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CITYMayor%u2019s %u2018Peace Keeping%u2019 Council May NotEven Be Able to Keep Its Own PeaceBY PETER HALEYA smoldering feud between ethnic groups over real or imagined past slights and injuries suddenly bursts into violence.Maybe Italians and Hispanics square off in a Sunday afternoon %u201ctu rf%u2019 dispute in a schoolyard in Borough Park; longstanding differences between Hasidic Jews and Blacks in Crown Heights come into focus following a vicious beating; or armed local toughs invade Greenwich Village%u2019s Washington Park in an assault on black and Hispanic %u2018 %u2018outsiders. %u2019 %u2019Whenever and where ever it happens, suddenly there is a crisis, and local leaders, police, and city officials start struggling to put the lid back on before the situation escalates into another battle. Meanwhile, TV camera crews and newspeople flood the area with more attention than it has received in months or years, looking for the answers to how and why the incident occurred.JEthnic and religious disputes in the xjty probably began shortly after tne^Dutch bought Manhattan from thelndians, but the recent racial c risisth Crown Heights prompted the Koch administration to try a new approach.IN JUNE, AN ALL-VOLUNTEERCOUNCIL ON INTERGROUPRELATIONS was formed with 93 city-wide community %u201c leaders%u2019%u2019 ranging alphabetically from Frances Albert, a BedfordStuyvesant community worker, to Joseph Zinzi, director of the Bronx%u2019 Council of Belmont Organizations. All 93 were chosen to represent the five boroughs%u2019 various racial, ethnic, and religious groups.Members were chosen either because of their ties with one of the communities among the Council%u2019s 25 designated %u201ctrouble spots%u201d or else their connections with prestigious private groups such as the NAACP, Catholic Charities, or the New York Urban Coalition which are connected to these areas.The Council%u2019s aim, according to Deputy Mayor Herman Badillo who was chairman of its formation committee, is to %u201c anticipate and defuse conflicts.%u201d How this newly'- formed %u201chuman bomb%u201d squad will function and what impact it will have remains to be seen. Two members among some 25 contacted, for instance, said they had not been informed prior to being listed -- and also said that they didn%u2019t want to be on it.And, thus far this summer, the Council has not involved itself in either Crown Heights or Borough Park when respective racial incidents flared in both Brooklyn communities.Then, too, those members who recall the Mayor%u2019s past rejection, on at least two separate occasions, of recommendations by a similar volunteer advisory group selecting qualified city officials, wonder what influence they will have on the Mayor and whether the group is just %u201cwindow dressing%u201d to make Koch look good.The group already includes three Black leaders who have refused to serve on the panel citing Koch and city government itself as the source of the tension in Black neighborhoods. Then, too, many %u201c grassroots%u201d members think the group has too many established %u201c inside%u201d groups represented and not enough neighborhood-based leadership.How serious is Koch about theCouncii?Koch decided to re-appoint Transportation Commissioner Anthony Ameruso despite a citizens advisory group decision that found Amerouso unqualified to serve in the post. When asked if that didn%u2019t set mayoral precedent John Engel, the mayor%u2019s working liaison with the Council, said, %u201c We can%u2019t speak about the past. Koch was very explicit in his commitment to this group, and they%u2019ll probably put him to the test.%u201d THREE BROOKLYN BLACKLEADERS %u2014 Bedford-Stuyvesant%u2019s Reverend William Jones, community activist Reverend Herbert Daughtry, and Crown Heights%u2019 Dt. Vernal Cave%u2014claim that already Koch has flunked the test and that the Council is just a cosmetic approach to troubled Black communities.Jones said that although he is listed as a member, he has decided not to join.%u201cI declined to serve because the creation of such a group makes a mockery of the problems faced by Black and Puerto Rican poor,%u201d said Jones, a longtime and prestigious leader in the city%u2019s Black community. %u201cIf can be safely argued that Koch himself is a contributing factor to ethnic conflicts, and his administration has set the most racially discordant tone in recent memory.%u201dJones cited Koch%u2019s pro-capital punishment stand before election, his stated opposition to affirmative action, his failure to hire a %u201c significant%u201d number of Blacks in his administration, and his efforts to %u201c abolish%u201d (anti-poverty) community corporations%u201d as reasons for his opposition.%u201c Until the Mayor can eliminate this racist impression, this Council is a farce,%u201d said Jones.TWO OTHER %u201c OFFICIAL%u201dNON-MEMBERS, Cave and Daughtry, belong to the Black United Front, which was created during the Crown Heights crisis between blacks and police and Hasidim over the death of Arthur Miller by police and the beating of a black youth by Hasidim. Both Cave and a Daughtry spokesman claim that they were selected for membership without their knowledge and argue that the city government, and not the Council, is the answer to preventing ethnic and neighborhood disputes.\opinion is that the Council is mechanically geared for the bandaid treatment of cancer,%u201d said Cave, a Health and Hospitals Corporation board member. Cave said that the city itself should %u201c start obeying the law%u201d and also restore the predominately Hasidic community planning board 6 and the black-dominated community board 7 into one Crown Heights community board, as it was before the City Council ruled in 1975 to divide the community into two districts.A spokesman for Daughtry ridiculed the Council as a %u201cpedigreed collection of mismatched and diversely-interested leaders%u201d that----- 1 J L- -----1-1 _ J _1 * i.__it.** u u m u v u u a u i v t v u v a i t t u u rfully%u201d with issues such as the Crown Heights dispute.The inclusion of Daughtry%u2019s and Cave%u2019s names without their permission and despite their oppositionmay have reflected the haste with which this group was assembled, but the Council itself has so far not acted hastily. After two general meetings a few members grumble it is acting too slowly. Still, most have hopes that now that the group has been divided into more manageable %u201cborough caucuses,%u201d much more can be accomplished.While Borough Park%u2019s Rabbi Samuel Lefkowitz, executive Director of the Southern Brooklyn Community Organization, admitted that there was %u201c no question%u201d that the Council was created %u201cto take the heat off City Hall,%u201d he thinks the task force could find ways to put plenty of heat on the mayor.%u201c ACTUALLY, KOCH HASCREATED A PROBLEM FORHIMSELF,%u201d said Lefkowitz, %u201c because if the Council can muster up enough action and gets moving and organized, we can make things difficult for the Mayor. %u2019 %u2019Thekindof movement Lefkowitz says is needed includes inspection into the issues behind incidents like the recent beating of black and Hispanic youth workers in Italian and Jewish Borough Park by a white gang.%u201cThe Borough Park beatings were a criminal incident with racial overtones and not a turf question, since the black kids don%u2019t live h ere,%u201d said Lefkowitz. %u201c The important issue for a multi-ethnic group like ourselves is to look at the allotment of youth and CETA jobs throughout the city, rather than allowing agencies to do their own hiring which results in workers winding up in situations such as Borough Park.%u201dMost leaders said that they were %u201cwilling to give the Council a chance%u201d and called the experience of meeting with a variety of other ethnic leaders %u201c enlightening.%u201d Many echoed the hope that it would become an %u201c early warning system%u201d for City Hall.The fact that the Council includes leaders representing almost all of the city%u2019s major ethnic and religious groups was not an immediate answer either, according to Philip Foglia, Director of the New York Center for Ethnic Affairs. %u201c Ethnicity is not a prescription for solving crises and people who deal with local communities in this fashion are mistaken,%u201d he said.Charles Kenyatta of Community Action for a Safer Harlem, a crime prevention group, said that the task force had to %u201c move off dead center.%u201d%u201c There is a wide gap between ethnics in the city and I really don%u2019t think many of them understood,%u201d said Kenyatta, who added that the Council %u201c doesn%u2019t include enough people on the bottom .%u201d Still, Kenyatta said %u201cto build a bridge you take any vehicle that comes along,%u201d and he would remain on the Council.LUCILLE ROSE FORMER DEPUTY MAYOR, is one of the principal architects behind the Koch crisis team and in fact was the one who suggested that Rev. Daughtry be appointed. To her, the issue transcends being %u201cbitter%u201dn v m disnutac: lilcp R n rn n o h P a rkproblems.%u201d Rose seemed secure that the Council could help to heal wounds now and also help head off future conflicts.Most praise was directed towards the future potential of the group and many leaders said that the group is far from ready to intervene in any major conflict right now. Manuel Sanchez, a former Commissioner of Human Rights, said that while there is %u201cno point getting involved in Crown Heights%u201d since city and community officials are already negotiating there, %u201c hopefully, we will be prepared%u201d in the future.As for the present, an Italian from the bronx and a black from Manhattan both have their doubts.%u201c If there was a problem in front of my front door I wouldn%u2019t call the Council for assistance,%u201d said Foglia. %u201c At this time the emphasis is definitely more on internal development, and until th a t%u2019s accomplished, I just don%u2019t see it as a resource.%u201dThe Council has divided its members into five general issue oriented task forces as well as geographical divisions and intends on being around for some time. What this will mean to the city%u2019sThe show will go on for the Everyman Company of Brooklyn, a street theatre group, despite the theft of the 18-foot truck that contained its costumes, sets and musical equipment.After the locked van was taken during rehearsal on August 17 in Canarsie, serious doubts were raised about the group%u2019s ability to meet its quota of 20 performances between August 10 and Labor Day.w t %u00bb r %u00bb i rneighborhoods and administration remains to be seen.BROOKLYN COMMUNITYCOUNCIL MEMBERS INCLUDE!Frances Albert, 2106 Fulton Street; Angel Alicea, 819 Willoughby Ave.; Theodore Boyland, 612 Bainbridge St.; Dr. Vernal Cave, 1345 President St.; Rev. Herbert Daughtry, 415 Atlantic Ave.; Steven Denker, 2685 East 7th St.; Carlo DeRege, 191 Joralemon St.; Rev. R.L. Evans, 251 McDonough St.; Sadie Feddoes, 291 New York Ave.; Rev. Joseph A. Funaor, 256 Clinton Ave.; Anthony J. Genovesi, 26 Court St.; Rev. William A. Jones, 460 Sumner Ave.; Charles Joshua, 998 Bedford Ave.; Rev. Robert P. Kennedy, 191 Joralemon St.; Rabbi Leibish Lefkowitz, 82 Lee Ave.; Rabbi Shmuel Lefkowitz, 4520-18th Ave.; Sr. Lucian Lucchi, 144 Bleecker St.; Rev. Washington L. Lundy, 465 Gates Ave.; Rev. Ronald T. Marino, 430 Avenue W; Rev. Edmund P. O%u2019Brien, 1123 Eastern Parkway; Rev. John Powis, 1661 St. Mark's Ave.; Joseph Preite, 26 Court St.; Zulma Rivera, 558-7th St.; Hector Rosa, 349 Elton St.; Lucille Rose, 212 McDonough St.; Buddy Scotto, 106 1st PL; Ray Soares, 1397 Fulton St.; Ismael Torres, 101 Humboldt St.; Wilfredo Vargas, 255 South 2nd St.; Adam Veneski, 146 Myrtle Ave.; Rev. Frederick Waddell, 1002 Bedford Ave.New York State Council on the Arts.Everyman will be able to continue performing its show for this season, %u201c Disco Comics,%u201d thanks to loans from the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the City Department of Cultural Affairs, including microphones and sound equipment. New costumes were made, but sets have been %u201cpractically eliminated.%u201d The Company has also rentedThe Everyman Company In a weekend [im provised]performance.Everyman Carries OnJL W%u201c I don%u2019t believe in sitting outside. You have to communicate with those in power,%u201d said Rose. %u201cYou can agree and disagree but the city will remain and so will itsI W %u00ab , I I U W C Y C l , \\ ~ i c g a n O Ithe company feels confident-that the group will be able to put on the required number of performances. Failure to do so would mean the loss of $15,000 in funding from thea new ituck.Police of the 69th Precinct have not turned up anything in the investigation of the stolen truck. Cregan estimated the contents of the truck as being worth $10,000.August 29,1978, THE PHOENIX, Page 3