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HARLEM SAYS, 'THANKS, BUT NO THANKS' TO CLINTON: Former President's presence in neighborhood blamed for making housing unaffordable.
*"No good deed goes unpunished," an old pessimistic adage spoken by New York wit Clare Boothe Luce that seems to describe the backlash that America's "first black President" Bill Clinton is receiving behind his decision to move his offices to Harlem, New York (affectionately known as the Black Capitol of America).
In a symbolic show of solidarity with the African American community at large, Clinton chose to locate his offices in the largely black Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem, but his actions have sparked a protest among the residents, mainly the elderly, citing anger over sky-rocketing property prices.
Organized by the Harlem Tenants Council, approximatley 40 angry African Americans demonstrated last week outside the 125th street building that houses the former president's staff, charging that his move has led to the gentrification of the area and increased the price of homes beyond their reach; rents have risen by as much as 100 per cent.
According to the Washington Post, the top price for a brownstone terrace house in Harlem in 2001 was $400,000 (£215,000). Now a fully renovated townhouse costs as much as $4m. Even this is a relative bargain: 30 blocks south, similar houses which need considerable renovation start at $5m.
The booming American economy and the overwhelming demand for Manhattan property has already caused Harlem (a neighborhood with varied history relative to race relations) and other New York areas previously the preserve of blacks and Hispanics to soar. Rents have nearly doubled in Harlem since 2000, when Clinton left the White House to support his wife, Hillary, and her career as the junior senator for New York. A one-bedroom flat which used to rent six years agofor $800 a month now costs $1,400, according to Valerie Orridge, president of the Savoy Park Tenants Association.
After a long period of low rents and high poverty, Harlem is now home to many young black professionals who can afford the inflated prices that are putting pressure on poorer, older tenants in low-rent properties to pay more. As prices rise sharply, the area is fast becoming more staid and crime is falling.
According to sources, a spokesman for the Clinton Foundation, Jay Carson, said he could not comment on the protest.
