impound lot

After the postponement of a City Council subcommittee vote Wednesday on the proposed development of a 12-story residential building on Frederick Douglass Boulevard, Harlem residents and neighborhood groups vowed to continue fighting the plan, arguing that it has no real benefits for the local community.

Out on Pier 76, behind the Jacob Javits Center, where 38th Street hits the West Side Highway, stands a vast gray garage with tin-ridged doors. A rickety ramp winds up to a wooden door frame, which leads into a small, windowless room with concrete floors, dim fluorescent lights, and a large population of gnats.