Locals Await End of Frederick Douglass Circle Renovation

Ask Kaba, the attendant at the Exxon station at 110th Street and Central Park North if he’s looking forward to the end of construction at Frederick Douglass Circle, and his eyes light up. “Oh yeah,” he said with a sigh.

For Kaba and many other members of the community surrounding the northwest corner of Central Park, the completion of Frederick Douglas Circle will come as a huge relief for a community in limbo.

The renovation of the intersection—which will reopen as a traffic circle surrounding a memorial to Douglass—began in June 2004 and was supposed to last just one year.

But it was extended in spring 2005 for another two years, at the cost of several times its original budget. Residents complained about noise, dust, and congestion. Now, as construction winds to a close, some kinks have been worked out, while others are just starting.

The sidewalk around the circle is still cluttered with palettes of bricks and other building supplies, but it is now navigable for the most part. “The sidewalks have been done for a while, and they turned out well,” said an eight-year resident of the Towers on the Park building. “The streets used to go straight through the circle, but with the roundabout it’s much more navigable for pedestrians.”

But the installation of bigger sidewalks in front of the gas station has meant that pedestrians often block the station’s entrances. “People on the street are always clogging the station now,” Kaba said.

The number of lanes in the circle has been a matter of contention. Before construction started, the Towers’ managers lobbied the city to reduce the number of lanes from three to two, to make easier foot access to the plaza in the center. But this plan never materialized—a good thing according to Aquah Beale, a Towers resident since 1988, who noted that when construction held up one lane, traffic was a nightmare.

Now that there are again three lanes, traffic is less choked, but some drivers still complain. “The circle really slows us up,” taxi driver Mark Jakubczak said. “It takes me five minutes to make a left turn there now.”

Many community members previously expressed fears that the city was trying to spruce up the area to heighten property values and make the neighborhood more upscale. But fears of gentrification seem to have been allayed. “I don’t think it [the circle] is going to make much of a difference for people who are already here,” said Lois Trooes, a five-year resident of the Towers. “I’m sure everything will be prettier, but I don’t see there being that much of a [socioeconomic] change.”

For neighborhood fixture Café Amrita, formerly the Saurin Park Café, that seems to be just the case. Owner Robert Song said he has applied for a patio license, and looks forward to having outdoor seating when the construction is finished. Yet while he is trying to dress up his eatery, Songsaid the “community vibe” that has existed in the area will continue to grow.

In the end, residents mostly seemed anxious to see how the circle would look. “There are a lot of elements that lead to gentrification,” Beale said. “And this isn’t necessarily one of them.”

zack.hoopes@columbiaspectator.com