Holy Mother. the City

Holy Mother. the City

THI! "CATHOLIC WORKER Subacr1 pt ion 1 . Vol. XXV No. 2 . S_eptemher, 1958 25c Par YHr Price le A Letter From ON PILGllJMAGE. By DOROTHY DAY •- The letter from the AUTHORI­ sheim of Germany and Jerusalem, TIES about our hnpendlhl' move a craftswoman, a scholar, a writer Holy Mother .The City is followed by the advice of law­ and photographer. She will give Miss Dorothy Day yers that we probably w111 have us a talk on Martin Buber, the c/ o Catholic Worker, Inc. several months more to look for great Jewish philosopher from 223 Chrystie Street a place to live'. The relocation whose work, PiMhs In Utopia I New Yor k 2, N. Y. people cannot find apartments for have gained the most encourage­ the 56 tani.llles next door so easily. ment in our work towards conunu­ Dear Miss Day: We shall tr)' to keep track of how nity. Peter Maurin would 'have As occupant of 223 Chrystle Street, ~o rough of Manhattan, City thi1· ls done, what kind of apart­ adopted that work as a text for and State of New York, you are hereby notified that The City of ments they are asked to take, and study for the "personalist and New York has taken title, effectjve August 27, 1958, to said prop­ keep our readers informed as to communitarian revolution" as Em­ erty in condemnation proceedings, and requires the use thel'lof how these dislocations work out. · manuel Mounier called it. for rapid transit purposes. The building . thereon ls to be de­ For 25 yean The Catholic Today I saw an ad in the Time1 molished. Worker has been printed by Ro­ about a house on Prince and Mott The effe ct of such taking of title by The City of New York is l'OWskl Press which ls located at streets which seemed exactly what to wipe out, cancel and annul all private ownership and all pre­ Pearl street near Brooklyn Bridre. we wanted for our new home. viously existing rights and/ or interests in this parcel; of real es­ They too have to move, and have The. r~ were three stores a:nd a sev-­ tate, including tenancies and all rights of occupancy. had the 1ame kind of letter from enteen room one family house the city u we, and tbey too have above, with a penthouse on a roof The New York City Transit Authority, acting for The City of had to pay rent 1lnce May of which was all railed in and would New York, requires immediate possession of the premises in order $1250 a month on a buildinc substitute for our present spacious that it may proceed, without delay, in the construction of a por­ which they have owned for many yard where we hold our· Friday tion of a Municipal Rapid Transit Railroad connecting both the years. From these owners we learn night meetings and our festivities. BMT Line on Manhattan Bridge and the BMT Line on the Wil­ the startllnl' fact that the higher There was oil heat and it. was par­ liamsburg Bridge to the IND Line in Houston Street, New York the rent, the more money one cets tially fire-proof. The price was City Transit System, known as Route 112, Section 3. e.ventually from the city. So.-._lar within reason, if the city paid us You are accordingly notlfl.ed to vacate the premises you occupy we are offered nothlnf;' but our what we had paid out for our and remove all your goods, chattels, and personal belongfngs from cl•lms are to be submitted by the house on Chrystie street. Beth the property as soon as possible and in no event later than Sep­ lawyers representinc the property. Rogers, Robert Steed and I rushed tember 30, 1958. But the sad fact ls that The Catho­ over to see it and fell in love You will be ~eld liable for any damage or damage~ that ·may lic Worker ls so broke now that with it at once.' The neighborhood accrue to the New Yor~ City Transit Authorjty, and/ or The City we have no more money to pay, was just right for one thjng, three of New York, by your failure to v~cate the premises as above rent. So we lace the chance of blocks from the Bowery instead demanded. The urgency of the public work, for which the rights Seattle Bishop Scores· e\'lctlon, true eviction, for non­ of the one block we ·are now, and in the above property has been acquired, ls such that serious paJ'Dlent of rent on property which as so ~ften happens in New York, consequences may result unless possession is surrendered as here­ we thoucht we owned. If we bor­ a cQmpletely changed neighbor­ lnabove demanded, Migr~nts' Living row money from the city to pay hood, a little Italian village in the Thu is a final notice. the clt1 U.e rent It asks, we 1tlll midst of chaos. Across the street llaTe to paJ the cltJ I per cent. a bakery, a cheese factory, a wood Dated this 28th day ot. August, 1938. Conditions Aaotller ltulat!IS man an that working shop, evidence of the NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT AUTHORITY· the cltJ pan 1lll twe or three ~r small crafts and business still fight­ By Joseph M. Duffy Bishop Bernard J. ~opel of cent on the oneJ' It owes us! ing for survival in New York. On · Director of Real Estate Spokane, Wash., ~·• added his There 11 no need for us to take Princ;e .street too there is ,a neigh­ voice to those of others who have buslne111 courses ai the Bernard borhood dinlc which treats every­ SIC TRANSIT AUTHORITY MUNDI demanded improvements in the liv_­ Baruch 11Chool of business. ·We thing including eyes and teeth, and (Note1 for a Movtnc Play) ing conditions of Mexican farm learn by experlencliil". half, a block down a children'• By STANLEY VISHNEWSKI laborers and thett families. The Other Injustices come to lil'ht J?layground with a fountain In from day to day as we study .our the middle, and instead of the sad Th~ $64,o·oo Question: Who owns formed that we are no longer own­ bishop's remarks came after a visit · St. Joseph's House of Hospitality? ers of our private property. (See situation. We · are classlfl.ed under rows of derelicts crowding the to the iabor camps of seasonal the Multiple dwellinr law' Class B. benches as in our pai;k across the , The City of New York? The Tran­ the letter o,n the front page). Mexican workers near Walla - 1lt Authority? The Rent Collec- which I understand is for trans­ street, there were mothers with The amusing par~ about the let­ Walla. - tors · The Catholic Worker? ter is that comini from the wealth­ ients. But we a.re 95 per cent baby carriages and children play­ In his column In the Inland permanen~ residents. s~me of our ing. W~ need some little con­ · The Place: Not Russia! Not Ger­ iest city in tlie world it follows the 1 many under Hitler! Not Italy Marxian line inasmuch as it strikes Register, the diocesan paper, Bish­ lamll.Y havlnc lived with WI, s.uch trast to the refugee type existence under Mussolini! Not the Moon at the foundations of private prop­ op Topel .aid he had seen fam­ as Slim, and California Georg-e, we have been living for the past In the year 1980! But the City of erty and expropriates ·our House ilies of twelve living in one room. and many others, for fifteen years. eight years, crowded . to bursting with_ the destitute single men and New York in .the year 1958. without ·giving w a chance. to de­ Many women were cooking on Anna, one of oiir latest arrlval.s The- Problem: The Transl t Au­ fend our rights. However, to be wood stoves, with the temperature has been sleepinl' on our hall floor women, far inor.e than we can ever . thority in the City of New York fair, there is this important dif­ outside near 100 degrees. He for two,......years or so. "I haven't take care of. All we can do ls claims to be losing money in its ference~ The Soviets refused com­ called attention to the lack of slept in a bed for thirty years," just be there practicing that ' administration of the subway sys­ pensation when they took over the running water and toilet and bath she says proudly. But that doesn't presence which the French Cath­ . tern, therefore, to further lose land and the buildings. The City facilities in- the families' living mean sJte doesn't want a roof ~ver olics are calling attention to as so . money it has decided to· build a of New York does offer compen'sa­ units. her head and a family around her. necessary today. We realize our spur connecting two subway sys­ tion for Qur building. But will "As I walked around the camp," Durlnc my recent visit to Min­ own powerlessness and yet say, " In tems. Most New Yorkers would they pay us the $28,000 we ·spent he \~rote, "these two thoughts neapolis, I learned how James Him we can do all things." Prac­ prefer more men employed ori the to fireproof the House-this at came to mind: first, how ls it pos­ Powers, the famous writer, had tice hospitality and the works of sible ·that in such a prosperous been evicted twice, once from mercy and leave God to do the present 10 car two men trains, their insistence.

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