March 1994: a neighborhood organizes

The campaign over conditions at the Kenmore Hotel on East 23rd Street belongs to the Gramercy Park Block Association’s founding story. In March 1994, more than nine hundred residents and business owners gathered at the Brotherhood Synagogue for a town hall co-hosted by Arlene Harrison, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and Police Commissioner William J. Bratton, according to the Block Association’s later account.

Residents wanted safer conditions. The response also needed to take account of people living in the building.

The people behind the change

The Block Association’s retrospective credits Officer Scott Kimmins with years of documentation and daily attention to residents. The current Kenmore history credits eight years of his evidence-gathering work. That documentation formed part of the foundation for the federal response. The town hall brought the issue before a wider community and the officials who could act.

After the town hall, Congresswoman Maloney brought the conditions to the Justice Department. The Block Association’s account records visits to Kenmore by Attorney General Janet Reno and Governor Mario Cuomo.

Federal authorities seized the property on June 8, 1994. The Block Association subsequently helped gather community support for Housing and Services, Inc. and a different future for the building.

1996: a partnership to rebuild

Two November 1996 Town & Village accounts describe a reception marking the beginning of rehabilitation by Housing and Services. More than one hundred community leaders, residents and officials attended the gathering, co-hosted by Harrison, Jane Crotty and HSI president Claire Haaga.

Crotty gathered support from the business community and Harrison from residents. The reception also recognized the work of the 13th Precinct.

Spring 1999: the residents’ bulletin tells the story

The first issue of The Kenmore Bulletin interviewed Harrison while the rehabilitation was progressing. It credited her with organizing neighborhood support and serving on the Community Advisory Board. Harrison emphasized the changes Housing and Services, under Claire Haaga’s leadership, had brought about since 1996.

In the same Spring 1999 bulletin, residence manager Madeline Garcia thanked tenants for their cooperation through three years of work. She described the renovated building’s 326 studios, shared rooms and resident services as final touches continued.

The issue also profiled resident Joan Jones, a sculptor who had taught children to work with metal. Her account of settling into her new home gives the building’s transformation a human dimension alongside the construction history.

1999: Kenmore Hall reopens

The building’s rehabilitation was completed in 1999. Harrison chaired the Community Advisory Board, and the Block Association’s relationship with Kenmore continued beyond the original campaign. Its account describes affordable supportive housing serving formerly homeless residents, people living with chronic illness or HIV/AIDS, older people and veterans.

November 1999: recognizing a shared effort

The Block Association’s Kenmore history records a gathering honoring Officer Scott Kimmins and Arlene Harrison after the building’s rehabilitation. Parks Commissioner Henry Stern gave them honorary “Park names”: “Kenmore” for Kimmins and “Petite Gendarme” for Harrison. The recognition marked the years of police work and neighborhood organizing behind the change.

2003: supporting the housing organization

Housing and Services, Inc. marked its sixteenth anniversary with a fundraising luncheon at the Roosevelt Hotel on March 10, 2003. The organization had rehabilitated Kenmore Hall four years earlier. Arlene Harrison attended as the Block Association’s president, alongside civic leaders and representatives of the 13th Precinct.

The Town & Village report recognized HSI’s work with communities to create affordable housing and described its broader preservation initiative.

June 2004: honoring Scott Kimmins

On June 29, 2004, a ceremony at Kenmore Hall honored Officer Kimmins’s service and retirement on the tenth anniversary of the federal takeover. Harrison’s remarks recalled both the evidence he assembled and his daily care for residents living with difficult conditions.

Harrison recalled a City Hall ceremony in August 1994 recognizing Kimmins’s role.

The people behind the 2004 tribute

The contemporary newspaper accounts add the partners behind the June 2004 recognition of Scott Kimmins: Housing & Services, the Block Association, the 23rd Street Association and officers of the 13th Precinct. A plaque and dedication honored his contribution to Kenmore.

Kimmins’s September retirement was still ahead when the July reports appeared. The photographs preserve his family at the presentation and the Kenmore staff at the tenth-anniversary gathering.

2005–2009: meals, winter clothing and a stocked pantry

At the December 2005 holiday dinner, children from the Block Association’s service committee helped serve more than one hundred residents. The following year, the Block Association joined Kenmore’s holiday party after a neighborhood coat drive and its partnership with Paddy Maguire’s toy drive.

In spring 2009, Brearley ninth grader Alexandra Clark organized a food and household-supply collection as her school service project. The follow-up described neighbors responding with pantry supplies and everyday essentials. Clark and Harrison visited with program director Hania Schwartz after the deliveries.

That December, Kenmore staff and the Block Association’s volunteers again served Christmas dinner, catered by Jon Peters of Something’s Cooking. These accounts document a relationship sustained through collections, meals and time spent together.

2014: a pantry drive, twenty years later

A February 2014 newsletter described neighbors contributing nonperishable food and household essentials: pots, pans, blankets and towels. Staff collected the donations with Harrison after the drive.

These were practical contributions to daily life. The Block Association’s wider account also records clothing, donations and volunteer help at holiday meals. The relationship had become something neighbors could take part in repeatedly.

2016: support for veterans

The June 2016 newsletter described support for veterans’ programs alongside pantry, clothing and household needs.

2017: returning for Veterans Day and Thanksgiving

On November 11, 2017, Neighbors Helping Neighbors reported sponsoring Kenmore’s annual luncheon for 107 formerly homeless veterans. Later that month, the Block Association also sponsored Thanksgiving dinner.

2018–2024: meals, clothing and pantry supplies

The November 2018 service report included veterans’ lunches and other meals at Kenmore.

The June 22, 2021 clothing drive made the relationship concrete in another way. The Block Association asked neighbors for seasonal clothing and items suitable for job interviews for Kenmore residents.

The November 2024 Veterans Day letter described luncheons, care packages, clothing and pantry support at Kenmore Hall throughout the year.

Luncheon guests sit around tables decorated with small American flags at Kenmore Hall.
The Veterans Day luncheon at Kenmore Hall, featured in the Block Association’s November 2024 newsletter.
Guests and volunteers gather beside a buffet table decorated in red, white and blue at Kenmore Hall.
Guests and volunteers at the Kenmore Hall Veterans Day luncheon, featured in November 2024.
Two newspaper clippings show photographs and text about honorary park names.
Newspaper clippings marking honorary Park names for Arlene Harrison and Scott Kimmins. The photograph in the left clipping is credited to Todd Maisel.
A group stands together at an awards presentation, with one person holding a framed plaque.
Scott Kimmins and Arlene Harrison pictured with an award in the Block Association’s Kenmore history.
A group of volunteers poses behind buffet trays in a dining room.
Volunteers at a Kenmore Thanksgiving dinner, from the Block Association’s published Kenmore history.
Four reception attendees, identified by the printed caption as Richard Heegan, Owen Hughes, Claire Haaga and Steven Anger.
Four reception attendees, identified by the printed caption as Richard Heegan, Owen Hughes, Claire Haaga and Steven Anger. Reproduced from the November 28, 1996 newspaper scan.
Steven Sanders addresses the Kenmore rehabilitation reception, as identified in the printed caption.
Steven Sanders addresses the Kenmore rehabilitation reception, as identified in the printed caption. Reproduced from the November 28, 1996 newspaper scan.
Three people hold a framed recognition at HSI’s anniversary luncheon.
HSI’s president with Jerilyn Perine and Richard Roberts at the organization’s 2003 anniversary luncheon, as captioned in Town & Village.
Alexandra Clark, Hania Schwartz and Arlene Harrison at the Kenmore pantry.
The food and household-supply drive organized by Alexandra Clark in 2009.
Kenmore staff and the Block Association’s volunteers stand behind trays of food.
Kenmore staff and the Block Association’s volunteers at the December 2009 Christmas dinner.
Scott Kimmins holds a recognition plaque with his family.
Officer Scott Kimmins with his family at the 2004 recognition ceremony.
Kenmore Hall staff gather outside the building.
Kenmore Hall staff at the tenth-anniversary gathering reported in July 2004.
Sources & historical context

Based on the Block Association’s published records.