Knickerbocker Greys Victorious! Hochul Signs Bill to Keep Cadet Corps at Park Ave. Armory
With the help of the press and politicians alike, especially State Sen. Liz Kreuger, the Greys presence at the Armory is now protected by law. Despite this, the once well-respected arts venue is still pursuing legal action to evict the Greys.
| 27 Dec 2024 | 02:44
The Greys at an event at Fraunces Tavern—a venue where they were welcomed— March 2023. (
)
A new bill signed into law, allows the Knickerbocker Greys, a youth cadet group, to return to the esteemed Park Ave. Armory (above) which had been their tradtional home for over 100 years. The trustees now running the armory did not allow the cadets to return following COVID. A long legal battle ensued with a new law now allowing the cadets back inside. (
)
Don’t say there are no happy endings in Albany.
Occasionally there are and the conclusion of the 2024 legislative year brought one of the happiest endings of all when Gov. Kathy Hochul signed Senate Bill S7212A which effectively saved the Knickerbocker Greys military cadet corps from being evicted from their home at the Park Avenue Armory.
That’s right, Gothamites: it took the intervention of New York State legislature, spearheaded by the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Liz Krueger to save a historic, and much beloved youth institution from being kicked out of their already small quarters (800-square-foot) at a building constructed as the 7th Regiment Armory (1877-1880) at taxpayer expense, for the cause of military preparedness and training.
Expansion followed in the early 20th century as did later neglect and financial questions about its upkeep. In between, besides its military functions, the Amory served as an indoor sports venue and the site of two world-historical funerary events.
Following his death at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington D.C. on April 5, 1964, the body of U.S. Army General Douglas MacArthur was brought to the Park Avenue Armory, where on April 7, it lay in open casket for twelve hours. Afterwards, MacArthur returned to Washington, where he would lay in state in the Capitol rotunda.
On July 8th and 9th, 1971, the body of the beloved jazz trumpeter, singer and bandleader, Louis Armstrong—born and raised in New Orleans, died at his home in Corona, Queens—lay in state at the Armory. “Their Last Farewell to Satch” and “It’s SRO at Satchmo’s Finale” ran the headlines of two New York Post articles devoted to the event. (“Satch,” “Satchmo” and “Pops” were all Armstrong nicknames.)
Later in the 1970s, bold face names attended the Armory Art Show, paving the way for the facility’s transition, in 2006, into full time arts and performance venue, with a homeless women’s mental health shelter and the Knickerbocker Greys included in the deal.
While Park Avenue Armory Conservancy couldn’t touch the shelter run by the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, come early 2022, the Knickerbocker Greys wanted to know why—following the conclusion of the various COVID-era “lockdowns” and “protocols”— they had not been permitted to return to their activities.
Efforts by Knickerbocker Greys Board President Adrienne Rogotnick to the Conservancy’s President Rebecca Robertson first went unanswered.
Why? Because the Greys 800-square-foot basement space was going to be renovated into a “non-profit” arts venue coat room.
A fiction writer satirizing the arrogance and clueless of an elite arts administrator couldn’t make this up; they’d be accused of heavy-handed unfairness to a noble patroness of the arts.
While the Greys did return to the Armory in May, their eviction still loomed.
Adrienne Ragotnick wasn’t having it.
She wrote Governor Hochul, she reached out to the press, Our Town included. The New York Sun and Post have also been stalwart backers of the Knickerbocker Greys.
Curiously, the New York Times seems not to have reported on Greys since it published an estimable March 11, 2007, article headlined “Manhattan’s Littlest Soldiers.”
“Park Avenue between 66th and 67th Streets is not first block you might try if you were looking to find boys and girls with guns,” began reporter Eric Konigsberg. “And none of Manhattan, for that matter, presents good odds for turning up children engaged in paramilitary maneuvers.”
The issue of coverage is significant, for what else could explain the Conservancy’s dismissive attitude towards the Greys and their legacy? Did they feel that with the Times ignoring the conflict, there wouldn’t be enough pressure to thwart them? If so, Rebecca Robertson and her cohorts guessed wrong.
Not just any politicians—nearly all politicians!
Enter Liz Krueger, a veteran solon—first elected in 2002—and a woman not to be trifled with.
Her bill protecting the Greys was introduced May 2023 and by the summer of 2024, it had passed both the Senate and Assembly with near unanimous support. Democrats and Republicans alike agreed the kids in the Knickerbocker Greys were a good cause.
On December 12, the bill was delivered to Governor Hochul and, though she’d been curiously quiet about the matter, she did sign it—well done, Gov!
“The Knickerbocker Greys are a beloved part of the Upper East Side, and have been for over a century,” said Senator Krueger. “They are a wonderful part of the fabric and history of our community, an organization that has touched the lives of so many young people.
“There’s plenty of room in the Armory to support the great arts programming that the Conservancy presents as well as continuing to be the permanent home of the Greys,” Krueger went on. “Here’s to another century of the Knickerbocker Greys!”
Said Adrienne Rogatnick with relief, “What is past is prologue–we’re going Home.”
Repeated queries to the Park Avenue Armory Conservancy, which is reportedly still pursuing a lawsuit to evict the Knickerbocker Greys, went unanswered.