It's 8:30 a.m., Lexington Avenue at 125th Street in Harlem is slowly filling with daily commuters. People rush through the small crowd to catch their bus/train to work. Parents with young children walk, dodging commuters from Metro North who rush to avoid panhandlers and speeding taxis. The teenagers laugh and point to the many drunk and drugged individuals lying on the sidewalk or walking as if it were a scene from the living dead. There are a lot of middle-aged and older men randomly talking to each other or each other. Young hooded men with anxious looks and African braiders mingle to pick up customers. Used needles lay in corners and crevices of the sidewalk. There is trash strewn around as shopkeepers work feverishly trying to maintain the area in front of their stores. The street and sidewalk are filled with trash and the smell of urine invades your senses if you stand on the corner of a building for too long. If I close my eyes and open them again, I will believe that I am somewhere other than one of the richest cities in the world. It's Harlem every morning. Historically, Harlem is best known as an important African-American residential, cultural, and commercial center. Harlem is experiencing a renaissance as the gentrification of Harlem is in full swing. There was a time when seeing a white face in Harlem next to a European tourist was an event. Today, the population is becoming more and more diverse as abandoned buildings are transformed into C0-Ops and tree-lined streets are beautified by the minute. Unfortunately, this neighborhood has somehow avoided the growth of Harlem. The faces lining these streets are generally African American and Hispanic. These individuals are predominantly male...... middle of paper...... rbs who tend to give money more freely to the local beggar so that he can leave them alone. There is a heavy police presence, but the feeling among residents is that they either don't care or look the other way because they are almost impervious to the illegal activities taking place there. Even before making my observations and writing this article, this area was still abandoned. me with mixed emotions. On the one hand, I feel sorry for those people who are standing or walking around because they seem to have nowhere to go. I sometimes feel bad because my instinctive reaction to men staggering around and begging for money is “disdain and anger.” I think the mere fact that this field exists reflects poorly on society. This highlights the public health issues that major cities, particularly New York, must address when it comes to homelessness, as well as the ever-growing drug problem..