At last, a community’s success story

Community service is one way to honor Martin Luther King Jr. But we believe Dr. King would now say “Now it’s the communities that must be saved — save and restore the small businesses which meet everyday needs — the neighborhood places so crucial to mental and physical health, those that bring people together and enable community!”

And while King would rejoice that Coogan’s, the popular Washington Heights bar and restaurant, has been saved, he’d also be rueful how only its unique history and the outpouring of support kept it from closing.

But this longtime “Save Small Biz” crusader only wishes Coogan’s had been saved a week later, so this, what was a “Coogan’s Closing” column, didn’t have to be rewritten.

Still, heaven and others know, this paper and this columnist have tried since the mid 1970’s to get a real “Save Small Biz Movement” going, but with little success. Zoning laws still don’t protect avenue low-rises that house small business. Long overdue is a commercial rent-control law. Coogan’s was saved because an incredible rent hike demand was modified, after, we suspect, the restaurant’s landlord, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, was a little embarrassed by the explosion of protest, including by some local politicians — something, by the way, too often lacking when small businesses in their own backyards are threatened.

Of course, Coogan’s history also drew outrage over its announced closure because it was one of the few businesses to open in the neighborhood during a period, the mid 1980s, when Washington Heights had a high-crime rate. The owners knew they somehow had to make their restaurant at 169th and Broadway a hub, where residents, as well as politicos and civic leaders of all backgrounds including law enforcement, could gather to then work to make the area livable — safe and just.

“Where others saw a broken neighborhood and city,” wrote Jim Dwyer in his New York Times column lamenting the restaurant’s then-imminent closure, “they built a sprawling homey space that erased ethnic, class, racial and religious boundaries, fully embracing and embodying the promise of New York.”

And while, now, of course, it’s a warm friendly place to break bread, often for those alone, it also hosts a weekly comedy club and so importantly, a monthly Memory Cafe for those with memory loss. Imagine.

Ah, respite is so provided by these homey restaurants in general, and we cant afford to lose anymore — not one!

Not only did Coogan’s announced closure spark a media coverage explosion and petitions, but also a protest march headed by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Congressman Adriano Espaillat. Of course, it appropriately coincided with Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And as King was a preacher, I dare to say, “here’s praying” as well as marching, that not only Coogan’s will remain saved, but that an all-out movement to save and restore all community-serving small business lifelines gets under way.

Ah, and I know you will help, like contacting the pols — often! And shop local, shop brick and mortar to also counteract “the cardboard box tsunami.” Etcetera! Etcetera! Infinitely, much is at stake.

dewingbetter@aol.com