{"id":3651,"date":"2005-02-28T23:27:29","date_gmt":"2005-03-01T03:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2005\/02\/28\/schmittle-italy\/"},"modified":"2011-08-22T09:19:34","modified_gmt":"2011-08-22T13:19:34","slug":"schmittle-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2005\/02\/28\/schmittle-italy\/","title":{"rendered":"schmittle italy"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> <span style=\"font-family: Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\"> &#8220;<em><span style=\"font-size: small\">I<\/span>f you name it (and spruce up a little), they will come.&#8221; <\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;font-size: x-small\"> &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;. metroplexicus<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/ethicalesq\/littleitalyLN.gif\" alt=\"LittleItalyLN\" \/> <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"><em>Little Italy<\/em>, Schenectady, NY<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: xx-small\"> [<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: xx-small\">original image <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.schenectadymetroplex.org\/ContentManager\/index.cfm?Step=Display&amp;ContentID=4\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: xx-small\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: xx-small\">]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"><strong><em>I<\/em><\/strong>&#8216;m sure there are some Schenectadians who think my musings about the local <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.schenectadymetroplex.org\/\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">Metroplex Development Authority<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> (as in the post <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/stories\/storyReader$3150\"><em><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;color: #000000;font-size: x-small\"><strong>local schmocal<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">) manifest a certain<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> lack of civic trust and hope. So, I thought I&#8217;d show my ethnic pride and tell<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> you a little bit about our <em>Little Italy<\/em> &#8212; &#8220;La Piccola Italia&#8221; &#8212; which is one long<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> block called North Jay Street, about half a mile from my home. (Click for Metroplex&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.docstoc.com\/docs\/5193129\/General-Project-Plan\">Little Italy General Project Plan<\/a>.) <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">North Jay Street was once the home of a thriving Italian immigrant population.<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> The children of those immigrants long ago joined the Brain Drain out of Schenectady<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> County, or have moved to the City&#8217;s suburbs. A handful of the original immigrants<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> may, along with their devoted offspring, survive on the block. However, I have<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> never seen any signs of life at the remaining half dozen residences.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">Two years ago, the first prong in the Metroplex plan to &#8220;support an Italian heritage <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> neighborhood&#8221; came to fruition, when <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cornellsrestaurant.com\/\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">Cornell&#8217;s Restaurant<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> moved its venerable<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> and successful operation from another section of Schenectady to North Jay Street,<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> thanks to almost $500,000 in Metroplex aid.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">One beloved Jay Street bakery went out of business a few years ago. <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/ethicalesq\/wine.gif\" alt=\"wine\" \/><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.schenectadymetroplex.org\/ContentManager\/index.cfm?Step=Display&amp;ContentID=4\">image<\/a> shown above is the newly completed <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.schenectadymetroplex.org\/ContentManager\/index.cfm?Step=Display&amp;ContentID=12\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">Little Italy streetscape<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">, crowned<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> by imposing entryway columns, and financed with a $750,000 Metroplex grant. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">You can find a number of articles about our Little Italy <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.schenectadyny.info\/cgi-bin\/Blah\/Blah.pl?b=cc,m=1089109573\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">There are no other projects planned yet for Little Italy. Having told you about all there is to<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> know about Metroplex&#8217;s Little Italy Project to date, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">I have two <em>True or False<\/em> questions for you:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">After moving one restaurant to North Jay Street, Little Italy now boasts the following<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> &#8220;Italian heritage&#8221; enterprises: One restaurant; one bakery; one spumoni shop.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">The other business addresses on North Jay Street include: two auto body shops, one<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> boarded-up former strip club (previously a boarded-up Fire Station); one funeral home;<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> one empty, former gay bar; and, at the far corner, a biker bar (called the Saw Mill; no Vespas in sight).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif\"><span style=\"font-size: x-small\"><em>Bonus question<\/em>: True or False: The owners of the spumoni shop are trying to sell their<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> business and building but may be asking too much money (hey, this is Little Italy!).<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;font-size: x-small\"><strong><em><span style=\"color: red\">p.s.<\/span><\/em><\/strong> You, too, should feel proud, as your federal tax dollars are also helping to<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;font-size: x-small\"> develop our Italian-heritage neighborhood. (Which reminds me of that great<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> &#8220;walk-a proud!&#8221; joke about Joe DiMaggio.) Think hard and find the answers below.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;font-size: x-small\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/ethicalesq\/littleitalyL.gif\" alt=\"LittleItalyL\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"><em>Answers<strong> <\/strong><\/em>(you peeked!!). 1) True; 2) True; <em>Bonus<\/em>: True<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">Inspired yet? Our local newspaper had some suggestions for Metroplex in a recent editorial<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> (<em>Daily Gazette<\/em>, &#8220;City needs to be aggressive in creating Little Italy,&#8221; Feb. 12, 2005, reprinted <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.schenectadyny.info\/cgi-bin\/Blah\/Blah.pl?b=cc,m=1089109573\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> at #4)<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">If you happen to be in the region &#8212; checking out, for instance, the lovely<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"> Little Italy 20 miles away in Troy, NY, come on over to Schenectady&#8217;s <em>La Piccola Italia<\/em>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\">update (May 29, 2005): scroll down the page to read about <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2005\/05\/29\/all-punditry-is-local-today-anyway\/\">Chutzpah in Little Italy<\/a>. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;font-size: x-small\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">by <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/stories\/storyReader$3281\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif;color: #000000\"><strong><em>dagosan<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a><em><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">:<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-size: x-small\"><span style=\"font-family: Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\">mom serves<\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: x-small\"><span style=\"font-family: Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\">grandma&#8217;s recipes &#8212;<\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: x-small\"><span style=\"font-family: Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\">Christmas Eve calamari<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: x-small\"><span style=\"font-family: Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\">&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;. [Dec. 24, 2004] <\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: x-small\"><span style=\"font-family: Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\">under nana&#8217;s afghan &#8211;<br \/>\ndreaming homemade<br \/>\nbread and meatballs<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: x-small\"><span style=\"font-family: Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\">&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;. [Nov 30, 2004]<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;If you name it (and spruce up a little), they will come.&#8221; &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;. metroplexicus Little Italy, Schenectady, NY [original image here] I&#8216;m sure there are some Schenectadians who think my musings about the local Metroplex Development Authority (as in the post local schmocal) manifest a certain lack of civic trust and hope. So, I thought [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2927,900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-schenectady-synecdoche","category-viewpoint"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-WT","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3651"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14304,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3651\/revisions\/14304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}