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Housing CollapseSparks charges* V <%u2022*%u00bb *%u2022 ~r* j hThe partially razed Columbia Street residence at 240 and the shored-up building at 238,evacuated but still standing. (Michael Cuiccio Photo)BY MARTHA DOGGETTThe residents o f the South Brooklyn Columbia-President street area received another in a string of blows recently when an abandoned house at 242 Columbia Street collapsed, causing the city to order the demolition of the remaining part of the building on September 11.On September 14, the adjoining house at 240 Columbia Street, occupied by two families, was ordered immediately demolished by the Buildings Department. Area residents are asking why.Reasons behind the collapse at 242 and the two demolitions remain cryptic. Residents were told a passing tractgor trailer had caused the south wall of the house to crack and eventually crumble at about 9 a.m. Monday. Foundations in the area have long been continually threatened by sewer work construction begun in 1975 and subsequently stopped in December 1975 after two buildings had collapsed causing the deaths of three residents. The work left open trenches and abandoned buildings behind.Neighborhood residents claim the demolition at 240 would have been unnecessary if the work at 242 had been done properly. Artco Demolition Company of Bayonne, N.J. allegedly used a claw on the end o f a bulldozer to rip throughthe building. A steel supportikng beam which connected to the next building was reportedly pulled down leaving a hole in the wall of 240.Buildings in the area are inspected daily by the Water Resources Department. A spokesman for the department says inspections are done to protect their men working in the area and not to uncover structural problems. Any irregularities are reported immediately to the Building Department, which sends out its own inspectors.It was a Water Resources inspector who sounded the alarm on September 11. %u201c I was sitting there on a beam in front of the building,%u201d said Vinny Russo, eyewitness to the collapse. %u201c We were all sitting around drinking coffee when some guy comes up and says we%u2019d better move and that I should move my car. He said he had discovered a crack which wasn%u2019t there Friday and that the house may fall. I moved my car and 30 seconds later the wall fell.%u201dBuilding Department spokesman George Berger could not give a reason for the collapse of the building. %u201c A study wasn%u2019t made.I couldn%u2019t really tell you,%u201d he said.Rosa Malvasio, former second floor resident of 240, was in her apartment drinking coffee when 242 collapsed. %u201c I%u2019m so accustomedto noise that I didn%u2019t think anything of it. It was like a storm or a heavy wind,%u201d said Malvasio.Malvasio, her husband Andrew and their two teenage boys were not allowed to enter their apartment after Monday. The Malvasios%u2019 son John and his wife Maria, occupants of the third floor apartment, were likewise ordered out of their apartment.Preferring to remain in the immediate area, the elder Malvasios moved in temporarily with a sister and are now situated in a storefront around the corner on President Street. The younger Malvasios stayed two additional nights in his apartment and is now living with his wife at the Bossert Hotel on Montague Street. The accommodations are paid for by the city Relocation Department.The Malvasios were not able to get all of their belongings outbefore the building was demolished. Some things were stolen from the house between Monday and Thursday.%u201c It%u2019s like a nightmare,%u201d Rosa Malvasio said. %u201c It happened so fast.%u201dThe residents of 238 Columbia were also evacuated on Monday. Outside supports have been added to the building but its future is uncertain.Antic Confrontation Escalates the Daughtry-Koch FeudBY MARTHA DOGGETTThe festival along Atlantic Avenue on Sunday was not an antic for all participants. For Rev. Herbert Daughtry and the congretation of the House of the Lord Pentecostal Church, the Atlantic Antic turned into one more confrontation with Mayor Ed Koch over issues they feel are of grievance to the black community.Shortly after the Antic parade, led by Koch, passed the church at 415 Atlantic Avenue, Daughtry and his followers interrupted their morning worship service to come out on to the street in protest to parade noise they said interfered with the service.What happened next is hard to determine. By all reports a scuffle occurred resulting in four minor police injuries and the near-arrest of an unnamed minister of the church.Though the minister had been handcuffed, the commanding poHastyConventionM u d d ie sA lo n g{S o rt O f)BY IRENE VAN SLYKE%u201c I protest the shoddy and illegitimate way in which this Democratic Judicial Convention was called,%u201d charged Sholom Schwartz, Chairman of the Kings County Democratic Coalition, alice at the site decided that an arrest would not be made at that time. Deputy Police Inspector Benjamin Heilman of the Brooklyn South Area explained his decision: %u201c Under the conditions it was a command decision due to the crowds, large number of women and children, and the violations involved, that no arrests be made.%u201d Heilman said Sunday afternoon that the police knew the name of the man involved but have not yet decided whether to bring charges.Daughtry credits Inspector Hellman with controlling a potentially volatile situation. %u201c I have great respect for that man,%u201d Daughtry said of Heilman. %u201c H e%u2019 s a professional. 1 don%u2019t know what would have happened if he hadn%u2019t been there.%u201dKoch, who was quickly driven away from the incident, was reported to have shaken his head and said repeatedly, %u201c I will not be intimidated.%u201dcoalition of reform clubs in Brooklyn.Schwartz, speaking at the Democratic Judicial Convention, charged that many judicial delegates could not have been certified as elected by the Board o f Elections on Saturday, September 16 as was claimed, because contested paper ballots were being counted hours before the convention started on W ednesday, September 20.Democratic Judicial delegates ran in the party primary o f September 12. The Judicial Convention nominates Democratic Party candidates for Supreme Court. In the November general election, Supreme Court nominees%u2014 f %u2022'%u00ab%u2022%u25a0*%u00bb%u00bb %u00ab%u00ab*>%u00ab%u00ab%u00ab mm iU%u00ab UmIIm* W* WWVII %u00a3/%u00ab*!(. J Utl HIV UW1IOL %u2022In Brooklyn, however, nomination by the Democratic Party is tantamount to election because of the borough%u2019s heavy Democratic party registration. In recent years, positions for Judicial Delegate have become hotly contested races in many o f Brooklyn%u2019 s Assembly Districts.Daughtry said he decided on the spur of the moment to confront Koch. %u201c That%u2019s where the divine comes in,%u201d he said. %u201c Sometimes you%u2019ve just got to trust God.%u201d%u201c We were just starting the service when who should come down the street but the Mayor. You know some just came out of the Eastern Parkway situation,%u201d he said referring to numerous clashes between Hassidic Jews in Crown Heights and the black community. %u201c I got up to talk about the whole political thing. 1 said if we were strong as a people this wouldn%u2019t happen.%u201dThe Antic committee gave Daughtry three minutes to speak to the crowd. %u201c People were startled ,%u201d Daughtry said. %u201c They wanted to know what was going on. We needed to explain.%u201dDaughtry told the crowd that holding a parade during their regularly scheduled Sunday service held from 12 to 2 p.m. %u201c seems toSchwartz charged that with so many insurgent delegates running in a majority o f Brooklyn%u2019 s Assembly Districts, the Chairman of the State Democratic Party, Dominic Baranello, decided to call a meeting on the heels of the primary. %u201c It would frustrate our efforts to organize ourselves,%u201d said Schwartz, referring to the reform camp. It became impossible for candidates for the Supreme Court to lobby the elected Judicial Delegates or to find out who they were.%u201dAsked why the date was set so soon after the primary, Kathleen Boeckel, a member of Mr. Baranello%u2019s staff, said that \at a time convenient to leaders. We %u00abrc not trying to rusi* anything through. %u201d Yet the New York and Bronx county Judicial Conventions were scheduled a full week later, on September 25.The New York State Election law requires that Judicial Delegates be certified as elected by the Commissioners of the Board of Election, after a re-canvass of the votingdemonstrate disrespect for our worship. The Mayor wouldn%u2019t do that on Eastern Parkway.%u201dChurch members also objected to a disco dancing contest scheduled to be held at 3 p.m. in front of the Ex-Lax building not far from the church. One of the church%u2019s 12 ministers approached Heilman to say that the contest would interfere with an annual program to be held at the church at 4:30 p.m.%u201c Minister Michael approached me to say something about the disco and 1 answered that as soon as I get up to the stage 1 will come back and straighten out whatever it is that%u2019s bothering you,\said.Daughtry said in an interview Sunday afternoon that the church had %u201c negotiated a time with Inspector Heilman%u201d so that the parade would not interfere with church services.\ing,%u201d Heilman said Sunday, %u201c andmachines and after a canvass of contested paper ballots. Betty Dolen, the Executive Director of the City Board of Election, said she sent notices on Saturday, September 16, to delegates who appeared to be the winners in the first canvass of machines. On Monday, September 18, voting machines were re-canvassed and on Tuesday, September 19, Commissioners of the Board of Election certified delegates as elected. But as Betty Dolen pointed out in some close races, certification had to wait until Wednesday, the day of the convention, when paper ballots would be opened.%u201c If there are any changes, some arrangement will be made at the4 %u2014 %u2014 - C *!,%u00ab _________ _ %u00bb%u2022 %u00bb9 %u2022 %u00ab *jh tnv, tutivwiutuu, sue saiuon that day. Asked if this hasty procedure was routine, Dolen answered: %u201c The usual procedure is that the State Committee gives us a little more time.%u201dWith little time left, all delegates -- elected or not - were notified by Baranello%u2019s office of the upcoming Judicial convention. It obviouslywe discussed his coming demonstration Thursday. Nothing was said about today.%u201dJonathan Gibbs, Antic committee spokesperson, wondered why Daughtry had not contacted the committee earlier with his grievances. \this was going to be held today. He never in any way contacted or attempted to contact anyone at the Atlantic Avenue Committee or the Atlantic Antic Committee,%u201d Gibbs said.The confrontation gave rise to numerous rumors and interpretations ranging from a city policeman who suffered a broken arm to Daughtry allegedly punching Koch. A large crowd was reported to have gathered around yelling, %u201c Let him go.%u201d One observer blamed the incident on Koch saying, %u201c The Reverend tried to talk to Koch and Koch sicked the copsconfused some people - at the door of the convention, a long line of people waited to be let inside. Some delegates showed their letter from Baranello, thinking that it meant they had been elected, only to be told that they were not. The convention was slated to begin at 1 p.m. but at 1:30 p.m. do many people were still waiting in line to be checked that it was decided to let everyone in line inside so that the convention could start.The confusion as to who was eligible to vote and who was not continued during the convention. Several times when votes were taken, delegates protested that people voted who were not entitled to vote. In the 57th Assembly District, delegates protested that an alternate delegate was illegally denied his vote because the secretary of the convention claimed that another alternate delegate had received more votes.One of the delegates angrily said: %u201c This is a mockery of the democratic process.%u201dSeptember 28,1978, TH E PHOENIX, Page 5