Rangel, never a more arrogant SOB existed. Dinosaurs exists, are alive and well in Harlem: call him "Rangelsaurus". A fossil, a relic, the year he took office Jello was invented and Ed Sullivan was still on TV, truth, check it out. Talented politicians rise (Obama), crooks? They stay in one place, steal, and continue to steal. That's our Rangel. Freedom National Bank, the Apollo Theater State Funding Money, Rangel is a crook.

Copeland's Owner's excuse is lame. Give me a break - its not white people moving into the neighborhood that made him go out of business - its the change in lifestyle and dieting that blacks are finally adopting that is responsible for his restaurant's demise. Years ago we would eat their 2-3 times a week, but now after years of suffering heart attacks and getting diabetes we have finally tempered our love of soul food with moderation. We go there once a week if that and opt for a fresh salad instead.

It is beyond the pale for Rangel to divert taxpayer dollars (i.e. reaching into my pocket and yours) to build such a center/program with his name on it. While I can laud the purpose of the actual center/program, Rangel's arrogance cannot and should not be condoned by the voters of his district.

If Dick Cheney reached into your and my pocket (with the force of the IRS behind him), took our money, and then established something in our community with his name on it ("The Cheney Straight Shootin' Guild"), we'd be pissed! I work hard for the money I earn, don't love paying taxes (but do anyway), but am damn certain I don't want to pay for my congressman to build a monument to himself.

I'm voting for WHOMEVER runs against Rangel next time.

Before the Gentrification Latchers (the people that latch on to any issue and proclaim that the ills are a result of gentrification) get hold of this one, let me just say that the following statement is a bunch of bunk:

>Gentrification has pushed away many of the black families who used to patronize his business. “The white people who took their place don’t like or don’t care for the food I cook,” he said. “The transformation snuck up on me like a tornado.”

While I really do feel for the guy (the article also notes how he is taking care of his alzheimer's stricken wife while running his business, both of which are very tough things to do), he has blamed his business woes on something that may be completely independent of the real reasons. Similar to the record store owner and his losing his lease recently. Here are a few reasons why:

1. How many restaurants have opened in Harlem since he went into business in 1958? Particularly those that sell soul food? It stands to reason that over time, his business went to other better known or newer establishments. Amy Ruth's was est. in 1998. Mobay is just over 10 years old. And Miss Maude's Spoonbread, Silvia's, Londel's, Charles's, Melba's or Billie's Black? Divide the sweet potato pie up too many ways and you get no pie.

2. Has he stayed competitive? When was the last time there was menu overhaul? Decor updated? I don't know the answers to those questions, but they are reasonable to ask in an era where people stay in their homes for an average of 7 years before moving and new restaurants are opening all the time.

3. People seem to like the gospel brunches. How many times has the gospel brunch not been planned, and is it indicative of other things?

> A tour group from the Netherlands had brunch there. Others, however, walked out after learning that the restaurant was not offering its usual Sunday gospel choir. (Mr. Copeland said he was too busy preparing for the final brunch to schedule entertainment.)

4. Who has been displaced? Condos have mostly been built where nobody had lived. Loft 124? Was old industrial space. The Lenox? A vacant church building. Fifth on the Park? A parking lot.

My point is that the article takes a huge leap of logic and does very little to verify the reasons for why Mr. Copeland is going out of business - something that the intelligent readers of this site should surely be asking.

I live a few blocks a way from Copelands, and while I feel for the owner, it's a stretch for him to blame the collapse of his business on an influx of white people. The immediate neighborhood is still primarily black, and Copelands is the only sitdown soul food restaurant around. The decline in business is more likely a combination of things such as changes in African Americans' diets for the better, and a unavoidable questioning of his service and prices. My wife and I took her mother there several weeks ago for brunch, and while the food was OK, the service was abysmal, and the prices seemed too high for what we were getting. The latter is true in other older establishments in Harlem. This may be a function of the rising rents, but I also suspect that for years, places like Copelands could get away with it because there were so few upmarket places to eat up here.

this restaurant must have been a restaurant like the one on 116th street - the sign reads - Jamaican and Southern Cousine...

What the hell is a Cousine????

The old restaurant owners obviously still see the MASSIVE projects in the neighborhood and feel that this is acceptable.

GET RID OF THE PROJECTS AND YOU WILL GET RID OF THE FOOLISHNESS!!!

Re:Get rid of the projects-you really have nothing better to do with your life, do you?

It's so easy to blame everything on the Whites when the real problem is his ignorance.

He is actually a fairly intelligent man who ran a successful business for over 30 years. He is old and tired now. Times are changing and so is the community at large. Who is to say how that writer edited the piece? Mr. Copeland could have just stated gentrification as one of the factors and that was what the writer chose to zoom into. Just as you say blacks shouldn't be so quick to cry foul I'd advise others to do the same.