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VFighting Back Hard :r m i u u s u n a s n \\ ^ u r p u r d i eStructure~For and By the PeopleBY LUCETTE LAGNADOIts fame stems chiefly from the fact it once housed the Brooklyn Dodgers. And Barbara Streisand. A survey of Upper East Siders, Long Island residents, and, for that matter, the Searsdale coterie, is sure to reveal a hefty percentage who started out over there. Flathi%u2019sh, it would seem, has not been a place to %u201carrive%u201d - but to leave.Like many urban neighborhoods, the once glorious and grand Flatbush has suffered a decline, and now, wealth and %u201crespectabiltiy%u201d coexist with deterioration and poverty. But Flatbush isn%u2019t giving up. It%u2019s fighting back -- and hard.It was precisely to fight that great fight that the Flatbush Development Corporation was born three years ago. The non profit organization, which claims as its %u201chome%u201d a tiny store-front on Cortelyou road, is made up of a group of determined and hard working individuals who are intent on making their neighborhood the desirable place it once was. Or in the words of one of the Directors, Joyce Coward: %u201cWe are on the brink of a Renaissance - the Renaissance of Flatbush!%u201dFDC was the brainchild of a small group of Flatbush residents who had grown up, married and settled in the area, and were witnessing disintegration of their neighborhood. Instead of running away to Westchester or Long Island they decided to set about the impossible dream, to work toward a prosperous - and desirable - %u201ctown.Under the leadership of Mike Weiss, the Corporation was officially established in 1975. Since then it has worked on two separate but interdependent goals: the renovation ana revitalization of multipledwelling houses, the revitalization of commercial sector, which according to Coward %u201cgoes hand in hand with any sort of neighborhood improvement. In fact, you can%u2019t have one without the other.%u201dGOING ON GRANTSThough the FDC does not have any operational budget per se, it has functioned well as a result of several state, city, federal and private grants. These grants, some of which are very generous, others meager, are awarded for specific and clearly defined projects. The first, a $20,000 grant from the Ford Foundation, was for a' Neighborhood Improvement Program, and a special Apartment Referral Service. Later came a $150,000 grant from the State Division of Housing and Community Renewal to renovate Newkirk Plaza, and these recently added a matching grant for the FDC%u2019s latest project, the revitalization of Flatbush Avenue. The staff of 19 is paid out of the various funds.Perhaps the major factor in their battle against Flatbush%u2019s decay is not so much a specific program, but rather, an all-encompassing effort to instill pride in residents about their area%u2019s social and historical significance. While other parts of the city have received more than their share, the architectural and historical charm of Flatbush haven%u2019t received the attention its rich history deserves.In the last nineteenth century, the very rich in their townhouses on Fifth Avenue began to suffer from the lack of space and green0 4 j m a t * o u o v u t t v v / %u00bb u i t g u i o u v Gtoday%u2019s Manhattanites as well. An %u201cecology%u201d movement was born. Because instead of moving to Westport, the rich of the 1890%u2019s discovered that only 20 minutes away from Manhattan, they could have the lush country-side and grass which they craved in Flatbush.4Perhaps the major factor in the DevelopmentCorporation's battle against Flatbush decay is... anall encompassing effort to instill pride in residents..The area had been settled hv the Dutch in the 1860%u2019s and was inhabited mostly by farmers. But since the rich know a good thing when they see it, they bought out the farmers and began building houses on the land.Families like the Guggenheims and the Spaldings built magnificent edifices to their wealth, and took ample advantage of the natural environment by adding spacious lawns, gardens, and green houses to their living quarters. Flatbush at the turn of the century was in its prime, with a Gatsby like clientele living in dazzling mansions.The Victorian homes that were built with such care are still around in their original peacefultree-lined streets, the concrete testimony to a bygone era of grace, charm and beauty. Today, they are still lovely: a walk down Buckingham Road reveals a beautiful and huge white pillared house with a big lawn; another house, known to residents as the Pagoda, looks amazingly like a Japanese Temple. Albermarle Terrace is a peaceful enclave where traffic is barred and which sports a series of demure Englishstyle row houses.The Flatbush Development Corporation has recently been promoting this aspect of Flatbush by holding walking tours, discussion groups and a regular blitz of promotion on the area%u2019s historical treasures. But the fact remainsThis Weekend:The Flatbush FrolicThe excitement explodes on Sunday, September 17 as the Flatbush Frolic III swings into its third spectacular year. It%u2019s a seven block potpourri, extending on Cortelyou Road between Coney Island Avenue and East 17 Street, with entertainm ent ranging from school jazz bands and Turkish dancers to crafts and antiques booths.Three enormous stages will be set up, one for children%u2019s interests and the others forF n o t u r n r lfestival will be Bo the Magic Clown, Winnie Wilson puppets, a barber shop quartet, mime groups and disco music.A special play area will bedesignated for children between the ages of 4 and 10 and the New York Telephone Company will highlight a special Junior Olympics.Craft booths promise a huge array of stained glass, embroidery and knitted crafts. International food booths, com m unity inform ation booths and home-owner%u2019s displays will weave through the blocks providing a wealth of information and variety to the Flatbush Frolic III.T K n B V n lin K o rrin e o t n n n n * %u2014 o %u2014 - ---------and will continue until 5 p.m., celebrating the community on the officially designated %u201cFlatbush Day\17.phasize the long-forgotten good points to the general public, while working intensly to tackle the tough problems that lead to the deterioration of a neighborhood. The crime rate, the bored youth, the neglected homes and the slum landlords and speculators are all cause for FDC concern and attention.FDC%u2019s first funded project was an Environmental Improvement Program (which was an effort to organize and educate tenants). The FDC staff went to 25 buildings' l 1 P A A A %u2022 1 , 1w a n u v c i o t \\ j\\A J r e i n u n i t s , a m imanaged to develop a cohesive, informed and powerful tenants organization. In an effort to obtain similar results in more buildings, FDC is now running weekly classes to educate both tenants and landlords as to what they should expect of one another.In another closely related program, FDC has hired 18 neighborhood youths who are being paid by CETA and who will work exclu sively to %u201cbeautify\trains them in various skills, such as carpentry and landscaping, and according to Coward, %u201cThey are giving the whole neighborhood a shot in the arm.\The corporation has also established an Apartment Referral Ser vice in every major area of Flatbush, with a motto of %u201cWe ar> friends, not brokers%u201d. The ser vice, which doesn't include a fee, has become so popular (with both tenants and landlords), that Saiurday office hour had tobeestab Lished.KEEPING A SOLID MIXRace relations is another are:; where the FDC has worked Ion %u25a0 and hard. %u201cIf Flatbush is going ! survive, then it is going to survive as an integrated community,%u201d say FDC Director Mike Weiss, wh devotes over 50 volunteer hours a week to the realization of his dream: that the neighborhood will not only survivie but thrive and with it, the area's ethnic and racial mix.FDC itself is composed of fifty percent Blacks and fifty percent Whites. (Only one Black is on the board of trustees, however.) And the corporation discovered that once people who are neighbors no matter what their race -- begin to talk with one another, the fear and mutual distrust decreases. Coward pointed out that residents of mixed buildings are much lesssegrethat even within the organization there are members who feel that the harsh realities of the area, its high crime and its racial problems ought to be present as well to any prosepetive buyer or renter.One such skeptic is Irving Shoban, a lawyer and a member of the board of trustees of the Corporation: \the one side, you have beautiful, luxurious homes inhabited by middle and upper middle income professionals and.... on the other side, you have these multiple dwelling houses which are old and...unfit for human habitation.\%u201cCrime isn't worse here than it is anywhere else,%u201d says Coward. She believes, in fact, that the problems of whites fleeing, and the terrified elderly, are due to perception, not reality. In fact the 70th Police Precinct which ser vices the Northern Flatbush are does report an actual decline in robberies and burglaries.WORKING ON PROBLEMSDespite their official \is clear that the Flatbush Development orporation is not down playing the area%u2019s problems, but rather are simply trying to emafraid than those still in gated\%u201cthe poor to live well in Flatbush,%u201d and to %u201ckeep the whites while welcoming in the blacks.\A great role in the rebirth of the community will be that played by the merchants, who own the small businesses that extend along Flatbush Avenue and other main streets and make for t he economic health of the neighborhood.Accordingly, the bulk of the financial support that the Flatbush Development corporation has re ceived from the City, the State and the Federal Government has been in the arena of economic revitalization.FDC is working with variou. merchants associations to get them involved in the effort to spruce up Flatbush Avenue: They have donated litter boxes, pro cured and volunteered %u201cstreet sweepers%u201d.A $15,000 improvement grant for the Avenue will help. The FDC has divided the avenue into \leaders to monitor improvement: Plans include planning to repaving streets, improving the lighting, repairing and renovating deserted stores.LOOKING TO THE FUTUREFDC is also hoping to acquire the famous and now-forlorn Loews King%u2019s Theater, also on Flatbush Avenue, and have it declared a historic landmark. The huge 1920%u2019s building is an ode mixture of the grandiose and t hr pathetic, a testimony to two eras.There is no doubt that the infectious spirit of the Flatbush Development corporation is spreading to all members of the community, and even some non members. Their major promotion al event of the year, the Flatbush Frolic, Iasi year aiiracleu os :30,000 visitors. This year, all sig indicate that the Frolic will i.< bigger and better than ever. In t* words of Coward, Imrself a liv testimony to the- Jism of organization: \hard work and planning have a place in this world, then the Renaissance of Flatbush will take place.\September 1 4 ,1978, THE PKQENIX, Page 17Bzr^rrrrazn$ara