Blown In The Wind… Lost Horizons amid Progress Never Forgotten
by Louis Olano
There once was a towering windmill attached to a tenement in New York City that was symbolic of a point in time where, if you could find the resources and develop a core group of people willing to commit, you could “Adopt-A-Building” for a few dollar and own a “piece of the rock.” I was one of those people. My name is Louis Olano, the person who held that windmill up as my supervisor, Jim Richardson, placed and secured the four main bolts anchoring the structure to the roof. I worked on the building rehabilitation at 519 E. 11th Street from summer of 1975 through October of ’77.
The Adopt-A-Building crew members were a bunch of dreamers in love with the idea of sustainability who tackled the cooperative venture of revitalizing their neighborhood with conviction. They had high hopes and worked hard investing their sweat equity to gain independence in the midst of the urban blight that had a stranglehold on their community. Back then there was a romance with the city and she loved you back, or so we thought (romancing a stone is difficult and best not tried).
But back to the windmill at 519… That windmill symbolized the people’s pride and progress in social development and community involvement. Most of the workers were locals, with the Carabello brothers standing out. I vividly remember Randolph Lake [Project Manager], one of a handful to come from the United Nations Corp of Engineers, navigating the project. To get on his crew was simple, follow orders and double tap a 20 lb. penny nail at a 45 degree angle while standing. Skill and efficiency is all that mattered. I too was part of that crew. The crew’s plan was to rehab and power the building with wind and solar energy, which we did!
Many years later, in 2012, at “El Sol Brillante” Community Garden on E. 12 Street, I spent some time resting on a hammock in the courtyard behind 519 enjoying my day with some friends. As I exited the garden, I overheard a couple of neighbors talking nostalgia about a windmill perched on a building (pointing to 519). I interrupted their conversation and introduced myself as the person who held the windmill that symbolized hope for a generation of lower east siders.
Unfortunately, the hope was short lived. We didn’t see the massive gentrification that was headed our way and we were soon displaced. Changing markets and profit motives suffocated the local zeal and dreams of ownership only to pave way for a city make-over masked as progress and faux decency. The ungodly rents forced many of the struggling residents to leave the neighborhood and only a few that remained were lucky enough to hold on to their dreams. When many of the homesteaders could no longer afford the rising taxes, the banks took over the properties leaving them with only lost horizons amid progress that was never to be forgotten!
A performance piece by Ramón Serrano on homesteading… “Great Ceasar’s Ghost”
[Recorded at Agüeybaná Bookstore]
For more information on the East 11th Street wind and solar experiment visit: THE GOTHAMIST
THE ALMOST FORGOTTEN STORY OF THE 1970s WINDMILL by Shayla Love
also check out… “THE WIND FARMERS OF EAST 11TH STREET” by Josh Weil [NY Times]
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