handful of police deployed to make sure things stayed calm both before and after the stores opening. “People were real chill, they waited, and then they walked in. There wasn’t running or pushing,” Arroyo said, adding, “this isn’t the burbs.”

Arroyo was referring to past incidents, like the trampling death of a Wal-Mart employee in 2008 in Nassau County. Since then, big box stores have gone to lengths to keep things running smoothly and securely.

Target even cordoned off its electronics section with a red velvet rope, adding a touch of class to the scramble for deals. But even behind the rope, people were for the most part calm.

While they don’t miss the mayhem, some Target employees were missing the crowds. “It wasn’t anything like we were expecting,” said cashier Inez Perez. By 7 a.m. there was no one in Perez’s checkout line.

That is a bit different than the picture across the country. Stores reported a much-hoped for uptick in the number of people thronging to black Friday sales. But even though the crowds may not have been as big as expected for this big box, announcements kept booming over the loudspeaker about the latest item to have sold out. The Apex televisions? One of the first to go.

When Target opened here last July, it was a cause for both consternation and celebration. Some local activists worried that it might be another nail in Harlem’s gentrification coffin, while others lauded the store for carrying ethnic products geared to the neighborhood and for hiring within the community.

John Griffith, executive vice president of property development for Target Corp, told the Associated Press that he expected 80 to 90 percent of the stores customers to be local. From a rough polling of the stalwart standing in line, that figure seemed to hold true on Friday.

Griffith also talked about the economic power of an urban big box, saying that the company projected this Target to make $90 million in its first year, as compared to the average $25 million a suburban store would generate.

Target used red velvet ropes to keep the early birds in order before the store opened at 4 a.m. on Friday morning.

But today, the urban Target may have been a bit barer than its smaller town sisters. Customer Fred Anderson said that while he got an Xbox for his son, he probably wouldn’t be back next year. “I’m still too full from all that turkey to be out in public.” In addition, Anderson is pretty sure he could have gotten the same deal somewhere else. “The guy down my block, he sells some of this stuff too. I mean his stuff might be stolen, but it’s better than waking up at 3 a.m.”

The new design for holiday lights on 125th Street would include this streamer. Photo from the 125th Street Business Improvement District.

After spending last year’s holiday season in the dark, Harlem’s community is coming together to bring light back to 125th Street – and to stretch it farther than ever before.

“There are several people who said: If we have another year that we don’t light up 125th Street, we gonna light you up!” said Vincent Morgan, chairman of the 125th Street Business Improvement District, at a fundraiser last week.

Much to the dismay of Harlem residents, the 125th Street BID could not afford to put up holiday lights on 125th Street last year because of budget cuts and financial difficulties. This year was once again looking bleak.

“The hard times hit us like everyone else,” said Barbara Askins, president and CEO of the 125th Street BID. But when she informed the community board chairs that there would be no lights, they told her, “No, no, no. We can’t let Harlem be dark again.”

To prevent this from happening, Harlem’s three community boards joined the 125th Street BID in an effort to raise $60,000 to cover purchase, installation and electricity for the lights.

“A lot of $1 bills can help light up 125th Street,” said Deputy Borough President Rose Pierre-Louis to a crowd of community leaders and Harlem residents during the first fundraising event at Ristorante Settepani on Nov. 10.

The fundraising campaign has already reached its halfway point.

The holiday lights program is part of the mission of the 125th Street BID, a business tax-assessment district that funds improvements on 125th Street between Morningside and Fifth Avenues, to improve the quality of life in the community.

The holiday lights would hang along 125th Street all the way from First Avenue to Twelfth Avenue. In the past, they extended only from Fifth Avenue to Morningside Avenue.

“This is the first time that this would be happening from river to river,” said Pierre-Louis, “which is especially important because it serves as an important symbol of connecting West, Central and East Harlem together.”

With this united effort to bring cheer to Harlem, there are now grand plans for a lighting ceremony on Dec. 7 at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Building. Festivities would include a celebrity guest, church choirs caroling, and discounts at local businesses.

The second type of light streamer that would hang along 125th Street this holiday season. Photo from the 125th Street Business Improvement District.

“I’m hoping that as bad as the economy is, this will lift people’s spirits and it will become an event that makes Harlemites proud of their neighborhood,” said Leah Abraham, who hosted the opening fundraiser at Ristorante Settepani.

She continued, “For the mecca of the shopping district not to have light, it’s depressing for the holidays. I think this will help the businesses stay open later and really give a boost to the economy on 125th Street, which then spills over into Harlem.”

Council Member Inez E. Dickens of District 9 believes that businesses on 125th Street suffered last holiday season, in part due to the lack of holiday lights. She said children force adults to spend money over the holidays.

“When there are no lights, the children aren’t encouraged to go to 125th Street, which means the parents are not,” said Dickens.

If the lights return this year, Harlem residents may be pleased to see a new design, which is to include two alternating streamers and a star for pole decoration. From 1994 to 2008, the former design featured scalloped strings of lights with stars and snowflakes.

The old holiday light design on 125th Street. Photo by CircularRuins, Ken Moore.

“I’m at all the parties, and people are always in my ear: Same old thing every year, why does Harlem have to have the same old thing?” said Askins.

In response to these complaints, she decided it was time for a change.

“125th Street has a lot of movement, and you can see the flair,” Askins said of the new design. “I thought it captured what we were about more than some of the other designs.”

The next fundraiser for Harlem Holiday Lights on 125 will be at Gran Piatta d’Oro in East Harlem on Dec. 1 from 6-9 p.m.

“This is not just about lights,” said Pierre-Louis, “We know how difficult it has been for families in this community, and we want to make sure Harlem shines.”

Rapper Dave “D-NA$TY” Jackson, Jr. freestyles about raising money for holiday lights in Harlem.

<iframe src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/16367970″ width=”400″ height=”225″ frameborder=”0″></iframe><p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/16367970″>Markovits_StrawberryJames</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user4680740″>Martin Markovits</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>