Quantcast

Mario’s affordable housing fight caused rifts

The death early this year of Queens native Mario Cuomo brought forth many stories about his life and his rise to public office.

I cannot quarrel with any of the facts stated, although I believe the reference to his work in the public housing dispute, which was his major public role to that point, left out an important fact. The obituaries made it appear that the “Jewish community” of Forest Hills was the only segment of the population which opposed Cuomo’s efforts to have good public housing in the neighborhood.

From personal knowledge, I know that at least one church in Forest Hills lost a good many members and officers because it backed the work Cuomo was doing. The church never recovered, but it recently celebrated its centennial.

Other churches joined to help in a compromise and probably suffered the same loss of members who opposed what Cuomo was trying to do. In many cases, old friends did not speak to each other for some time, if ever. As far as I know, the tenants of the building have been good neighbors all these years. The compromise worked, but no one is ever happy about compromises, are we?

Of course, discrimination, in the form of what were then known as “restrictive covenants” was part of the landscape in many areas of Queens. Jackson Heights, Forest Hills Gardens, Douglas Manor and others, I imagine, used these to see to it that the communities maintained a white Anglo-Saxon population. We called them WASPS in the old days, but that term is not PC today, I believe.

The Great Depression and World War II brought many changes, including — even before laws went into effect — the end of the barring of non-WASPS from many sections. At the time, one Queens wit, noting the changes, opined that these communities “suddenly realized that Roman Catholics and Jews had money, too.”

The changes did not apply to people of color, until legislation made such discrimination illegal. However, laws are subject to proper enforcement and red-lining and other methods have kept housing from being entirely open here and elsewhere.

Take the case of Ralph Bunche. Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950, he helped in the formation of the United Nations and was undersecretary of the UN in later years. The story goes that after being rebuffed in Forest Hills Gardens, Bunche and his family bought a home in Kew Gardens and lived there from 1953 until his death in 1971. I believe it is an historic site now.

Late in the 1950s, Dr. Bunche and his son sought membership in the West Side Tennis Club. Their applications were rejected. A public outcry caused the club to rescind its rejection and apologize for the affront.

Dr. Bunche refused to resubmit his application, pointing out that the turnaround had occurred because of his public stature and not because the club believed what it did was wrong. This is something to remember about Mario Cuomo and his efforts to make the promise of democracy live up to its hoped-for reputation.

Winston Churchill is reputed to have said, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”

Our Queens native proved in Corona and Forest Hills —and in a lifetime of public service — that another great American, across the pond, was right.

Je suis Charlie.

(See my blog, No Holds Barred, at TimesLedger. com)