Manhattan Valley
[2] Manhattan Valley occupies a natural depression running east–west across Manhattan, declining rapidly from high rocky bluffs at the western border of Central Park, and following west the valley created by what was once a minor stream draining from roughly the area of the Harlem Meer into the Hudson River.
Several large swaths of Manhattan Valley are made up of residential developments that break the regular city street grid.
Columbia's purchase of the Bloomingdale Lunatic Asylum at around the same time as the subway's arrival naturally made the neighborhood more attractive as well.
[12] Young boys and girls took advantage of Central Park and Riverside Drive or played stick ball and roller hockey in the streets.
[17] As middle-class residents left for the suburbs, buildings were allowed to fall into disrepair and were divided into small units for new low-rent tenants, many of them originally from Puerto Rico.
[19] The development of the Douglass Houses greatly increased the density of low-income renters without providing much in the way of amenities (food shops, clubs, restaurants, and open space) for them to use.
[18] Rampant graft and corruption associated with the project blighted their opening and brought ill repute to the neighborhood, and the debacle contributed strongly to Moses's fall from power and ouster.
Soon, however, new investment was brought to a halt by wavering property prices in the late 1980s and early 1990s, combined with the rise of crack use and dealers in the area, which gave Manhattan Valley the reputation as one of the easiest places in the city to score a hit.
It sought to differentiate itself from other community-development organizations by opposing the demolition of pre-war buildings in favor of renovation and seeking to promote small business and "prevent harassment by out-side management companies prevalent in low income 'minority' neighborhoods.
[16] Meanwhile, nonprofit groups started to renovate many structures that were owned by the city, as well as build housing on previously vacant tracts of land.
[27] The neighborhood's proximity to the much-valued Central Park as well as to three separate subway lines make it attractive to young commuters, and, as of 2006, prices were rising dramatically as New Yorkers were tipped off by their brokers.
[22] Yet the area remains diverse, representing a microcosm of the larger city in terms of the different ethnicities, ages and socioeconomic groups living within the same community.
