Photo credit: Mustafah Abdulaziz/WSJ
Every city deserves a High Line park — Harlem perhaps more than others. In its heyday, Harlem enjoyed an open air food market under the active Metro North rail line called, La Marqueta, which was a common meeting area and place to buy, sell, and trade. In the 1970′s the market declined considerably and has never bounced back — and right now, it’s practically empty. Progress is afoot though, and the Harlem’s Economic Development Corporation is gaining support to revitalize the space and transform it into a mile-long covered market and public park promenade – a High Line for Harlem.
Photo credit: Dith Pran/The New York Times, 1986
During the market’s peak in popularity in the 1950s it was full of bustling activity, with up to 500 mostly Puerto Rican vendors operating stalls in five separate buildings stretching from 111th Street to 116th Street on Park Avenue. People came from all around to experience the ethnic market and buy items they might not be able to find anywhere else. Now there are only three buildings remaining and local residents have to leave East Harlem to do their shopping.
A recent study by the Center for an Urban Future on the prospects of revitalizing La Marqueta show that in recent years fresh food has become hard to find in Harlem — it has become a “food desert”. Additionally, the number of retail shops compared to the surrounding New York City neighborhoods is considerably lower. Harlem has only 42 retail stores per 10,000 people compared to Flushing with 71 or the Upper East Side, which has a whopping 132. This means that residents in Harlem often have to leave their community to shop, especially for food, and revitalizing the market would not only provide the community with options, but would also help encourage local entrepreneurship, buoy the economy and bring in tourists.
[...] Tirana is actually a city, but the site for Park Life is on its outskirts and is quite suburban. However, with the density being so high, JA Joubert decided to defy what the classic definition of a suburb is with their design. The result was a new type of community for all different age groups with sports and health facilities, an integral solution for building and parking, restaurants and shops and outdoor living all encapsulated within a giant park. [...]