About Us
Preserving historic Gramercy Park and the quality of life of the surrounding community
What the Block Association does in the community
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Clean Streets
Every day, our uniformed Clean Team sweeps sidewalks and curbs, empties and sanitizes litter baskets, clears storm drains, removes graffiti and stickers, and shovels winter snow. Each summer, our Neighborhood Refresh repaints and repairs lampposts, tree-garden fences, and street fixtures.
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Historic Preservation
We chronicle and share the architectural and human history of the square through more than fifty in-depth building and biographical profiles, care for historic streetscape fixtures and district signage, and follow local construction and preservation issues alongside our neighbors.
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Trees & Horticulture
We care for all 41 brass-tagged, City-owned street trees around the Park and the sidewalk gardens beneath them, guided by an individualized inventory and arboricultural care plan prepared with Bartlett Tree Experts.
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Public Safety & Advocacy
As the designated Community Partner of the NYPD 13th Precinct’s Neighborhood Coordination Officers, we bring neighbors’ concerns directly to police, City agencies, and elected officials, pursuing practical solutions to safety, noise, construction, and street-use issues.
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Neighbors Helping Neighbors
Through longstanding local partnerships and neighbors’ generosity, we provide meals, pantry staples, clothing, backpacks, books, children’s arts scholarships, and support for homebound older residents.
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Communications
We connect residents, neighborhood institutions, the Trustees, and public officials, follow through on community concerns, and share timely notices, local history, and neighborhood stories through our newsletters and Columbia University–archived website.
Built by neighbors.
Arlene Harrison and neighbors from every building around the Park established the Block Association in March 1994. After her teenage son was attacked outside their home the previous autumn, Arlene brought residents, board presidents, superintendents, and building staffs together to make the neighborhood safer and better connected.
Stronger ties with the 13th Precinct, improved street lighting, and an emergency two-way police radio network linking residential doormen around the Park were among the first efforts. When September 11, 2001, and later the 2020 pandemic tested the city, that neighbor-to-neighbor network mobilized roughly fifty buildings to support rescue workers, essential personnel, and homebound residents—while growing over three decades into the six core areas of work that continue today.
Rooted in the neighborhood.
Founder and President Arlene Harrison has made Gramercy Park home to three generations of her family for more than fifty years. A former New York City special education teacher in public schools and public hospitals for thirty-three years, she served as a Trustee of Gramercy Park for more than twenty years and is now Trustee Emeritus. Her commitment to protecting the Park and caring for its surrounding community shapes her daily leadership of the Block Association alongside her son, Timothy Cohen.
Together with a dedicated team of neighbors and professionals, she is preparing the organization’s next generation of leaders to carry its programs and relationships forward.
Keep the work going.
The Block Association is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that receives no municipal funding or mandatory assessments. Voluntary, tax-deductible contributions from individual residents, cooperative and condominium boards, and local businesses sustain our daily work caring for our streets and trees, chronicling our history, advocating for the neighborhood, and helping people through local partnerships.