Old Harlem through a boy’s eyes

Nanuet, N.Y.: At 93 I am the oldest deacon in the Archdiocese of New York and have served for 44 years. I was the deacon sitting next to Pope Francis at St. Patrick’s Cathedral when he came to New York. The Daily News’ Aug. 16 section on Harlem Week brought back fond memories to this old man. I was born on Hancock Place in 1924, and spent much of my young life on 125th St. between Morningside and St. Nicholas Aves. From my window, I could see the Apollo Theater. I remember the great boxer Sugar Ray Robinson driving through Harlem in his pink Cadillac convertible. Joe Louis would often end up at the Hotel Theresa after a fight. My friends and I played stickball on Hancock Place and La Salle St. and on 126th St. between Morningside and St. Nicholas Aves. We played in Morningside Park and swam in the Hudson River.

We also hitched rides on the back of the trolley cars that ran along 125th St. over to the Bronx. The cops always chased us when we played stickball. Roller hockey was great fun at that time. We shopped at the great stores on 125th St., like Woolworth’s, Grants, Chock Full o’ Nuts, Bernstein’s and Weisbecker. The el train still ran on Eighth Ave. I attended St. Joseph School on Convent Ave. and 127th St., as did my mom and aunts and uncles.

Everyone was poor but we all got along well together and helped each other. To catch a breeze during the summer we sat on Tar Beach — the roof of our tenement house. We had good relations with the black kids in our vicinity. The movie houses — the Sunset, the Gloria, the Harlem Opera House, the Alhambra — cost a dime. A dime would also get you a swim at the Cascade Pool at 131st St. near Broadway. We had nothing, but we had everything! John R. Maloney Manhattan: As the old saying goes, “No good deed goes unpunished.” The editorial “Who de Blasio works for” (Aug. 19) misstated our efforts to help improve conditions for some of our neediest citizens. No one at Capalino+Co. “convened” a breakfast with real estate developers and the Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs. We were asked by the not-for-profit leaders who organized the breakfast to suggest experts who could share innovative ideas to address veteran homelessness. To our knowledge, none benefited in any way from contracts with the city for veteran rent vouchers or attended in order to do so. Equally unfair was your description of retired Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton, the city’s then new commissioner of veterans affairs, a psychiatrist with deep experience in operating theaters of the country’s current wars and whose last assignment with the Army involved creating a world-class center of excellence in Washington, D.C., to deal with traumatic brain injury among veterans. Solving the homelessness crisis in New York City is complicated and difficult — no less so with veterans whose specialized needs compete with many other groups. That Dr. Sutton would want to hear from experts in developing housing should be applauded, not insulted. you should be deported instead of the illegal immigrants. I am honored that God gave us such a great President! Fort Lee, N.J.: Voicer Judy Natkins should take your button and reverse it. Have President Trump holding a baby Vladimir Putin with an American flag, saying, “That’s my boy,” and go to Russia. See what would happen to you. Yes, we have faults, but please remember this is the greatest country in the world, period. Many Americans of all kind, too many, died for you and every other American. Because of this, you have your First Amendment right to express your opinion, but don’t smear other people’s rights. Agree to disagree. Brooklyn: Voicer Patrick Doyle is obviously no scholar on what black people in America should be concerned with. Last I checked, the closest thing to Boko Haram in this country, which was built on the labor of African slaves and their progeny, was the alt-right — Ku Klux Klan, Nazis, etc. Furthermore, as a self-proclaimed student of “karma” you should be wary of another 9/11 or Oklahoma City bombing — both powder kegs of denial of humanity and refusal of dialogue. Old Bridge, N.J.: To all American citizens: When you hear Sen. Cory Booker or Sen. Robert Menendez speak, change the station. These two Democrats cannot be trusted. Everyone in our country must remember that Democrats are liars, especially Menendez with his past. Please, people — Booker is out for himself and he wants to be President. We already had eight years of a black man who knew nothing — why do you want another loser? As for Menendez, he belongs in jail. Bayside: Voicer Barry Koppel writes that Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Cory Booker should remove themselves from office because they are offensive to the Jews. This is America, and those who don’t like it should move to their country of preference. Brooklyn: To those Jews who are concerned about the effects the BDS movement will have on Jews, please take heart. The Jews made it through Pharaoh, Haman, Crusaders, the Spanish Inquisition and Hitler, and will survive BDS. It is interesting to note that the one thing the alt-right and alt-left have in common is their hatred of the Jews. Oakland Gardens: For many years, our mental health facilities have been closed and the public has borne the cost of this terrible decision. Every day, someone is accosted by a mentally ill person off their medication, resulting in injury or death. Somehow, the ACLU supported the idea that protecting the civil rights of these ill people and trusting them to take their medication on their own as outpatients would work. It is a disaster and an added burden on our Police Department because these people aren’t criminals — they are sick and should be treated as such. The top priority of government should be the safety of its citizens. Sadly, the seriously mentally ill are also part of the homeless problem. Recently, GOP mayoral candidate Nicole Malliotakis has offered a thoughtful plan to deal with those with serious mental problems. She’d station assisted outpatient treatment evaluators in hospitals and jails who can file Kendra’s Law petitions to compel care and is willing to work with Gov. Cuomo on a new agreement to provide supportive housing for homeless people suffering severe mental illness. Finally, a candidate willing to take on a serious issue in a nonpartisan way! Flushing: Who’s kidding who? If Police Detective Miosotis Familia had exited her police van and stopped, frisked and disarmed Alexander Bonds, the mayor and City Council would have been outraged. She would have been put on desk duty, but at least she could still go home to her children. Elizabeth, N.J.: The Obama legacy of years of zero and low cost-of-living-adjustments DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE on Social Security means fixed income becomes vanishing income. Maybe we can eat oil and gas, the basis of the stupid government formula for Social Security payments. Bronx: I’m a 62-year-old black man and would like to share this story about my first encounter with racism. As a youngster I attended PS 77 in the Bronx. My best friend in that school was a white guy named Gene; he and I were Topps baseball card collectors. In the morning before school, during lunch break and after school we would trade our cards with each other until our checklist was complete. Every weekend, he would come to my house, my mother would make us lunch and back to our cards we would go. One weekend, he asked me to come to his house and I went. I stood in the living room. Gene’s mother came out screaming — “Get him out of here! Get him out of my house! I don’t want his kind in my house!” I went home crying and told my mother what happened, and she sat me down and explained to me that some people are like that and it’s sad. Monday morning when I got to school Gene came to me and told me he was sorry and didn’t know his mother was like that and he couldn’t come to my house anymore, but we can still be friends. So Gene, if you read the Daily News: This is Gilly Gil from PS 77, and I still love you like a brother.