January 31: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
ON THIS DAY IN 1915, Brooklyn Daily Eagle columnist Frederick Boyd Stevenson wrote, “Do you want to pay higher taxes? Do you want the present public services of the city cut down? Do you want all proposed future services that come with the growth of the greatest city in America eliminated? Do you want to prevent certain proposed future public improvements in the city? Do you want the city to go ahead in its present lines, or do you want it to go backward? The present condition of the city’s finances makes just one of two things imperative — the city must have more revenue, or there must be retrenchment. The increased income of the city must come from increased taxes — real or personal — or from other sources of revenue which the Mayor’s Special Tax Commissioners have been considering. On the one side there are the mayor and the city chamberlain and other city officials who are in favor of continuing and adding to the present work of the city and meeting the increased cost by increased revenues, and on the other side there are the controller and the borough presidents who are opposed to an increase in taxes — either direct or by the creation of other revenues through new sources. The mayor’s position will mean a continuation of work in the city along its present lines, including uplift and social activities. The controller’s position will mean retrenchment. In the final analysis, you will have to foot the bills. What is your position?”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1946, the Eagle reported, “Mayor [William] O’Dwyer, who has learned a thing or two since he walked into City Hall at the start of this month, has decided to fight to keep his evenings to himself. He said as much today at a press conference, at which he reviewed his reactions to the job. He needs his evenings, he said, so that he can think things through on the city’s problems without outside distractions. This calls, of course, for a city representative who can sit in at dinners and other functions. In the last administration this task often was delegated to Newbold Morris as president of the City Council. Grover Whalen may get tapped for the job this time. The mayor said that he had adopted three points for guidance in his office. The No. 1 point, he said, is to concentrate on policy, with decisions based only on established facts. Decisions on policy are then turned over immediately to departments involved so that programs can be put into action. He said the program calls for systematic supervision to see that policy is carried out.”
Brooklyn Boro
View MoreNew York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is home to nearly 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States. While Brooklyn has become the epitome of ‘cool and hip’ in recent years, for those that were born here, raised families here and improved communities over the years, Brooklyn has never been ‘uncool’.