By Michael Horowitz
Civic activist Arthur Taub remembered former State Sen. Guy Velella as a “good friend of Co-op City and as a good personal friend”
Velella, a Republican who had been a power in the Bronx and in the State Legislature before his guilty plea in 2004 on corruption and kickback charges, served a northeast Bronx constituency adjacent to Co-op City. Velella died, last Thursday, after a bout with lung cancer. He was 66.
As the lone Republican in the Bronx, Velella, in his heyday, had wielded considerable power statewide, among both Democrats.
“At various times, Senator Velella wielded power on behalf of Co-op City and on behalf of other people who weren’t even his constituents,” Taub stressed. “He was a good friend of Co-op City, and he was like a brother to me on a personal level.”
Taub noted that Velella, during his tenure in the State Senate, was a powerful voice in support of transportation improvements for Co-op City, as well as other communities in the northeast Bronx.
“During the years of the Pataki Administration, Mr. Velella was especially helpful in our efforts to get through to officials at the New York State Thruway Authority,’ Taub said. “On a number of occasions, I saw Herbert Freedman at Senator Velella’s office to argue the community’s case for help of various kinds from the State Legislature.”
Taub added that he was especially moved when Velella, who had few Jewish constituents, opened his Williamsbridge Road office for an entire week for victims of the Nazi Holocaust who were seeking reparations from the Austrian government.
“Senator Velella, then the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, personally went to Austria to plead the Holocaust victims’ case,” Taub recalled. “I was especially moved when he did that.”
Taub added, “I’ll never forget what Senator Velella told me when he came back from his trip to Austria. He told me that the Austrian bankers told him, at that time, ‘The problem is that we didn’t get rid of enough of them (the Jews).’”
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