Page 301 - Demo

Assembly Speaker Stanley Stein gut lost the Democratic nomination in Flatbush%u2019s 41st Assembly district last night to a Court Street lawyer running as a stand-in candidate for his daughter.With 99 percent of the results in, attorney Murray Weinstein held an unofficial margin of 700 votes over Steingut, out of 9,000 votes cast, and had claimed victory.The stunning upset seriously jeopardizes the 25-year career of the state%u2019s second most powerful Democrat, and came on a day which favored renomination bids of most incumbents around the state. Steingut is on the November ballot on the Liberal Party line.Steingut's fellow Democrat and Brooklynite, Gov. Hugh Carey, swept to a convincing victory over two opponents and will lead an all-New York City slate into the November elections.Until three weeks ago, Weinstein%u2019s invo!vement in the Assembly campaign was as political manager to his daughter, Helene, whose primary candidacy was the first against Steingut in years.But when the courts threw Ms. Weinstein off the ballot on a residency violation, her vacancy committee designated her father to take her place.%u201c This is just incredible, I%u2019m a little delirious,%u2019%u2019 Weinstein shouted over the roar of his victory celebration. %u201cPeople expected a lot more than they got from Stanley Steingut. They want someone who gives to the community.%u201dSteingut was cloistered at the Madison Democratic Club and unreachable for comment %u201c The victory is really Helene%u2019s%u201d Weinstein said. %u201c As a father I know how disappointed she is. But she%u2019ll be my legislative aide, andtogether, we%u2019ll be the best darned Assemblyman in Albany/*The vicotry was also a feather in the political cap of Manhattan President Andrew Stein, a longtime Steingut foe, who, along with his father, publisher Jerry Finkelstein, poured thousands of dollars into the Weinstein campaign.Stein and Steingut have feuded since Stein, as a maverick Assemblyman, ignored Steingut to use an obscure committee to conduct a highly publicized investigation of nursing homes.In other major results, Carey easily overcame challenges from Lt. Gov. Mary Anne Krupsak and Brooklyn State Sen. Jeremiah Bloom to win renomination. Bronx Borough President Robert Abrams soundly defeated former Buffalo Appellate Judge M. Dolores Denman in the Democratic primary for Attorney General. Daughter Mel one and father Murray Weinsteintwo-part Assemblyman. [Michael Cuiccio Photo]Goes On and On and OnAssemblyman Harvey Strelzinreelected to new term.StrelzinBY JUDY LINSCOTTJust about the time the potato salad was running out, they started congratulating Assemblyman Harvey Strelzin. But by the time the trash bucket of Miller beer had run dry, the five-term legislator was talking about his sixth.Strelzin, who won handily in the 57th Assembly District (Williamsburg, Fort Greene, Boerum Hill) spent the evening comfortably ensconsed in a worn swivel chair at his Seneca Club headquarters in Williamsburg, puffing on the everpresent cigar and dispensing greetings and collecting congratulations like a low key department store Santa Claus near closing time.There were plenty who always said that the four-way race in the 57th was never in doubt, and when results from 52 Election Districts were in - with the Assemblyman leading his closest contender by 900 votes - the feelings at the Seneca Club were waxing what might be described as relaxed relief. Alexis Miranda, who gave Strelzin a race in 1976, split votesthis time around with black community activist Velmanett Montgomery, running a fairly even neck and neck race while gay activist Virginia Apuzzo trailed behind.%u201cI%u2019m going to sleep a little late tomorrow,%u201d says Strelzin, deep in his swivel, to no one in particular, adding %u201c at least until seven.%u201d Behind him the neon-orange and blue campaign posters cast a surrealistic vision of the man himself, who waits well into the evening before he%u2019ll make tacit claim to victory.%u201c It%u2019s been a long day,%u201d he comments to a poll watcher w-ho comes to pay respects. %u201c I hope it%u2019ll be all right.%u201d A half a room away, the hangers-on push up to watch the tallies put on the board; the usual arguments and confusions ensue. %u201c Montgomery? W ho%u2019s Montgomery? I never heard of her.%u201d %u201c She%u2019s a woman - she%u2019s big in Clinton Hill.%u201d The usual elbows spill the usual beers while the usual periodic demands for quiet produce the usual negligible results.Strelzin swivels and puffs his cigar.And, in fact, the only excitement of the evening comes when a huddle around the pay phone breaks and Councilman Abe Gerges bounds into the room to announce that Assembly Speaker Stanley Steingut appears to have lost his seat to Murray Weinstein %u201c by 200 votes.%u201d The anouncement brings Strelzin to his feet. He stares at Gerges and pulls his cigar from his mouth. %u201c Steingut - lost?%u201d He stares. The cigar goes back in. He sits dowm and swivels.But he%u2019s soon back to accepting congratulations and homage, and trading jokes with Gerges, who is winning in the State Committeeman race. %u201c Abe, how did you do?%u201d asks Strelzin without waiting for an answer. %u201c Congratulations, my dear friend. You ran me ragged in this campaign, and I%u2019m grateful for it.%u201d Gerges grins.Gerges, with running mate Theodora Martinez, consistently ran several hundred votes ahead of Roger Green and Katie Davis. %u201c No surprises at all,%u201d said Gerges.%u201c Everybody did pretty much as I%u2019d hoped.\By 11 p.m., with some 55 of the 69 EDs accounted for, Strelzin was acknowledging his victory. %u201c I feel elated,%u201d he said. %u201c I%u2019m looking forward to serving the district as well as 1 have in the past and looking after the interests of all the people.%u201dHe is a man who thinks first about getting on with business. \District, I work ten times harder in Albany,%u201d he says, heaving himself out of the swivel to say %u201c goodnight.\\speech,\\I%u2019m beholden.\%u201c And I just want to say I%u2019m proud to be a constituent of the best Assemblyman in New York,%u201d says Gerges.Goodnight Abe. Goodnight Harvey.There are three cans of Kirsch Pineapple soda left in the plastic trash barrel and no takers.Fort Greene%u2019s Eyesore Gets Some AttentionBY GARY FREDERICKIn Fort Greene, there are three square blocks, sometimes referred to as the %u201c Tri-block%u201d area, which may soon be receiving the facelift they deperately need.Long a symbol of urban decay, the section comprised of Ft. Greene Place, St. Felix Street, and Ashland Place between Fulton and DeKalb Streets is a drab picture of long rows of abandoned two and three story buildings, rubble-strewn and weed infested lots, and littered streets. But now a plan to rehabilitate 11 buildings and construct the 66 new units of housing has materialized.The plan calls for the conversion of the buildings and six lots into atotal 99 new units of housing at an estimated cost of between $3.4 and $4.2 million. Bank loans will be secured for the construction costs and paid back through a combination of rent and federal monies.The federal money would come from the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) in the following manner: a tenant would turn over 25 percent of his income to pay for rent and HUD would make the difference. Bethe bank loan, rents win oe tairly high.Although the plan was decided on almost eight months ago, no federal money has been received yet. Rick Stein, an aide to Congressman Fred Richmond, one of the coordinators of the plan, explained that until now there hasbeen no money available.He said money should be forthcoming because a new fiscal year began in July and there may be possible %u201c fallout%u201d money from HUD. This is money not used up in projects from the previous year.%u201c I%u2019m hopeful the money will come through,%u201d he said, %u201c and thisrehabilitation will spark others around the neighborhood.%u201dThe plan, which has been talked about in Fort Greene fbr years and has seen little action until recently, is hoped to go a long way towards improving these blocks. Now, many of the abandoned buildingsare boarded or cemented shui while others just have broke windows as reminders of the empt shells inside. Ft. Greene Place, th worst of the three streets, ha burned-out buildings just down th block from Brooklyn Technics High School at the corner cDeKalb Avenue.Andy Priester. of 2 St. Felix Street, is glad to see a change coming. %u201c Up until about eight months ago 1 was very doubtful of something happening,%u201d he said. %u201c Finally, we%u2019re getting the momentum going.\were seized by the city as they became abandoned. According to Priester, the city refused to let them go until a plan was agreed on.He also said he is angry at some of the residents in the area because although they are influential people, they were not showing any leadership. He cited one rabbi as an example. For that reason, and concern over the area, he decided to become a leader in the rehabilitation fight.Another problem, he said, was that private developers do not want to build in the city, fearing they will lose money. That problem will be overcome with the use of HUD money.This federal money will be funneled through the city%u2019s Housing and Preservation Department (HPSD), which is coordinating the project. Nat Leventhal, commissioner of HUD, has assured community leaders that the project will receive his highest priorities.Also involved in the long delayed plan, conceived in 1974, are the Brooklyn Comprehensive Corporation, Robert Olnick Corp, which was involved in the Starrett City construction, and the Tri-Block (Residents) Association.September 14,1978, THE PHOENIX, Page 7