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DAVID O'SHAUGHNESSY Senior Vice President, Administration
Hon. Kevin Martin September 24, 2008 Chairman Federal Communications Commission FILED!ACCEPTED 445 12th Street, SW Washington, DC 20554 OCT 152008 Federal Communications Commission Dear Mr. Chairman: Office 01 the Secretary
You have expressed an interest in "coaxing" broadcasters back toward "localism."
We're all for the concept ... but we're hopeful this commendable notion can be accomplished without burdening broadcasters with a lot of redundant paperwork.
On this subject, I thought you and your associates might be interested in a talk my father, William O'Shaughnessy, gave just last week before a business group here in New Rochelle, our City of License in Westchester County, outside New York City. As I read - and heard - it, I wondered how much more local a broadcaster can get.
While it is undeniably true that many/most radio stations have fallen to absentee owners and speculators (my dad likes to say they are run by "market managers" who operate out of airport lounges with Palm Pilots and Blackberries reporting to corporate masters a whole continent away) there are still abroad in the land some very worthy locally-owned and locally-operated independent community stations like WVOX and WVIP.
I'm also sending a copy of a very unique promotional piece called "Our Ratings Book" which further makes the case that some stations need little encouragement to reach your commendable goal.
Yours, No. of Copies roo'd._Q~._.._ V~ List ABCDE David O'Shaughnessy Whitney Media david@wvox.com
;rrWVOXI: Broadcasting First Amendment Advocacy Publishing 046" '" Communication Strategies Government Relations One Broadcast Forum' New Rochelle' New York 10801 • Phone: 914-636-1460' Fax: 914-636-2900' Web: wvox.com WI-IITN YJ'v1EDIA
WILLIAM O'SHAUGHNESSY President &. Editorial Director
"The Future is Here ... Behold the Future!"
Remarks of William O'Shaughnessy New Rochelle Business Week 2008
The Avalon East New Rochelle, NY September 15, 2008
Hon. Nita Low.ID/:: This is a real honor for me. Never before in the twenty years I have been your congressperson have I been asked to be the "warm-up band" for the great Bill O'Shaughnessy. I have to tell you it's an impossible task because Bill O'Shaughnessy is New Rochelle. He has been involved in New Rochelle, loving New Rochelle, committed to New Rochelle ... for as long as I can remember. So I did want to thank him for all he has done to create such excitement. It also takes a team to do all this and I'm glad to see that most of city hall and all the business leaders are here to hear Bill O'Shaughnessy's keynote remarks. He is my friend ...
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John Spicer: (President & CEO, Sound Shore Medical Center) Being in New Rocheile for twenty years '" it is very exciting for me too. It is a positive reflection on the city to see all of you here today. I've been given the responsibility of introducing someone who really doesn't need an introduction. When I first came to New Rochelle from NYU Medical Center ... any number of people told me: "John ... if you want to have half a chance when you get IJp there ... you better get to know Bill O'Shaughnessy and you better like him l " And in the iast 20 years, Bill has taken me - and the medical centel' - under his wing and heiped guide us through so many different issues and through his willingness to give us his time - and in some cases, if we can get his knock-out wife Nancy engaged - even his money - to keep the hospital moving forward.
He has done all this and so much more for the city. All of you know that Bill plays a variety of different roles in our community. For the City of New Rochelie itself - he has watched carefully and encouraged growth and development. He's not afraid to comment on how he sees us moving. In many ways, he serves as the "conscience of the community." He certainly is its historian, with his elegant prose and his books, because he can bring you back to how we got to where we are. But most importantly, Bill is this city's cheerleader. He gives us the confidence, which I think this whole country needs right now. He gives us the confidence that we have the wherewithal and the potential to move forward directly ... that we can develop into one of the key cities in the New York metropolitan area. We are seeing that happen right now.
But through all the good times and the bad ... Bill has served as the cheerleader for this town. He has been out there pushing development and teiling people we have one of the most beautiful shorelines in the region ... that we have a downtown that has a lot of potential and a disparate, multi cultural suburban community and school district second to none. He has been saying that for more than twenty years and now I think we're right about there, where he always said we should be and where we deserve to be. It is my pleasure to introduce New Rochelle's historian ... cheerleader ... and one of the best creative minds in the area: Bill O'Shaughnessy!
-~ .. 2 Bro3dcasting First Amendment Advocacy Publishing Communication Strategies Government Relations WYIP One Broadcast Forum' New Rochelle' New Yark 10801 • Phone: 914-636-1460 • Fax: 914-636-2900 • Web: wvox.com "Business Week 2008" cont'd
William O'Shaughnessv:
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm grateful for your invitation ... and for John Spicer's friendship of so many years. His introductions are getting better. He used to introduce me as a "self-made man ... through marriage!" (laughter) And it's true! (applause)
In the moments you've given to me this morning I do want to invoke a little history ... and perhaps do a little reminiscing. I'm not an historian. I'll leave that to Tom Hoctor and Barbara Davis. But -the portfolio you"ve allowed me to carry has enabled me to observe some wonderful and colorful characters who have populated this city over the years. I'll get to that in a moment.
I'm certainly glad to be here and away from the harsh, unpleasant news of the day. I've listened to WVOX and WVIP and I've read five newspapers this morning. It's like "Roller Derby Day" on Wall Street. And I don't think anyone knows what the answer is ... except to do what Mrs. Lowey suggested. You do the best you can on your own block, in your own community and in your own neighborhood. You build it up, as Mr. Cuomo instructs us always. You try to make it stronger, better ... even sweeter ... than it was. That's all we can do. That's everything we can do. And I hate to get Biblical at this hour of the morning, but we could even resort to the ancient wisdom and "Love Our Neighbor ..." You know the rest.
The image of New Rochelle as a popular and agreeable residential haven has endured over the years burnished by the presence of Norman Rockwell, Lou Gehrig, Whitney Young, James Montgomery Flagg, the big band crooner David Allyn, Hugh Price, Teresa Brewer, Eddie Foy, E.L. Doctorow, Cynthia Ozick, the 50th governor of New York Malcolm Wilson, Frankie Frisch, Katherine and Ken Chenault, and, for awhile, the dazzling Maria Cuomo, now Mrs. Kenneth Cole, Frances Sternhagen, Robert Merrill, Lou Boccardi, Kenneth Raske, Mariano Rivera, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee and those endearing characters Laura and Rob Petry played by Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. It is also home, one must acknowledge, to that great Shakespearean actor Vincent Pastore who, as you recall, was that memorable figure "Big Pussy" in "The Sopranos." I would call him a "thespian" ... but I don't want any problems. (laughter)
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So much for the glamorous image this suburban city has enjoyed over the years in the tabloids and among celebrity journalists. You however deal with reality ... with the sinew and heart and soul and pulse of the city. And that's what I'd like to talk about today.
They - the civic boosters over the years - used to call this "A City Alive!" Remember that campaign? But it was only a flicker, an empty slogan ... until Mr. Cappelli invested his money and his vision. And there were others - like the Avalon folks.
You know of our stations' high regard for shy, modest, retiring Mr. Cappelli, and for his vision and dynamism ... as well as my admiration for him personally. I'm glad to note that the Chamber has always stood in his corner and encouraged this extraordinary developer's Herculean and really, I think, quite noble efforts to re-invigorate our city.
I am pleased, and tremendously proud, to have been the permittee with a fiduciary relationship to your community radio stations for almost 40 years and I am glad to be here today high among the clouds with a spectacular view of the entire metropolitan area as you begin Business Week here in our home heath.
I surely want to tell you of my admiration for Noam Bramson, the' brilliant, young mayor who serves us so well. Also for our terrific city manager Chuck Strome, my former colleague on the airwaves. I've known a lot of mayors in my day ... and city managers - and right now in 2008, at this precise moment - we have the two best individuals we've ever had leading our city. In Craig King we also have an excellent commissioner of development. Their genius is everywhere apparent all around us.
Senator "Suzi" is here. She goes on forever and long may she ever. You could not have a better friend at 3:00 in the morning than Assemblyman George Latimer or Legislator Vito Pinto. And, of course, the absolutely essential individual in our community is John Spicer. I wanted to also remember to tell you of my gratitude to the great Cindy Hall Gallagher and our chief-of-staff Don Stevens and my son and heir David O'Shaughnessy.
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And Nita Lowey ... who elevates and honors us with her remarkable service in Westchester. Her House colleagues made her a "cardinal" ... and a chairman of a powerful committee (I wanted to make her a senator!) They know how smart she is, how dynamic she is. We know how 9...00d she is. Mrs. Lowey is already on her way back to Washington ... but 1 hope she (or her husband Steven) won't mind me telling you I'm just crazy about the lady! (applause)
Most radio stations today have fallen to speculators and absentee owners, ladies and gentlemen. And they are run by what they call "market managers" or "asset managers" who operate out of airport lounges on their Palm Pilots and Blackberries, beholden to corporate masters a whole continent away. It's a sad truth, in the intimacy of this room ... and 1 guess the same is true for delicatessens or banks or car dealers or oil companies ... that radio stations are worth more "in play" among speculators than they are being operated as radio stations.
When the Wall Street Journal called WVOX "America's Quintessential Community Station" ... that is an appellation in which you, as our patrons, sponsors and benefactors must share. So I'm proud WVOX and WVIP are perhaps the last locally-owned and locally-operated independent radio stations abroad in the land.
1 wanted to tell you ... as you go through this week - and you've got some really good programs planned - that as you perhaps know from the public press, I'm more than a little interested in First Amendment matters. I'm afraid I'm often the one they drag out when Howard Stern goes too far! He calls me the "white-haired mogul from Westchester ... who sometimes gets it right." (laughter)
We lost a great friend of the First Amendment in George Carlin. You remember his "Seven Dirty Words!" 1 can't say those seven dirty words even here. But 1 beg you, as you go through this week please don't let any of your panelists say the following ... which, 1 believe, are even far worse than George Carlin's seven dirty words.
1 refer to the business-speak buzzwords of our professions: If you hear any speakers say: "Make it Happen!" ... "Doin' What it Takes!" ... "Gettin' it Done!" ... or "24/7" ... or "The Whole Nine Yards!" ... throw them the hell out! For 1 think these utterances are even more
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dangerous and vulgar than the seven dirty words. To hell with the First Amendment! I just had to tell you that. (laughter)
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In every endeavor there are the takers and there are the givers. And here assembled in this room are obviously the givers. By your presence early on a Monday morning you are firmly among this generation of givers.
But I want to remember, for just a moment, those who came before us, those business leaders who got us where we are. I arrived in this town in 1967. And I never dreamed we would one day be sitting assembled in high council above the clouds like this in a 32-story skyscraper. We started out, after all, in the subterranean basement of George Kaufman's Pershing Square Building! (laughter)
We've come a long way together. I remember the battles we fought along with Alvin Richard Ruskin, a former mayor (one of the great ones) now in his 80's living in a retirement home in Connecticut, to get the first mall built, with Ossie Davis confronting the bulldozer operators threatening to run over the Black street people. A lot has happened since then. And you are the inheritors of the example and vision of all those marvelous leaders in the business community in years gone by.
The Chamber of Commerce has always been a magnet - even before the wonderful and dynamic woman who leads you now - Denise Lally. I want to congratulate you not only on Denise's service - but on having the wisdom to elect the first woman president of the New Rochelle Chamber of Commerce - Rita Mabli.
Now, as promised, the history. I'm going to tryout some names on you ... and I bet you haven't heard these in a good, long time. In my books, I've mentioned some of them. I read a chapter about John Brophy this morning. Remember John Brophy? He led every parade in this town for many decades. He was always coming up the street at the head of a parade. He was also a big American Legion guy. And he would send off our servicemen and women with a Bible and a comb and brush set. And he would see them off by dawn at the train
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station as they would leave. But he always hung out at the Chamber of Commerce.
And on this brilliant morning in 2008 those marvelous townie characters come back to us through the mist of time: Alex Norton, the flamboyant and endearing administrator of the old New Rochelle Hospital ... Jack Cesario of the restaurant family ... Mayor Stanley W. Church (all the widows in town loved Stanley Church) (laughter) ... and one of my personal all-time favorites: Rocco Bellantoni, Junior, who owned several businesses in this town and even became a member of the City Council ... and old Charlie Librett and his son Arthur. Also Charlie Wendelkin of Blessed Sacrament. And Lou Saporito before he split with Loretta. All your Chamber and civic dinners were held at the fabled Glen Island Casino which was presided over by Angelo Badolatto. They were all active in Chamber affairs. It's in your minutes. And in our memories and in our hearts.
Here's another name: Jack Kornsweet, with his thatch of white hair, ran Better Built Bedding and he had an opinion on everything. Another of my favorites was always Marvin Goldfluss. He ran the Camera Craft store. He too knew damn near everything about everything and he let you know about it. (I'm reminded that we need a good camera store in this town. And a bookstore.) Murray Mendelson. I'm going to write a novel: "What Ever Happened to Murray Mendelson?" (laughter) Milton Gould of Gould Buick down the street. I sat next to his daughter at a dinner in New York the other night. She's now married to the chairman of the MTA Dale Hemmerdinger. And Lenny DeMarco. He was a big Chamber guy. And Alex Scott. Where do you buy appliances now? In the old days you would call him ... my washing machine broke down ... and he would send you a new one. And send you a bill three weeks later. I don't know how you do that now.
A great hangout for Chamber types ... especially on Saturday mornings ... was The Mannerly Shop, a men's store presided over by Sal Generoso. He was haberdasher to the townie establishment. And even the mayors of the day called him "Goombah Sal" for he was also Republican chairman of the city. His estimable son Jim Generoso now runs the busy New Rochelle City Court which has often been accused of being one of the very best in all of New York State.
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I think the Chief City Judge Preston Scher gets some credit for that too. A lot, in fact.
An especially vivid and much beloved figure during the city's struggles was Israel Streger. They called him "Murph," but his real name was Israel... and his two sons: David went into politics, served on the Council and ran for mayor a few times. Bobby served as your president.
The bankers of the day: Arthur Geoghegan... who walked about 27 blocks down North Avenue every morning ... this is where he picked up most of the business for First Westchester National Bank. And Keith Fulsher. And Jack Dowling of Westchester Federal Savings. He was a great: contrarian who even founded his own Presbyterian Church! That building that looks like Ventura Boulevard is still there. Now I think iit's HSBC. I had to repair to Dowling every time I would defend the city manager of the day. Dowling would cancel his advertising. I would say, "Jack ... you don't have to do this just to get me in here ... you're a 'patron!'" (laughter)
I think it's wonderful you have a cooperative, working relationship with the BID. The Business Improvement District is led so ably by Ralph DiBart and Steven Jerome's brilliant young son Marc. It wasn't always thus in this town because they had a Chamber of Commerce and they also had a Downtown Association led by Sidney Mudd and the Joyce Beverage people and Mike Risavi who ran Bloomingdale's. And there was an attractive, educated man named Hubert Horan who ran People's Bank. And speaking of bankers ... there were also two bachelor girls: Mary O'Leary and Evie Haas. Rosemary remembers them. As I recall, they enjoyed a cocktail or two of an evening. And they were great dames.
And Hughie Doyle ... he was a great Chamber guy ... like a Tip O'Neill of his day. Some other endearing characters: remember Bill Scollon and David Kendig, a very smart guy. And Paddy O'Neill. All the elders of the town met at Paddy O'Neill's saloon for lunch right nearby. He would not recognize this fancy, swell place. He would not believe it! O'Neill presided over a wonderful saloon and everybody would eat there on paper plates. Arthur Geoghegan and Owen Mandeville from Larchmont. And Bill Scott with his magnificent clothes. And J. Ray McGovern and Frank Connelly. And
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if they didn't eat at Paddy O'Neill's they would eat at Schrafft's where Paul Scott was. And the lure of Schrafft's was a 99-cent cranberry sandwich and a whiskey sour which always came with a small pitcher for the overflow!
And Brother Darby Ruane. And Del Olan ... who loved the microphone. And Bob Feinman ... maybe the brightest guy who ever walked these streets. And he let you know it. Jimmy Stillman and Gene Palazzo of Liebman's and Hector Hyacynthe and Steve Tenore. And ... he's not here ... because he's probably at the radio station ... Peter Mustich. (applause)
J. Addison Young, Jack Gardner, Les Albertson, the Fanellis, Charlie Seidenstein and Frank Connelly, Sr. were the prominent lawyers of the day ... just as John Vasile, Bill McKenna, Bob Mancuso and Frank Connelly, Jr. are of this day and age. Ira Gelb, Dan Sherber and Irv Samuels were the outstanding physicians then as Rich Pisano is today.
And, my God, how did we get through this litany without even a mention of the Honorable Theodore R. "Teddy" Greene (applause) ... the beguiling and absolutely irresistible city councilman who was also a merchant prince. He owned an art gallery. But he was always running for mayor and he drove Alvin Ruskin nuts with his antics. (laughter) Remember when Teddy stuck the "Up With People" troupe out on David's Island for an entire summer and tens of thousands came from all over the Eastern seaboard to hear them sing with great resolve and sureness? With all of this going on and finding time to flirt with everything that moved! (laughter) ... Teddy was also constantly inserting himself into the affairs of the Chamber. And we loved him for it.
Over the years, my associates at the radio station often partnered with these great characters and the Chamber of Commerce on the great issues of the day. When we tried to save Bloomingdale's we went down to plead with the elegant and very grand Lawrence Lachman, the Bloomies chairman, and a representative of the Chamber of Commerce was with us in those de~perate days.
When we stopped that shopping center across from lona College the Chamber was there. I think Mr. Rosenshein was the guy -I hope 9 " ,. H ':.: . ~-\Nvox-7. Broadcasting First Amendment Advocacy Publishing -~--~-- WYIP Communication Strategics Government Relations
One Broadcast Forum' New Rochelle' New York 10801' Phone: 914-636-1460' Fax: 914-636-2900' Web: wvox.com "Business Week 2008" cont'd
he's not here. We did that for Brother Jack Driscoll, a great friend of ours. Some other administrators of that great college in our midst perhaps studied Latin - but were maybe absent and went missing the day they taught "quid pro quo" because there would have been a shopping center there if we didn't stop it. But that was long ago, Brother ... and you forgot ... (laughter)
When Nita Lowey and Mayor Bramson persuaded the U.S. Congress and the Postal Service to honor the memory of our beloved Robert Merrill ... the Chamber was there.
And I want t:o tell you about David's Island. This is an absolutely true story ... and City Manager Strome will remember ... the City was interested in selling David's Island to Con Edison, also known as the Edison Company. (I always let on to the old-timers that I was "connected" because we didn't call it Con Edison, we called it "the Edison Company.") So we told Alvin Ruskin, the mayor, to call them up and tell them we've got an island for sale, right out there rotting, sitting in the noonday sun.
He said "You don't do it that way, O'Shaughnessy." At this time, there was a new chairman of The Edison Company ... he came from Walla Walla, Washington •.. from the Bonneville Power Authority. His name was Chuck Luce ... a very distinguished man. I called him up and said: "I need to talk to you, sir. I am a very important person from Westchester ... with my 500 throbbing watts of power." He said, "Mr. O'Shaughnessy, do you ever do dinner?" I said: "You mean ... like a business dinner? Maybe my wife would let me do that!" I told .Alvin, the Mayor, we're going to dinner and I took them to Toots Shor. And Toots was having a good time that night with about five brandy and sodas under his belt. (laughter)
He took right away to Charles Luce and immediately punched the chairman in the gut and told him he looked like Johnny Carson and the great barroom philosopher right then and there predicted he would go far in this town. (laughter)
Then we went next door to "21" and I thought maybe I'm in a little over my head and maybe I shouldn't have done this. We had a few more cocktails and, as we were leaving, I sheered off my bumper on a mail truck ... US Postal Service! Ruskin, the mayor, said "Luce
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didn't see it ... he's already in his limousine. We'll go around the block and pick up your damn bumper." (laughter)
The next day W. Dunham Crawford of Con Ed was in the Office of the Mayor negotiating the biggest land deal in the history of Westchester County. $10 million ... and I'm feeling real good about this! $10 million bucks! And the councilmen of the day ... they couldn't wait to spend that $10 million.
And then some people with many vowels in their names down in the south end of town ... and a few Irishmen too ... they heard the word "nuclear" ... You want to build a what out there? (Forget that nuclear energy is the cheapest and cleanest) ... Not in my backyard! I'm afraid we had to reluctantly cover that story in some detail. And, guess what? They sold it back for $10! $10 million ... to $10 dollars! (laughter)
Wait! Some years later, I'm walking into the American Yacht Club with Alvin Ruskin, now a Supreme Court judge, thanks to Nelson Rockefeller. Charles Luce is there with his daughter. He said ... "Come over here gentlemen." He said, "Honey, these are two very important gentlemen ... you should get to know Mr. O'Shaughnessy, the head of the radio station ... and Judge Ruskin. You should really know them if you ever want to lose money in a real estate deal!" (applause - laughter) So although we were not always successful ... the Chamber was there to support our efforts.
We salute as well the leaders and visionaries of today ... those who have been so active in Chamber affairs: your past president Frank Dursi ... Louis Iacopetta ... Gary Terrigian ... Joe Simone ... Bob Young ... Charles DePasquale. Some day one of my sons will be up here telling you just how great they were. And all of you.
Valerie MOOrE! O'Keefe, the highly respected supervisor of the Town of Mamaroneck once said: "As New Rochelle goes ... so goes the entire Sound Shore area." She is one bright lady. And the recent re birth and renaissance of New Rochelle has lifted all boats ... and also the fortunes and well-being of the residents of Pelham, Larchmont, Eastchester, Harrison and Rye as well ... our neighbors.
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I'm going to take but another few minutes and then I'll mercifully yield. I found something about the late Bob Cammann who went to another - and we're sure, a better world - some years ago. He was Denise's predecessor as the drumbeater and advocate for our business community.
I actually prepared it for Bob's Mass at Blessed Sacrament. (Monsignor Bradley doesn't like speakers, except Monsignor Bradley. (laughter) He did allow, as I recall, the mayor to go up. This is what I would have said on the occasion.) I think its instructive for where we are even today. It was published in one of my books by the Fordham Jesuits, incidentally, and Cindy Gallagher tells me it sold 89,000 copies! So I guess more people read it than never ... heard it. (applause)
They speak of Bob Cammann's accomplishments in the shops along Main Street, which he knew for four decades. And they knew him ... as their advocate, their drumbeater, their champion.
It was never just about money or shopping or the day's receipts at the register. It was not just about commerce, Bob's affair with our city. Nor was it just about the merchant princes whose herald he was.
Bob was our connection to the days when the carriage trade from Pelham, Larchmont, Scarsdale, and Rye shopped in our downtown streets at Arnold Constable and Bloomingdale's, which prospered without even so much as a sign on its front door.
Cammann made a lot of the bankers and merchant princes rich, but he was always connected to the "townies" - the people with roots in our community. And he became one of them.
We speak of "fair weather" friends. Bob was a "foul weather" friend, who saw our city through all the lean years and less than stellar times. He never gave up on New Rochelle, its potential or its people. He knew that a community is not defined by tax rolls or skyline, but by the strength and goodness ofits people.
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Even when this extraordinary city, so richly endowed by its Creator, was rejected by developers ...
(Let me depart for a moment and tell you I remember when this city was trying to get UNICEF. We took the guy down to Le Cirque ... and got him loaded ... but he was already wired by Phyllis Wagner who wanted to keep this huge UN organization in the Big Apple. Mrs. Wagner \Vas a powerful woman and a widow times two. She had been married to Bennett Cerf and New York Mayor Robert Wagner. Plus, she was Frank Sinatra's best friend. Who was going to mess with Sinatra! (laughter) So we were outgunned in our efforts to attract UNICEF. But the head guy (I remember he had a ponytail) pulled me aside and said: "You have a fabulous "organic city" ... it's got waterfront, parkways, top notch schools, a great police department, two superior colleges, a magnificent medical center, everything!)
Now back to the "eulogy" for Bob ...
New Rochelle was abandoned by Bloomingdale's, and left at the altar by Lord and Taylor and UNICEF, but Bob's enthusiasm never faltered, his confidence never waned. He was the first to greet and encourage the new Americans: the Mexicans, the Portuguese, the West Indians, the Koreans, the Hispanics and the African Americans. Not all of us were so sure about this, or willing to accommodate the change brought on by the shifting demographics. Not all were hospitable. But Bob was.
I once called Cammann "a warrior" in a radio broadcast. I'd like to amend that. Bob Cammann was, ultimately and essentially, a lover. This town - and all of us - are the beneficiaries of that extraordinary love. Now that New Rochelle is starting to show signs of a pulse once more, maybe Bob just thought his work was done when he left us. (applause)
That was in 1999.
The Chamber of Commerce, in his day and in your day, has always put aside parochial interests to look beyond the demands of its purse, the imperatives of commerce ... and beyond your own narrow interests. And through an inclination to statesmanship, you have always been stalwart and reliable champions for the greater good of the community. Actually, you are almost mis-named. Your organization is very much more than a mere "Chamber of Commerce." 13
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I can only leave you with this thought. David's grandfather, Walter Nelson Thayer, who was president of the Herald Tribune, a great newspaper of sainted memory, was quoted in the New York Times ... "New York is littered with guys whose only goal is to make money .•. they ... almost ... never ... do."
I think he meant you've got to have something else to drive you, to guide you, something else to inspire you. You've go be the best tile setter. You've got to make the best salad at the deli. You've got to be the most caring and compassionate bankers of the day ... the most dedicated hospital administrator.
And always, like Mario Cuomo constantly instructs us: You've got to build up the community and make it stronger, better and sweeter than it was.
But I expect, as your presence indicates, you know all of these things.
Thomas Carlyle once said:
"The glory of a workman, still more ofa master workman - that he does his work well - ought to be his most precious possession - and like the honor of a soldier dearer to him than life. "
So thank you for indulging my enthusiasms for so many years in this extraordinary city which has been so good to me and mine.
And congratulations to Madame President Rita Mabli and our leader Denise Lally. You're in very good and capable hands ...
But it was ever thus!
Contact: Cindy Hall Gallagher 914-235-3279 [email protected]
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Broadcasting First Amendment Advocacy Publishing WVIP Communication Strategies Government Relations ' ,
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