Artists transform East Harlem with vibrant murals

Artists transform East Harlem with vibrant murals

PIX 11

By Cory McGinnis

EAST HARLEM, Manhattan — Artists are bringing new life and healing to East Harlem through vibrant murals and community art events.

Saturday, over 30 artists gathered at 125th Street and Lexington Avenue to paint murals as part of a beautification project led by Uptown Grand Central, a nonprofit dedicated to uplifting the neighborhood.

Among the artists was Fallou Wadje, a painter and fashion designer from Senegal who now lives in Harlem. She has been involved in several mural projects in the community, finding inspiration in her personal growth and her grandfather’s faith. “My self-development is my success right now, who I am, who I built myself to be today,” Wadje shared. Another mural she worked on, not far from 125th Street, carries the heartfelt message, “Allah is love,” reflecting both her cultural roots and spiritual beliefs.

Wadje emphasized the importance of love during challenging times. She also noted that 90 local children participated in the mural painting, highlighting the community-driven spirit of the project.

In addition to her mural work, Wadje is currently showcasing her new exhibit, “Woman and Society,” aimed at bringing the Harlem community together through creativity. She describes the exhibit as a space where people can relax, connect, and experience art freely, based on love. “The event is meant to bring the community together, using creativity to help people relax, feel connected, and experience art based on love,” Wadje explained.

Looking around at the murals and fellow artists painting on the same streets where she first started, Wadje expressed hope that art can be a source of healing. “We need to heal our people. Through the art, just standing here and looking at the colors, the colors heal. I’m African, I know about color. Look at this, this is beauty, a sense of joy,” she said.

As MTA moves ahead with 2nd Avenue subway extension, East Harlem locals brace for change

As MTA moves ahead with 2nd Avenue subway extension, East Harlem locals brace for change

GOTHAMIST / WNYC

By Ramsey Khalifeh

Big changes are in store for East Harlem as the MTA ramps up work on the long-awaited extension of the Second Avenue subway.

The $7.7 billion project is scheduled to open in 2032, adding three new stations to the Q line. Two of them will be beneath Second Avenue at East 106th and 116th streets. A third would be an overhaul to the existing 125th Street-Lexington Avenue station, which would reshape a transit hub that sees more violent crime than any other in the city.

The MTA is currently working to finalize a contract to dig the tunnel for the extension. It represents a major step towards the completion of not just a transit line that’s been promised for roughly a century, but also a move that will change the face of one of Manhattan’s poorest areas.

Interviews by Gothamist found that for many locals, the project is a once-in-a-generation chance to make their neighborhood safer and more accessible. For others, it brings the risk of gentrification that could price them out of East Harlem altogether.

“I mean, look at the neighborhood. It needs a facelift to bring more attraction here,” said East Harlem resident Bobby Jones, 42, remarking on the conditions around the 125th Street-Lexington Avenue station. “Because if people see graffiti and all this stuff like this, drugs and needles on the ground, [they] ain’t gonna want to come around here.”

The Second Avenue subway extension will bring a new port of entry for transit riders in East Harlem.

The area around the station has long been notorious for open drug use, according to interviews with nearby residents.

Since 2021, it’s also been home to a controversial safe injection site. The neighborhood has a series of methadone clinics highly concentrated along a few blocks and ranks as one of the highest areas for psychiatric hospitalizations, according to city health data.

“I avoid this station, I’d say probably after 9 p.m.,” said Neil Tetkowski, 69, who has lived in East Harlem for 20 years.

Though the work won’t be finished for at least another seven years, signs of change are already visible in East Harlem. Several lots along East 125th Street have been razed in recent years to make way for the overhauled station at Lexington Avenue.

“East Harlem residents have waited decades for improved transit access and with the support from Governor Hochul, the MTA is moving full steam ahead on the Second Avenue Subway Phase 2, which will be a gamechanger for the local community,” MTA spokesperson Eugene Resnick wrote in a statement. “We’re ready to implement best practices learned from Phase 1 [on the Upper East Side] to complete the work better, faster and cheaper, as the line will provide new transit connections, shortened commute times, affordable housing, jobs and improved quality of life.”

A vacant lot at the corner of 125th Street and Park Avenue, which will one day house an expanded 125th Street subway station.

MTA documents show the agency plans to use eminent domain to seize at least 15 buildings — many of them residential — in East Harlem to complete the extension.

Efforts are already underway by local cultural centers, businesses and longtime residents to ensure they’re not priced out by the changes brought by the new line when it inevitably transforms their neighborhood. Mayor Eric Adams last month said he plans to sign legislation to establish East Harlem’s first-ever business improvement district, or BID, which community leaders hope will allow them to hold more sway over the area’s future.

“They deserve a commercial corridor that is safe and clean,” Adams said during a news conference. “One that is free of quality of life concerns like overflowing, trash, excessive noise, substance use and more that have persisted for far too long. These issues have kept customers, foot traffic and tourists away from enjoying the beautiful area on 125th Street. It is impacting the economic development of the area.”

Carey King, who’s behind the push to create the business improvement district, said the designation would create a dedicated funding stream from city government directly to East Harlem.

King leads Uptown Grand Central, a community nonprofit that cleans up trash on the streets and paints murals on construction fences in the area.

“The big, beautiful, global vision would be that … our streets can be clean and that our public art can shine and that people really wanna stop and spend time here,” King said. “A lot of times, people just keep their heads down when they pass through here.”

Rachel Weinberger, transportation chair of the Regional Plan Association, said bringing a new train line into a neighborhood is a “real ‘Catch 22’ situation about transportation infrastructure and the potential for gentrification.”

“There’s a concern that there’s insufficient access provided to the population that’s living near now, the current population and the trick is how to provide access without creating displacement,” Weinberger said. “ On the other hand, when you have an area that's under-resourced … it means that you don’t have the amenities that people in the neighborhood want and need. And so sometimes, a transportation investment can help bring some of those things.”

Advocates are also gunning to preserve some of East Harlem's cultural institutions, like the Caribbean Cultural Center and the home of the poet Langston Hughes on East 127th Street.

“There needs to be more intention and equal distribution of funds of organizations and individuals and projects that actually reflect the community that has been here the longest,” said Sabine Blaizin, Director of Programs at the Caribbean Cultural Center, which sits right across the street from the Lexington Avenue subway station. “And the fear is a lot of this erasure.”

Making art in Harlem to revive store gate murals

Making art in Harlem to revive store gate murals

PIX 11

By Greg Mocker

We can call it work but this is fun. Creating and transforming the store gates that get pulled down. Uptown Grand Central is a project that follows in the legacy of Franco the Great, the famous artist who painted gates along 125th Street starting in the late 1960s. Organizers also refresh artwork from past gate initiatives, including The 100 Gates Project. 

East Harlem Set To Get Busy As Mayor Eric Adams Signs Legislation For New Business Improvement District

East Harlem Set To Get Busy As Mayor Eric Adams Signs Legislation For New Business Improvement District

BLACK ENTERPRISE

By Sharelle B. McNair

With more than 85 commercial tenants already included, Adams says this is a way to continue seeing businesses thrive in a community with such legacy.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams signed legislation that will bring a new advocacy organization to the Harlem community and give businesses the opportunity to grow.

Standing in front of Sisters Caribbean Cuisine, Adams signed the necessary paperwork to create the East Harlem 125th Street Business Improvement District (BID) to advocate and coordinate with the community’s businesses and organizations.

With more than 85 commercial tenants already included, Adams, who is running for reelection, says this is a way to continue seeing businesses thrive in a community with such a legacy. “From its parks and playgrounds to its storefronts and small businesses, East Harlem is a place of rich history, extraordinary culture, and incredible food. Families, businesses, and residents deserve an East Harlem that is safe, clean, and thriving — and that is what this BID is all about,” Adams said.

“But we’re not only bolstering businesses here in East Harlem; we’re doing it all across our city. We cut red tape, invested in working people, and helped shatter the record for the most jobs and small businesses in city history. We’re focused every day on creating good-paying jobs and making sure that East Harlem and all of New York City are the best places to raise a family.”

According to Patch, thoughts for the BID first came about following a unanimous City Council vote in May 2025. By January 2026, the organization will be fully functional with an annual budget of $750,000. With the support of a board vote, the budget could go up to $1 million after three successful years.

Adams’ legislation will also bring sanitation and beautification efforts to East Harlem, which business owners are ecstatic about. Carey King, executive director of Uptown Grand Central, a nonprofit that provides additional sidewalk and street-cleaning services, feels the BID will make a big difference within the new district’s boundaries, consisting of 14 blocks riddled with pollution and crime. “Often, people have negative things to say when they walk through this district, and how chaotic it is, and how it scares people off sometimes,” King said.

“We’re really excited that we’re starting to build consensus and support to be stronger going forward, to make the street a better place.”

The announcement checks off Adams’ “Rebuild, Renew, Reinvent: Blueprint for New York City’s Economic Recovery” plan commitment made during his first mayoral campaign. The East Harlem 125th Street Business Improvement District brings the number of NYC supporting BIDs to 77. The plan was established to create new BIDs throughout the Big Apple and invest directly into targeted neighborhood development.

In addition to the latest established BID, Adams and Small Business Services Commissioner Dynishal Gross announced $4.4 million in new grants from the city will be awarded to some of Harlem’s community organizations and other neighborhoods in efforts to support small businesses, improve public morale, and give a push to nonprofits.

East Harlem To Get $750K To Improve 125th Street Business Corridor

East Harlem To Get $750K To Improve 125th Street Business Corridor

PATCH

By Miranda Levingston

The neighborhood is getting its first Business Improvement District, which will fund street safety and beautification.

EAST HARLEM, NY — There's going to be a new Business Improvement District in Manhattan along East 125th Street to support the small businesses lining the corridor between Fifth Avenue and Second Avenue.

Following a unanimous City Council vote to approve a new Business Improvement District at the end of May, first reported by Crain's New York Business, the vote will now go to the mayor's desk to be signed, before being approved by the New York State Comptroller.

The Business Improvement District will be entirely operational by January 2026, with an annual budget of $750,000. The budget could increase to $1 million after three years with a board vote.

For the uninitiated, a Business Improvement District, known as a BID, is a designated area where property owners are charged a fee that goes toward sanitation and public safety, as well as programs to promote local businesses.

Fast-developing East Harlem gets city’s newest business improvement district

Fast-developing East Harlem gets city’s newest business improvement district

CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS

By Nick Garber

A unanimous City Council vote established the East 125th Street BID as the 77th such organization in the city, helping East Harlem shed its status as the last Manhattan community district without a BID of its own.

East 125th Street, the fast-developing corridor whose growth has coincided with persistent crime and sanitation issues, now has a new distinction: New York’s newest business improvement district.

A unanimous City Council vote on Wednesday established the East 125th Street BID as the 77th such organization in the city, helping East Harlem shed its status as the last Manhattan community district without a BID of its own. Community leaders who have pushed for it since 2021 hope that the better-funded BID will help them step up efforts to clean up neighborhood streets and make them welcoming for residents and businesses.

The time seems ripe to organize businesses and landlords along the corridor. East Harlem has experienced a building boom since a 2017 rezoning, and the planned construction of the Second Avenue Subway extension, which will terminate on East 125th and Lexington Avenue, is all but certain to incentivize more development. Just this month, city and state officials unveiled plans to permit a 684-unit apartment tower atop the subway’s future terminus.

“It started from a community level, of small businesses and residents just wanting to see better for the neighborhood,” said Carey King, director of the nonprofit Uptown Grand Central, which spearheaded the effort and runs street-cleaning programs similar to what the BID will perform. “And it ends up putting us in a better position when these big things come in, that we need to have a unified voice on.”

Harlem’s oldest church celebrates Black History Month, community heritage

PIX 11 NEWS

By Magee Hickey

Gospel music, black history, and delicious carrot cake – a perfect combination for a wonderful celebration at Harlem’s oldest church.

It was also a chance for those in attendance to learn so much about the Elmendorf Reformed Church and its mission to create a memorial and educational center for its nearby African burial ground.

Vy Higginson’s Sing Harlem Choir started off the festivities at Elmendorf Reformed Church on East 121st Street has to offer. The church was founded in 1660 and is the oldest church in Harlem.

“Every year we assemble a group of community leaders to learn more about the history of this church and to join in celebrating each other and our community,” Diana Ayala, the deputy speaker of the New York City Council, told PIX11 News.

Elmendorf Reformed Church is also the home church of the Harlem African Burial Ground.

Through research into its records, the church has identified more than 40 names of those buried in the grounds. The burial grounds are located on East 126th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues at the site of a decommissioned bus depot on city-owned land.

The hope is to build a memorial and education center.

“The burial ground was essentially as old as Harlem itself,” Saradine Pierre,  senior project manager of the Economic Development Corporation, told PIX11 News. “It was segregated. The European settlers were eventually relocated, but the Africans were left behind,” she added.

After the event inside the church, there was cake for all to enjoy at a basement reception, three varieties from Lloyd’s Carrot Cake.

So many people were celebrating so much.

“We are very happy to be here,” Belinda Perry-Sessoms, a church deacon, told PIX11 News. She happily added that she has been a member of this church for fifty years.

“I’m proud to be an African-American male,” Louis Earl Sessoms, a church elder and Belinda’s husband, told PIX11 News. “ I thank God for the opportunity to be part of this great church. It is a blessing that he has bestowed upon me.,” he added.

The next step in the process of creating a memorial and education center is an archeological dig at the site of the African burial ground and then RFPs or requests for proposals will be sent out:

Experience Winter Solstice Magic At Harlem Night Market This Weekend

Experience Winter Solstice Magic At Harlem Night Market This Weekend

PATCH

By Miranda Levingston

Come for the booths full of good food and gifts, and stay for the Puerto Rican music parade and jazz set.

HARLEM, NY — Uptowners looking for a place to partake in seasonal joy or do some last-minute holiday shopping are in luck: the Harlem Night Market at La Marqueta is returning for one last time at the Park Avenue Viaduct this weekend.

The market, which will run this Saturday from 3-7 p.m. at El Barrio's historic market space, will feature local food vendors, and artisans selling perfect gifts galore.

This weekend's market will also feature a dance floor, with live DJ sets from Uptown Vinyl Supreme and Stormin' Norman, along with one of those 360 video photo booths that are all the rage.

Since it's the Winter Solstice on Saturday — the longest, darkest night of the year — the market will also be going extra hard, with a traditional Puerto Rican parranda starting at 4 p.m. from Los Pleneros de la 21, followed by a jazz jam with Blue Note saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins.

According to the market's organizers, there will also be oversized golf carts (!) and craft workshops from Harlem Needle Arts and Urban Garden Center.

East Harlem Vies For BID: Affordable Housing, Safety Upgrades In Plans

East Harlem Vies For BID: Affordable Housing, Safety Upgrades In Plans

PATCH

By Nicole Rosenthal

East Harlem is Manhattan's only district without a BID, which would promote safety, cleanliness and responsible development, officials say.

EAST HARLEM, NY - East Harlem residents and business owners are rallying together to create a business improvement district in the neighborhood, which is Manhattan’s only community district without one already in place, officials say.

Spearheaded by East Harlem nonprofit Uptown Grand Central, the NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS), Deputy Council Speaker Diana Ayala and local business owners, tenants and community leaders, the East Harlem BID is planned for East 125th Street and would work to promote safety, beautification and “culturally responsible” development in the area, the groups told Patch.

A BID is a joint public-private partnership where property owners pay an assessment that is used to provide services in a given district. There are 70-plus BIDs across New York City to date.

“Much-needed services” including district marketing, community programming, sanitation, streetscape design and overall commercial and cultural health of the East 125th Street corridor are all part of the BID’s core mission.

“Ultimately, the goal is for Uptown Grand Central and the BID to work together to deliver sustainable services to the district,” said Carey King, director of Uptown Grand Central, a nonprofit which has worked for over a decade in East Harlem to clean streets, underwrite public art, sponsor community events, showcase small businesses, and improve public safety and sanitation. "The addition of the resources of a BID will ensure consistency and help us make these services more robust.”