Sunday, December 18, 2011

A HARLEM BLOCK COMES TOGETHER OVER CRIME

A HARLEM BLOCK COMES TOGETHER OVER CRIME 

Long time residents and newcomers of 114th St. come together

BY HEIDI EVANS
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Sunday, December 18 2011, 6:00 AM

Profile of W. 114th - between Frederick Douglass and Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvds. has been a haven for drug dealers for decades. Now with new condos being built, young urban professionals are joining forces with long time public housing residents to rid their storied block of crime.

Mariela Lombard/Mariela Lombard for News

Profile of W. 114th - between Frederick Douglass and Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvds. has been a haven for drug dealers for decades. Now with new condos being built, young urban professionals are joining forces with long time public housing residents to rid their storied block of crime.

 Ron Peterson, president of condo association at 2110 Frederick Douglass Blvd. and Roberta Coleman, NYCHA tenant association leader.

Mariela Lombard/Mariela Lombard for News

Ron Peterson, president of condo association at 2110 Frederick Douglass Blvd. and Roberta Coleman, NYCHA tenant association leader.

Profile of W. 114th - between Frederick Douglass and Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvds. has been a haven for drug dealers for decades. Now with new condos being built, young urban professionals are joining forces with long time public housing residents to rid their storied block of crime.

Mariela Lombard/Mariela Lombard for News

Profile of W. 114th - between Frederick Douglass and Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvds. has been a haven for drug dealers for decades. Now with new condos being built, young urban professionals are joining forces with long time public housing residents to rid their storied block of crime.

Profile of W. 114th - between Frederick Douglass and Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvds. has been a haven for drug dealers for decades. Now with new condos being built, young urban professionals are joining forces with long time public housing residents to rid their storied block of crime.

Mariela Lombard/Mariela Lombard for News

Profile of W. 114th - between Frederick Douglass and Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvds. has been a haven for drug dealers for decades. Now with new condos being built, young urban professionals are joining forces with long time public housing residents to rid their storied block of crime.

Profile of W. 114th - between Frederick Douglass and Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvds. has been a haven for drug dealers for decades. Now with new condos being built, young urban professionals are joining forces with long time public housing residents to rid their storied block of crime.

Mariela Lombard/Mariela Lombard for News

Profile of W. 114th - between Frederick Douglass and Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvds. has been a haven for drug dealers for decades. Now with new condos being built, young urban professionals are joining forces with long time public housing residents to rid their storied block of crime.

Roberta Coleman has seen it all on her beloved Harlem block.

For the nearly 40 years she has lived on W. 114th St. between Frederick Douglass and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvds., there’s been a turf war between the mothers and grandmothers on the tree-lined street and the never-ending stream of drug dealers.

But now there is hope that power may finally be shifting for good to the long-suffering, law-abiding citizens of the storied block.

With gentrification moving at a blazing pace in Harlem, Coleman, still going strong at 67 as president of the public housing tenant’s association, has a new partner in fighting crime: the young urban professionals who have moved into two luxury condos on the corner.

After two murders on the block this summer - not involving people who lived there - newcomers and oldtimers have joined forces to drive out the dealers.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/a-harlem-block-crime-article-1.992813#ixzz1gu5SUVFm

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