LaGuardia Community College - LaGuardia Yearbook (Long Island City, NY)

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MR. 8: MRS. FIORELLO H . LAGUARDIA STATUE OF MAYOR LaGUARDlA Len r0 Right Mrs Morie LoGuordio wife of the former Mayor; President Shenker and Neil Istern, sculpror unveil o srotue of Fuorello LoGuordio or me bolldmg dedlCOHOn

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$ 3 E g g 16 AMERICAN SCHOLASTIC PRESS ASSOCIA TION Presents this A WARD THE INNEHVISIDNS YEAHBUDK '7 GUARDIA COMM. COLLEGE ' xlpkugm 9AM School Chairman, Judging Committee FALL,1984 QQmeWWWm j a LUZ GAMBA proudly shows off her tennis trophy and her YVONNE RIVERA shores Yearbook with a friend, Yearbook.

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Fiorellois Unique Vision Fiorello H. LaGuardia was born on December 11, 1882, in New York City. He was elected Mayor of New York in November, 1933 and took office on January 19, 1934 and served three terms as Mayor, leaving office in 1945. Mayor LaGuardia was a very influential political leader. His idealism and unique vision led to the building of the first public housing for low income American families. New York had a tremendous demand for housing since immigrants from Europe reached its peak during . the final decade of the nineteenth century when over 8.5 En route to ocnont Moyor LoGuordio reeds one of voluminous letters from New million Europeans entered the country. Most of them, Yorker, of course, came through the port of New York during depression years. In 1933, President Roosevelt proposed the New Deal, and Mayor LaGuardia obtained a commitment of federal money to build housing, and urged The New York State Legislature to pass the law, creating the New York Housing Authority to do the job. Congress declared that there should be an opportunity for decent public housing for low-income American families in suitable environments. The Roosevelt Administration on January 4, 1934, granted 25 millions in loans to the duly constituted New York City Housing Authority for low-cost housing projects to provide and promote public health and safety by the elimination of unsanitary and dangerous housing conditions and to relieve congested areas by re- conditioning, remodeling, and re-constructing model apartment buildings. Mayor LaGuardia insisted on ample windows, a unique feature for housing of this kind during this early period. On December 3, 1935, Mayor LaGuardia dedicated the First Houses at Avenue A and Third St. It was a very windy, cold day right on the East River. ttThey said it would be a cold day when government built housing; well, its a cold dayJ' Mayor LaGuardia said at the dedication ceremony. The first housing project in the U.S.A. created apartments for 12 families in eight buildings at an average rental of $6.05 per room per month. From 1936 to I944 fourteen permanent operating projects were completed all around the C ity, from the First Houses in lower Manhattan with 123 apartments to the huge Fort Greene complex in Brooklyn with 3,501e apartments. There were still 16 permanent projects under or pending construction. some of which were tem- porary Veterans Emergency Projects. Governor Cuomo and Mayor Koch even today follow basically the LaGuardia plan and method to rehabilitate or to build new housing in urban areas. For his enormous contributions to American families, Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia will always hold a place in our hearts and in the minds of earnest political l candidates. The son heorr dons a hard her and work gloves or a housing construction site