American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, Jack Conway, Execu- 226 American Insurance Association, T. Lawrence Jones, President, accompanied by: Gilmore, Robert; and Stark, Melvin. 179 96 Bailey, William O., Vice President, Aetna Life & Casualty. Bedford-Stuyvesant Chamber of Commerce, James Hutcherson, Vice President . Bison, Henry, Jr., General Counsel, National Association of Retail Grocers . Booker T. Washington Business Association, Detroit, Michigan, Edgar Brazelton, Jr., Presi- Commerce, U.S. Department of, The Honorable Lawrence McQuade, Assistant Secretary, accom- Brown, Wallace, Counsel; and Hamilton, Walter, Deputy Assistant Secretary 125 Conway, Jack, Executive Director, Industrial Union Department, American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations, accompanied by: Johnson, Ernest, Vice Chairman of Insurance Brokers Council of New York Dykhouse, The Honorable David J., Commissioner of Insurance, State of Michigan Fireman's Fund American Insurance Companies, Louis W. Niggeman, President Honorable Betty, The President's Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs 31 Ichard, President, Insurance Company of North America 202 an Development, U.S. Department of, The Honorable William Ross, Deputy Under accompanied by: ortimer, Actuarial Expert; and R. Otto, Legislative Attorney 100 laude, President, Broadway Savings & Loan Association, Los Angeles, Caliompanied by: , Peter, General Manager ames, Vice President, Bedford-Stuyvesant Chamber of Commerce 16 96 missioner of the State of California, The Honorable Richard Roddis 48 nissioner of the State of Michigan, The Honorable David J. Dykhouse, accom obert, Chief Actuary, Michigan Insurance Bureau; presentative Raymond L., Michigan Legislature; and nator L. Harvey, Michigan Legislature 66 nissioner of the State of Virginia, The Honorable T. Nelson Parker, accom pany of North America, H. Richard Heilman, President, accompanied by: ertram C., General Counsel. 202 lay, President, Royal-Globe Insurance Companies rence, President, American Insurance Association. 1, President, National Association of Independent Insurers. Honorable Lawrence, Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce. 230 179 139 125 W., Vice President & Manager, The Continental Insurance Companies orable Robert, Administrator, Small Business Administration, accom ciation of Independent Insurers, Vestal Lemmon, President, accompanied by: is W., President, Fireman's Fund American Insurance Companies onorable T. Nelson, Insurance Commissioner of the State of Virginia ssistant for Consumer Affairs, The Honorable Betty Furness THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LIBRARIES Roddis, The Honorable Richard, Insurance Commissioner of the State of California Ross, The Honorable William, Deputy Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Page 48 100 Royal-Globe Insurance Companies, H. Clay Johnson, President 230 Schreiner, Walter C., Executive Vice President, Crum & Forster 236 Small Business Administration, The Honorable Robert Moot, Administrator 109 Smith, Seymour E., Executive Vice President, Travelers Insurance Company 221 State Farm Mutual Insurance Co., T. C. Morrill, Vice President, accompanied by: Travelers Insurance Company, Seymour E. Smith, Executive Vice President STATEMENTS FILED FOR THE RECORD 195 34 221 150 262 Burrell, Berkeley G., President, National Business League Jersey City (N.J.) Merchants' Council, Harry F. Salomon, President man, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Paul N. Ylvisaker, Commissioner 297 Salomon, Harry F., President, Jersey City (N.J.) Merchants' Council Ylvisaker, Paul N., Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs THE PRESIDENT'S NATIONAL ADVISORY PANEL ON INSURANCE IN RIOT-AFFECTED AREAS Wednesday, November 8, 1967 The President's National Advisory Panel on Insurance in Riot-Affected Areas convened, pursuant to notice, at 10:00 a.m. in the Indian Treaty Room, Room 474, of the Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C., Honorable Richard J. Hughes, Chairman, presiding.* Present: Honorable Richard J. Hughes, Chairman; Honorable William W. Scranton, Vice Chairman; Frank L. Farwell, George S. Harris, A. Addison Roberts, Walter E. Washington, and Frank M. Wozencraft, Members; Stanford G. Ross, Executive Director; and James J. McLaughlin, General Counsel. ational Advisory Panel on Insurance in Riot-Affected Areas was appointed on THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LIBRARIES I think i PROCEEDINGS GOVERNOR HUGHES: Ladies and gentlemen, we have a good long schedule. I would like to move on with it. This is the latest of many meetings of the National Advisory Panel on Insurance in Riot-Affected areas. Today and tomorrow have been set aside for public hearings at which the Panel has invited the comment of the whole country, the industry, state commissioners, consumers, private citizens, and everyone else, on some of the tentative thinking of the Panel, which was referred to in a press release issued about ten days ago, of which copies are available if they have not already come to the attention of those witnesses who have requested an opportunity to make a statement to the Panel. The first person who is noted here as being willing to help to give the Panel some guidance is Mrs. Sylvia J. Downer, an insurance broker in Brooklyn, New York. Mrs. Downer, would you mind taking this seat up here so we can hear your statement clearly. MRS. DOWNER: May I have Mr. Johnson join me here? ink of n -when it ace of recent y ted the si days as For the sa problem, ess inte d-up an is and mali Csurance co y company - presume a certain a New Yor! line dist The companie ed, high tweigh t GOVERNOR HUGHES: Please do. - I thought, gentlemen of the Panel, that probably the most expeditious way to handle this is to hear Mrs. Downer's statement, or a summary of it you need not read the whole formal statement if it is here for filing but hit the highlights, and then the Panel members may have some questions. - STATEMENT OF MRS. SYLVIA J. DOWNER, INSURANCE BROKER, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK; AND MRS. DOWNER: Thank you. inclined coincidence Mr. Chairman and members of the Panel: My name is Sylvia Downer. I am indeed pleased to have been given this opportunity to appear before you this morning to discuss what obviously is a very important matter to an awful lot of people. I think we are fortunate in having so distinguished a Panel weighing this matter for the President. My good wishes go out to you for the success of your work. Permit me, now, to give you just a little background into my own credentials as a witness. Where I live and work is something else. The section was formerly called Crown Heights and is in Brooklyn, in the City of New York. When Negroes started to cross Eastern Parkway, the Press, Television, the insurance companies and others for whom it was convenient, suddenly became map-makers. They stretched the boundaries of Bedford-Stuyvesant and, in the process, obliterated Crown Heights. Day by day they're doing the same thing to Flatbush, Prospect Park, Bushwick and Williamsburg. I've been a licensed Insurance Broker for 12 years and a licensed Real Estate Broker for 10 years. The bulk of my business originates in this area. My brokerage experience, I assume, is typical of brokers in this area and, I dare say, with brokers serving other Negro communities in New York. sed by the operty-casu eless bei For some time now I have been active with insurance broker trade associations and am presently a member of the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Insurance Brokers Association. Another credential which I offer is that of Delegate from my Association to the Insurance Brokers Council of New York, a Federation of some six (6) independent associations in our City. Also, I serve as Vice-President of the Brooklyn Insurance Women's Club, an affiliate of the Federation of New York Insurance Women's Clubs. Let me hasten to say, however, that I do not pretend to be advancing the official views of any of these groups. So you see, Gentlemen, that through my trade association exposures and the discussions which go on in these various groups, you can believe me when I tell you that the insurance problems confronting us transcend ghetto lines and find evidence in all parts of the City and its metropolitan environs. 2 vate dwell oming hous ingly strin sccupancie e to acqua erties, they |