New Plaza Brings Activity Space, Safety Improvements To Harlem

HARLEM, NY — A small stretch of road in West Harlem has been transformed into a public space where community members can gather for events, buy fresh produce or just find a place to sit and relax in the shade on a hot day.

Elected officials and community advocates gathered Wednesday to celebrate the opening of the new Johnny Hartman Plaza on Amsterdam Avenue and West 143rd Street. The plaza is the 79th public space to open through the city Department of Transportation's Plaza Program, but just the fifth to open above 96th Street in Manhattan.

Youth services organization The Brotherhood/Sister Sol first applied for the plaza in 2017 and spent two years advocating for the space, holding eight one-day plazas to show that the street would best be used as a place for people rather than cars.

"We envision this having cutting-edge, inter-generational programming connecting elders and children by utilizing the arts — both visual arts in terms of art installations and musical performances — health and wellness and community events. We see this as a space where we build community through art and inter-connected activities," Brotherhood/Sister Sol Executive Director Khary Lazarre-White said.

Brotherhood/Sister Sol member Nando Rodriguez, who has been involved with the organization for 25 years since first taking part in its youth programs as a 15-year-old, first envisioned the idea to re-purpose the street as a plaza. Rodriguez, who leads the organizations environmental programs, said that the idea came from speaking to community seniors, who said the space was often used for live jazz concerts.

Elected officials such as City Councilman Mark Levine, State Sen. Robert Jackson, Congressman Adriano Espaillat and State Assemblymember Al Taylor attended Wednesday's ribbon cutting and commended the youth members of Brotherhood/Sister Sol for advocating for the plaza successful during the two-year process of getting the space approved.

The plaza is named after local Jazz singer Johnny Hartman, who released numerous solo recordings and collaborated with musicians such as John Coltrane and Dizzy Gillespie. The street has been named after Hartman since the 80s, but was not made a formal plaza until this year.

Hartman's daughter Lori Hartman, a reverend at Mount Calvary/St. Mark's United Methodist Church in Harlem, said that her family's "hearts are so full" that her father is honored as a part of Harlem's history.

"My father, while touring with the Dizzy Gillespie band made his way from Chicago to New York and said 'this is going to my home, this is where I'm going to raise my family.' He walked these streets, you'd see him walking with a shopping cart and singing along. My sisters and I as teenagers would be embarrassed, but we loved that he would connect us to the community," Hartman said Wednesday.

The 5,000-square-foot plaza features movable furniture such as tables and chairs, park benches, umbrellas and dozens of planters to beautify the space. The space also improves safety in the area through painted sidewalk extensions that shorten street crossing distances and re-configured signal patterns to create safer turns, DOT Manhattan Borough Commissioner Ed Pincar said Wednesday.

"Not only will Johnny Hartman Plaza be a welcoming space for pedestrians, it also brings important safety benefits to this historic Harlem neighborhood," Pincar said in a statement.