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On and Off the Auction Block:Playground toParking Lot--Overnight?BY PETER HALEYPave paradise, put up a parking lot%u201d goes an ironic verse in a Joni Mitchell song but Fort Greene residents and parents refused to see the humor in the situation when conversion began last week, local schoolyard to parking lot.Teachers and students in Fort Greene%u2019s PS 46 had a lesson in bureaucratic bungling added to their usual social studies courses on September 19, when--seemingly out of nowhere-workmen arrived and began sectioning off an 86 ft by 77 ft portion of their schoolyard with a fence. The lot, which was already owned by the city%u2019s Board of Education, somehow came up for public auction, and Daniel Bershon, who bought the lot on March 22, 1978, for $650, intended %u201c create%u201d a parking lot adjacent to the 100 Clermont Avenue school%u2019s schoolyard.Community residents and school authorities were unaware of Bershon%u2019s plans, and Barry Finkelman, principal of PS 46, said the first that he heard about the project was when he saw the actual construction begin.%u201c Last Tuesday morning, we became aware of this situation because we saw workmen drilling and digging holes and installing a six-foot chain link fence around part of the yard,%u201d said Finkelman. %u201c Later that same day community people removed the fence and by the next day everybody got their act together.%u201dAlthough the Board of Education had officially purchased it in 1967, the lot was never taken off the public property list, and somehow this latest city auction of the property escaped the attention of the Board, the city's Department of Real Estate, and the local Community Planning Board 2, which had okayed its auction prior to sale last March. A Real Estate Department spokesman said that this is %u201c not a common occurrence%u201d and such mis-sales are %u201c extremely rare.%u201d Exactly how it happened is undetermined.%u201c In terms of mistakes, it%u2019s very hard to track down a human error like this,%u201d said Ron Schaftel, Real Estate spokesman.Along with the spontaneous decision by local residents to take down the fence and deposit on nearby Myrtle Avenue, City Councilman Abe Gerges intervened and offered his assistance to take Bershon %u2018 %u2018to court if necessary. %u2019 %u2019 It isn%u2019t necessary now, because according to both Gerges and Schaftel a tentative agreement to buy back the lot and to reimburse bershon for his legitimate expenses will come before the city%u2019s Boards of Estimate.%u201c He has an agreement with the city to re-imburse him for actual expenses,%u201d said Gerges, %u201c and this will be formally approved by the Board of Estimate.%u201dAnd since none of the schoolchildren at PS 46 drives a car, the decision will probably meet withL o c a l S c h o o lBoard 13 GetsA New PresidentBY MARTHA DOGGETTMario DeFalco, long time resident of Community School District 13 and local Republican party leader, was elected president of School Board 13 at the Board%u2019s September 19 meeting to replace Velmonett Montgomery, who resigned to run for state assembly.Other officers elected were Gertrude Jefferson, vice president, Carmen Norat, secretary, and Sylvester Bernack, treasurer.DeFalco, former board vice president and Republican state committeeman for the 57th Assembly district, said in an interview this week that he did not seek the position. %u201c I was happy with being vice president, but now that I%u2019ve been elected president I%u2019m happy with it. I'll do the best I can,%u201d he said.The 60-year old Myrtle Avenue resident said improving junior high schools would be his biggest goal. %u201c My belief is that we%u2019ve reached a point of stabilization. W e%u2019re in a position to improve the quality of education now that we have settled down. Improve it in all the schools, and especially the junior highs,%u201d DeFalco said. %u201c My aim is toL %u00ab iL,parents won%u2019t want to transfer thei children after the sixth grade.%u201d .DeFalco said discipline in th classroom is the biggest problem i the district. %u201c W e%u2019ve first got t take the schools back from the kids Then we can improve the quality c teachers and curriculum .%u201d T1 three-term board member said%u201c W--------------,1 ,l. %u201e ,..j \tnv otuuvtiiabetter chance to do well in high school.%u201dPointing out that most dropouts leave school between junior and senior high, DeFalco said he hopes to build confidence in students while improving the quality of education.DeFalco, who emigrated from Italy with his family in 1928, attended District 13 schools as did his 13 children. He is chairman of the board of Emmanuel Baptist DayCare Center and is a member of Brooklyn%u2019s Consumer Council, the Fort Greene Diocese Cluster Coordinating Committee and the Board of Governors of Cumberland Hospital%u2019s Mental Health Center.In other matters taken up at the September 19 meeting, Community Superintendent Dr. J. Jerome Harris outlined three goals for the school year: all students will have textbooks to take home; all schools will develop a homework policy; and all students will have an after-school program.Harris said after-school programs will be developed in cooperation with parent associations. \sit down and make decisions about- . 1 - I %u2014 - J rviiai u ligiu )UUl I. ( I dVUVAJl,said.The programs, which can include music, art, study groups, and recreation, will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. in elementary schools and from 7 to 10 p.m. in junior highs. Scheduled to start in early November, the activities will run 60 days a year.GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONIES FORTHE RENOVATION of historic Cobble HillTowers took place Tuesday with owner FrankFarella, Mayor Koch and Borough PresidentHoward Golden thanking various banks, legislators and developers for their support. Theceremony was at Baltic and Hicks Street,between the complex of nine buildings. Costing$4.3 million, the 102-year-old complex, designedby Alfred Tredway W hite, will hopefully spark$20 million in new city housing projects,according to Koch. Said Farella, %u201c I pledge tomake this the finest rehabilitation in the city andwill continue to make Cobble Hill a great place tolive.%u201d During the ceremony, Farella presentedKoch with a piece of original iron grating fromthe buildings.-G .F. [Michael Cuicdo, Photo].Board 6 Gets MajorProgram UnderwayPlanningSeal-UpBY MARTHA DOGGETTTwenty-three 18- and 19-yearolds with receive job training while %u201c sealing-up%u201d abandoned south Brooklyn houses under a program approved September 20 by Community Planning Board Six.The year-long program, slated to start this fall, will involve 25 houses in Gowanus, Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Red Hook, and the waterfront area. The houses will be chosen according to criteria set up by a board of directors to be appointed by the Planning Board.The board of directors will be made up of representatives from five community groups from each neighborhood.The youths must live within Board 6's boundaries and be certified by CETA, the federal jobtraining program for low income persons. The 23 apprentices, who will receive training in roofing and bricklaying, will be chosen by the board from among a pool of qualified applicants.Impetus for the program came from the South Brooklyn Anti-Poverty Corporation, which will function as a back-up for the program. Initial planning was done during the summer by an ad-hoc committee under Planning Board 6 chaired by Ira Levine.The board had expressed concern last spring, when the plan was originally presented by the AntiPoverty Corporation over proposed salary increases for Corporation personnel. Under the modified and adopted plan, the program will have an autonomous relationship tothe Corporation.The total budget for the program is $282,799, of which some $206,858 is earmarked for youth by CETA Title 3. Federal Community Development funds account for $75,941.Four full-time employees, including a project coordinator, a journeyman roofer and two journeymen bricklayers will be hired by the board o f directors.In other action at the meeting, Board member Kitty Tetjen reported on a Public Safety committee study of police services in the 78th and 76th precincts. Anyone having documentation of problems with police service should send it to the board office at 250 Baltic Street.Hispanic Group Forms to SupportHoyt-Schermerhorn Housing ProjectBY PETER HALEYA local Hispanic group in favor of the controversial plans to build low to moderate income housings on Boerum Hill%u2019s Schermerhorn-Pacific site will hold a rally at the site this Sunday afternoon, October 1.La Mayoria, a recently-formed group made up of local Hispanics, intends to inform Boerum Hill Hispanics about the proposed development and to %u201c increase their decision-making input%u201d in the rent-subsidized project, sponsored by the Gowanus-Boerum Hill Housing Association (GHA) according to a spokesman.Tiie disputed development is opposed by the Neighborhood Action Coalition, and while the yet to be funded 163-unit residential development has the support of La Mayoria, chairman Richard Rivera said that the group intends to be an %u201c independent ally%u201d of the GBA.%u201c We formed about five months ago because we were concerned iiiai iiie Hispanic community wasbeing misinformed and not consulted about this housing plan,%u201d said Rivera, a Legal Aid attorney and local resident. %u201c Before construction begins and the board of directors is formed, the Hispanic community has to be consulted.%u201d Rivera said that the GBA has not %u201c Sufficiently informed the people%u201d and insisted that the opposing groups lead by the Neighborhood Action Coalition do not represent the Boerum Hill community. The group%u2019s name, La Mayoria, means %u201c the majority%u201d in English. While Rivera added that the group %u201c didn%u2019t intend to exclude people%u201d , he said the Hispanic community is the largest ethnic group in the area and, as such, La Mayoria intends to insure that the %u201c voice of the Hispanic community is heard in proportion to our presence in the population here.%u201dThe Schermerhorn-Pacific site, owned by the State Urban Development Corporation, actually includes three distinct iana sites onthis urban renewal property. At this time there are two separate site developments planned - the long-delayed middle-income housing to be privately developed by Cauldwell-W ingate on State, Smith, Schermerhorn Streets (Site II ( and the GBA proposal on Hoyt, State and Schermerhorn Streets (Site III).The proposal for 280 units of townhouse-style m iddle-incom e housing to be developed by Sylvan Lawrence and Cauldwell-Wingate was approved in 1976 by the city%u2019s Board of Estimate with the proviso that 27 per cent of the tenants on all tnree sites to oe low-income, m e GBA plan calls for federal mortgage and rent subsidies and will include a mix of low and moderate income families. Neither project has received the go-ahead for construction and both await financing %u2014 Cauldwell-W ingate from the private sector and GBA from the Federal Housing and Urban ueveiopment Departments.Page 6, THE PHOENIX, September 28,1978