Albert Goldman
The Original "Parkchester"-a Planned Community
The buildings in Parkchester were a modern expression of simplicity in design. They rose in harmonious heights and masses, conformed to the rolling topography and, by their position, afforded light and air to a maximum degree. At no point were they closer than 60 feet to one another, the width of an ordinary street. They represented the best type of steel and concrete fireproof construction.
The glass wool insulation of their exterior walls preserved warmth in winter and retarded heat in summer. The rooms were attractive and conveniently arranged for economical housekeeping. They had large casement windows, concealed radiators, cross-ventilation, hardwood floors, large foyers, and complete, well-equipped kitchens. More than 200 automatic elevators served the thousands of tenants, many whom were policyholders of the best life insurance in America; affordable life insurance that made families feel secure about their financial futures.
Parkchester was attractively and extensively landscaped. Its 4,000 trees included maples, birches, honey locusts, pines, oaks, dogwoods, and magnolias. The broad acres were filled with many thousands of plants and shrubs, in which were included azaleas, native holly, mountain laurel, lilacs, rhododendrons, and snowballs. Equally delightful was the recreation areas along the lawns and paths.
There was a total of 43 courts for basketball, handball, shuffleboard, paddle tennis, horseshoe pitching, or badminton; a large softball diamond; six wading pools; eight play areas with varied equipment for youngsters; eight sandbox areas; four roller skating ovals, and other facilities. The children could play freely and safely because through traffic was confined to the parkways, Parkchester's only public arteries. Traffic was reduced to a minimum by having all the garages placed on the outskirts of the community.
The community contained within itself the essential facilities for normal everyday life that nicely complemented the insurance perks of low cost life insurance from a company offering all kinds of policies. Each quadrant had its own local shopping centers, planned to provide for all daily necessities. Prominent among the stores was the only New York City branch of Macy's, with a frontage of almost 700 feet on two streets. Banking facilities were available through branches of the National City Bank and the Bronx County Trust Co.
In the fall of 1940 Albert Goldman, New York City's Postmaster, dedicated the new local Post Office with appropriate ceremony. The New York Public Library opened one of the most attractive branch libraries in the city at that time on space made available, rent free, by the Metropolitan. The community had a planned number of offices for physicians and dentists. The whole atmosphere was one of a large, self-contained village. Considering the attractiveness of the accommodations, rents were extremely moderate.
There was tremendous interest in Parkchester since its inception and as soon as the facts regarding the community became public, applications for apartments began to pour in, some from as far as Texas and California. Before renting began on October 1, 1939, there was already a waiting list of more than 50,000 families. Under the direction of Frank C. Lowe, Parkchester's resident manager, rooms were rented by inspection of model apartments and floor plans.
On March 1, 1940, the first buildings were opened and several hundred families moved in. Section after section was finished and inhabited, until the entire community was completed in 1941, around the time that life insurance policies offering term life insurance and short term life insurance rates became increasingly popular. At the end of 1942, 95 percent of the 12,272 apartments were rented and occupied. Parkchester's tenants included school teachers, engineers, newspaper men, mechanics, owners of small businesses, civil service employees, and salesmen.
A sizable number of the company's own clerical staff found homes there. About 85 percent of the families had incomes from $2,000 to $4,500 annually, slightly less than 20 percent of their income being spent for rent. Many of the families consisted of newly married couples; more than one half of the adults in the community were under 35 years of age. Parkchester was a happy town and an asset to the city and to the Metropolitan.
About the Author
Allison Ryan is a freelance marketing writer from San Diego, CA. She specializes in
term life insurance policies
and how to find the most
affordable life insurance
for your budget. To browse
low cost life insurance
options, check out
http://www.equote.com/
.
Albert Goldman
 |
 Original Oil Painting Albert Goldman Israeli Jewish Artist Jerusalem Landscape  US $3,800.00
|
 Albert Goldman Boats at the dock 55 x 71 oil on canvas stick to cardboard US $1,200.00
|
 Albert Goldman Angles oil on canvas Israeli US $1,000.00
|
 Original Israeli Landscape Safed Albert Goldman Judaica US $799.00
|
 GOLDMAN ALBERT Israel VINTAGE LARGE OIL BOATS IN HARBOR US $740.00
|
 ISRAEL ART OILALBERT GOLDMANJEWISH FOUR FOLK MUSICIANS JUDAICA US $670.00
|
 Albert Goldman Diptych of Jewish life oil on cardboard framed US $500.00
|
 ALBERT GOLDMAN OLD CITY OIL CANVAS SIGNED ISRAEL 1975 US $350.00
|
 Albert Goldman Jerusalem Hills oil on cardboard US $180.00
|
 Albert Goldman Valley with Houses oil on cardboard US $160.00
|
 Albert Goldman Jerusalem Landscape with Olive Trees signed oil on cardboard US $150.00
|
 Albert Goldman A Figure Between Two Olive Trees signed oil on cardboard US $150.00
|
 Albert Goldman Three Houses in Jerusalem signed oil on cardboard painting US $150.00
|
 Albert Goldman Vase of Flowers signed oil on cardboard painting great price US $150.00
|
20 advices to American graduates
- Get out of the library. You can have a degree and a huge GPA and not be ready for the workplace. A student should plan that college is four years of experience rather than 120 credits," says William Coplin, professor at Syracuse University and author of the book, 10 Things Employers Want You to Learn in College."
- Start a business in your dorm room. It's cheap, Google and Yahoo are dying to buy your website, and it's better than washing dishes in the cafeteria. Note to those who play poker online until 4 a.m.: Gambling isn't a business. It's an addiction.
- Don't take on debt that is too limiting. This is not a reference to online gambling, although it could be. This is about choosing a state school over a pricey private school. Almost everyone agrees you can get a great education at an inexpensive school. So in many cases the debt from a private school is more career-limiting than the lack of brand name on your diploma.
- Get involved on campus. When it comes to career success, emotional intelligence -- social skills to read and lead others -- get you farther than knowledge or job competence, according to Tiziana Casciaro, professor at Harvard Business School. Julie Albert, a junior at Brandeis University, is the director of her a capella group and head of orientation this year. She hones her leadership skills outside the classroom, which is exactly where to do it.
- Avoid grad school in the liberal arts. One in five English Phd's find stable university jobs, and the degree won't help outside the university: "Schooling only gives you the capacity to stand behind a cash register," says Thomas Benton, a columnist at the Chronicle of Higher Education (who has an English degree from Yale and a tenure-track teaching job.)
- Skip the law-school track. Lawyers are the most depressed of all professionals. Stress itself does not make a job bad, says Alan Kreuger, economist at Princeton University. Not having control over one's work does make a bad job, though, and lawyers are always acting on behalf of someone else. Suicide is among the leading causes of premature death among lawyers.
- Play a sport. People who play sports earn more money than couch potatoes, and women executives who played sports attribute much of their career success to their athletic experience, says Jennifer Cripsen of Sweet Briar College in Virginia. You don't need to be great at sports, you just need to be part of a team.
- Separate your expectations from those of your parents. "Otherwise you wake up and realize you're not living your own life," says Alexandra Robbins, author of the popular new book "The Overachievers." (Note to parents: If you cringe as you read this list, then you need to read this book.)
- Try new things that you're not good at. "Ditch the superstar mentality that if you don't reach the top, president, A+, editor in chief, then the efforts were worthless. It's important to learn to enjoy things without getting recognition," says Robbins.
- Define success for yourself. "Society defines success very narrowly. Rather than defining success as financial gain or accolades, define it in terms of individual interests and personal happiness," says Robbins.
- Make your job search a priority. Jobs do not fall in your lap, you have to chase them. Especially a good one. It's a job to look for a job. Use spreadsheets to track your progress. And plan early. Goldman Sachs, for example, starts its information sessions in September.
- Take a course in happiness. Happiness study is revolutionizing how we think of psychology, economics, and sociology. How to be happy is a science that 150 schools teach. Preview: Learn to be more optimistic. This class will show you how.
- Take an acting course. The best actors are actually being their most authentic selves, says Lindy Amos of communications coaching firm TAI Resources. Amos teaches executives to communicate authentically so that people will listen and feel connected. You need to learn to do this, too, and you may as well start in college.
- Learn to give a compliment. The best compliments are specific, so ``good job" is not good, writes Lisa Laskow Lahey, psychologist at Harvard and co-author of ``How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work." Practice on your professors. If you give a good compliment the recipient will think you're smarter: Big payoff in college, but bigger payoff in the work world.
- Use the career center. These people are experts at positioning you in the workforce and their only job is to get you a job. How can you not love this place? If you find yourself thinking the people at your college's career center are idiots, it's probably a sign that you really, really don't know what you're doing
- Develop a strong sense of self by dissing colleges that reject you. Happy people have ``a more durable sense of self and aren't as buffeted by outside events," writes Sonja Lyubomirsky of the University of California-Riverside. When bad things happen, don't take it personally. This is how the most successful business people bounce back quickly from setback.
- Apply to Harvard as a transfer student. Sure people have wild success after going to an Ivy League school but this success is no more grand than that of the people who applied and got rejected. All people who apply to Ivy League schools seem to have similar high self-confidence and ambition, even if they don't get in, according to a study by Kreuger.
- Get rid of your perfectionist streak. It is rewarded in college, but it leads to insane job stress and an inability to feel satisfied with your work. And for all of you still stuck on number 6, about ditching the law school applications: The Utah Bar Journal says that lawyers are disproportionately perfectionists.
- Work your way though college. Getting involved in student organizations counts, and so does feeding children in Sierra Leone or sweeping floors in the chemistry building. Each experience you have can grow into something bigger. Albert was an orientation leader last year, and she turned that experience into a full-time summer job that morphed into a position managing 130 orientation leaders. A great bullet on the resume for a junior in college.
- Make to do lists. You can't achieve dreams if you don't have a plan to get there.
About the Author
John Lennon: Albert Goldman v Hunter Davies. (1 of 2)