By James DeWeese
There is no hall of fame to honor everyday New Yorkers for their contributions to the city's growth, an oversight that Flushing retiree Al Stern wants to correct.
Stern said he hopes to have a New York City Hall of Fame set up in the city's geographical center, Woodside, by 2008.
Stern, 61, was struck with inspiration while watching a Mets game in 2002.
“They happened to bring up the Baseball Hall of Fame,” Stern said during a telephone interview. “I said, 'Gee, that would be nice … a New York City Hall of Fame.'”
He said he was astounded there wasn't one already.
“I said to myself, 'Whoa, there must a New York City Hall of Fame,' but lo and behold our research indicated that there was not a New York City Hall of Fame.”
Stern, who describes himself as a dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker who has lived in every borough except Staten Island, immediately got to work on what he calls “a labor of love.”
After retiring as general manager for a photographic retail chain in Manhattan, Stern said, he had been looking for some way to give back to the city he has called home for all his life.
And the answering machine at Stern's home greets callers with: “You have reached the home of the prestigious New York City Hall of Fame and its president, Albert Stern.”
The answering machine, a dedicated board of directors and a comprehensive Web site with an elaborate tribute to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks represent the bulk of his progress.
But things are starting to pick up steam, Stern said.
By 2003 Stern and his board formed a non-profit corporation to channel their fund-raising activities and launched a Web site – www.nychalloffame.org – which has already accepted more than 100 nominations from all over the world.
The eligibility criteria are simple, Stern said.
“They have to have done something while they were in New York to contribute to the betterment of New York,” Stern said. “If it didn't benefit New York City, then they're not eligible.”
The would-be honorees can come from all walks of life – scientists, thinkers, politicians or the like.
The historical cut-off point is 1898, the year all five boroughs were officially incorporated into New York City. But the museum probably would not thumb its nose at Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch mayor of New York. Stern said the date is a guideline not an absolute.
Among Stern's picks for inductees, the first round of which he expects to take place in 2005 even without a building, are former Mayors Fiorello LaGuardia and Abraham Beame.
LaGuardia, mayor from 1934 to 1945, was “a man of the people,” said Stern, who called him “one of the best mayors the city had ever had.”
And Beame, mayor from 1974 to 1977, shepherded the city through one of its worst financial crises ever. “He performed like a magician,” Stern said. “If you ever want to check into the archives, you can see that he was pulling rabbits out of a hat.”
Nominees will be vetted by the group to make certain they were or are New Yorkers, and inductees will be selected yearly by a panel of judges that Stern said include some notable names in the city. He would not elaborate.
Tight-lipped about the specifics for the planned first induction in spring 2005, Stern said only that it would be completely different than any other museum treatment.
The museum itself, which he estimates will take about $10 million to fully get off the ground, will also be unlike any other in the city. Ideally, the Woodside location would be a round glass building with about 15,000 square feet of space, Stern said.
But in the end, it is the museum's mission that will set it apart.
“We realize, of course, that there are many other institutions that are associated with New York … but none of them would be doing what we're doing,” Stern said.
“There are many unsung heroes who have done tremendous work for the city over many years and were never recognized for it,” Stern said.
All that could change.
Reach reporter James DeWeese by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 157.
