The Rent Is Too Damn High & What You Can Do About It | Uptown Arts, Quality of Life & Community Power | Black & Blanco

Another Sunday, another dose of real talk from Uptown. In this episode 
of Black & Blanco Uptown Voices, Led Black and Octavio Blanco cover 
everything happening on the ground in Washington Heights, Inwood, Harlem, 
and the South Bronx — from the fight to keep rents frozen, to the arts 
events you need to know about, to the quality of life battles playing out 
on the streets of Northern Manhattan.

This is what community media looks like. Unfiltered. Hyper-local. And 
always Uptown.

🏠 THE RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH — ACT NOW
The NYC Rent Guidelines Board is holding public hearings and a rent freeze 
is on the table. Register to testify or volunteer to canvass your neighbors.
👉 rentguidelinesboard.cityofnewyork.us | organize.nyc.gov

🎨 UPTOWN ARTS STROLL KICKOFF — JUNE 1ST
Led and Octavio recap their live anniversary episode from inside the Sorolla 
Gallery at the Hispanic Society. The Uptown Arts Stroll kicks off June 1st 
at the Audubon Terrace — plus their second annual unofficial after party 
at Hilltop Ale House.

🖼️ NOMA & THE ARTS ECOSYSTEM
Adrian Miranda's screenwriting & acting workshops at NOMA Studios, the 
Emmett Cohen jazz event at Harlem School of the Arts, the America the 
Beautiful exhibition opening June 5th, and Art in the Garden at the Ring 
Garden on Dyckman (submissions close May 31st).

📸 FREE HEADSHOTS — INVEST IN YOUR BRAND
West Harlem Arts Alliance, NOMA, OLA & Corazón are offering pro headshot 
sessions June 13th at NOMA Studios for $50. A game changer for any creator 
or entrepreneur.

💰 WEST HARLEM DC GRANTS — $5K TO $30K
Community Benefits Grants available for 501(c)(3) organizations serving 
West Harlem. Deadline: June 5th. 👉 westharlemdc.org

🚮 QUALITY OF LIFE: GARBAGE, POOP & THE DRUG CRISIS
Led and Octavio get real about the open air drug corridor in the 180s, 
the need for more trash cans, and why this needs a multi-agency response.

🌉 TRANS-MANHATTAN EXPRESSWAY: CONCRETE IS FALLING
A dash cam video went viral after concrete fell from the ceiling of the 
expressway. An infrastructure alarm that needs urgent attention.

🏀 KNICKS CONFERENCE FINALS
The Knicks are in it and Led is fired up. Shoutout to Baka Backpages 
pop-up at 147 Orchard Street for the merch.

🏘️ COMMUNITY BOARD 12 & THE DOLPHIN PARK VICTORY
How community organizing pushed the Port Authority to finally reopen 
Dolphin Park after a decade of it sitting locked and empty.

⏱️ CHAPTERS

00:00 The Rent Is Too Damn High — Register Now
01:12 Welcome & Summer Vibes in the Heights
02:05 Street Life, Safety & the Coming Summer
03:17 Trans-Manhattan Expressway: Concrete Is Falling
05:28 Fort Washington Corridor & the Drug Crisis
08:32 Live at the Hispanic Society: Anniversary Episode Recap
10:12 Inside the Sorolla Gallery — What Makes It Special
13:10 The History of the Hispanic Society & Samuel Huntington
15:08 Uptown Arts Stroll Kickoff June 1st & the After Party
16:11 Support Uptown Voices: Tax-Deductible Contributions
18:50 Why This Work Matters: Community, Connection & Growth
19:03 NOMA: The Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance Deep Dive
22:36 Emmett Cohen Jazz & Harlem School of the Arts
23:19 Art in the Garden — Submissions Open Until May 31st
25:01 Think Globally, Act Locally: The Uptown Philosophy
27:35 The Battle for Uptown — Why Hyper-Local Media Matters
29:21 West Harlem Arts Alliance: Headshots, Walking Tours & More
32:13 Free Walking Tours of West Harlem with John Reddick
33:29 Rent Guidelines Board: How to Make Your Voice Heard
36:33 How to Register & Testify at the Public Hearings
42:14 West Harlem DC Grants ($5K–$30K) — Apply by June 5th
44:06 Pick Up Your Dog Poop — A Community Call to Action
45:06 City Council's Trash Bag Bill & the Garbage Crisis
47:25 Accountability: Us AND the City Need to Do Better
50:12 The Drug Corridor, Blight & a Multi-Agency Response
51:35 Carmen De La Rosa & the Uptown People's Project
52:30 Community Board 12 & the Dolphin Park Victory
58:16 Why the Community Board Is Your Most Underrated Tool
59:24 Knicks Conference Finals & Baka Backpages Pop-Up
01:01:00 Shoutouts & Closing

🎙️ The Uptown Collective documents the culture, community, and voices 
that make Northern Manhattan one of the most extraordinary places in 
the world.

▶️ SUBSCRIBE: https://youtube.com/@uptowncollective?si=68xPv3IIxHrhJ2BQ
🔔 Hit the bell. Like. Share. It costs nothing and means everything.

❤️ SUPPORT UPTOWN VOICES — TAX DEDUCTIBLE
The Uptown Collective Podcast is a fiscally sponsored project of the 
Maysles Documentary Center — your contribution is 100% tax-deductible.
👉 Donate: https://bit.ly/4eddiWT


Spread love — it's the Uptown way. 💙

Creators and Guests

Host

Led Black

Host

Octavio Blanco

What is Uptown Voices?

Uptown Voices tells the stories of unsung heroes who are transforming New York City's Uptown neighborhoods from Washington Heights to Inwood to Harlem to the South Bronx. Each episode profiles an individual or organization making a positive difference. These social entrepreneurs, artists, and community leaders are navigating critical issues of affordability, public safety, and mental health. Through conversations rooted in journalistic integrity and genuine community ties, this podcast challenges negative narratives and celebrates the true spirit of the vibrant neighborhoods thriving north of Central Park.

Each episode features extended interviews in which subjects tell their stories in their own words. The series examines the interconnected challenges facing Uptown communities—gentrification pressures, resource scarcity, systemic inequities—while simultaneously showcasing the creativity and collective power emerging in response. While uplifting the people shaping Uptown’s future, the podcast holds local elected officials accountable for the promises they make. During this pivotal time, Uptown Voices is creating a unique audiovisual archive.

Uptown Voices is a fiscally sponsored project of the Maysles Documentary Center. Make a tax-deductible contribution to our program here: https://bit.ly/4eddiWT

Octavio Blanco (00:00)
the rent is too damn high, The rent is too damn high. And right now you actually you as an individual can make your voice be heard about how the rent is affecting your life,

if we as ⁓ a community can ⁓ make our own voices heard, the rent guidelines board uses that information to determine exactly how much they're going to raise the rent for. So I recommend right now ⁓ people go to ⁓ this website called rent guidelines board.

dot city of New York dot US. I'm going to share my screen ⁓ so that you guys can see it. This is the website that people need to go to

Led Black (01:12)
What up, what up, what up, what up everyone? It's Lab Black and my brother Octavio Blanco for another episode of Black and Blanco Uptown Voices. Octavio, my brother, live, live, all the way live.

Octavio Blanco (01:18)
What?

Live.

All the way live welcome, welcome to our show. Hopefully everybody's just waking up. I know waking up early on a Sunday morning is tough. But it's a beautiful day. It's gonna be hot today. It's gonna be hot today.

Led Black (01:39)
but it's a beautiful day. It's 77 right now.

It's going up to like 80 or something like that. Like it's going to be beautiful. it's funny you say that, right? But I already feel like this is going to be weird, right? And I'm sure, if you lived here in the Heights or any hood long enough, you get in tuned with the frequency. You know what mean? So I feel already like the summer is starting to feel a little too lit already, just from my window.

Octavio Blanco (02:00)
Yeah, yeah,

Led Black (02:05)
Last night was a little chaotic. think people feel the summer and they want to get out. So just cautioning, that's beautiful, but let's keep it on the raps. But regardless of all that, make sure you subscribe to the podcast, to the YouTube channel, tell your people about it, like, know what mean? Like word of mouth helps out a lot. So please show us that love, y'all, all right?

Octavio Blanco (02:12)
Hahaha

Yeah, yeah, you know, I could I could I know it was lit over here on my end of the block too, because I look out the window sometimes and I can always see I can always see the remnants of the night before on the sidewalk when I look out the window. So sometimes I look out the window and I see that it's like spotless and clean. And then sometimes I look out the window and there's like

bottles of Tancoray, bottles of tequila, know, you know, big bags of trash, food. And it's like, oh, somebody was, somebody was thrown down over here because this little corner where I'm at, it can, it can be a party sometimes. It can be a party sometimes. You don't want to know the things that I've seen out.

Led Black (02:54)
Mm-hmm.

Now you, yeah, cause you're

in a bad block actually because there's a back block. And I think that, you know, yeah, I, know, but I...

Octavio Blanco (03:10)
Yeah. You don't

wanna know the things I've seen out my window.

Led Black (03:17)
No, seriously, they're not. And it's crazy, because I'm on Fort Walsh, so I'm looking on Fort Walsh. So it's really wild, like what I hear, because I'm facing, even though you kind of face in the back of everything, and you're right, because you're in the back, a lot of stuff happens. But when you're in the front, you hear it all, you see it all, know, like last night, I don't know if you remember, you know this earlier this week, there was a big incident in the Manhattan trans expressway, right? The trans Manhattan expressway that's right underneath the bridge apartments.

Octavio Blanco (03:23)
Yeah.

Yeah.

⁓ yeah, yeah,

Led Black (03:45)
Yeah, so there's been increased traffic, which is, you know.

Octavio Blanco (03:45)
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The concrete, the concrete falling down. mean, crazy. Concrete is...

Led Black (03:50)
Yeah. And it happened like a few

weeks ago. It happened a few weeks ago as well. And I remember last year, yeah, I remember last year, I remember posting something on social that got a lot of traction because someone took pictures of how bad it looks. When you're driving there, it looks pretty fucking bad. you know what mean? So I think it's something that needs to be really looked at.

Octavio Blanco (03:55)
It happened twice.

you know what it was? Well, the reason that it got so much attention was somebody had a dash cam video on their car and they were just driving and a piece of concrete just fell from the ceiling right in front of his car. Thank God it didn't fall on his car and through his windshield. But he caught it all on his on his dash cam and then he couldn't avoid the concrete. He just ran it over and it damaged his car. And that made

Led Black (04:37)
Lucky he wasn't hurt worse though.

Octavio Blanco (04:39)
Yeah, that made the rounds on on social media. And then it made the rounds on television. And then like, I don't know if you noticed, but there were people on social like on Facebook, why are there helicopters flying? Why is a news chopper flying around and around, you know, ⁓ above Washington Heights and above the buildings and they were they were flying. Because that was the that's the that's the traffic copter. And they were telling people like, it's closed. You're the the

lower level of the bridge is closed. So yeah, there's a lot of traffic on Fort Washington. And then there's a lot of loud, loud cars, loud music, you must deal with a lot of that. And not to mention just like the regular traffic sounds like the bus that goes by and everything like the trucks that go by. There's a lot, there's a lot that goes by in front of in front of Fort Washington. So

Led Black (05:28)
Yeah, and again, I know I keep saying this, but when I was a kid, Fort Wash was the promised land. You make it a Fort Wash, you're doing something. And what I've noticed now, alongside Fort Wash, a good chunk of Fort Wash has become ⁓ like a clinic corridor for like, you know, and that's great, right? mean, that's fine. But what ends up happening, because these clinics usually have their own private entrance, this ends up becoming like where they live.

Octavio Blanco (05:45)
Yes.

Yep.

Led Black (05:56)
Right? So, know, like, because it's like, it's a little stoop. So like right now, you know, it's like people sleeping there, living there, you know, ⁓ and it's really problematic, you know? And again, it's one those things that it needs a multi-agency kind of response. And it's, but it's getting, as the summer begins, you know, in earnest, you know, you're starting to feel it, you know what mean? And I think it needs to be addressed. For sure.

Octavio Blanco (06:21)
Well,

yeah, you know, one of the things I noticed like on your block is like those clinics, those doctors offices, they're just regular doctors offices. But what I think it's like inside is small. And so a lot of times there's like a long line of people like just waiting to be seen or waiting to get in. And then also, there's like the the van that picks up people to take them there's like this like shuttle van for one of the buildings in Fort in Fort Lee.

Led Black (06:37)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm, yeah, that's it.

Octavio Blanco (06:51)
and it picks up

people right on the corner there. And so there's always like a line of people waiting for the van. And then not only that, but then there's people who just pick up people across the bridge. And that's where they pick up. So there's just like a lot happening on that corner all the time. No, I know, I know.

Led Black (07:07)
I'm fine with those though. I don't care. mean, that's okay though. There's

nothing wrong with those things. Like those are regular things. It's the drug addicts that are the problem, right? Like that traffic is traffic. Yeah, I mean, I don't really care about those people because at night they're not really there, right? It's the drug addicts. That's the main problem we were confronting. mean, that's, it's blight.

Octavio Blanco (07:13)
Yeah. yeah.

yeah, yeah. That's the that's the that's the big issue. So we all I

I see what you're saying. I see what you're saying is what you're saying is, there's these clinics, right? And then when they close, that's where the people that's where the people go. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Led Black (07:34)
Mm-hmm. When they close, exactly. Yeah, that's when it becomes their apartment. It becomes a little studio apartment, right? So it's like, and they

have parties, right? So it's like last night I'm watching this and it's wild. It's noisy and drug-fueled, right? And then you wake up and then everyone's knocked out in front of the building, right? Because ever since that place was blown off between what I call the garden of unearthly delights.

on 179th between Fort Wash and Broadway. Once they boarded that up, it's moved around the corner to Fort Wash. But again, it's something that needs to be addressed because we're gonna end up being like Kensington in Philly, where it's just open air drug use and it's just human blight everywhere. And that's not good for our children to see, man. So whatever we gotta get into, let's get into good things. So let's talk about some things happening. Noma, we did a thing this week. We did a thing this week, my brother.

Octavio Blanco (08:02)
Yeah, that's

Isn't that?

That's right.

Was that this week? my God. felt like it's felt like three weeks ago, but yeah, it was this week. It was this week.

Led Black (08:32)
We did a thing.

Yeah, so this Tuesday,

May 12th, we celebrated our anniversary podcast episode with a live version directly from the Sorolla Gallery within the Hispanic society. Once again, with Neria Leyva Gutierrez and Martin Collins to kick off the uptown nostril. It was a beautiful encounter, man. I think we did a shout out to Eric, what's his last name, Eric what?

Octavio Blanco (08:58)
Eric Ortiz.

Led Black (09:00)
Eric Ortiz who did his thing, you know, and he came through and was gonna be handing us the product soon. I actually ran into him by Manhattan storage on Dyckman. Yeah, yeah. To be honest, like I was parking in and he was parking out and he was there already and he did a thing with his car and then I kinda like cut him off. Cause I was like, my mind like, what are you doing? And then afterwards happened to be him.

Octavio Blanco (09:03)
Yeah.

for real?

Led Black (09:28)
And he like, hey, what'd do? like, ⁓ shit, what's up? But it was his fault. It was all his fault. ⁓ He tried to turn his car all stupid. But anyway, but he did a great job though. Shout out to him. But when does that episode drop, man? Talk to me.

Octavio Blanco (09:32)
Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,

I

Yeah, so that episode is being edited now and by Eric and it drops on Tuesday the 27th. I'm gonna double check that on my calendar. ⁓ Tuesday the 26th ⁓ actually is the Tuesday the 26th is the exact day that it drops. Yeah, you know, that was that's one of the so let's just like.

Led Black (10:00)
Tuesday the 26th.

Octavio Blanco (10:12)
set the scene, you know, we usually do our podcasts this way, you know, virtual leads in his house, I'm in my house, and we talk about issues, we just chop it up, we have interesting people to talk to. ⁓ But this time, we did something a little bit different, a little bit more, more production value around it. And it's important that we do that. ⁓ And so we were lucky enough. Yeah. Tell me.

Led Black (10:37)
I got, hold on, hold on, I got a fancy word for it. In situ, right? Is

that how pronounce it? In situ? How do you pronounce it? Ah, look at that. I'm hitting you with the SAT words there. Go ahead, go ahead and continue. My brother, my bad.

Octavio Blanco (10:43)
In situ, yes, in situ.

is ⁓

SAT verbal was my strength. ⁓ Yeah, in situ, we were we were there we were we were invited. So every so now it's going to be hopefully an annual thing where we interview Nerea and Noma to kick off the Uptown Arts Troll which is an incredible event. And this year Uptown Arts Noma and the Hispanic Society are teaming up. And so

Led Black (10:54)
Hehehehe

Octavio Blanco (11:17)
they're gonna be kicking off the art stroll on the terrace at the Hispanic Society, which is like an incredible place if you haven't been really, it's literally like if you're like, say you're working from home and you wanna get out and do some work but not be in your house, but be somewhere where it's quiet and nice, you can just go there. They've got tables outside and you can set up your laptop, there's wifi and you can do work from there. It's really, really cool.

We were invited, so we interviewed Nerea and Martin Collins about the Uptown Arts Show. And Nerea had a great idea. She said, well, why don't we do it at the Hispanic Society, since that's where we're going to be kicking it off. And of course, we said yes, because we want to do it. And so we reached out to Hispanic Society. Hispanic Society invited us in, and not just to the terrace, which would be awesome, and not just until

Led Black (11:53)
of another man on Twitter.

Octavio Blanco (12:16)
the library which would also be very very cool but into the Sorolla gallery which again you got to check it out it's hard to describe because it's kind of larger than life you know but it's an incredible an incredible space ⁓ with like 15 foot high panels depicting 12 it's 12 foot 12 foot high panels depicting life in Spain yeah ⁓

Led Black (12:26)
Yeah.

Yeah, 12 foot is 12 foot 12 for high. Yeah, and then 200 feet wide. Yeah.

Octavio Blanco (12:41)
depicting life in Spain in the late 1800s, I believe is when it was. No.

Led Black (12:45)
No, so basically, let me me

let me correct you. So basically, they're they were they were they were they were drawn, painted by Sorolla from 1912 to 1919 and actually had a great conversation with someone with the Hispanic society. the gallery, like he says, this grand gallery, right, where it has Sorolla's vision of Spain. And it's basically 14.

Octavio Blanco (12:55)
Mm-hmm.

Led Black (13:10)
murals that are 12 feet high, altogether 200 feet wide. It takes over the whole room. Right. And then what's interesting is they were commissioned by Samuel Huntington, who started the Hispanic society. Right. What's bizarre. I always wonder with Huntington, like, why did he start the Hispanic society? Like, yeah, that's not a Spanish name, but, know, I thought maybe, you know, blue bloods are blue bloods. They have different names. It turns out he was just an heir to a fortune. Right. Who was he was very interested in Spanish art.

Octavio Blanco (13:22)
Hmm

Led Black (13:39)
Right. So he went to Spain and bought tons of Spanish art, right. Some of the best art. And then he bought those tracts of land that are currently where the Hispanic society is situated. Right. So he bought the land and this was his own commission and the vision of Spain, which is housed in the Sorority Gallery, traveled the world already. Right. So for us to be in there was was really an honor. And again, it's to kick the kickoff for the Uptown Art Show this year is at the Hispanic society.

on Monday, June 1st, from six to 8.30 p.m. at the Hispanic Society Museum and Library, like he said, at the Audubon Terrace. So make sure you come out. And I have to say shout out to my brother, John Omen, because him and I are throwing our second annual unofficial, very unofficial Uptown Astro after party. It's called Don't They Start It After, and that's after one of my favorite albums of this year by Rawayana. So please come out after the Uptown Astro. So we're gonna have a good time.

at the Hispanic Society, Audubon terms, we're gonna get our drink on. My brother Darryl handles the wine there, his company, we have a little bit of food, a little bit of wine, and then we're gonna enjoy the honorees, we're gonna honor the people doing the great things in our community. And then after we're going to AFTES, the AFTES are gonna be at Hilltop, what is the name now? I'm saying the name of the pharmacy, hold on. Let get you the actual name of the place. Ale House, right? Ale Top Ale House. Yeah, then, exactly. So we're gonna be there afterwards.

Octavio Blanco (14:59)
No, Hilltop, I think it's called Hilltop, Hilltop Ale House. Yeah, Hilltop Ale House.

Led Black (15:08)
and it's gonna be a great night. So make sure you pull up.

Octavio Blanco (15:11)
Yeah, I'm definitely going to be there. But yeah, so what was cool also about the about the interview is that we had a a little live audience, you know, ⁓ of people who who both people from the museum and people who just heard about it through what we've been talking about and who actually came. So we had like a handful of people there. My Aunt Mary came showing support. A lot of folks, a lot of folks were I wouldn't say a lot of folks, but there was a good amount of folks there.

So it was a nice intimate thing and they got to learn about about.

what Noma is, why it's important and what its plans are for the future, and also some of the big accomplishments that it's made. So that was a really cool thing. And we're hoping to do ⁓ something similar on ⁓ maybe a quarterly basis. It's going to be something that we try to do more often as far as long as, you know, funds allow us to these these things aren't free. So unfortunately, like we you know, we need to

Led Black (15:51)
Yeah.

Octavio Blanco (16:11)
We need to do it with, we need ⁓ help. in order to do it, in order to help, if you wanna help, I'm gonna put it up on the screen right now. We do have a ⁓ tax deductible. ⁓

We are a ⁓ fiscally sponsored project by the Maisel's Documentary Center. The Documentary Center is sponsoring Uptown Voices. And so what fiscally sponsored means is that we can take tax deductible contributions to help support the things that we're trying to do. So we're trying to do more of these.

on location ⁓ events. We're trying to do more of these things and these things are not free and up till now, you know, we're doing what we can to fund it ourselves, but we definitely could help, could use the help of our audience. So, you know, I'll put it up one more time. If you are... ⁓

if you have it in your your in your wallet and you like the work that we do in terms of doing these interviews of amazing folks all over uptown and demonstrating just like the good work that people are doing the positive vibes of this community yeah we talk about the issues yeah we know that it's not perfect but it's it's a it's a wonderful place to live with an incredible community and i gotta tell you that one of the greatest things that has happened

in this year that I've been doing this with you, Led, is something that I've always wanted. You know, I've always been striving for something sort of bigger than myself. And little by little, I do feel like by the work that we're doing here, I'm learning more about my own community uptown and not only learning more about the community, but becoming involved in the community and just feeling the love of this community, which is...

Sometimes it's if you're not involved if you're not like really Taking the time and energy to to give back in some sort of way You can feel a little disconnected from the community But this work that we've been doing together I think this work that you've been doing for I don't know for 16 years and and longer, you know Because I'm sure that that even before you had an uptown collective you were like involved in in things It really does

bring to life to me what this community is about, how this community sticks together, and also the challenges that we confront together. And in doing so together, that's also, like I said, it's not a perfect place. But at the same time, when we are rising to the challenge together,

Led Black (18:50)
Mm.

Octavio Blanco (19:01)
We get to know each other and we see each other on the street and we say hey and we stop we have a conversation and we meet other people so yeah it's really wonderful and this and this interview that's gonna be dropping on the 26th you know I'm very excited about it it's our second annual and it's gonna be like the kickoff to our I guess what would be our second season if we go on by years this would be like our second year of doing this so it's it's really good stuff

Led Black (19:03)
Yeah.

Yeah.

And I want to also say why, you know, who, why we began this and why our anniversary is with Noma, the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, right? Because Noma does so much important work and I'll be, you know, straightforward. I'm the social media manager for Noma, But it really does do important work. And I think that's why it's so important to support Noma and to support the Uptown Art Show because it is a month long.

celebration of the arts, but what makes Noma great is that Noma has always been about the spirit of collaboration, right? So if you have an event and you know, it's too late now, but if you got in by May 1st, it'll be in the print of God. You can still get it on the website. Just go to nomanyc.org and you can put your events on their calendar so you get more visibility. That's why I always recommend that you become a member of Noma. So for $50, you get all these privileges. If you're a student, it's $25. So it's like, not only are you helping the arts and the artists,

in the community, but you also get access to have like studios, where you could put on events, you could practice, know, for any dance, whatever you need to do. There's, I think, four really awesome studios that you only have access to, if you remember. And some of these are photography studios, right, where the equipment is there. You just gotta bring your camera, right? So this is what I'm saying. They're doing the real heavy lifting of work. And the Noma Gallery and the Noma Studios,

are right there within the United Palace on 175th and Broadway, another important institution. So shout out to Noma, like heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy, because they are so important and they're really helping the art in our community. And to that sense, right, so let's get to like what I mean by this, right? So for example, another friend of ours, of the Uptown Voices, of Uptown Collective, of Noma, Adrian Miranda, who's been on this show previously of Gross Anatomy Studios, he has

two classes tomorrow, right? And they're in the Noma studios, right? So this is what I'm talking about. This is what Noma did it, right? And then on their newsletter, they're putting a spotlight on him, right? On the two events that he's doing tomorrow. And that's what I'm talking about. That's how we win when we look out for each other, when we collaborate. When we say, I got this and you got this. We may not have money, we may not have this, but we can make it work. So let's go really quickly over the two classes he's doing tomorrow. So he has an intro to screenwriting.

It's a one hour beginner friendly screenwriting workshop, right? No experience required, right? That's tomorrow, Monday, May 18th from six to 7 p.m. at Noma Studios at once.

an intro to acting, a one hour beginner friendly acting workshop from at the same place from seven to eight, right? So if you wanna do one or you wanna do the other, I think they're not even that expensive, right? So look it up, go to the Uptown Collective, go to Noma and check it out, right? Because this is what it's about, right? You wanna be a screenwriter, you wanna act, go, there's people in your community doing these things. And that's what makes Noma so great. And before we go any further, just gotta plug in a few more Noma things, I'm sorry, but.

Octavio Blanco (22:36)
Yeah, no, go do it.

Led Black (22:36)
There's a few normal things that are happening right now, are

coming this week. So on Tuesday, is it Tuesday 19th? Am I correct on that assessment? Yup, yup, Tuesday. So on Tuesday.

Octavio Blanco (22:44)
Let me see, Tuesday, the 19th, yeah, Tuesday, yep.

Led Black (22:49)
I seen him rock out in person several times. Emmett Cohen is the ultimate truth. So you wanna make sure, you go there, I think it's $20 for tickets and it's to benefit the Harlem School of the Arts. It's an event you must attend. It is this Tuesday. You want culture, you want community, you want jazz, Harlem School of the Arts. And then one last thing is also on, once the All Time Stroke kicks off June 1st on

Octavio Blanco (23:01)
Yep.

Led Black (23:19)
on the 5th of June, it's gonna be the opening reception for America the Beautiful. So America the Beautiful with a question mark at the end. And we get to talk about that exhibit in the upcoming ⁓ Noma edition of Uptown Voices. But yeah, man, I think that's about it. I think there's one more, and there's one more deadline submission ⁓ for Art in the Garden. For those that know.

Art in the Garden is an art exhibit at the Ring Garden on Dykman on the intersection of Broadway and Dykman Street. It's curated by my brother, Mandana. I think we need to have Art Mandana here. He was an honoree with me last year at Noma. So he's doing the submissions, but they're taking visual artists, painters, sculptors, poets, singers, dancers, photographers. The submission deadline is May 31st. To be considered, please email artinthegardenshowatgmail.com.

Octavio Blanco (23:42)
yeah, yeah.

We're working on it, Len. We're working on it.

Led Black (24:08)
All right. then we'll go to our website, Uptown Collective, go to Noma NYC, and we have all their submission information on that. And Octavio, thank you for bearing with me while I got those things out.

Octavio Blanco (24:20)
No, man, that's important stuff. And yes, our man, Dan, me and him have been chatting on on Instagram, we're going to try to get him on here. ⁓ ASAP. He's busy with this, ⁓ with this curation for art in the in the garden. And but he's like, an incredible uptown artist. He's a, you know, you see his his art on walls all over all over uptown. ⁓ And he's been

Led Black (24:46)
Otavia, I can't hear you, brother.

Octavio Blanco (24:48)
⁓ you can't hear me.

Led Black (24:50)
Let me just try my other headphones. I don't think it's my headphones, but let's see. Keep talking though.

Octavio Blanco (24:52)
Okay, let's see if that's,

yeah, Artman Dan, he's been, okay, good, good.

Led Black (24:58)
I hear you ⁓

Octavio Blanco (25:01)
Artman Dan, he's been doing this thing for years. He's ⁓ born in Britain, I don't know if he was born, but definitely an uptown OG. ⁓ You can see his artwork all over uptown on walls everywhere. And he often like collaborates with institutions and with with people, stores, you know, and really does his thing. And ⁓ I want to get his story. I want to know about how somebody like Artman Dan, you know,

gets to the levels that he's gotten to Uptown. I think that one of the things that we talk about is our hyper local focus of Uptown. A lot of it is focused on Washington Heights, but we are also really, really interested in trying.

Led Black (25:49)
We're everybody, we're everything, we're everything,

we're everything, we're everything, we're everything, we're not just Watch Heights. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, we just, yes, Inwood, all that, Dyckman City, everywhere.

Octavio Blanco (25:53)
we're everything we're we're not just Washington Heights. We are South Bronx. We are Harlem. We are Inwood. So so every

yeah, all that stuff. So we're we're we're all over uptown. And we're going to be, you know, doing more of of of that and bringing you as much of of uptown as we can. But one of the things that I what I was trying to get to is that, you know, ⁓ sometimes people want to

They want to look, they want to be national and they want to be international and they want to be global.

And I'm not against that at all. That's I think a great a great sort of goal to have. But sometimes the way you get there is by being strong where you're from. You know what saying? Like being strong in your community and strengthening your community and making sure that your community is behind you and making sure that you have ⁓ that buy in from your own community. That gives you the strength to then, you know,

Led Black (26:42)
Mm-hmm.

Octavio Blanco (26:58)
leapfrog to whatever global like view you might you might ⁓ want to have I think I think that one of what I'm trying to say is it's so important for everybody to be trying to look inwardly at your own neighborhood and at your own community and help you know it's that old it's that old saying think locally or I think globally act locally you know that yeah

Led Black (27:25)
Act low. Yeah, think low, low. Yeah, man.

Octavio Blanco (27:28)
think globally, act locally. I think that's like one of the mantras that I want to have. you know, ⁓ it's good. Go ahead.

Led Black (27:35)
Yeah.

Yeah, and you know, to that point,

Yeah, to that point, you're so right, because again, I'm a global thinker, right? I'm a Dominican American, right? I have aspirations to live here and live in DR at some point in my life. So globally is amazing, but you have to focus on what's at hand, what's yours too, right? Because especially right now, that battle...

for control of uptown Manhattan and the Bronx, it's a foot has begun, except we don't know the fights there, right? Sometimes we just don't know the narrative. So by doing this, by talking about the things we need, by sharing information, by collaborating, we're doing the heavy lifting of community. And I wanna go because I talked all about Noma, which is amazing, but we also have to talk about the West Harlem Arts Alliance and West Harlem Development Corporation because...

They're doing some amazing things in collaboration with Noma a lot of times. So there's a few things that I wanna get from there as well because I think they're very important. ⁓ they're doing a Tuesday, June 9th. It's Noma and West Harlem Arts Alliance. They're doing an event again at Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art and Storytelling. It's called Mapping the Interconnected Arts Ecosystem. With curator Amy Rosenblum Martin.

So that's really important. And then this is super important, Like, so we're talking about actionable intelligence, right? So one of the things that I find that if you're a creator, if you're a business owner, basically if you're anyone, anyone, because people need to realize that, and we talked about this, you and I offline, that a lot of times people don't realize that you are a brand, right? You yourself are a brand. And that's not crass. It's not about rank, you know, cause...

Octavio Blanco (29:15)
Yeah, yeah.

Led Black (29:21)
you know, consumerism, but you are. And when you're in front of that, you should approach it in that way. to that end, West Harlem Arts Alliance and Noma and OLA, which is the Hispanic organization of Latin America and Corazon or Corazon, they're doing portrait and headshot sessions at Noma Studios on Saturday, June 13th. And they got time slides from...

Octavio Blanco (29:43)
Mmm.

Led Black (29:48)
10 a.m. to 7 p.m. This is really important. Let me tell you, having a good shot, a ⁓ good head shot is a game changer. During the pandemic, Alberto Ferrer, who's an amazing photographer, amazing filmmaker, he did the Abla specials for HBO. Great guy, Harlan Mike, that's my brother, mad love for him. ⁓ He put something on social media where, look, I'm doing free headshots, come to the space.

and you get headshots. So I went with the whole fam, right? Except my one daughter who's an actor who should have gotten it, but whatever, that's a story for another day. But we got these beautiful headshots that are black and white. Just like, that's my headshot you see on everything, right? So when I show you that headshot, it shows you that I'm about my business. You ask me for a headshot, here it is. So that's what saying. A good headshot is super important. And a little twist to that story was that unbeknownst to us, that our headshots ended up being in an exhibition.

Octavio Blanco (30:22)
Hehehehehe

Mmm.

Led Black (30:46)
in in DC for life. It was part I think for the transition up to the Latino Museum. But there was a whole exhibit with those pictures and it was for free first of all and then we were featured in the museum right. So what I'm saying is a headshot is a game changer. It gets you in the door. So make sure just go go to West Harlem. W H A A N Y C or Noma NYC or Uptown Collective and get get look look look for that. Get your headshots on that day. I think it's for fifty dollars. You're going to receive

a personalized 10 minute photo session up to two different looks so you could change, you know what saying? Professionally edit photo, headshots or portraits and you get the raw files and they're yours. You could use them as you see fit. And again, this is a great photographers. A lot of time it's like people like Mark, ⁓ Michael Bob Amir who was one of the honorees this year who's a fucking amazing photographer, right? So you're getting good quality stuff for.

You know, basically nothing and you're setting yourself up, right? Like I think one thing you and I in this business and me and the Uptown Collective, right? Like you have to invest in yourself. No one's gonna come and say, here's some money until you do something. So a headshot is one of those arrows you need in your quill. You know what mean? You need that. And then another thing that West Harlem Arts Alliance and NOMA are doing, which is really, really cool, they're doing free walking tours of West Harlem with John Reddick.

Octavio Blanco (31:56)
That's right.

Cool,

Led Black (32:13)
Right, who's just

Octavio Blanco (32:13)
yes, yes.

Led Black (32:14)
an amazing historian who's been doing it forever. So they're doing it Sunday, June 7th at 11 a.m. starting from Hamilton Heights, even though I don't like the name, but whatever. On Sunday, June 14th at 11, they're starting from the Audubon Terrace. And on June 28th at 11 a.m., they're all at 11 a.m. They're starting, they're on Morning Heights in Mahanville. So go to our IG and look it up. Like that's what I'm saying. There's so much resources available.

You know, and things happening in our community and something like that. There is things to do. There's things for all the whole family, right? Like a walking tour, get to know your community, know where you live. You know, this is not just a place for you to go downtown or wherever. This is not just like a stop in your life. This is where you live. If you live here, go and appreciate, go support, go give the community heat. And I have to also say another thing that's happening is also the West Harlem Jazz Festival was the fourth annual.

another product of West Harlem Arts Alliance, but this time with the Harlem Lake, not jazz. So, know, tap in. It's out there, it's happening. You know, don't close your eyes to where you live. And this is how we, you know, not just ⁓ survive, but how we thrive, how we persevere, how we see the next day.

Octavio Blanco (33:29)
Absolutely, know, and talk talking about persevering. One of the things and we spoke about this the last live episode, but I want to bring it up again. You know, the rent is too damn high, right? The rent is too damn high. And right now you actually you as an individual can make your voice be heard about how the rent is affecting your life, because the rent guidelines board

is gonna be voting on how high they are gonna be raising the rent next year. So when I say they're gonna be voting on how high, what I'm saying is that they ⁓ have already voted on the range of what they can increase. And part of that range is zero, freeze the rent.

So if we as ⁓ a community can ⁓ make our own voices heard, the rent guidelines board uses that information to determine exactly how much they're going to raise the rent for. So I recommend right now ⁓ people go to ⁓ this website called rent guidelines board.

dot city of New York dot US. I'm going to share my screen ⁓ so that you guys can see it. ⁓ This is the website that people need to go to to be able to see to be able to ⁓ to vote on whether or not ⁓

on what the rent guidelines board can vote on. Let me make sure that you guys are seeing this because ⁓ on social account it can be it can be tough to to see. But so basically ⁓ there's going to be hearings on June 4th, June 8th, June 11th, ⁓ and June 16th. But you have to register for

these hearings. So if you go to this website, and I'm going to put it up on the screen, the website that you need to go to, you can actually go and testify, you know. ⁓ And I think it's so important that we make sure that we testify about what the rent

is doing to us because that's the battle that you're talking about. That's one of the battles that you're talking about. And a lot of people feel powerless about what they can do about it. But the fact of the matter is that it's not easy, right? It's not an easy thing, but you can make a difference.

Led Black (36:16)
Thanks.

Octavio Blanco (36:33)
⁓ to make your voice heard and to ⁓ make sure that the... ⁓

Here we go. Make sure that the ⁓ government and that the guidelines board ⁓ knows and hears from many, many, many of us because what ends up happening is when they have when they have these these these hearings, ⁓ not enough people show up and then people, you know, are upset when their needs aren't met.

Led Black (37:06)
Yep.

Octavio Blanco (37:12)
But if we, and I know that it's hard to get to schedule it and to get your, you know, get yourself to these places and to make sure that you're there. We all have family to take care of. We all have jobs that we need to go to. So there's no shade that I'm throwing on people who find it hard to appear at these places. But if you at least,

make the effort to go to this website to the rent guidelines board dot city of new york

⁓ dot us ⁓ at least at least you'll be able to see whether or not you can schedule yourself to be a part of of these hearings and so that you can really be a part of letting the rent guidelines board know where they should be putting their their vote and making sure that your voice is heard so I'm putting it up one more time rent guidelines board

dot city of New York dot us. ⁓ Make sure that you go there and make sure that you ⁓ go to the public hearing registration. It's under quick links. It's the first

thing that you see there ⁓ under quick links, public hearing registration, and then make sure that you get in there and make sure that people hear your voice and hear your thoughts about where the rent should be. ⁓ that's I'm going to stop sharing right now. But that's one thing that I think is really, really important. ⁓ And this administration also wants to make sure that

people are connecting with each other in real life. So if you want to can canvas with your neighbors and knock on doors and let them know about this, ⁓ about this guidelines board registration, you should go to organize. You know, organize.nyc.gov. I'll put that up here. Organize.nyc.gov. And so

You know how the Mamdani. ⁓

administration, one of the things that they did so well was organizing and door knocking. And so ⁓ they're trying to do it in while they're in power. They want to activate the people, right? They want to activate the people to go around and door knock and let their neighbors know about the rent guidelines board and why they should be registering and why they should be letting their

their voice be heard. So organize.nyc.gov. That's where you go to sign up to be a volunteer to to canvas your neighbors and inform them face to face about the rent guidelines board and why they need to be ⁓ being a part of it. So, you know, ⁓ it's super important. This is part of what I think ⁓

as New Yorkers who are trying to... ⁓

make sure that we can afford to live here. We need to be a part ⁓ of the voice. Right now, the way this country has been working is that only the powerful have access to the government. It's only through lobbyists, and lobbyists cost an arm and a leg, but lobbyists give money to politicians. So politicians open their doors to lobbyists. And what I love about what this is about is that it's not about lobbyists, it's about the people.

create a movement of the people ⁓ to have their voices be heard, to be our own lobbyists, because we do have power when we get together and when we can create our community ⁓ action, when we can create that nexus of unity, that is power. That is more power even than the lobbyists, because these are actual voters. The politicians...

If the voters unite and if the voters make their voices heard, the politicians will respond.

⁓ because otherwise they're gonna be out of a job. And ⁓ that's why we on this show always are talking about how important civic action is, how important it is as much as it feels like, you you're just shouting into the wind sometimes. ⁓ That feeling can be abated when you see your neighbors and you join with your neighbors and you all shout together. Now you're no longer shouting into the wind.

now you're being heard and now you're getting responses from from the people who are supposed to represent us. So I do I do I'm to put it up put these two things up one more time. The rent guidelines board that city of New York dot us that's where you go register. Okay. It's the first link you register there.

Led Black (42:14)
Yeah.

Octavio Blanco (42:28)
rentguidelinesboard.cityofnyork.us. But if you want to volunteer and get people out to do this, go to organize.nyc.gov.

Led Black (42:42)
I got one more URL for you, West Harlem DC.org. So I just forgot to mention this earlier. So right now you can apply for the 2026 CBG, the Community Benefits Grant from the West Harlem Development Corporation. And that's basically grants from 5K to 30K. have to, the applicant has to be a 5133 organization and at least 75 % of beneficiaries have to be West Harlem residents.

And the priority areas are arts, culture, economic, workforce development, health and human services, housing affordability and preservation, older youth, older adults and youth. Right. And they just did an info session on May 14th. ⁓ It's going to be on their social soon when they do release that info session. So make sure you listen to that session before you apply. The deadline to apply is June 5th. And right, if you're a ⁓ nonprofit doing good,

work in West Harlem, you could get up to 5K to 30K, right? And that's what this is about, putting resources and opportunities and new ways and new horizons in front of you. That's what this is about on a weekly basis, right? This is what community is about, right? It's not always glamorous. It's not always like, go see this performance. It's like, yo, you got an organization, here's some money. Here's a way to getting access to funds to keep doing what you're doing. So make sure you go to WestHallemDC.org.

Octavio Blanco (44:06)
Yes. ⁓

I want to talk about something that's very, controversial, something extremely controversial. This is really important. I want everybody to listen up to what I have to say right now because I've had it. I've had it up to here. Okay. I have had it up to here. What I'm going to tell you is super important. And that is please pick up your dog shit. Please pick up your dog shit.

We're better than this. We are better than this. This is, I mean, come on people, pick it up. It's a national emergency. my God, but it's gross, man. Like, come on. And there's a big movement right now in the city council ⁓ to put laws behind picking up your dog crap.

Led Black (44:38)
Thanks.

It's a national emergency. No, it's true. No, it is. It's gross.

Octavio Blanco (45:06)
⁓ And there's a whole movement Where you know, the City Council is gonna be voting ⁓ And I think one of the things they're gonna be voting on is to you know, we've heard all the all the different ⁓ Excuses right like we got I forgot my I forgot my I Forgot my I forgot my bag, you know, I forgot my bag Okay, fine. You forgot your bag ⁓

City Council is voting right now to put bags on all the on on trash cans So that people can have bags next to the trash cans. There's a good article. I'm going to share my screen again About this whole thing at Gothamist Gothamist org ⁓ You know the the

It's called Cut the Crap. And the bill wants to eliminate dog waste. Because dog waste complaints have like jumped because people apparently, for whatever reason, decided that they don't want to pick up their poop anymore. ⁓

Led Black (46:04)
I like that.

That's just annoying. It's fucking annoying.

I have a dog and know, part of having a dog is cleaning up shit. Like what are we doing here? And now, like I said, you know, you have the little, and the leash you have already, the little bags and the little, you know, it makes sense. Just pick up your shit. Like, what are we doing here? Like, I hate that. Like, you know, and it's like, I'm not picking up other people's shit because I'm not doing that, but I'm picking up my own dog's shit. So should you. What the hell?

Octavio Blanco (46:44)
Yeah, and you know, I sometimes I'm, I'm, I feel like ⁓

Like I wanna say something to people who don't pick up their poop, but I don't because I just don't want the aggravation that usually comes from that. And sometimes even like the people, the violence, know, sometimes people can be kind of ⁓ pissy about it. So I just, you know, it should just be, well, I should have said shitty about it. ⁓

Led Black (47:13)
No pun intended, no pun intended.

Hehehehehe

Octavio Blanco (47:21)
No pun intended, but yeah, man, just pick it up. You know, pick it up. Pick up your poop.

Led Black (47:25)
But

you know, besides poop though, I also think that like, just fucking garbage in general, like what are you doing throwing garbage on the fucking floor? Like, what are we doing? Like, and again, I know what you're saying, but I bark at people. I never really see people not picking up poop. I just see the after effects where the poop is on the floor. But you know, I've never seen, I've never seen that actually happen. Maybe, yeah, it's weird. Like it's an invisible dog taking poop. But anyway. ⁓

Octavio Blanco (47:43)
Yeah, there's you never see it, right? Like they're so stealthy about it. But I've seen the after effects.

Ha ha ha ha!

Led Black (47:54)
But with Trash,

I've barked at some people too. Like, yo, my man, like, what are you doing? Like, pick that shit up. What's wrong with you? you know, and, and, you know, I grew up on Wadsworth when I go see my mom. She's still in the same building since 79 or whatever. You know, I go there and it's like, just food, someone ate and just did like this and just threw it in front of you. Now you, got more roaches, you got more rats and we can't progress. So it was like, you know, we have agency. Like, don't let what people say about us be true.

We don't have to live this way. so it's shit is definitely something that needs to be picked up a garbage as well. This garbage shit is really fucking annoying. It really is.

Octavio Blanco (48:27)
Yeah.

And I'm going to say one more thing because I feel like we're like coming down on people. yes, people need, know, yeah, but hold on, but hold hold on, let hold on. Because I think, I think that the, you know, like our government needs to be a part of this, right? Like we need more trash cans, like.

Led Black (48:36)
Fuck that, they should be, yeah, fuck that. Yeah, they should be.

Octavio Blanco (48:51)
Like, come on, like, like, there needs to be more trash cans. That's that's ridiculous. The fact that where I live on this corner here doesn't have a trash can is is really the if you're listening, the corner of 179th Street and Cabrini needs a trash can maybe two because this is like an area where people congregate at night. People walk by here all the time. And and it's like

Led Black (48:52)
facts 100 % that's what's so true.

That's so true.

Very true.

Octavio Blanco (49:20)
they feel like it's a no man's land because there's no trash cans over here and they feel that they can do whatever they want to do, especially at night when it's all quiet is a super quiet block. It's like super quiet at night. People just do what they want because they don't think anything of it. And because there's no trash cans here for them to to throw their stuff into. like, please, like we need more trash cans. I know, you know, I know that because of budget cuts, cuts, the city took away a whole bunch of trash cans all over the city.

So we need to prioritize. And I think living in a clean city, it's not all about like, hey, my neighbor, pick up your shit. I mean, yes, absolutely pick up your shit. But also, hey, city of New York, could you please give us somewhere to put the shit? Like, give us some more trash cans, god damn it. Sorry. ⁓

Led Black (50:12)
Yeah, you're right. And even if, you know,

I agree though, like, cause even if like, you know, like, like just pick up as well, right? So sometimes I pick up the poop, right? I'm always, I always pick up the poop, but what I'm trying to say, sometimes I pick up the poop, right? And that little green bag is basically on top of the garbage, it's full to the top. You know what mean? Like, what are you going to do? And that's the thing is like, and again, the heroin addicts go by.

Octavio Blanco (50:31)
Yeah. Yeah.

Led Black (50:36)
and then just do this in the garbage. So it's like, it needs to be a concerted effort, especially alongside this heroin corridor that's been created by government policy, right? I do really feel like this little, the little area in the 180s, you know, that needs to be looked at as in a more holistic manner, right? Because it has to be in reaction to the safe injection site, right? There's only two in the country. I mean, two in the country and then both in in uptown.

Manhattan, which is fucking crazy. And again, I've always said it is done on purpose to to get us out of here. But but if that's regardless of that, you need to address those things differently. You need to have a multi-organism, you know, agency approach to it. needs to be taken care of because it's not just garbage. It's it's it's blight and blight doesn't get better by itself. And we're the beginning of really bad blight.

Octavio Blanco (51:07)
Yeah.

Led Black (51:35)
and all those things are symptoms of it. It needs to be addressed in that manner. And I'm happy that we have someone like Carmen La Rosa, who's our council member and our mayor, but it is all hands on deck effort between the people, the politicians, the bureaucracy, everything. We need to get on it because especially as this country continues.

Octavio Blanco (51:35)
Yes.

Led Black (51:59)
to just diminish itself on the world stage and at home with Trump, the fucking baboso, the fucking tyrant, the emperor has no clothes, as he gets worse and more demented and he sinks further into this escalation trap in Iran.

know, community is going to be even more important. So just because, you know, we live in these communities doesn't mean we have to take shit from nobody and literally, right? So we need to really address all those things and it can be addressed and it needs to be.

Octavio Blanco (52:30)
And I want to say to that, I want to send some shout outs to though, because Carmen De La Rosa, I want to send a shout out to her because she and our man Ron Kane ⁓ are teaming up on a project called the Uptown People's Project. And the Uptown People's Project is trying to mobilize all across Uptown for a bunch of different things. But one of the things that they recently did was an Uptown cleanup. And so they went to different parts of Uptown.

They created crews in different parts of uptown of neighbors, right, of neighbors who took care of cleaning up their zones, right? So was from all the way up in Marble Hill to all the way down in like 155th, there were different crews of neighbors, not like, I'm not talking about city workers, of neighbors getting out there and volunteering their time to clean up. And so...

good on them for doing that. And that's Carmen de la Rosa, that's Ron Kane, that's Uptown People's Project. We need more of that. ⁓ Maybe we can work on something like that. And I want to shout out somebody else too. Well, not another person, but another organization that I think is overlooked a lot of times. And that's the community board. The community board ⁓ for Uptown, which is community board 12.

I believe, let me double check that.

Manhattan, yes. Community Board 12 of Manhattan, I want to shout them out because when we're talking about finding this ⁓ nexus of people, of your neighbors to organize together, one of the greatest tools that we have to do that is at the community board.

Now the community board is run by volunteers. These are your neighbors who want to see this community thrive, right? And so you, if you have an issue, if you have ⁓ something that you think needs to be fixed, you have a teammate with the community board. You get to the community board meeting, they've got a transportation community.

a committee, they've got a parks and culture committee, they've got a safety committee, they've got all these different committees, they've got, you know, if you've got a new business, they've got a licensing committee. You go there and they will, and you bring your issue and you deal with them.

on a human level, person to person. I these are volunteers. I've seen people go to community board meetings and they flip out and they start yelling and they start feeling, I they're angry about X, Y, or Z. And they start yelling at these community board people. And it's like, no, don't do that. They're not going to help you if you do that. These are your neighbors, they're volunteers. But if you go there with a good attitude, with an important project, something that needs to be addressed, they will do what needs to be done.

to at the very least get your voice heard. So for example, I'll give you a for example, Dolphin Park at the end of 180th street. This was a really interesting challenge because Dolphin Park is not run by city parks. It's not run by the state of New York. It's run and owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. And the Port Authority is an authority.

which means it does its own thing. It doesn't really need to listen to the city government. It doesn't need to listen to the state government. They do their own thing. They've got more money than God and they can do whatever they want. But guess what? They've kept this park closed for the last decade or so. And it's been like almost an insult to the community because we got a lot of little kids here and this park was sort of built for little children. And the parents of these little kids cannot

have access to this really cool park. And to add insult to injury, every day, Port Authority opens the park, goes into the park, cleans the park, leaves the park, locks it up, and that's it. And so nobody can use it, but it's nice, it's clean, it's painted, but nobody can use it. So what happened? The community came together. Uptown Voices had had a, had a pardon this. We went to the community board.

The community board was aware of the problem, but it wasn't until the community came together and came to the community board and expressed our extreme dissatisfaction that anything started to happen. And it took a while. There's bureaucracy and everything. So first, they had to understand what the problem was. Second, they had to explain how, well, it's not really something we can do much about, although we'll help you.

have your voice be heard. But thirdly, once there was buy-in, they wrote a resolution saying that this community demands that this park be open. They distributed that resolution to all the elected leaders and the parks committee teamed up with the transportation committee because people in the transportation committee had contacts at the port authority, right? And the transportation committee was able to

Reach out to the Port Authority, speak with the Port Authority, and guess what? This park is going to be reopened. They said by Memorial Day. ⁓ We'll see when that happens. But they've put it on the record that this park is going to be open. I'm feeling encouraged. know, obviously, like, I won't be celebrating fully until the park is actually opened. But it's on the record from the Port Authority that they're going to reopen the park.

Led Black (58:16)
Amazing.

Octavio Blanco (58:32)
And that is why I think, you know, we can't overlook the power of the community board because that's, that is the, as the name implies, it's the community board. Those are volunteers. Those are your neighbors who want to do something to improve where we live. So that was a long way for me to say, make sure that you try, if you have an issue to go to the community board meetings, address them. ⁓ you know, don't be

confrontational, explain what the issue is, explain what you'd like to have done and work with them. It's not going to be something that happens from one day to the other. It could take weeks or months or even years. But if you go there and you're persistent, you might be able to see some results. And we luckily, we saw these results here.

Led Black (59:24)
That's a beautiful thing, man. That's what it's about, you know, making things happen in our community. And before we conclude, because we're about to hit the hour mark, there's someone from our community who actually lives uptown, Bokker, Backpages on IG. They're having a special event for all the Nick fans out there. know, we begin the conference finals on Tuesday. So they're doing it yesterday and today, but today's the absolute last day. They're doing a pop-up today. So...

If y'all don't know, Baca Backpages, they do these really cool Knicks merch. Uber, Kunst, Tom Sanford, who's our brother, he's part of that movement as well. He does contribute some of his designs towards it. But they're doing a really cool pop-up today at 147 Orchard Street from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. And it's gonna be really dope, right? it's nowadays Creative Lab on IG is the place where it's at. But what's really cool, what they're gonna do is it's gonna be a merch rush printing. So any shirt you want from their vast catalog of Knicks merch,

I mean, they got tons of really cool shit like Captain Crunch, which is my man Brunson, right? And you get the free t-shirts. Like, you know, this is historic. As a Nick fan, lifelong Licks fan who's not a little kid, right? The Knicks have never won in my lifetime. You know what mean? That's how big and important, and this feels like a historical run. It feels like, you know, this is our year for real. Like, after that, we went down 2-1 to Atlanta.

It's been a whole different team and we're clicking on all cylinders, right? So what I'm saying to you is mad and point and you get that merge, you show that love like New York City, you know, we get shitted on. Everyone hates us, but everyone wants to be us. So make sure you get your next merch, Baka Back Pages today from 1 to 6 PM, 147 Orchard Street. I stay with my Baka Back Pages merch because it's really dope. So make sure you check them out today. And Octavio, brother, it's time to say.

Octavio Blanco (1:01:00)
Yep.

Wait, wait, wait, before

we go, would say a shout out to Frank Nibbs. He's commenting on Facebook. What up? We need to get lunch again. ⁓ So thank you for watching, Frank. ⁓ Yeah, man. So I want to make sure to say that.

Led Black (1:01:20)
Frank Frank, what up Frank?

Spread love is the uptown way. Make sure you support the Uptown Collective YouTube channel. Subscribe, like, share, tell your people about it. Say, yo, let black is crazy. I thought he was always saying, and you know what mean, all that love.

Octavio Blanco (1:01:44)
No,

no, no, no. And here we go. If you if you really want to make a contribution tax deductible contribution, I'll put it up on the screen. Just scan this $5 $10 $1 million, whatever you want to give, you know, we we we we appreciate it, you know, we appreciate it. But definitely good good to know about the the that those grants that I'll be definitely looking into those grants this week. So

Led Black (1:01:57)
Yes, a million dollars.

Octavio Blanco (1:02:10)
Yes, spread love, lead, as always. Thank you, thank you so much. ⁓ I really love this and more to come people, more to come, more news.

Led Black (1:02:13)
our brother.

Spread love. Bye, Joe.

Octavio Blanco (1:02:21)
Alright brother.