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C I T Y :Assembly Probing Dry-Up of MortgagesBY ROBERT CRANEThe Consumer Affairs committee of the State Assembly has launched a full scale investigation to determine why home mortgage money has suddenly dried up across the state.Brooklyn Assemblyman Harvey Strelzin, the committee chairman, said the committee will use its power of subpoena to determine if savings banks are deliberately withholding mortgage money as a political strategy to force legislative approval of a higher interest rates.Officials of the state-wide Savings Bank Association denounced the probe and said it had been instigated by Assembly Speaker Stanley Steingut in an attempt to bolster his underdog bid for reelection in Brooklyn%u2019s 41st Assembly District.Steingut disclosed the investigation last week, less than two weeksafter being defeated in the Democratic primary, and two days before stating that he would run for election as a Liberal against Democratic nominee Murray Weinstein. The probe, Steingut said, would seek to determine if the shortage of mortgage money occurred because %u201cthese bankers acted unilaterally or if they acted in concert.%u201dSEEK COMMITMENTAt the present time, mortgage interest rates are fixed by state law at 8%u2018/a percent, a rate lower than permitted in many other states. Bank lobbyists began pushing for higher rates several years ago, but stepped up the pressure on the Assembly three months ago after the state Senate signaled its willingness to raise the rates. The Assembly, too, has indicated a willingness, but has insisted that the banks commit upwards of $2billion to housing rehabilitation as a quid pro quo.Sources in the Assembly said the banking lobby began to apply %u201c intense%u201d pressure three months ago, at about the same time mortgage money became scarce.%u201c It is no coincidence,%u201d Strelzin said, %u201cthat the monies dried up just when the banks were forcefully lobbying for an increase. On the face of it, the withholding of mortgage monies to potential home owners would seem to be an attempt to pressure us into doing their bidding.%u201dWilliam Haddad, director of the Office of Legislative Oversight and Analysis, said a confidential exploratory inquiry, conducted by his office last month, solidified the suspicions of investigators that the bankers had decided to act in unison in withholding mortgage monies. Such an action, Haddadsaid, may have violated provisions of the state criminal code. %u2018UNTRUE%u2019Lawrence Costiglio, senior vice president of the Savings Bank Association, a trade union of savings banks, said the allegations of a conspiracy by the banks are %u201c absolutely untrue.%u201d%u201c When you look at the arithmetic of it,%u201d Costiglio said, %u201c you%u2019ll see that since the first of June, we%u2019ve had over $3.2 billion transferred over into six month certificates, bearing an annual yield of over nine percent. With figures like that, you can be sure that each individual bank can make conclusions for itself.%u201dCostiglio also lashed out at both Strelzin and Steingut, calling Strelzin a %u201cheadline hunter, always has been,%u201d and said that Steingut was acting out of political experience in ordering the probe. %u201cThere%u2019s apolitical campaign going on,%u201d Costiglio said. %u201c I have no doubt that if Steingut had won the primary we wouldn%u2019t be having this investigation.%u201dHaddad said the subpoenas would seek internal memos, telephone logs and other documents that might document collusion between the banks. The list of target banks is being developed, he said, and may ultimately include more than 100 banks.Both Strelzin and Steingut stressed that the inquiry was not being conducted into the rationale for an increased mortgage rate, but was confined to the sudden withdrawing of mortgage money and to determine if the savings banks were living up to their charter requirements of providing community home loans at reasonable interest rates.NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE CHANGE OF INDEX CRIMESIN BROOKLYN(For First Six Months of Each Year)Indictments in Violent Crime CategoriesMurder Rape Robbery Assault Total Change1975 212 143 1,200 195 1,7501976 224 110 819 89 1,242 -2.91977 158 101 670 77 1,006 - 1.91978 218 117 840 86 1,261 + 2.0HANDLING OF FELONY INDICTMENTS IN BROOKLYN(For First Six Months of Each Year)Dispositions Convictions Sentenced to State PrisonNumber % Number %1975 3,709 2,624 70.7 996 26.91976 3,268 2,450 75.0 961 29.41977 2,319 1 756 75.6 1,003 43.31978 2,216 1,798 81.1 901 40.7Source: NYS Division of Criminal Justice ServicesFor 3rd TimeSeriousBrooklyn%u2019s serious crime rate, as reflected by %u201c bellweather%u201d felony indictments, remained sharply below peak levels set in 1975 during the first half of this year.Half-year figures compiled by the state Division of Criminal Justice Services show that only one of the four most closely watched categories of violent crime -- murder - registered an increase over the 1975 rate.The figures also show that the Brooklyn District Attorney%u2019s office now gets convictions on more than 81 percent of its felony cases and send over 40 percent of the convicted felons to state prisons on lengthy terms.Each trend parallels a commitment by state and local law enforcement officials to apprehend career criminals and violent recidivists. These special prosecutions have been encouraged, since 1975, by the awarding of lucrative crime fighting grants to prosecutors who tackle the career criminal problem.CONSISTENTLY LOWERThe crime %u201c index%u201d most commonly analyzed for significant trends includes robberies, rapes, murders and assaults, as well as the major property .crime ofBY ROBERT CRANEA Court of Claims judge has ordered the state to pay $714,000 in injury compensation to a youth whose motorcycle crashed after hitting an accumulation of debris on a poorly maintained stretch of highway.Judge Gerard M. Weisbergriilort that nuhlir aoencies whicharc responsible for keeping roads in proper condition, are liable for accidents if they fail to clear up hazardous road conditions.The accident, at night Nov. 11, 1975, occured on a stretch of Jericho Turnpike on Long Island which was covered by stones, glass, pebbles, hub caps and broken aiitornohijp parte A number of highway lamps were out ofCrimesburglary and larceny. The Brooklyn index hit new highs in 1975 before dropping off to what now appears to be a consistently lower level.A study by this newspaper of significant patterns during the first six months of the last four years shows:Many trends established in Brooklyn are also reflected statewide. Robberies, rapes and assaults are down from the 1975 peak in Brooklyn; the same is true across the remainder of the state, although less dramatically. Brooklyn robberies are down from 1,200 to 840. The statewide rate was 2,838 in 1975 and 2,475 this year.Contrary to the prevailing opinion, Brooklyn judges impose harsher prison sentences than do their colleagues across the rest of the state. Since 1975, the number of Brooklyn convicts given long terms in the state prison has risen from 26.9 percent to over 40 percent. Elsewhere in the state, the figure has hovered at about 37 percent.With fewer cases to handle, the Brooklyn District Attorney%u2019s office is getting a higher rate of convictions: of 3,709 dispositions during the first half of 1975, prosecutorsservice. Testimony in the case established that the hazardous conditions had been previously reported to the state.Motorcyclist Gerard Green suffered permanent paralysis of the lower part of his body when he was thrown as the cycle skidded on the debris. The $714,000 in damagescosts, physicians%u2019 fees, special equipment and alterations in his home.The state, Weisberg said in his decision, has a duty to maintain its highways in a reasonably safe condition. The testimony of two state witnesses, he said, %u201c shows conclusively that the state was responsible fnr and undertook toremove debris from the highwayscored convictions 70 percent of the time. Now, with dispositions down to 2,216, the conviction rate is up to 81 percent, which, in turn, is just about equal to the statewide average. The improvement particularly reflects better screening of cases.The figures show that murder remains the most difficult crime on the index to affect by special programs. There were six mereand that it had actual and constructive notice of the hazardous conditions existing%u201d at the accident site.One witness, a state highway maintenance foreman, testified that he travelled to the area two or three times per week to check on %u201c heavy debris,%u201d but only concerned himself with cleaning up %u201c lightarea for that purpose.Another witness, a city police officer, said the solid white line which would have served as a warning that motorists were approaching a curb on the far right of the highway was obscured by debris.%u201cThe state's negligence in failing to properly maintain the highway,%u201d Weisberg said, %u201c wasmurder indictments during the first six months this year than in 1975. Unexplainably, the statewide murder rate dropped sharply over the same period.Indictments for burglary in Brooklyn have dropped off by more than 50 percent since 1975, as have weapon possession cases, but there has been a slight increase, from 117 to 161, in the number of larceny indictments. -B .C .1st Bank%u2019TightensCreditBY VALERIE LEVYThe easiest way to get credit is to already have it. Sounds ironic? Oddly enough, it is a financial fact of life which can%u2019t be argued in a world where cold cash is retaining less and less value.The First Women%u2019s Bank, at 57th Street and Park Avenue in Manhattan now three years old and going strong, considers credit and credit problems paramount in the effort to make women full and equal members of the business and financial world.The Bank views the acquisition of credit as a potential problem to any person attempting to start a business-especially if that person is a woman. ' According to the President of the First Women%u2019s Bank,LynnD. Salvage, %u201c This situation is a major factor which has proven the need to service the credit needs of women.%u201dWith a thrust toward the woman business owner-the entrepreneurthe First Women%u2019s Bank has become a %u201c spearhead%u201d in the women%u2019s economic movement.Salvage explained some of the reasons which created the need often widowed or divorced women find themselves with no credit ratings at all because all credit cards, loans and property were in their husbands%u2019 names. Not only is their credit rating dependent upon their mates, but more importantly, if the husband%u2019s credit is bad, the same rating is bestowed upon the wife although her part in any of the prior transactions might have been minimal, if any thing at all.According to the New York Feminist Federal Credit Union, the first step in obtaining credit is to %u201ctake out a loan against your own savings account.%u201d It is the simplest method of getting a loan and as a result to start* a credit rating. The ultimate goal is to become registered, and most imrwYrfantlv trarpahlpTOO MUCH TOO SOONThis where an institution-like the Women%u2019s Bank can make a difference, and perhaps, if anything, in the beginning, it tried to do too much. When the Bank first opened-to much fanfare-in October 1975, loans were available to virtually anyone %u201c whether or not they met the credit standards Continued on Page 34Court Penalizes State for Highway Hazardi n c l u d e d a l m o s t $ t> 5 O O O i n h n s n i t a l d e h r i s %u201d i f s n e c i f l c a l l v s e n t t o t h e _____the proximate cause of (Green%u2019s) injuries....This accident occured at night at a location where a number of highway lamps were not in operation. The failure of Mr. Green to observe the debris in time to avert the accident was therefore not negligence on his part.\M ies B u d g e tCommunity School Board District 15 submitted a 1979-1980 budget estimate for public discussion at the Board%u2019s first meeting of he new semester held September 'll at the district office.The budget will be supplemented in mid-Ortnber by 13 prioritieschosen by the Board.Still Below 7 5Page 4, THE PHOENIX, October 5,1978