Shelter Shuffles, Rockefeller Owl: Midtown Year In Review

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — It's hard to believe now, but 2020 began like any other year in Midtown.

In those early months, we brought you news about a fancy public restroom, a new Krispy Kreme flagship and a protest over rising subway fares.

Then came the once-in-a-century pandemic, the historic protests over racism and policing, an economic recession and a contentious presidential election. 2020 became a year that no New Yorker would soon forget.

As 2021 begins, Midtown-Hell's Kitchen Patch is taking a look back at the neighborhood's top stories.

Families Displaced From Midtown Shelter To Make Room For UWS Men; Shelter Residents Fret Over Food, Water As Transfers Loom

This fall, we reported on the city's chaotic efforts to evict men from the temporary shelter at the Lucerne Hotel on the Upper West Side, which, in turn, would have displaced dozens of families from the Harmonia shelter in Midtown.

Harmonia residents, most of whom have disabilities, told Patch they were fearful about the looming transfers, concerned that their new homes would be unable to accommodate their health needs. In mid-September, residents lost water service for a day and worried that meals would also run out.

After residents brought a protest to the mayor's doorstep, Mayor Bill de Blasio finally dropped the plan to evict the Harmonia residents — although the Lucerne men have begun to move.

Owl Rescued From Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

In what must have been the happiest news of 2020, we told the story of "Rocky," the tiny saw-whet owl discovered perched in the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree after it was brought to Midtown.

After a week of rehabilitation upstate, caregiver Ellen Kalish released the hardy bird back into the wild on Nov. 24.

Vacancy Crisis: Empty Storefronts Cover Hell's Kitchen

In October, Patch walked along Ninth Avenue between 59th and 34th streets to survey the scope of the retail vacancy crisis in Hell's Kitchen: a trend that began long before the pandemic but was exacerbated in recent months.

Our findings were startling: 57 stores sat empty along that stretch, not counting temporary closures. It signaled an end to Hell's Kitchen's status as an oasis for small businesses, where rents were cheap and landlords forgiving.

Another Shelter Battle Brews In Hell's Kitchen As New Group Forms

Since early in the pandemic, Hell's Kitchen residents have complained that the city placed too many temporary hotel shelters in the neighborhood, leading to safety and sanitation problems.

In October, a new group sprang up to oppose the shelter placements, calling themselves the Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Coalition. The mayor had suggested over the summer that homeless residents would be moved from the hotels at some point, but neighbors said their concerns had not been addressed.

Meanwhile, protesters and homeless advocates called on the city to "House the Homeless in Hudson Yards," suggesting that the megadevelopment's $6 billion in tax breaks and public funds would have been better spent on sheltering the unhoused.

Hell's Kitchen Activist Recounts NYPD Raid: 'I Was Traumatized'

The five-hour NYPD siege on the Hell's Kitchen apartment of a Black Lives Matter activist in August brought the department widespread criticism, including from the Manhattan Borough President.

In October, that activist, Derrick Ingram, told Community Board 4 that he remained "traumatized" from the attempted raid, which included police dogs and helicopters. The board voted to send two letters — one to the City Council and one to the NYPD — condemning the raid, requesting more information about how it was authorized and asking why facial recognition software was used.

Patch reporters Anna Quinn and Maya Kaufman contributed.

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