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AMBIX1: Fade in - sound from the construction site
N1: At the corner of 127th Street and Second Avenue, a bulldozer is clearing away debris to make room for the new auto mall parking lot.
AMBIX2: Sound of falling rocks
N2: Behind the bulldozer other workers are cleaning the glass of the future showroom. The Harlem Auto mall is a three story building that stretches nearly the full block. When it's done, it will be the largest auto sales and service center in Manhattan. And, the first located above 60th street in more than four decades.
Sales Manager Louis Alvarez, who lives only a few blocks away, cannot hide is excitement about what is happening in his neighborhood.
AX1 - Louis Alvarez1 (03): Everybody heard of Harlem being bad, and it actually grown up so drastically that now with the media attention that this is going to get, people will realize that East Harlem has changed and it is actually a great place to live, to buy and hang out.
N3: The Harlem Auto Mall is being developed by Potamkin, one of the biggest auto dealers in New York, and General Motors. They bought the property from the City with the help of 21 million dollars worth of tax-exempt bonds earmarked to develop upper manhattan. The money comes with a catch: of the 250 new jobs the auto mall will create, at least 35 percent have to come from Harlem. Those jobs will mean a lot in a neighborhood with twice the unemployment as of the rest of Manhattan.
But the community has heard promises like this before. One example just a few blocks away is the East Harlem Pathmark. When it was built six years ago, the developers had a similar requirement. But, they didn't hire locally and the city did little to intervene.
Community Board District Manager Javier Llano, says this time the neighborhood is ready to fight.
AX3 - Javier Llano: If this doesn't happen we are gonna do rallies and we are gonna make sure that they are all accountable, not only the developers but the NYC development corporation and the upper manhattan empowerment zone. The community desperately need those jobs.
But General Motors manager in the mall, Othis Thornton, says the new auto mall will in fact exceed the quota, because they've already got more than 600 applications from Harlem residents.
AX4 - Thornton: We need to show that the community can do it. There is good people right there in the community that's from East Harlem and Harlem. That's already in the car business.
To attract and select local employees, GM has joined with City College to train locals even before they apply for a position. Sales Manager Louis Alvarez is personally committed to the project's success.
AX5 - Alvarez2 (05-11-12): If it fails we are the one to blame, because we allowed it to fail. And particularly I fail, and I don't want to fail, so I want to make sure that this gets off the ground on a good shape.
The Auto Mall will open November 14th. New interviews for the jobs started yesterday. GM hopes to finish hiring by the end of the month.
Alessandro Rampietti, Columbia Radio News.