“You have to wait for the bus just to go to the store.”

-Ward’s Island Resident (quoted in “Exiles in New York City”)

There are currently no essential services available to Ward’s Island’s over 1,000 residents, who have to travel by bus to East Harlem to purchase groceries, toiletries, and medications. We propose that a minimum of 3 essential services be provided on the ground floors of newly constructed structures: a grocery store, a pharmacy, and an inexpensive diner. These services would also benefit the island’s many daily and weekend park visitors, who have no place available to buy food or other items. Reduced rents from non-profit housing providers could be set to facilitate reasonable grocery and pharmacy prices that would help maintain affordability for the island’s low-income residents.

Photo of area in front of Manhattan Psychiatric Center. (Photo by Theo Frye Yanos)

A rendering of the same area with the fence removed and new mixed-use housing (Gemini).