Letters | FHA rules, not Levitt, kept blacks away

The Aug. 21 commentary, "Early lesson in bigotry" by Paul Von Blum, suggests that developer William Levitt, having refused to sell homes to blacks, was the reason why there was no diversity in Levittown in 1957. This, in my opinion, is misdirected racism.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) had adopted a racist policy that made it all but impossible for blacks to move into a Levittown development. The FHA's 1934 underwriting manual, used to evaluate communities suitable for mortgage insurance, stated, "if a neighborhood is to retain stability, it is necessary that properties shall continue to be occupied by the same social and racial classes." The manual went on to suggest that "subdivision regulations and suitable restrictive covenants" are the best way to ensure such neighborhood stability. Restrictive covenants of this kind, written into property deeds, required that no person of African descent be allowed to live in a FHA-insured property except as a domestic servant or laborer.

This government-based, racist policy drove the Levittown sales criteria and emboldened some white residents who bought into Levittown to misbehave. The FHA policy continued to be the law of the land until a 1949 Supreme Court decision relegated this mortgage policy to the trash can.

Sadly, not even a Supreme Court decision could reverse the racist tide set in motion by the FHA against the homeownership aspirations of black Americans. It took Levittown a full decade to crawl out from under the influence of FHA policy with the arrival of African American Daisy Myers and her family in 1957.

What happened in Levittown was much more than one man's racist actions against another. It was U.S. government racism at its worst - the use of the law to deny a whole class of people equal protection under the law, as well as the right to accumulate wealth through real estate holdings.

Bill Brooks

Newark, Del.

I've just read the Aug. 19 article "Casino companies' big money is on Macao." It is both haunting and ecclesiastical.

I've been doing business in China since 1981 from my base in Center City. When I first went to China in 1982, the country had no money. Somehow, China has changed. Everyone tries so hard to make money and, for those who want to make it big through gambling, they are going to throw away in seconds what they've made with their blood and sweat.

I was a child in Hong Kong and my father used to take me to Macao in the 1950s and early 1960s. I saw what the Casino Lisboa was like - it was a dump. Now, it will resemble a gigantic Fabergé egg! Mammon has triumphed.

There is no industry which shows human nature as starkly naked as the casino industry. This is what makes it haunting - and ecclesiastical. Thank you for reporting a reality.

James Chan

President,

Asia Marketing and Management

Philadelphia

New Jersey's seniors aren't the only ones at risk ("N.J. seniors ask: This is property tax relief?," Aug. 16). The same is true in Pennsylvania, and our governor has done pitifully little about it.

Cheltenham Township has a combined school/property tax that's a killer.

In December, I will be 80. I don't have the income I had before retirement. Over the last 30 years, I have paid about $200,000 in property/school taxes in Cheltenham Township. The property/school tax takes about one-fourth of my income. (It's even worse for some elderly people.) Medical expenses take another fourth (not unusual for the elderly). Utilities take another fourth, leaving very little to live on.

My house was built in 1900. It constantly requires repairing, another cost to come out of what's left.

The elderly who have already paid into the system should be given a break. One could easily get the impression that in Cheltenham, the objective is to drive out the elderly so they can be replaced with more affluent younger people. Everyone gets old sooner or later. Someone said, "You can judge a society by how it treats its elderly."

William Delamar
Melrose Park

I found the comments on Levittown in the Aug. 21 commentary, "Early lesson in bigotry," very interesting. However, it would have been even more interesting if it had contained information on Levittown as it is today, with its diversity.

What has happened to the family of Daisy and William Myers? How long did they live in Levittown, or are they still there?

James Reaves
Pennsauken

Re: "Juicy Jersey tomato is ripe for a revival," Aug. 14:

It's all about shelf life. Years ago, you could find a canning house just by following the red juice stain on the highway leading to it. Now, you could probably ship these tomatoes to Australia and they would arrive in perfect condition.

If you have a backyard, plant a few Burpee Big Boy tomatoes. Then, get out the Wonder bread and the Hellman's mayonnaise and relive your food memories.

John Mangano
Hammonton