Saturday, January 24, 2015

In Praise of Mario Cuomo, For Taking The Long View

The recent passing of former New York Governor Mario Cuomo produced a number of media tributes to his legacy.  Here, from The New York Times, is one of my personal favorites, given my addictions to theater and historical preservation.

Most of us are familiar with what I would call the "legend" of Times Square's renewal:  the one in which Rudy Giuliani walked down 42nd Street, stared at all the bad guys and made them run away, so that he could single-handedly invite the Fortune 500 in to turn the street into a miniature version of the Bergen Mall.  That's the version of events that regularly shows up in the legacy media, with nary a hint of the truth.  And even the Times article only discusses a portion of that truth:  Cuomo's willingness to negotiate an end to an attempt to revive the district with office buildings, in exchange for a modest facelifting on 42nd Street that made it more pedestrian-friendly.

The truth, however, is that the Times Square success story is one that stretched over nearly a decade, and involved the acquisition of most of the buildings on a single block of midtown Manhattan, the expiration of leases, the seeking of new tenants, and the determination of how the overall effort was to be financed.  The office-building project, to which Cuomo negotiated a successful end, was one of those efforts, which was undone as the economy went into recession in the early 1990's.  Many plans were made, and remade, as the political and economic structure of New York changed over the years.  And many people scoffed at the overall goal of "cleaning up" Times Square, either because they thought the goal was unrealistic, or because they were concerned about the harm that might come about as small, non-pornographic businesses were displaced by the mega-clout of mega-corporations seeking mega-profits for their contribution to urban renewal.

Sadly, that latter concern was justified.  Today, on 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues, the smut shops are gone, but so are a lot of other smaller businesses that were legitimate in every sense.  A friend of mine describes the block as a corporate theme park and, given the proliferation of chain businesses that have sprung up on it, it's easy to see how that label is justified.  Worst of all is the state of nine historic theaters on the block--or, rather, what's left of them. Saving these theaters was supposed to be the salve that made the destruction of five Broadway theaters for the Marriott Marquis Hotel palatable.  Of the nine, five--the Harris, Liberty, Empire, Apollo and Lyric--were largely destroyed, sacrificed to alternative corporate interests (or, in historic preservation parlance, "adaptively reused").

And yet, the block is clearly safer than it was.  And some of the theaters--the New Amsterdam, the Victory (now the New Victory), and the Selwyn (now the American Airlines)--are legitimate theatres again.  Even bits and pieces of some of the other theaters have some degree of theatrical/performance life:  the Apollo and Lyric (as parts of what is now called the Lyric Theater), the Liberty (as a nightclub/diner), and the Empire (as the gateway to a multiplex).  And, in the middle of it all sits the ninth theater--the appropriately-named Times Square Theater, intact, and awaiting a tenant who can find a way to make the building work.

None of this would have happened without a leader like Cuomo, someone committed to a fair and open process, someone who worked in the interests of everyone, and, perhaps above all, someone with a vision for New York rooted in the city's idealistic best, and not its cynical worst.  Thankfully, he lived long enough to see all of that effort pay off.  As a nation, we would all be better off with consistent leadership of that caliber, rather than the self-seeking and short-term-thinking that characterizes much of what passes for "leadership" in contemporary society.

Cuomo's legacy as a politician and a person, in these respects, is certainly not limited to Times Square.  But you would be hard-pressed to find a part of the City where that legacy is more vibrantly visible.  Thanks, Governor, and rest in peace.

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