Sunday, April 01, 2007
The Police Academy is leaving us, again
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.
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.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 2:44 PM 
