12.5.07: Heroes and Heroines of New York

Heroes and Heroines of New York

The Empire State Building from within the foliage of Central Park. 3:30 PM. Photo: JH.

The day. Someone in the Mayor’s office organized a lunch for those of us who served on the Committee of Liz Smith’s Fete de Swifty. To be held at City Hall in the Governor’s Room, the official dining room. I was also under the false impression that the Mayor would be joining us. In fact, I’d wondered what it would be like sitting around a lunch table with the mayor and a couple dozen others talking about ... What? It never occurred to me that he really doesn’t have time for such things.

I’d never been in City Hall before. It’s a beautiful building, which backs up to another beautiful municipal building, the Tweed Courthouse. It sits on a large plot of property (for Manhattan), behind a fence and a checkpoint which alas wasn’t always there. It was built between 1804 and 1812. Thomas Jefferson was President. DeWitt Clinton was Mayor for six or those eight years abuilding. Mr. Clinton also served as Governor of New York as well as U.S. Senator. He also presided over the execution of the Erie Canal as well as the grid layout of Manhattan.

By the time most of us were assembled for lunch, the Mayor did suddenly appear at the door and came in to say hello. No, he would not be lunching with us: he had business matters at hand. The main course was a tricolor salad and a large thick steak, all prepared in the City Hall’s kitchen, with red and white wines from the Wolffer Vineyards out in Bridgehampton.

The Fete de Swifty Committee with the Mayor's aide Megan Sheekey at the head of the table and Liz Smith, fourth from the left.

Liz Smith explained how the Fete de Swifty was originally created in memory of George Trescher, the public relations man and event planner who was a close friend of hers, and who presided over many of the great public and social events of the past quarter century. (See The List) The idea was to make a fund raiser that would benefit the citizens of New York, George’s adopted city which he loved. Peter Rogers came up with name Fete de Swifty because Liz requested something that sounded lighthearted and fun. This last Fete, the third annual, netted more than $750,000, all of which goes to programs to assist people in domestic violence situations.

After lunch two of the mayor’s aides offered us a tour of the building. The walls are covered with magnificent oil paintings of previous mayors as well as state and federal officials of note (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Hamilton Fish, John Jay, Oliver Hazard Perry, etc.). The collection which contains 108 paintings, still in their original frames, from the late 18th century through the 20th, is "almost unrivaled as an ensemble, with several masterpieces." Among the collection is John Trumbull’s 1805 portrait of Alexander Hamilton, the face still on the ten dollar bill.

I took the pictures of this bust after Peter Rogers pointed out that he looked a lot like our current Mayor. Although he happens to be Henry Clay, American Congressman and Senator.

Two portraits from the City Hall portrait Collection showing the contrast between a recently "cleaned" portrait of William Seward, Governor of New York, US Senator, and Lincoln's Secretary of State, and a portrait from the same period that has yet to be restored.

Now the oldest City Hall still in use for its original functions, it’s been functioning for the past two centuries. Because of that, by the time our current mayor came into office, it needed more than a little spiffing up. With the assistance of Mayor Bloomberg’s interior designer, Jamie Drake, the interior has been greatly refurbished and restored to its original public elegance.

On our impromptu tour we were shown the office which every mayor has used up to Michael Bloomberg whose style is somewhat more communal, or as some would put it, more Wall Street trading room. This mayor works in a large room, semi-partitioned off. So that when you stand a few steps above the main room, you see a large number of desks separated by half-partitions. Amongst those sitting at them, in this case in the center of the room, is the Mayor who is sharing his space with an assistant.

A sweeping view of City Hall in 1911.

General George Washington by Gilbert Stuart and a portrait of John Jay, first Supreme Court Justice, under Washington.

the Staff "kitchenette" in the main mayor's room.

The hallway outside the mayor's room.

Mayor Bloomberg at work.

It is very interesting to observe. You get the feeling that everyone is right there on the job. It fits right in with this mayor’s choice of taking the subway to City Hall every morning from his Upper East Side townhouse. Again, apparently communal. Although, in fact, it is also a helluva lot faster and more efficient than going downtown by car. The same might be true for this current Administration’s office layout. Whatever it is, seeing this man amongst his colleagues as symbolically more or less an equal, leaves a very favorable impression.

By the time we saw Mayor Bloomberg again, he was at his desk, back to us, apparently reading one of two different screens in front of him; one being the Bloomberg web site, which I recognized since I go to it so often during the day, with it’s orange font on a black background.

The original mayor's office used until Mayor Bloomberg took office. It is now used for official occasions. On the far wall is a frame canceled check of the mayor's first year salary: $1.

Last night was the NYU Child Study Center’s 10th Annual Child Advocacy Award Dinner at Cipriani 42nd Street. There are 12 million children in the United States who suffer from psychiatric disorders from autism to anxiety to ADD. Up until recently most of these have gone either unnoticed or unattended so that the children grow up to be deeply disturbed, and are therefore more of a burden to themselves and to the community.

Dr. Harold Koplewicz, the Founder and Director of NYU Child Study Center, has made it his business to do something about this. With the assistance of Brooke Neidich’s skills in rallying the troops, and raising money, the Study Center was started 10 years ago and is now flourishing.

Katie Couric opened the evening talking about Harold Koplewicz who later took the podium to talk about the development of the Center and Brooke Neidich’s work to make it happen.

One of the earliest supporters there last night to present the award to Brooke Neidich was Senator Hillary Clinton who had just flown in from Des Moines.

Hillary Clinton and Brooke Neidich on the big screen.

Her arrival was a big surprise to most of the 1000 guests although many were aware of her friendship with Mrs. Neidich and her ongoing support of the NYU Child Center’s activities. Now, almost a year into her campaign for the Presidency, Senator Clinton looks good, looks older, speaks in a somewhat lower tone (although maybe I’m imagining it) and seems more ... well, Presidential. I may be imagining all of it although it is not based on wishful thinking: she seems different. Nevertheless, her words of praise and admiration for Brooke Neidich and the work had authority and comprehensive understanding of the program of the Center.

Jamie Niven conducted an auction that raised about $75,000. Then Governor Jon Corzine was introduced as it was announced that he had donated $1 million to cover the doorway of the new Center facilities and that it would be named for Brooke Neidich. They raised an additional $7 million for the cause last night also.

This was one of the largest crowds I’ve seen at Cipriani 42nd Street; about 1000 guests. There were a lot of people from the medical community and a lot of people from the real estate and business communities. There were a lot of people with young or younger children including some who’ve been through Dr. Koplewicz’ program and have come out of it in control of their own lives. The greater number of supporters are those who have young families and are forced to deal with these issues threatening mental health of their children. As a result, for the first time, there will be national programs to help children and young people with problems of mental health. Men like Harold Koplewicz and women like Brooke Neidich are two examples of the heroes out there in the community, lending a hand to show us the way. Heroes, heroines.