NEW YORK – Former President Bill Clinton may be setting up shop in Harlem. The move would be a public relations boon for Harlem, which had fallen on tough times but in recent years has experienced an economic resurgence replete with refurbished turn-of-the-century brownstones, new restaurants and nightclubs, national chains such as Starbuck’s and tourists who come by the busload.
“I feel at home. Because of the empowerment zone, because of what the people are doing here, because they’ve made me feel so welcome here today, and because this is what my presidency was about,” Clinton said. “It’s a lot of what I want to do in my post-presidential years — bringing economic opportunity to people and places who don’t have it here at home and around the world, and bringing people of different races and religions and backgrounds together.”
Clinton, who has always had strong support among black voters, said that after the controversy over the high cost to taxpayers of a lease in Midtown, he “immediately thought” of pursuing space in Harlem, where his administration created a federal empowerment zone that helped spur the commercial renaissance it now enjoys.
He recalled that as a 22-year-old student flying into New York from Oxford University, he used to take the subway to Harlem and stroll along 125th Street. When people asked what he was doing in the mostly black neighborhood, he’d say, “I don’t know. I just liked it.”
The former president also said, “I called Hillary and I asked my senator first how she would feel about me coming to Harlem, and she loved it.” Clinton said he also consulted Rep. Charles Rangel, a Harlem Democrat, and his friend, Washington lawyer Vernon Jordan. However there is one catch. The administration of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani — who initially ran for Senate against Hillary Rodham Clinton — already has a lock on the lease.
The 14-story uptown space would cost about $500,000 less in annual rent than the offices on 57th street.
