A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from June 08, 2005
“Difference between NYC Council and rubber stamp is that a rubber stamp leaves an impression”
Henry Stern was a former New York City Councilman and Parks Commissioner and now runs NY Civic (http://www.nycivic.org). He said, some time in the 1960s, that the New York City Council was less than a rubber stamp because a rubber stamp at least leaves an impression.

Ouch!

29 January 1988, New York Times, "City Council Wakes Up but Still Lags" by Alan Finder, pg. B2:
A celebrated bit of lore was invoked by many people trying to describe how poorly regarded the Council was. Henry J. Stern, now the Parks and Recreation Commissioner, characterized the body this way when he first ran for the Council, unsuccessfully, in 1965: ''The Council is less than a rubber stamp, because a rubber stamp at least leaves an impression.''

22 January 1990, New York Times, Metro Matters by Sam Roberts, pg. B1:
Mr. Stern's most enduring legacy to the Council, though, was his indelible observation that it amounted to even less than a rubber stamp, because at least a rubber stamp leaves an impression.

24 December 2001, New York Times, "As He Leaves, Vallone Scorns Calls for Change" by Diane Cardwell, pg. F4:
Even Henry J. Stern, the former council member and current parks commissioner who once said that the Council was less than a rubber stamp because even a rubber stamp makes an impression, allowed that under Mr. Vallone the Council had "made some progress on dealing with substantive issues."

18 November 2003, New York Sun, "Moskowitz Misses the Mark" by Andrew Wolf:
This is the City Council, the legislative body that the former parks commissioner, Henry Stern, said is less effective than a rubber stamp - because at least a rubber stamp leaves an impression.

14 January 2004, New York Sun, "Tragedy of the Council":
Last week, on the occasion of being unanimously re-elected speaker of the City Council, Gifford Miller delivered an address to the body in which he - however unintentionally - demonstrated the truth of that famous crack by former Parks Commissioner and ex-Council Member Henry Stern that the only difference between
the council and a rubber stamp is that a stamp at least leaves an impression.

28 April 2005, New York Sun, "Poll Confirms Ferrer's Fall" by Andrew Wolf:
Yesterday, I paraphrased a great quote about the New York City Council being less than a rubber stamp because at least a rubber stamp leaves an impression.

Lest anyone think that I was clever enough to come up with that jewel on my own, allow me to disabuse you of that impression. The brilliant author of that observation is Henry Stern, the former parks commissioner who himself served as council member-at-large from the borough of Manhattan. Mr. Stern came up with
this oft-quoted phrase more than 40 years ago, a description still as fresh as the morning dew.
Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityGovernment/Law/Military/Religion /Health • Wednesday, June 08, 2005 • Permalink


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