Assignment 5 - Oral History Assignment

Matthew Choon 27 April 2015 IDC 3001H Professor Aries Assignment 5 - Oral History Assignment

The Grand Concourse and The Bronx: The Forgotten, Abused Borough

“Never judge a book by its cover.” This adage implies that there is more to something than what is on the surface. While reflecting on my own experience living in New York, I have always wondered why I have barely been to the Bronx and wanted to pursue its mysteriousness.

Within ten years during the 1970s, around 30% of Bronx residents left the borough due to high crime rates and rent control laws. When a fire famously broke out near the Yankee Stadium, it marked the symbol of the borough’s decline. To that vague extent, I knew that I wanted to interview someone who could answer my questions and clear up the many misconceptions of the quiet borough. Oscar and I were directed to speak to a man named Samuel Goodman, an urban planner at Bronx Borough President’s office and a Bronx native himself. Initially, I was concerned if Sam could answer my questions because I was unsure if his profession had anything to do with my underlying question of the community. I would then realize I had nothing to worry about - I came out of the interview knowing more than I ever thought I would about the borough and myself as an individual. The walk into the Borough President’s office was daunting yet exciting. I have never had to go through a metal detector to interview someone before, so I knew that Sam was a professional and an expert as his field. When Oscar and I entered his office, Sam immediately introduced himself and embraced us with a friendly welcome. He made an effort to show us all of the planning maps and blueprints of the Bronx, some of which were over a century old. When we got situated in the conference room, there was a sort of awkwardness in the air because Oscar and I were unsure of the formality that we should hold the interview in, but Sam quickly interrupted us. He made it clear that he was here to help and answer any questions we had about the Bronx with confidence. Nevertheless, the interview began considerably formal, which Sam had noticed. He wanted it to be a conversation so that we could get involved as well.

Although Oscar and I had a number of questions prepared for Sam, we mutually agreed that the style of the interview should be in a conversation. Sam’s humor broke the ice as he exclaimed,

“When your friends from Manhattan ask you where you are right now and you respond ‘the

Bronx’, they’re in shock!” Oscar and I smiled because we realized there was some truth in this, in which I replied, “Why are people in shock though? What gave the Bronx such a reputation?”

Sam was glad to hear that question, as he took Oscar and I on an oral history trip back to when it all started.

He began by making a blunt statement that I was not too surprised to hear: “The purpose of New York City is to create wealth. And that rings true from since the Dutch came until today.” He claimed that land became prosperous as natural assets and resources made people money. He wanted us to understand that the reason for the city’s growth was to spread wealth. In the 1920s, the Bronx was almost baron. Nothing was there. By the 1930s, everything that we see outside was built within just ten years. Within that time, 536,000 people came to the Bronx for the first time. He compared this to taking the three largest cities in Connecticut and having everyone come to the Bronx within a decade - on top of the already 200,000 people living there.

There were 22 banking institutions, and the Bronx County was one of the fastest growing boroughs in the city, as it became known as “the wonder borough”. So much money was being poured into the borough that it was phenomenal for that time period. When Governor Alfred E.

Smith cut the ribbon on the Concourse Hotel, he stood there and said that the Grand Concourse and the Bronx represented the most striking example of urban growth. By 1925, the Bronx country became one of the most desirable places to be. Because most of the action still happened in Manhattan, the International Rapid Transit Company, created what we know now as the 1, 2,

3, 4, 5, and 6 trains. It was a government sponsored project run by a private sector. They realized that for New York to reach its potential, people shouldn’t have to spend more time in the train because of distance. New York City then had an express train running parallel to a local one.

This afforded people to live further away from the business district. This became a consequence of why the Bronx blew up so quickly - Manhattan began to have too many congested areas.

Everything was state of the art in the 1920s that meant that entire community was aging at the same pace. Homogeneity made it unique and appealing but over time people did not realize that this was the borough’s Achilles heel. The homogeneity characteristic is to a certain extent how the community developed. Sam remembered when it first developed as a Jewish community, while everyone spoke Yiddish, now everyone speaks Spanish. It was also untrue that the notion that the West Bronx was wealthier than the East. The economic diversity, also known as the golden ghetto, made it so that there were lots of different people with different incomes.

At this point, Sam stops his story, and asks us what we think the difference between wealth and prosperity is. Oscar and I were both at a loss for words, in which Sam slowly said, “ Wealth is inherited. Prosperity is earned. This is what people failed to understand.” Following October

1929, a distinction between wealth and prosperity exploded. On the Grand Concourse where we were in the Bronx, there were wealthy people at the time. The prosperity that created the community evaporated. People recognized that there wasn’t anything like a “5th Ave”.

Everything was brand new in the 1920s, and all of it was happening so quickly. When the depression came, everything stopped. The distinction became clear to everyone - the Bronx wasn’t quite what it was in Manhattan. The Bronx never had an absolute separate identity. Manhattan was the centerpiece, and the Bronx was just the North Ward. Right from the get-go it was never quite good as other places might be. That haunted the borough’s evolution ever since.

Sam claims that the only seemingly redeemable characteristic of the borough was the when the

Yankees inaugurated their new baseball park in 1923.

The Grand Concourse offered for the first time, a way to get to Manhattan either on the east or west very quickly. Despite the depression, the Bronx grew by 128,000 people, due to desperate landlords. In order to attract tenants, landlords had to offer everything and came the emergence of art deco buildings. These buildings were top of the line - soundproof, gave the illusion of more space, allowed lots of sunlight, and colorful tiles in the bathrooms. Sam also made a point for us to understand why lobbies are so luxurious. The lobby of these buildings was very elaborate. Along the Concourse, there were always doormen and canopies. This was designed to attract people because the vibe was so important. Sam’s humor came out again and compared this to impressing someone that you want to a date. Much like a first good impression on a date, a community is defined by its appearance and first impression. The goal was to have someone walk up a street and given a choice, would that person want to spend a night in that building.

By the 1940s, children and young adults start going off to war. The state of New York recognized that when the soldiers come back, they come back as adults looking for their own homes. By 1945, rent control made any building built prior to the rents will be frozen. This provided those living there an incentive to stay. All of these buildings have income and rent that is stabilized for the social evolution of the community.

The 1960s was a difficult era; the state of New York was confronted with a number of challenges. John Lindsay became the youngest mayor of New York. His political ambition and charm made him a great candidate. On his first day of office, the subways stopped running.

There was a subway strike on his very first day, and Lindsay was forced to deal with the onslaught of humiliation. Mike Quill, a silver-haired, Irishman, who was also considered to be his adversary, ridiculed him and pressured Lindsay into a decision that would later come back to haunt the city. But the subways had to keep running. Soon, other unions began to realize that because the subway system could do this, they went on strike as well. Then came a sanitation strike and even a teacher’s strike. Lindsay was forced to capitulate recognizing that the city of

New York could not afford this.

Meanwhile, the persecution of African Americans in the South drove many people to migrate north. The city of New York became a destination for jobs. Then came a real need for housing. Unfortunately, it was no longer politically possible for the city of New York to build housing for poor people. According to Sam, rich white women loved the opera, so they built an opera house that would hopefully bring money into the community while halting the growth of the Latino community. He also built the Cross Bronx Expressway, which destroyed the social fabric of the community by separating stores and where people lived. In 1966, news articles would emerge about the growing diversity in the neighborhood. Sam recalled his “very Jewish mother” worrying that “negroes” would move into her strictly Jewish apartment. Then one headline emerged, “Grand Concourse - Hub of the Bronx - will be 76% Negro in 10 years.”

Crime began to rise, and children for the ghetto would come to the parks at night. This made people not want to sit at the park anymore. That one article scared everyone and people began moving. Congressmen said they were going to bulldoze the whole place down. Around 7000 apartments were getting people to move out because the very presence of a presence of a different colored family in that building meant something was changing, and the article referred specifically to that phobia.

No longer politically possible, the City of New York was not going to build housing for poor people. Then came planned shrinkage - the city of New York could not afford to maintain a comparable level of service. The city was broke, and the only theory was to place poor people in one neighborhood but withdraw essential services from those neighborhoods. Banking institutions would have mortgages on all these buildings, but refused to lend money to them because the neighborhood now had buildings that landlords couldn’t sell. The landlord had buildings that were of no value. The value of the building is the land, and the value of the land is based on the proximity of something of value. Therefore, in the 1970s, the fire insurance companies would not insure the now broke neighborhoods.

A Congressman then comes along as says we will pay for the damages sustained for the assessed value of the property. In every case, assessed value is assumed to be lower than the real value. All of these buildings have assessed value greater than the real value. Buildings were devalued and parts were being sold. In 1977, the value of Bronx real estate had gone down so far. Planned shrinkage destroyed a community to satisfy profit desires. The only way for the

Bronx to prosper again is if a new city is built to satisfy the marketplace that is new and contemporary. This is why the Bronx lost so much of its population from the 1970s to the 1980s.

Although at this point, Sam had answered my questions and beyond, he was not finished. I wanted to hear about the aftermath and how the Bronx got back onto its feet. In the 1980s, the borough began to rebound. The population of the borough was finally greater than what it was 40 years ago. The city of New York was going to bulldoze the Melrose Commons and create an entire new community. The We Stay Committee attempted to adjust to this by demanding no tall buildings and different type of houses instead. Sam recalls his mother demanding a small park where everyone can see what is going on, preferring asset and limited liability. Sam did not comment on the future of the Bronx, although we persisted to get his opinion. It was difficult for

Sam to predict what the future entailed for the borough that had already gone through so much.

Instead, he gives us advice and apologizes on behalf of his generation that seemingly caused the decline of the borough. He handed Oscar and I the torch and the responsibility to do what is right and to not let greed get the best of us.

In retrospect, I could not have imagined having another partner besides Oscar. From the get-go, we were on the same page with our research and had the same underlying questions.

Because Oscar has personal ties with the neighborhood, I felt that it was my job as a Manhattan native to understand the roots of all of the boroughs. Oscar and I also had the same essential questions that we wanted to discover, and Sam gave us an answer well beyond what was asked.

Although Sam did most of the talking, we did pay any mind because it was as if he was the tour guide of an oral history trip. I don’t believe that either of us was being too direct, as Sam wanted us to loosen up more. As the interview went on, we all became more comfortable with each other and personal anecdotes were shared as well. Of course, we digressed but everything related to the points that Sam was making. He inspired us as young people to vote and get involved because if a member or citizen chooses not to concern themselves with what is happening around them, nothing stops a private sector from exploiting the as well as a public sector from ignoring them. You simply don’t count, and if you choose not to participate, decisions are made in the interest of the elected official. He left us with some life changing advice as the interview came to a close. He looked Oscar and I in the eyes and told us that throughout life, people will always be trying to convince you to do what they want, and it is our job as individuals to realize that and make decisions for ourselves. Although the interview went particularly well, I do realize that I could have improved it by asking Sam more of the questions that I had prepared. Sam wanted it to be more of a conversation but inevitably, he did most of the talking. I could have asked him more follow-up questions, but Sam had already provided us with such rich information that I didn’t feel it was necessary because he had already answered them. Oscar interviewed a man named Marquis Devereaux, a local business owner. He was a very well educated man and the interview was solid. He pointed out things that we hadn’t heard of before like the plans with

Kings Bridge Armory and a new artist community by the Bruckner. It was a very solid and informative interview but an important thing to note is to contact the people earlier so it’s not so short notice for the person. Overall, I came out of the interviews in awe and shock, but I will never forget the legacy of the Bronx. Although it is commonly swept under the rug and seems to remain hidden, the borough served as the anchor and foundation for the progress of our beloved city.