Public Health Concern

It’s 8:30 am, the street Lexington Avenue on 125th Street in Harlem is filling up slowly with daily commuters. People are rushing through the small crowd to catch their bus/train to work. Parents with young children walk dodging commuters coming off of the Metro North rushing to avoid panhandlers and speeding cabs. Teenagers laugh and point at the many inebriated and high individuals that lay on the sidewalk or walking as if a scene from the living dead. There are many middle age and elderly men milling about as they talk randomly to each other or themselves. Young hooded men with anxious looks and African hair braiders intermingle as they both to seek out clients. Used needles lay in corners and crevices of the sidewalk. There is garbage strewn about as storekeepers work feverishly to try and maintain the area in front of their stores. The street and sidewalk has garbage and the smell of urine overtakes your senses if standing too long at a building corner. If I close my eyes and open them again I would believe I was anywhere but one of the richest cities in the world.

This is Harlem on any given morning. Historically, Harlem is best known as a major African –American residential, cultural and business center. Harlem has been going through a renaissance as the gentrification of Harlem is at full steam. At one time to see a white face in Harlem besides European tourist was an event. Today the population is becoming more and more diverse as the abandoned buildings are turned in C0-Ops and tree-lined streets are beautified by the minute.

Unfortunately this area has somehow avoided the growth of Harlem. The faces that line these streets tend to be primarily African-American and Hispanic. These individuals are predominantly men a...

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...rbs who tend to give money more freely to the local panhandler so they can leave them alone. There is a strong police presence but the feeling of locals is that they either don’t care or turn their eyes away as they are almost desensitized from the illegal activities that are transpiring.

Even before doing my observation and writing this paper this area always left me with mixed emotions. On one hand I feel sorry for these individuals who are standing/walking around, as they appear to have nowhere to go. I feel bad at times as my knee jerk reaction to the men staggering about and begging for money is “disdain and anger’. I feel it reflects badly on society that this area even exists. This brings to light the public health concerns that large cities especially New York must address when it comes to the homeless as well as addressing at it ever growing drug problem.