Mr. Vito Battista

Fred Ferretti discusses the article with comptroller candidate Vito Battista who is running in the Republican primary on a ticket with John Marchi against incumbent Mayor John Lindsay. Battista says the campaign is going well. He objects to Lindsay equating himself with Mayor La Guardia and believes the former mayor would turn over in his grave if he could hear what Lindsay was saying. Battista attacks Lindsay for his claims to have balanced the budget since it was accomplished in part with the imposition of a city income tax. He also attacks Lindsay for suddenly coming up with $79 million when the administration had claimed to have no money. He calls him, "tin box Lindsay."

The outspoken architect says he and Marchi will combat Lindsay's radio and television blitz "by smoking out the Mayor with facts." He then goes into an extended diatribe against proposed public housing for Queens and says that public housing "is nothing more than ghettos and un-American" and that destroys initiative. He calls it "a technique of white liberals to enslave the black man."

Battista says he is going to hold a press conference on the steps of City Hall and ask the Mayor to submit maps of homeowner areas where they are planning for public housing. Fred Ferretti asks him why public housing is "evil." He again says it destroys people's initiative, is overly dense, and that no taxes are paid to the city treasury. He argues for "a free market where people can buy their own homes, " and there be cooperatives instead, so people have a stake in the housing. He says public housing changes the character and zoning of a neighborhood and that he is not against black people. Battista argues that African-Americans in St. Albans, Queens, and Bedford Stuyvesant don't want public housing. To say he is against blacks is "a ridiculous argument."

Battista talks about why he joined with John Marchi in the fight against Lindsay in part because of the cost of running a city-wide campaign. He also discusses the differences in approach that he has in comparison to Marchi.

Ferretti questions him about his showmanship protest tactics recalling a City Hall gathering with two monkeys and another with a pink elephant and another still with a camel. Battista says television is a wonderful medium for tableaux and that he doesn't need help from "Madison Avenue Hucksters." He says the average person understands him and his approach, suggesting to do otherwise is elitist. He calls Mayor Lindsay a 'pink Republican' and says you cannot be a Republican in Bay Ridge and a liberal elsewhere. He then attacks liberal party leaders as tax cheats and criminals and believes Lindsay caters to them.

Ferretti asks him about his school he runs in Brooklyn where he trains people for jobs and helps them get jobs. Battista says he does a quality job without government help and for $25 per credit and that helps people.

Battista relates his biography, coming here at the age of 3 as an immigrant from Italy. He worked his way up from the ice business to Carnegie Tech, MIT, and Columbia University and working at the 1939 World's Fair as a designer. Talks of his other design and architectural accomplishments as well as the training of disabled people at his school.

Battista believes there is 'anarchy' in the schools and 'criminals' on the streets of New York.

Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection

WNYC archives id: 151697
Municipal archives id: T4709