What I don’t like about Amsterdam

By Bob Cudmore

          Ann Thane of the Walter Elwood Museum—a mayoral candidate--has shared a booklet from the museum’s collection that dates to an era many regard as the good old days.

          In 1946, the Chamber of Commerce published “What I Don’t Like About Amsterdam.”

          The city’s carpet mill economy was still thriving.  However, the Chamber wanted to identify problems and held a contest soliciting complaints about Amsterdam. 

   A numbering system enabled the Chamber to award cash prizes to the anonymous winners among the 850 essays submitted.

          Charles H. Schenck, Chamber Executive Secretary, said lack of recreation facilities, conditions of the streets, garbage collection, hotel accommodations, transportation, theatrical facilities and sale of alcoholic beverages were the most frequent complaints. 

          “We are quick to criticize those who make an honest effort to do something,” wrote the first prize winner.

          The writer continued, “Misguided leadership has done a lot to put nationalism above civic responsibility and has tended to build up group interest with selfish motives.  We are all Americans and we should work together. 

          The second place essay called for Sunday evening services in the churches and an end to competition among veterans groups.  The writer suggested city employees only get 10 days in sick leave, that the city buy sidewalk snow plows and dedicate the proposed athletic field near the Lynch School as a World War II memorial.

          The third place finisher suggested a waste disposal system so that sewage would no longer be dumped into the Mohawk River.  The writer also called for beautification of the riverfront.

          “I don’t like the taste of city water,” wrote one entrant.  “It has too much chlorine in it.  They admit the water looks bad and tastes bad but say it’s harmless.  It should be—the way it’s been drugged.” 

          Here are more complaints from 1946:

          “Amsterdam should have a curfew law for children up to 16 years, and it should be enforced, even if it means bringing parents into court.”

“The streets are a hodge-podge of houses, dinky little stores (often empty), gas stations, vacant lots (used as dumping grounds) and unoccupied buildings with broken windows.”

          “Keep the habitual bums out of Bergen Park, the ones who occupy the benches for 16 hours out of 24, thus keeping women and children from having a place to sit.”

          “The characters that clutter up the streets in front of some of the downtown cigar stores are no ad for the police department.”

          “Amsterdam needs a sort of night club just for us kids, with special attractions by kids who can sing, dance, play an instrument or perform.”

          “Clerks, on the whole, are very unaccommodating, snippy and very discourteous.  They yell ‘What do you want?’ from the other end of the store or counter, and wish you would disappear.”

          “There are certain sidewalks in Amsterdam that are never shoveled in winter, and too many persons have broken bones because of this.”

          “What I don’t like about Amsterdam is that it is a city made up of saloons, grills, bars, restaurants and other forms of drinking places.”

“Couldn’t a few mills be erected soon in order to induce manufacturers to come here?”

          “It would be a lot easier to see what is wrong with Amsterdam if these clouds of smoke and soot that hover above the city were eliminated.”

          “Garbage collection should be done more carefully.  At present, one-half is left in the can and the other half in the gutter. 

          And a final bit of negativity from over 60 years ago, “Have another contest entitled ‘What I do like about Amsterdam’ and limit the answers to one word.  Mine would be ‘Nothing!’” 

Tomorrow, Friday. May 6, 2022

Episode 421-Chris Lamb, author of Stolen Dreams: The 1955 Cannon Street YMCA All-Stars and Little League Baseball’s Civil War

When the eleven- and twelve-year-olds on the Cannon Street YMCA All-Star team registered for a baseball tournament in Charleston, South Carolina, in June 1955, it put the team and the forces of integration on a collision course with segregation, bigotry, and the southern way of life. White teams refused to take the field with the Cannon Street All-Stars, the first Black Little League team in South Carolina. The Cannon Street team won the tournament by forfeit and advanced to the state tournament. When all the white teams withdrew in protest, the Cannon Street team won the state tournament. If the team had won the regional tournament in Rome, Georgia, it would have advanced to the Little League World Series. But Little League officials ruled the team ineligible to play in the tournament because it had advanced by winning on forfeit and not on the field, denying the boys their dream of playing in the Little League World Series.

Registration is open for the 11th annual I Love My Park Day this Saturday, May 7, 2022 ! Parks & Trails New York, in partnership with New York State Parks and DEC, will provide the opportunity for volunteers to participate in cleanup events at nearly 150 state parks, historic sites and public lands from Long Island to Western New York and covering all regions in between. From beach clean-ups to trail restoration and tree and flower plantings, hundreds of events are planned to spruce up our parks and get them ready for the summer season.

I Love My Park Day is an annual event that brings together thousands of volunteers to enhance and celebrate New York's amazing parkland.

Join your friends, family and neighbors and sign up today to volunteer at your favorite state park or site.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, May 5, 2022

https://dailygazette.com/

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

CDC: Covid 19 has high rate of transfer in Fulton County

by Jason Subik

https://www.leaderherald.com/