February 11: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
ON THIS DAY IN 1929, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reprinted the following story from the Los Angeles Times: “Heroes do not have to be soldiers. America is very democratic in this respect and in the archives of its memory many a niche is occupied by a football player. Just recently, as a transcontinental train swept through Tonawanda, N.Y., a man who had been dominating the conversation in the smoking room stopped in the middle of a rattling good story and said: ‘Gentlemen, take off your hats.’ Most of them thought the fellow had suddenly gone out of his mind, but all decided it was best to humor him, and so as the train passed through the town they sat in silence with heads uncovered. ‘Now you can put them on again,’ said the man. ‘Thanks,’ snapped a fellow passenger, ‘and now that we’ve humored you, perhaps you won’t mind telling us what it’s all about.’ ‘Please don’t get sore,’ said the other man quietly. ‘We’ve just been passing through the town where Frank Hinkey was born, the greatest footballer that ever booted a pigskin.’”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1947, the Eagle reported, “With a small crowd on hand, the second day’s hearings on the transit fare issue opened today before the Board of Estimate in City Hall. The Mayor expressed the hope that the hearings would end tonight. He announced he would broadcast his answer tomorrow at 7 p.m. over WNYC. Both Mayor O’Dwyer and Controller Lazarus Joseph yesterday sharply questioned ten-cent fare proponents. They stressed the point, over and over, that a fare increase would bring little additional money into the city’s coffers, and would act, under law, only to reduce property taxes. Last night the Mayor, unveiling his attitude on a referendum, said he saw nothing wrong with it if it is brought about through action of the State Legislature. Last night’s parade of speakers at the hearing, which opened at 7:51 and closed at 11:19, started with Mrs. Louis Steiger of the New York City League of Women Voters, who warned that the cost in human lives would become ‘compounded’ if the subways are allowed to continue to deteriorate. Favoring a fare increase, Mrs. Steiger declared increased real estate taxes ‘will not save the low income groups.’ She insisted the five-cent fare ‘has been a fiction for some time,’ pointing out that the real cost of the ride is in ‘hidden tolls.’ Dismissing the idea of taxing the salaries of out-of-towners working in the city, Mrs. Steiger contended the workers’ take-home pay is already too small. Sales and utility taxes and similar levies do not offer a solution, she said, and ‘are nothing more or less than sweeping the problem under the rug.’”
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’.