Looking Ahead

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis


It had to happen, sooner or later. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly have announced that a new location has been found for our Police Academy, the historic building on 3rd Avenue and 20th Street that served as a secret City Hall in the panic days after 9/11/2001, a site that, since 1964, has served faithfully in training tens of thousands of young recruits into being New York’s Finest.

When built, this was the state of art training facility, with a shooting gallery in the basement, not too environmentally sound, but excellent, when supplemented with a search-and-rescue house in the woods of Pelham Park and a daredevil driving course on the old Floyd Mitchell airfield landing strips.

In 1986 Mayor Ed Koch’s Advisory Committee on Police Management, led by Deputy Mayor John Zuccoti, declared the 20th Street PA inadequate, and pushed for a new, FBA-style facility, to be placed in the South Bronx. This raised the ire of the neighborhood, and we organized the Committee to Save the Police Academy (CSPA), under the aegis of the Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association, a real groundswell group of community groups, political clubs and religious organizations, plus a number of elected officials, to protest an apparent political and real estate boondoggle dreamed up without any cost-benefit analysis. To quote from our statement in the NY Times, “they are trying to rejuvenate the South Bronx at the expense of this neighborhood. We have paid our dues, providing social services to the city, with 13 hospital facilities, eight methadone clinics, and 10 homeless hotels and we deserve the additional protection from the street presence of these young recruits.” And we fought, I spent days at City Council meetings, arguing with Councilmen from the Bronx and Commissioner Benjamin Ward, sometimes with the aid of Steve Kaufman, Steve Sanders’s Chief of Staff, helped by the late Joe Roberto, our preservationist architect, and Councilwoman Carol Greitzer, who arranged for us a tour of the PA that gave more proof for our cause.

That the Mayor stopped the plan in 1989 was mostly due to the financial plight of the city rather than the righteousness of our cause. He also stopped the training of recruits for a while, effectively reducing the PD by some 2,000 uniforms. There were a few attempts by the Bronx BP and Mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer to resuscitate the effort, but to no avail.

In 2007 the situation has changed, there is truly a need for more PA facilities. My figures show that the police force of 22,000 in 1986 has grown to 37,000 in 2006, I’m not sure whether these are comparable numbers and the stats from Police Plaza are still coming, but there has been growth both in presence and in technology. We the police fans, honed on Law and Order and SVU, might quibble that the recruit training does not involve chemistry and lab work and may essentially require the same people skills and logic as in 1964, but I’m willing to believe that the current need is genuine. Whether we require a $1B facility or something less costly, I’ll leave for some younger and more energetic enthusiasts to determine.

Meanwhile, a letterhead has surfaced that enabled me to recount and memorialize the names of community leaders and elected officials who joined SPNA early, many no longer with us, but all saints. In alphabetical order, they were:

Rev. James G. Amos, Pastor, Gustavo’s Adolphus Lutheran Church; Rev. Dr. Irving J. Block, Rabbi, Brotherhood Synagogue; Hon. Barbara Cattell, District Leader, Federal Republican Club; Hon. Beth R. Cosnow, ex-DL, Tilden Democratic Club; Alline E. Davis, President, 22nd Street Association; Hon. Louise Dankberg, ex-President, Tilden Dem. Club; Alvin Doyle, Deputy Chairman, Concerned Citizens Speak, Inc.; Hon. Rose Dubinsky, DL, Jefferson Dem. Club; Hon. Miriam Friedlander, Councilperson, 2nd CC District; Hon. Raymond Gibson, DL, New Dem. Club; Hon. Ray M. Goodman, Senator, 26th State Senate District; Hon. Carol Greitzer, Councilperson, 3rd CC District; Rosalee Isaley, President, Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association; Oliver Johnston, Co-Chair, Union Square Community Council; Hon. Andrew Kulak, DL, Jefferson Dem. Club; Hon. Myrna LePree, ex-State Committeeperson, 63rd Assembly District; Hon. John B. Levitt, DL, Tilden Dem. Club; Joyce McCray, Principal, Friends Seminary; Hon. Wm. F. Passanante, Assemblyman, 61st AD; Rev. Dr. Thomas F. Pike, Rector, Calvary-St. George’s Episcopal Church; Hon. Stuart Prager, State Committeeman, 63rd AD; Hon. Francine Quesada, DL, Independent Dem. Club; Hon. Bartholomew M. Regazzi, DL, Albano Rep. Club; E. Peter Ryan, President, Gramercy Neighborhood Associates; Phillip Rothman, President, Cabrini Community Advisory Board; Hon. Steven Sanders, Assemblyman, 63rd AD; Evelyn Strouse, Co-Chair, USCC; Hon. Louis Sepersky, Community Leader; Hon. Mary M. Stumpf, DL, Mid-Manhattan New Dem. Club; Hon. Joy Tannenbaum, DL, Albano Rep. Club; Jack Taylor, Chair, Landmarks Committee, USCC; Hon. Philip Wachtel, DL, Independent Dem. Club; Hon. Peter K. Wilson, ex-DL, Jefferson Dem. Club; Hon. Paul Wrablica, DL, Federal Rep. Club; and that’s not all, there were a lot more members of the committee, the letterhead kept changing. Also, clubs changed names, as did Assembly Districts; congresspersons joined, as did District Leaders, after elections. More to come.

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis


A Nigerian born engineer friend, in the US since 1974 and currently semi-retired as a math tutor in Florida, visits Lagos annually, and claims that every household there is computerized, with internet access.. Not just those with school-age kids, adults too are accessing commercial sites, as well as non-commercial and government resources that make themselves available, and daily newspapers (we looked at some).

Can we make the same comparable claims about our New York neighbors? Well, yes. I can only think of four confirmed Luddite friends who refuse to use computers in their private lives. Otherwise, of the 18 neighbors surveyed 16 have home IT gear, and all have done or do work with complex commercial IT equipment. As to non-commercial and government services making themselves available on-line, the findings range.

Take government resources – all NYC legislators and administrators have web sites, government-provided, with e-mail and fax communications facilities, and staff to answer your inquiries and complaints. That means PR people and press relations experts and legislative assistants and chiefs of staff to supervise them, in profuse numbers, servicing all levels of legislators, City Council and up, as well as commissioners in charge of administrative departments. What an explosion in government costs and functions…

On the voluntary service level, let’s examine our political clubs, the citizens-in-action groups in the 74th Assembly District. Now, I’ve only looked at the internet briefly, and would appreciate your corrections, but of the four Democratic clubs only one appears to have a web site. This is a sad commentary, and there is a reason – the high cost of real estate has driven all of these low dues organizations out of rental rooms, and they are now relying on community-minded religious and social service organizations for donated monthly meeting space. No longer is there a clubhouse where you drop in to pass time and help fold and stuff envelopes, or make phone calls to voters, or answer their questions, or conduct housing clinics, or even keep files and maintain a web site.

Of the four 74th AD Democratic clubs, the Samuel J. Tilden Democratic Club, District Leaders Louise Dankberg and Steven J. Smollens, POBox 1500 NY 10159-1500, can be found as www.tildendemocrats.com or by calling 212/228-5980. By the way, they have their 54th Annual Dinner (the club dates back to the start of the Reform Democratic era in NYC) scheduled for April 24th at the Tavern on the Green, honoring BP Scott Stringer and Stuyvesant Cove Park Executive Director Joy Garland.

CoDA (Coalition for Disstrict Alternative) Club, DLs Katrina Monzano and Anthony Feliciano, can be reached by phone (646/246-4492) or e-mail districtleaders@hotmail.com.

The Eleanor Roosevelt Democratic Club, DLs Charles Buchwald and Molly Hollister, can be reached at 212/687-6874 , at charles@erdc-ny.org.
or POBox 1157, New York 10156.

The GSID (Gramercy –Stuyvesant Independent Democratic) Club, DLs Tom Nooter and Myrna LaPree, answers calls at 212/679-4271 and e-mail at gsid@worldnet.att.net .

The 74th AD GOP voters access their Vincent F. Albano Republican Club’s WWW.nyrepublican.org, website. President Frank J. Scala has four districts, East led by himself and Susan C. Cooper, South with DLs Isabel M. Pena and Bryan A. Cooper, North with DLs Philip Caracci and Elizabeth Schacht and West with Dena Winocur PhD.

Assembling this material was possible only with the help of a friendly DL. The telephone resources , internet search services and the blogs dealing with our area are not geared for this type of directory service. If interested, save this article, or locate it in my blogs by searching Wally Dobelis & Looking Ahead. For corrections or comments write to wally@ix.netcom.com..

Some of this info beyond the 74th AD is available by calling NYC Democratic Committee , Herman (Danny) Farrell Jr. Chairman. Ask for Carter Avery , 212/725-8825.

NYS Democratic Committee (www.nydems.org) has a huge website, covering election results in each of the the 62 counties. State chairs are June O’Neill and Dave Pollock, and from there, if you really care, you can link to NYS Young Democrats and the Reform Caucus of the NYSDC.

This study started as a wake-up call for US technology-minded people, not to fall behind, and is ending as a review of the grass-roots-level political organization of the Democratic party. One might conclude that there is hardly any room for grass-roots, that the action is with the million-dollar spending candidates on TV, who rarely visit local clubs for voter support, except in New Hampshire and Iowa. Is it the fault of the people are becoming cynical, unwilling to do political work, feeling ambivalent about withdrawal from Iraq? We had that in the 1960s-70s also, with Vietnam. One way or another the infrastructures of the parties are suffering, and not just because of greedy realtors, now for the young we also have American Idol, Netflix, tiredness from two - job pressures in the family. Democracy is a fragile thing, if you do not use it, you lose it.

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis


It is not too often that this family visits a courthouse, but this was the day when a member of the family was to be sworn in as a member of the bar. The courthouse involved was the 2nd Judicial Department of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, on Monroe Place, near Pierrepont, in Brooklyn Heights, minutes away on the 4/5 line, but we felt festive. The cab driver asked for directions (that happens about half the time), and we guided him across Brooklyn Bridge and through Cadman Plaza (beware, the Lower Manhattan route is particularly torturtous, what with construction and traffic diversions to confuse any terrorists.)
We were early, and after a thorough search the court officers let us sit in the copious waiting area, decorated with 50 huge photographs of the justices, taken over 110 years. The earliest, 1896, had five dignified bearded white men; the count grew, one by one, to 14 in 1980, with one black face (there may have been earlier). In 1984 one woman appeared among the now 15 justices, with two black faces among them, and in 2001 there were 20 judges, including seven white women, one black woman, and two black men. That’s a remarkable progress, nearly proportionate to the national demographics, and the 2nd Department represents nearly one-half of NYS population, in 10 counties, from Brooklyn and Queens east through Long Island, and north from Westchester through Putnam, and the west side of Hudson. The Supreme Court is New York State's principal trial court, with a branch in each of the State's 62 counties, and Appellate Division is the middle level, with four such Appellate Divisions; the top level is the Court of Appeals. The Justices of the Supreme Court are elected to 14-year terms by the voters of their respective judicial districts; there are 12 such districts in New York State. All Supreme Court Justices have a mandatory retirement age of 70.
The room filled up, while I was studying the pictures. Young men and women were arriving, the latter mostly dressed in power suits, largely in somber black, not exactly celebratory but all exuding supreme confidence, with only one colorful dress, one bright shirt and one big combed out Afro hairdo present to celebrate the event. Not a shy face was noted in the crowd, all practicing attorneys with a year or more under the belt, representing all ethnicities. There were a number of Asian, African-American and Hispanic faces, one or two yarmulkes, but no facial coverings, and some Russian was heard among the family members.
The presiding justice Robert W. Schmidt from Nassau was cheerful, welcoming the kids to the ancient and honorable profession of law, indicating that they will be privileged and challenged to address many current issues, from immigration to rights of terrorists, and to treat these challenges as opportunities not to be missed and responsibilities not to be evaded. He would break the solemnity of the occasion by promising to be brief, quoting Henry VIII to his wives (“I won’t be keeping you any longer”) and describing how the profession has progressed from what Dickens saw as the lawyers’ quest of “picking up bits and pieces” to the present day overflow of information. Getting justice done fairly, with kindness and within the law, were some of the criteria offered for lawyerly conduct.
Today, when many people with extensive experience in governmental systems, gained through intensive TV watching, question the validity of institutions, it becomes important to review the historic background within which the courts developed. The Supreme Court of Judicature was created in 1691, with justices traveling on circuit courts, and several times a year sitting together to make rulings on points of law encountered, and to review and correct errors made by judges in inferior courts (we still have them, in rural communities). The appeals went to the Royal Governor and his council, until New York’s first Constitution (1777), when a new tribunal, the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors, took over.
In 1846 the system was reorganized, and a Supreme Court became the highest court of original , unlimited jurisdiction, while the appeals went to a new Court of Appeals structure, which kept changing at several state Constitutional Conventions, until in 1884 the present Appellate Division was created, to replace the prior intermediate structure called General Term, with the Governor choosing from among the elected Supreme Court Justices, to designate justices of the Appellate Division for five year terms. The objective was to promote better substantive justice.
But the population grew, particularly in the Second District, to the point that the Governor in 1989 appointed a commission to study caseloads, resulting in a report titled justice delayed, and the designation of five additional justices to the disproportionately expanded Second District, with more added later. Thus the system, although slow, manages to adjust and cope. That's democracy.

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis

XArt forms are not forever, and new ones supplant others. In the audio-visual arts, both classical music and opera have been ailing a long time, feeling particularly threatened by the dying out of the Great Generationg and the pre-1968 crowd, music lovers who formed their tastes before rock took over as the popular appeal.

In opera, attempts have been made to fit in with the younger crowd, introducing glamour, acting and diet, to get away from large singers who just stand and deliver, no matter how wonderful their voices. Some singers took radical action to regain their popularity - Deborah Voight, who was cancelled in Europe, dropped major pounds after a radical piece of surgery, and Ben Heppner took time off to lose 100 lbs in 2002/3. Sexy and gifted stars, such as Anne Netrebko, who could kick up her heels delightedly in Don Pasquale, came in much demand.

Since the departure of Joseph Volpe and the arrival of Peter Gelb as the Metropolitan Opera’s general manager, some new productions and methods came into use.
The new Chinese opera, The First Emperor, by Dan Tun, had its world premiere in December 2006, to mixed reviews. That was despite or perhaps because of Placido Domingo’s dedicated performance, the first new role he originated in his long career. The work, praised for its theatrical values and sought by non-traditional operagoers, was just too monotonous, hard to follow and musically not challenging enough. It was commissioned by Volpe ten years ago, as part of a three opera cycle, including John Harbison’s Great Gatsby and Thomas Pickers’s American Tragedy. To oversimplify, one guesses that the new operas just do not have the melodies and the ethos that make the old warhorses worth hearing again and again.

During Mr. Gelb’s short reign some successful redesign ideas have emerged. In the new Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini, Figaro the barber arrives in a cart pulled by adoring schoolgirl groupies, who bring out their notebooks for autographing, after the crowd-pleasing aria Largo al Factotum (or De Qualita - Figaro brags of his access to the grandees’ houses in Seville). Also, some of the action is carried out to an extension of the stage beyond the orchestra, which allows for more manic panic in comic scurrying.

Some interesting productions, all initiated by Wolpe, include Die Aegyptische Helena by Richard Strauss, last heard here in 1928, a fairy tale of the Helen of Troy saga, in a surrealistic setting and direction by David Fielding, by a special request from Deborah Voigt. We will forgive Strauss for this one.

There’s also the revival of Don Carlos by Verdi, based on a play by Friedrich von Schiller.There are aficionados who are absolutely crazy over this little-played Wagneresque opera, powerful in a wide range of emotions, almost verissimo in its humanity.The Infante Carlos, son of Philip II of Spain (also grandson of Charlemagne the Emperor), who ruled most of Europe with the aid of a Grand Inquisitor, was betrothed to Elizabeth, daughter of the King of France, but his father demanded the girl’s hand to seal a pact with the French. Much in love, the hurt prince was persuaded by his friend, Rodrigo to ask exile to Protestant Flanders, where the inhumane Spanish oppression had destroyed many lives. When the prince demands freedom for his Flemings, his revealed connection with the now queen puts him in jail, in risk for his life. Meanwhile friend Rodrigo, Philip’s trusted general, by outright criticism of the treatment of Flanders had won the King’s confidence, to the point of the ruler warning him against the Grand Inquisitor. But the latter demands his pound of flesh, and Rodrigo is sacrificed while the doomed Prince escapes.

This is a powerful emotional drama, nearly contemporary. It stands in stark contrast with I Puritani, an opera of the English civil war of the 1640s, by Vincenzo Bellini . Here the drama centers around the young woman of a Puritan stronghold, Elvira, daughter of lord Giorgio Walton, who has been promised to another supporter of the Parliament, but is in love with Lord Arturo Talbot, a Loyalist faithful to the Stuart monarchy. When he departs, to aid the escape of Henrietta, the widow of the beheaded King Charles, Elvira breaks down in madness and sorrow, and does not recover until Arturo returns, a peace treaty saves him, and the lovers reunite. Here the contrast of between operas becomes apparent. I Puritani is woody, the singers have little opportunity to do more than stand and deliver, and even the liveliness of Anna Netrebko, as the mad Elvira, does not sufficiently free up the action. That is the difference between opera genius of Verdi, and the more pedestrian Bellini, whose work survives due to the beauty of his arias.

Speaking of redesign, updating of the audiences is continuing. There is a young professionals’ organization, bringing the current generation to the opera, and a $20 discount ticket sale, Mo-Thurs at 6PM. The latter, though, mostly attracts the elders, who have the time for standing in lines. More anon.

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis

XArt forms are not forever, and new ones supplant others. In the audio-visual arts, both classical music and opera have been ailing a long time, feeling particularly threatened by the dying out of the Great Generationg and the pre-1968 crowd, music lovers who formed their tastes before rock took over as the popular appeal.

In opera, attempts have been made to fit in with the younger crowd, introducing glamour, acting and diet, to get away from large singers who just stand and deliver, no matter how wonderful their voices. Some singers took radical action to regain their popularity - Deborah Voight, who was cancelled in Europe, dropped major pounds after a radical piece of surgery, and Ben Heppner took time off to lose 100 lbs in 2002/3. Sexy and gifted stars, such as Anne Netrebko, who could kick up her heels delightedly in Don Pasquale, came in much demand.

Since the departure of Joseph Volpe and the arrival of Peter Gelb as the Metropolitan Opera’s general manager, some new productions and methods came into use.
The new Chinese opera, The First Emperor, by Dan Tun, had its world premiere in December 2006, to mixed reviews. That was despite or perhaps because of Placido Domingo’s dedicated performance, the first new role he originated in his long career. The work, praised for its theatrical values and sought by non-traditional operagoers, was just too monotonous, hard to follow and musically not challenging enough. It was commissioned by Volpe ten years ago, as part of a three opera cycle, including John Harbison’s Great Gatsby and Thomas Pickers’s American Tragedy. To oversimplify, one guesses that the new operas just do not have the melodies and the ethos that make the old warhorses worth hearing again and again.

During Mr. Gelb’s short reign some successful redesign ideas have emerged. In the new Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini, Figaro the barber arrives in a cart pulled by adoring schoolgirl groupies, who bring out their notebooks for autographing, after the crowd-pleasing aria Largo al Factotum (or De Qualita - Figaro brags of his access to the grandees’ houses in Seville). Also, some of the action is carried out to an extension of the stage beyond the orchestra, which allows for more manic panic in comic scurrying.

Some interesting productions, all initiated by Wolpe, include Die Aegyptische Helena by Richard Strauss, last heard here in 1928, a fairy tale of the Helen of Troy saga, in a surrealistic setting and direction by David Fielding, by a special request from Deborah Voigt. We will forgive Strauss for this one.

There’s also the revival of Don Carlos by Verdi, based on a play by Friedrich von Schiller.There are aficionados who are absolutely crazy over this little-played Wagneresque opera, powerful in a wide range of emotions, almost verissimo in its humanity.The Infante Carlos, son of Philip II of Spain (also grandson of Charlemagne the Emperor), who ruled most of Europe with the aid of a Grand Inquisitor, was betrothed to Elizabeth, daughter of the King of France, but his father demanded the girl’s hand to seal a pact with the French. Much in love, the hurt prince was persuaded by his friend, Rodrigo to ask exile to Protestant Flanders, where the inhumane Spanish oppression had destroyed many lives. When the prince demands freedom for his Flemings, his revealed connection with the now queen puts him in jail, in risk for his life. Meanwhile friend Rodrigo, Philip’s trusted general, by outright criticism of the treatment of Flanders had won the King’s confidence, to the point of the ruler warning him against the Grand Inquisitor. But the latter demands his pound of flesh, and Rodrigo is sacrificed while the doomed Prince escapes.

This is a powerful emotional drama, nearly contemporary. It stands in stark contrast with I Puritani, an opera of the English civil war of the 1640s, by Vincenzo Bellini . Here the drama centers around the young woman of a Puritan stronghold, Elvira, daughter of lord Giorgio Walton, who has been promised to another supporter of the Parliament, but is in love with Lord Arturo Talbot, a Loyalist faithful to the Stuart monarchy. When he departs, to aid the escape of Henrietta, the widow of the beheaded King Charles, Elvira breaks down in madness and sorrow, and does not recover until Arturo returns, a peace treaty saves him, and the lovers reunite. Here the contrast of between operas becomes apparent. I Puritani is woody, the singers have little opportunity to do more than stand and deliver, and even the liveliness of Anna Netrebko, as the mad Elvira, does not sufficiently free up the action. That is the difference between opera genius of Verdi, and the more pedestrian Bellini, whose work survives due to the beauty of his arias.

Speaking of redesign, updating of the audiences is continuing. There is a young professionals’ organization, bringing the current generation to the opera, and a $20 discount ticket sale, Mo-Thurs at 6PM. The latter, though, mostly attracts the elders, who have the time for standing in lines. More anon.

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis

It had to happen, sooner or later. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly have announced that a new location has been found for our Police Academy, the historic building on 3rd Avenue and 20th Street that served as a secret City Hall in the panic days after 9/11/2001, a site that, since 1964, has served faithfully in training tens of thousands of young recruits into being New York’s Finest.

When built, this was the state of art training facility, with a shooting gallery in the basement, not too environmentally sound, but excellent, when supplemented with a search-and-rescue house in the woods of Pelham Park and a daredevil driving course on the old Floyd Mitchell airfield landing strips.

In 1986 Mayor Ed Koch’s Advisory Committee on Police Management, led by Deputy Mayor John Zuccoti, declared the 20th Street PA inadequate, and pushed for a new, FBA-style facility, to be placed in the South Bronx. This raised the ire of the neighborhood, and we organized the Committee to Save the Police Academy (CSPA), under the aegis of the Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association, a real groundswell group of community groups, political clubs and religious organizations, plus a number of elected officials, to protest an apparent political and real estate boondoggle dreamed up without any cost-benefit analysis. To quote from our statement in the NY Times, "they are trying to rejuvenate the South Bronx at the expense of this neighborhood. We have paid our dues, providing social services to the city, with 13 hospital facilities, eight methadone clinics, and 10 homeless hotels and we deserve the additional protection from the street presence of these young recruits." And we fought, I spent days at City Council meetings, arguing with Councilmen from the Bronx and Commissioner Benjamin Ward, sometimes with the aid of Steve Kaufman, Steve Sanders’s Chief of Staff, helped by the late Joe Roberto, our preservationist architect, and Councilwoman Carol Greitzer, who arranged for us a tour of the PA that gave more proof for our cause.

That the Mayor stopped the plan in 1989 was mostly due to the financial plight of the city rather than the righteousness of our cause. He also stopped the training of recruits for a while, effectively reducing the PD by some 2,000 uniforms. There were a few attempts by the Bronx BP and Mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer to resuscitate the effort, but to no avail.
In 2007 the situation has changed, there is truly a need for more PA facilities. My figures show that the police force of 22,000 in 1986 has grown to 37,000 in 2006, I’m not sure whether these are comparable numbers and the stats from Police Plaza are still coming, but there has been growth both in presence and in technology. We the police fans, honed on Law and Order and SVU, might quibble that the recruit training does not involve chemistry and lab work and may essentially require the same people skills and logic as in 1964, but I’m willing to believe that the current need is genuine. Whether we require a $1B facility or something less costly, I’ll leave for some younger and more energetic enthusiasts to determine.
Meanwhile, a letterhead has surfaced that enabled me to recount and memorialize the names of community leaders and elected officials who joined SPNA early, many no longer with us, but all saints. In alphabetical order, they were:
Rev. James G. Amos, Pastor, Gustavo’s Adolphus Lutheran Church; Rev. Dr. Irving J. Block, Rabbi, Brotherhood Synagogue; Hon. Barbara Cattell, District Leader, Federal Republican Club; Hon. Beth R. Cosnow, ex-DL, Tilden Democratic Club; Alline E. Davis, President, 22nd Street Association; Hon. Louise Dankberg, ex-President, Tilden Dem. Club; Alvin Doyle, Deputy Chairman, Concerned Citizens Speak, Inc.; Hon. Rose Dubinsky, DL, Jefferson Dem. Club; Hon. Miriam Friedlander, Councilperson, 2nd CC District; Hon. Raymond Gibson, DL, New Dem. Club; Hon. Ray M. Goodman, Senator, 26th State Senate District; Hon. Carol Greitzer, Councilperson, 3rd CC District; Rosalee Isaley, President, Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association; Oliver Johnston, Co-Chair, Union Square Community Council; Hon. Andrew Kulak, DL, Jefferson Dem. Club; Hon. Myrna LePree, ex-State Committeeperson, 63rd Assembly District; Hon. John B. Levitt, DL, Tilden Dem. Club; Joyce McCray, Principal, Friends Seminary; Hon. Wm. F. Passanante, Assemblyman, 61st AD; Rev. Dr. Thomas F. Pike, Rector, Calvary-St. George’s Episcopal Church; Hon. Stuart Prager, State Committeeman, 63rd AD; Hon. Francine Quesada, DL, Independent Dem. Club; Hon. Bartholomew M. Regazzi, DL, Albano Rep. Club; E. Peter Ryan, President, Gramercy Neighborhood Associates; Phillip Rothman, President, Cabrini Community Advisory Board; Hon. Steven Sanders, Assemblyman, 63rd AD; Evelyn Strouse, Co-Chair, USCC; Hon. Louis Sepersky, Community Leader; Hon. Mary M. Stumpf, DL, Mid-Manhattan New Dem. Club; Hon. Joy Tannenbaum, DL, Albano Rep. Club; Jack Taylor, Chair, Landmarks Committee, USCC; Hon. Philip Wachtel, DL, Independent Dem. Club; Hon. Peter K. Wilson, ex-DL, Jefferson Dem. Club; Hon. Paul Wrablica, DL, Federal Rep. Club; and that’s not all, there were a lot more members of the committee, the letterhead kept changing. Also, clubs changed names, as did Assembly Districts; congresspersons joined, as did District Leaders, after elections. More to come.