Home Photo Gallery Classroom Documents Dear Mr. President: I have received your letter of recent date relative to your inquiry about the conditions in our community and as to the manner in which our Government can better serve our people. May I say at the beginning that your communication was received with great admiration and joy at the fact that you, with your manifold duties as President of the great United States, have nevertheless found time to write to me in this connection in your desire to alleviate the present condition. May I say, too, that there are in the Parish of St. Clare conditions that, I believe, the Federal Government can alleviate and improve. My parish, which covers approximately an area of one square mile, consists of about nine hundred fifty families. This is a newly developed community which prior to 1929 was developing quite rapidly but which has since been retarded. We find at this time a large section sparsely populated with still more room for development,. The majority of my parishioners are men who have been employed in the building trades and now find themselves unemployed due to the general slump in building operations. Now, may I suggest that under these conditions, your Federal Housing Administration take steps to resume building operations in this section. This will, indeed, give employment to our people actually adapted and qualified for that type of work and it will alleviate their general welfare. In this parish we have approximately three thousand children of school age for whom but one school has been provided. There are, of course, children from nearby sections also attending this school so that there are now three sessions being conducted at the school. An additional public school will indeed alleviate this condition. I have hoped for the six years I have been pastor of this parish to build a parochial school. The financial conditions of my parishioners at this time make it impossible for them to help me finance the building of a school. Now, Mr. President, is there at all any possibility whereby directly or indirectly, our government can help me realize this one ambition? Another project of perhaps local concern is the betterment of our streets. This would also help to bring employment of my parishioners. Is there a possibility of your Public Works Program taking this matter under consideration? The streets in question are located in a section known as Morris Park in the County of the Bronx, City of New York. Again expressing to you my admiration for your concern about our people in this particular community and with appreciation to you for permitting me to make known to you the prevalent conditions of our people, I beg to remain, Yours very sincerely,
Rev. Francis Cagnina
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