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Festival Doesn%u2019t End With the AnticBY GARY FREDERICKThere is a small store at 340 Atlantic Avenue called The Melting Pot which specializes in all types of dyed shirts, scarves, pillows, blouses and other assorted garments. It also serves as the headquarters of the Atlantic Avenue Committee, creators of the Atlantic Antic.BobCogen is the co-owner of The Melting Pot and chairman of the committee, which is fiv.e years old. He has owned the store for six years and has watched Atlantic Avenue grow from a rundown and neglected street to a thriving and healthy thoroughfare.But the avenue still has its share of problems.%u201cThere's an extraordinary number of meter maids on the avenue,%u201d he said. %u201c It seems laughable, but when someone comes in for 31 minutes, they shouldn't have to worry about getting a ticket. The meters should be extended for two hours. Atlantic Avenue is not a one-hour block. It%u2019s a quiet, casual street.\As he spoke. Cogen, who is in his late thirties, shuffled back and forth between the sink, washing machine and shelves, all in the store%u2019s narrow' and unkempt basement . He'd take a plastic bag filled with dyed clothes from the shelf, throw the contents into a sink to soak, and then put the wet garments in the washing machine to spin dry.STOP MESSING AROUNDHe is also upset over low-income housing developments which are being built in the neighborhood. The avenue would continue to get better, he said, %u201c if the city would stop messing around with housing developments on State Street. Sure, there are areas w'here low-income housing would be good, but not here. It has negative effects on people%u2019s attitudes. The whole brownstone movement went up without a nickel of government money. The same can happen with Atlantic Avenue.\He adjusted his large rubber gloves, one red and the other yellow, to keep from getting stained by the dye. \another problem,%u201d he continued. %u201c Service has slowed down and there are still some trouble spots.%u201d Cogen cited one avenue pet food store as being a nightly hangout and accumulating large mounds of garbage by morning which is often left for days.Cogen is pleased, though, with the changes he has seen in the eleven years he%u2019s lived on Dean Street, two blocks from his store. %u201cThe avenue is becoming morediversified. There%u2019s a substantially larger number of retail stores and new stores have opened in the past year. However, there%u2019s still no place you can go in to have just a cup of coffee,%u201d he said, as he took another pile of clothes from the shelf.QUICK SNACKHe pointed out that while there are many restaurants of different cultures, there was no place to go in for a quick snack, which is essential if people are shopping on the avenue.%u2018%u2018Some nightclubs with light dancing would help,%u201d he added. This would increase night activity in the area, Cogen thinks, making it pleasant to come to the avenue during the day - or night.He would also like to see some existing businesses expand so they could hire more workers. Most of the stores employ only one or two people and Cogen thinks that the area would develop more if there were more workers like waiters, dishwashers and stock people.Six years ago, Atlantic Avenue was a very attractive place for merchants to settle. The rents were %u201c dirt cheap,%u201d according to Cogen. He paid $75 a month then, and although he will not say what he pays now, he admits %u201c it%u2019s still relatively cheap.%u201dAnother reason for settling on the avenue is that %u201c a large percentage of people come over the Brooklyn Bridge and travel down the street,\%u201c Being here makes us visible to thousands of people.%u201dCogen puts in many hours of work for the committee and the Atlantic Antic. %u201c The Antic is nice,\%u201c A lot of people you haven%u2019t seen all summer you sec at the Antic. It%u2019s the biggest thing to happen in Brooklyn, period. Everybody comes to the Antic. When the politicians walk in the parade, they get seen by 200,000 people. And it is an election year.%u201dAnd once the festival is over, is that it for the Atlantic Avenue Committee?No, said Cogen. A Halloween promotion of Atlantic Avenue is planned for parts of the entire city.A van made up like a hearse will drive around with a coffin inside. The corpse will keep jumping up and down to show %u201c Atlantic. ^ Avenue is alive and well.%u201dJoyce Gibbs, Chairman of the Atlantic Antic, and Bob Cogen, President of the Atlantic As for the Antic, Cogen wasAvenue Committee join forces to create a special Atlantic Antic 4. [Michael Cuiccio Photo] - i f won%u2019t rafooiTmy p a X ^ h echeerfully said, and threw another load of red-dyed shirts into the sink.