Jimmy Carter's legacy of helping homeless people was forged in NYC
LOWER EAST SIDE, Manhattan (PIX11) -- A major part of Jimmy Carter's legacy was advocating for impoverished and homeless people worldwide. That effort began with a pair of key milestones that occurred in New York -- one involving seeing the effects of poverty and neglect firsthand in the South Bronx, and the other was an effort to end cycles of deprivation by building affordable housing in the East Village.
The first of the two events that impacted the 39th president was his visit to Charlotte Street in the South Bronx in 1977, the first year of his presidency.
The three-block-long street is now a tree-lined thoroughfare, with suburban-style, split-level tract homes on both sides. The homes' value is some 50% higher than the median home price of houses nationwide. However, when Carter visited 47 years ago, there were no longer any buildings on the street -- they'd all been burned down and demolished, allegedly by landlords eager to collect on insurance money.
The contrast between then and now is attested to by residents, who said they ultimately benefited from Carter's arrival, which shone a spotlight on a crisis. That visit, residents said, was the first step in improving their community.
Dennis Torres grew up in the neighborhood and has owned his home on Charlotte Street for a decade.
"I can appreciate what my family has gotten from someone coming here and saying, 'Wow, this area shouldn't look like what it did back then,'" Torres said.
Isaac Martinez bought his home on the street when it was first built in the 1980s.
He also credited Carter's visit with starting a long process of revitalizing and repopulating the Bronx.
"This neighborhood was bad at that time," said Martinez, who added that thanks to Carter's visit and time, "it got better. Everything got better."
Despite being devoted to the cause of improving living conditions for lower-income Americans generally, and struggling New Yorkers specifically, Carter ended up admitting that he couldn't bring as many new housing resources to the community during his presidency as he had liked.
Four years after his presidency ended, however, Carter coordinated an effort by more than 40 volunteers with what was then a new organization, called Habitat for Humanity. Carter led the group in an initial build effort in a roofless, completely burnt-out shell of a building in the East Village. The building was called Mascot Flats, a name given to it when it was built in the late 1800s.
Paul Arroyo was one of the first people to have worked with Carter to work on their apartments with Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter in the Habitat for Humanity building. He said that while the results of the construction were transformative -- he still lives in the apartment that he helped to build out in the mid-1980s -- his time with the former president while doing the work was even more meaningful.
"When he talked, he sat down to listen," Arroyo said. "His ideology was incredible."
Arroyo said that Carter's legacy lives on in his building, at 742 East Sixth St. Agreeing with that assessment is Habitat for Humanity. Its office for New York City and Westchester County will install signage at the building on Tuesday to commemorate the former president and to provide a way for the public to express condolences and best wishes to the Carter Family.
"We invite folks to come out to the Lower East Side," said Sabrina Lippman, the CEO of Habitat for Humanity NYC and Westchester. "Visit Mascot Flats," she continued. "We invite folks to leave their tributes."
People will also be able to honor Carter's memory by signing commemorative doors. They'll be on display at two Habitat for Humanity locations in the region. One, in Queens, is at 62-01 Northern Blvd., just west of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. The other is in Yonkers, at 470 Nepperhan Ave., near the corner of Axminster Street.