West 46th Street Block Association, Inc.

PRESS RELEASE: Alexandra Palmer Was a Neighborhood Champion

Contact: Watty Strouss, (212) 582-8971, April 16, 2005 12noon

NEW YORK, NY, APRIL 16, 2005: In 2003 the Hell’s Kitchen/Clinton neighborhood lost one of its angels, a woman who gave every effort to the improving the lives of her neighbors. Alexandra Palmer lived on West 46th Street for forty years. Alex remembered the birthdays of countless children, fed many, gave words of encouragement to hopeless drunks, and treated all people with the dignity God gave them no matter what they had done to lose it. And she did it with contagious optimism and a welcoming smile.

"Alex was one of those great people we all have met in our lifetimes in the big city," Mary Follett, executive director of Hartley House, said. "She came by one evening in
my first week on the job to say hello and asked if she could come and talk to me one morning about someone she thought I could assist. I said sure and two mornings later, there she was. I didn't know her and her "outreach program" at that time, now it makes perfect sense.

For years she had befriended a young man in the neighborhood, dropped out of school, drugs, prison, etc., but she never gave up on him and he was about to come out "again" and since she had heard that I had some experience with people returning from prison, she thought I might help him.

Sure, I said, but you know it’s tough and I hope you haven’t made a lot of promises to him, that is, a place to stay, money, etc. She hesitated and said, well I think he has made some assumptions and that’s why I wanted to get you on board before he actually comes around. I wrote down my number and name and said, tell him to give me a call and I will see him right away.

She did, he showed up one day, sort of annoyed that I had said I would help him, rather than Alex providing room and board, and apparently did not follow up on any of the referrals I gave him for immediate or long range help.

Once we found ourselves at a meeting and she mentioned that he was back in jail again, but she had hopes that this time he would come out and do better, I shared that some people take longer to give up drugs, jail, etc. and she was good to keep in touch with him. She must have worked the l0 am to 6 pm shift at the New York Times because at least twice a week about ten to ten, I would pass her on my way west to 9th Avenue and she always waved. I miss that smile and wave."

Alex met many people while she worked in May Mathews Playground between 9th and 10th and West 45th and 46th Streets in her spare time. During the 1980s and into the 90s, she closed the playground at night, talking with people there to determine the best time. Although sometimes accompanied by a neighbor or three, during the dangerous years of the crack epidemic, she too often closed the park by herself. Before closing, she picked up trash, checked trees for signs of knife cuts and made note of broken play equipment to report to the Parks Department.

Here in this playground in 1959 a teenager wearing a black satin cape and his gang the Vampires in a drug-induced haze stabbed two other teenagers to death. It was the Capeman Murders and in one violent moment the playground was marked forever in blood.

Alex Palmer arrived shortly afterward and began her guardianship of the playground. Before the Capeman Murders the playground had no fence and no name. When she first came to the park, it was used by burglars as both a jumping off and rendezvous point. Suitcases, purses, wallets, and attach?© cases stripped from tourists and Broadway theatergoers littered the area around the picnic benches. Alex picked them up, searched for identification, and returned what she could to the victims. At night pimps played basketball to the beat of loud music. During the day drug dealers lined up their needles and other paraphernalia for display on the picnic tables. The 1970s was the high point of the heroin epidemic. She found needles in the garden along West 45th Street, drugs stashed in the bushes. The park was a convenient escape route for thieves and muggers.

"That’s why we had to get a fence," she said. "This is a playground for children."

Alex remembered the beginning of the West 46th Street Block Association as one of bright spots in her life. In the early 1970s an urban planning group approached the block association about remodeling the playground. In 1972 the Parks Department received funding from the Mary Flagler Cary Trust Fund and the playground was given $150,000 and a contract for renovation was approved. Alex, involved in the planning process, spent her days off seeking the best fence for the playground.

She was President of the West 46th Street Block Association in 1977 when the 45th/46th Street playground was re-dedicated as May Mathews Playground. Alex ran the contest for naming the playground, and only one name was submitted, by Rose deSantos. May Mathews was a social worker and later director of Hartley House at 413 West 46th Street. She brought children to the open lot, and after it was developed into a park in the early 1930s, she became its champion.

"When folks asked us to support adding Alex Palmer’s name to the May Mathews Park," Mary Follett said, "I thought it a grand idea and said what I know of May Mathews, she would love that addition. Interesting, both woman would be a bit embarrassed by the fuss."

In the 1980s West 45th and 46th Streets between 9th and 10th Avenues degenerated into a carousel of drugs and prostitution. Alex worked with neighbors who used the playground, with the Midtown North Precinct Community Council, the block association and the Parks Department to limit this activity. She helped organize picnics, movies and arts & crafts activities, and worked to get the mobile units and summer programs for the playground.

"She planted flowering plants in the West 45th Street garden each spring, and bulbs in the fall," said neighbor Allison Tupper. "I remember her getting us all involved in scraping and painting the fence and walls. She was the one who talked to local graffiti artists to create murals and set up the annual handball tournament."

"When Alex started this event, the art of handball was dying out," said Christina Boers, past president of the block Association. "Younger children were not learning the sport. Now the event has come down through generations and more players show up each year."

As far back as 1982 she successfully wrote to Parks Commissioner Gordon Davis to ask for a part-time Parks worker. Due to her efforts, the playground often had Parks workers specializing in recreational activities for children. No wonder the neighborhood children called it "Miss Palmer’s Playground."

For thirty years, Alexandra Palmer served as the block association’s representative to the Parks Department. She pursued the renovation of the comfort station, applied for grants and monitored the Mary Flagler Cary Trust Fund. More than this, she came to know the children of the neighborhood, and became a role model and mentor for many of them.

The West 46th Street Block Association is leading the effort to amend the name of the playground to Mathews-Palmer Playground."Alex Palmer was an extraordinary person and member of our community," said Darrick Sampson, current block association president. "We propose to create a fitting tribute for her, and after discussion with the Parks Department, we support amending the playground's name to Mathews-Palmer Playground. The Block Association serves to organize and coordinate activities for the improvement of our community, encourage involvement in beautification efforts and act as a liaison between residents and city government," he said. "In this respect, we wish to communicate the wishes of our neighbors in honoring Alex, who brought a spirit of joy and optimism to our playground - which is her most lasting gift. Alex waged a campaign of compassion that ultimately created a safe haven for children and families in midtown."
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About the West 46th Street Block Association
The Block Association serves to organize and coordinate activities for the improvement of our community, encourage involvement in beautification efforts, act as a liaison between residents and city government and disseminate information.

Our goals are:

1. Be a residents’ advocate for emerging problems by directly contacting the party(s) responsible for detracting from our quality of life.

2. Communicate our presence to residents so that we can enjoy the collaboration of many at meetings to identify the best solutions and face problems with a critical mass. A mail campaign to friends of the Block Association was suggested.

3. Raise money and contribute to important neighborhood institutions such as St. Clements and Hartley House.

4. Disseminate information to residents. Publish a newsletter, obtain email addresses from residents.

5. Be a social outlet for residents through two receptions during the year.

6. Support the right to vote by discussing political issues, candidates and coalitions