When you hear the words “golf” and “country club”, what comes to mind? Rich people with sweaters tied around their necks, wearing pastel colors and overall being snobby? Awkward pauses between swings and idle chatter about the markets? That is to say, golf is not a sport for the masses. It invokes a specific subset of wealthy individuals, usually men, as sneering at the poor. A country club is a members only area that one would expect to defend its stake in the face of the proletariat, especially union workers. In a city where “affordability” is a joke due to the ever rising tide of gentrification and privatization, a co-op housing unit replacing an enclave for the rich seems like a progressives dream. However, there exists an outlier, and that is Electchester. Practically a relic of the power of unions, it stands out like a sore thumb in a sea of rising costs. The ability of this town to succeed could perhaps be a blueprint of affordable housing for the future of the city.
To understand the story of Electchester, one must first understand the story of Harry Van Arsdale Jr. A staunch peddler of organized labor, Arsdale’s identity was as a union member. The Local 3 Electrical union owes a great deal to the man, who’s bold ideas and challenging of the status quo invigorated his fellow Union brothers, fighting for causes like the 30 hour work week and better pay and benefits overall. Always one to fight alongside his brothers, Arsdale frequented strikes and protests. Of the most important turning points was in 1940, where strikes of numerous electrical companies took place, and the union was able to broker deals with all of them except one. The CEO of the Triangle Conduit and cable company, Jack McAuliffe, ordered strikebreakers on protestors and had the help of the NYPD as well. Van Arsdale would be charged with inciting a riot, but it was he who would get the last laugh. You see, McAuliffe was chairman of the greens committee of the Pomonok Country Club, a site that would also be protested by Union members in the wake of the Triangle strike.
Harry Van Arsdale Jr.
”I think it is regrettable that violence has occurred in a number of the strikes [against defense-oriented plants] throughout the country. But anybody knows that a great deal of that violence is provoked by the employers and if in some instances the workers themselves have gone to excess that is understandable.”
On May 27, 1949, the members of the club held a vote to disband the club and sell to the Local 3 Union members and New York City. This was strange to say the least, as the golf course had its most profitable year in 1948. Interestingly enough, more than 200 votes on the matter were by proxy, as they represented deceased members who had passed on their shares in the club. The reason why this was able to happen is because Pomonok had taken in a large influx of associate members in the midst of the Great Depression in order to stay in operation. Fast forward less than two decades later, and the heirs of those members would sell, despite the success of the club. The remaining members would lament about how unfair this development was, as the people who voted to sell didn’t care about golf. While that may have been true, a large reason to sell was due due the rising rent costs which would have hiked membership prices across the board.
Ari Paul
“…Electchester proves that attempts to learn from what is often written off as dreaded socialism might help to inform our responses to contemporary challenges. This isn’t wishful thinking; the complex happened and continues to work, and it is embraced by firmly middle-class people.”
While this situation seems like a win, it was only able to happen because of the large amount of associate members and low amount of stockholders that were involved with the club. Other country clubs were in panic mode after this sale, with the owner of the Hempstead Golf Course ensuring stock was bought by club goers. How Pomonok was sold is a rather odd occurrence, but the transaction paved the way for thousands of families to have real affordable housing. And while unions are all but obsolete in the United States, New York City shows how powerful these groups can be. Although there aren’t union backed co-ops being built today, Electchester’s perseverance serves as a reminder that affordable housing doesn’t have to be a pipe dream.
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