About the Block Association
Neighbors caring for the blocks around Gramercy Park since 1994.
Arlene Harrison founded the Gramercy Park Block Association in 1994. Neighbors’ contributions support street cleaning, tree care, historic preservation, public-safety advocacy and help for people in need.
Preserving historic Gramercy Park and the quality of life of the surrounding residential neighborhood
Built by neighbors.
In October 1993, Arlene Harrison’s 15-year-old son was severely beaten in a random, unprovoked attack in front of their Gramercy Park home. Determined that something constructive should come from the violence, Arlene brought neighbors together to make the streets around their homes safer.
In March 1994, Arlene and neighbors from every building around the Park established the Block Association. Public safety was its first urgent concern. That month, more than 900 residents and business owners filled the Brotherhood Synagogue for a town hall co-hosted by Arlene, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and Police Commissioner William Bratton.
The early work was practical: stronger ties with the local precinct, improved street lighting and Operation Interlock, an emergency police radio network. Those efforts established the relationships through which the Block Association would take on historic preservation, neighborhood care and help for people in need.
Our work on the streets
Clean Streets & Streetscape
Year-round, our professional Clean Team sweeps sidewalks and curbs, removes litter, graffiti and stickers, tends tree gardens, clears drains and shovels snow.
The annual Neighborhood Refresh adds repairs and repainting for tree-garden fences, lampposts, hydrants and other street fixtures. Neighbors’ contributions fund the people, supplies and equipment that keep these historic blocks cared for throughout the year.
See the Clean Streets team’s work and before-and-after photographs
Street trees and their gardens
The 41 City-owned street trees around the Park have each been measured, brass-tagged and mapped, with individual records and care plans prepared with Bartlett Tree Experts. We use this inventory to guide pruning, root care, treatment and replacement planting, while tending the gardens around the trees. The work protects the living canopy that gives these blocks so much of their character.
Explore our tree and horticulture work
A voice at the precinct and City Hall
Public safety has been central to our work since 1994. We are the designated Community Partner of the NYPD 13th Precinct’s Neighborhood Coordination Officers and maintain close relationships with police, City agencies and elected officials. We bring neighbors’ concerns directly to them, share safety information, and pursue solutions to problems involving construction, noise, sanitation and the use of our streets and sidewalks.
Keeping Gramercy’s character.
Preservation is an active endeavor. For more than three decades, we have worked to protect the architecture, scale, streetscape and residential character of the Gramercy Park neighborhood.
We advocate for responsible development, organize community support when preservation issues arise, monitor construction and hold developers to their commitments. This work carries forward a long tradition of neighbors defending the place they call home—and helps ensure that change respects both its history and the people who live here. In 2004 we drew attention to the condition of the National Arts Club’s Tilden mansion and brought in preservation organizations. We followed the restoration of 36 Gramercy Park East, and we are following construction at 38 Gramercy Park and the Gramercy Park Hotel.
Beyond our own front doors
Through longstanding local partnerships, we support women and children in shelters, veterans, people with disabilities, formerly homeless residents, and homebound or frail elderly neighbors.
Our work includes meals, household essentials, books and school supplies, clothing and holiday gifts. Partners include Project LIFT, Project Cicero, St. George’s Common Table and Kenmore Hall.
The program gives neighbors opportunities to contribute and volunteer, extending the care of this community beyond the blocks immediately surrounding the Park.
Showing up in a crisis
After September 11, 2001, the neighborhood’s network became a relief effort. The Block Association helped organize meals, supplies and places to rest for rescue and recovery workers. Residents, restaurants, schools, houses of worship and businesses contributed, with support continuing well beyond the first emergency.
Those relationships continue through meals for first responders and remembrance gatherings with officers and their families.
Rooted in the neighborhood.
Founder and President Arlene Harrison has made Gramercy Park home to three generations of her family. Her work for the Block Association grows from that personal connection and from relationships built over more than three decades.
She is preparing the organization’s next generation of leaders to continue its programs and relationships.
Our newsletters
We keep residents, neighborhood institutions, the Trustees and public officials in direct communication. When neighbors raise a concern, we take it to the people responsible, pursue an answer and report back. Our newsletters share timely construction and safety information alongside Park news, local history, photographs and profiles. The relationships behind this work help us address problems early, coordinate with institutions and bring neighbors together when an issue calls for a community response. The searchable archive includes letters dating to 2010.
Read the latest neighborhood lettersKeep the work going.
The Block Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Contributions support the continuing work of caring for our streets, advocating for the neighborhood and helping people through local partnerships.