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 the bus/train to work. Parents with young children walk dodging commuters getting off the North Metro as they rush to avoid beggars and speeding taxis. The teenagers laugh and point to the many drunk, tall individuals lying on the sidewalk or walking as if it were a scene of the living dead. There are many middle-aged and elderly men hanging around while talking casually to each other or to themselves. Young hooded men with anxious looks and braiders of African hair mingle as they both look for customers. Used needles lay in the nooks and crannies of the sidewalk. There is rubbish strewn about as shopkeepers work feverishly to try to maintain the area in front of their shops. The street and sidewalk are full of trash, and the smell of urine invades your senses if you stand on the corner of a building for too long. If I closed my eyes and opened them again, I would believe I was anywhere except in one of the richest cities in the world. This is Harlem every morning. Historically, Harlem is best known as a major African-American residential, cultural, and commercial center. Harlem is going through a renaissance as the gentrification of Harlem is in full swing. Once upon a time, seeing a white face in Harlem alongside European tourists 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 area has somewhat avoided the growth of Harlem. The faces that line these streets tend to be mostly African-American and Hispanic. These individuals are predominantly men and... paper people... who tend to give money more freely to the local beggar so they can leave them alone. There is a heavy police presence, but the feeling from the locals is that they don't care or they look away because they are almost desensitized to the illegal activities that are happening. Even before making my observation and writing this article, this area always left me with mixed emotions. On the one hand I feel sorry for these people standing/walking, because they seem to have nowhere to go. Sometimes I feel bad because my instinctive reaction to men who stagger and ask for money is "contempt and anger." I feel like the fact that this area exists reflects badly on society. This highlights the public health concerns that large cities, particularly New York, face when dealing with homelessness, as well as addressing the ever-growing drug problem..