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Conklin%u2019s Gone:Two Vie for Vacant Senate SeatBY PETER HALEYThere are few meaningful Democrat versus Republican political battles for local elected office coming up in November-and the Democratic primary results have already in effect elected and re-elected most legislators. An exception to this rule is the contest for the 21st Senatorial District between Bay Ridge%u2019s Assemblyman Chris Mega and Democratic candidate John Carroll, a Park Slope attorney.State Senator William Conklin%u2019s decision to retire after 12 terms in Albany signaled the departure of a political institution from the district%u2019s Bay Ridge, Sunset Park, and Park Slope communities. Conklin, a Republican had over the years welded an unbeatable combination of Republican and Democratic votes to hold back all Democratic challengers. The Bay Ridge community is one of the city%u2019s few Republican strongholds and besides Conklin and Mega from the 50th Assembly District, the Republicans%u2019 elected representatives include City Councilman Angelo Arculeo and Dominic DiCarlo from the 49th Assembly District.But registered Republicans still account for less than half the story in the District. There are roughly 60,000 Democrats to some 20,000 GOP faithfuls and Conklin-with his Irish-American background and efforts on behalf of the mentally retarded-convinced many Democrats who would vote the %u201c top%u201d of the Democratic ticket for a Beame or a Carey to switch over and vote on the Republican side.Conklin is gone but the Republicans intend to stay in the 21st Senatorial seat and Mega, a five-year Albany veteran, was the logical choice to keep the peace between the area warring Republican forces which, for example, split between Vito Battista and Arculeo%u2019s councilmanic aide Robert Whelan to create a Republican primary for the 15th Congressional District. Conklin%u2019s most recent Democratic challengers came out of the reform Central Brooklyn Independent Democrat Club and Carroll-like his predecessors Charles M onaghan in 1976 and John Flanagan in %u201974-is also out of that club and fresh from an upset victory in the September primary over regular Democratic candidate John Zito.THINKS HE%u2019LL WINConklin crushed Monaghan with a considerable vote plurality in 1976 and while Mega does not expect to do as well as Conklin, he is confident he will win.%u201c I expect to win because I have done my homework for the past five years as the 49th%u2019s Assemblyman and as a visible Republican,%u201d said Mega, who said that the political realities within the district were not so much Republican or Democratic as conservative.%u201c Carroll is a liberal Democrat running in a basically conservative area,%u201d he said. %u201c I%u2019m for capital punishment and opposed to abortion while Carroll is opposed to capital punishment and in favor of abortion. On these issues I represent the community.%u201dCarroll said that the difference between his campaign and those of Monaghan and Flanagan is that Mega cannot replace Conklin.%u201c Conklin was an institution who defied party identification and political realities and carried Democratic and Republican areas with similar pluralities,%u201d Carroll said. %u201c Mega is a nice man but does not have the stature of Conklin.%u201d Carroll also described Mega as a %u201c part-time%u201d legislator and indicated he would stop his law practice once elected.One of Carroll%u2019s primary issues is the redevelopment of the Brooklyn waterfront, which he claims city and state authorities have neglected.OPPONENTS: C hristopherM ega (le ft) and - JohnCarroll (above).%u201c The Brooklyn waterfront has tremendous development possibilities such as the Army Terminal which the city, state, and the Port Authority are writing off when we have lost tens of thousands of jobs here in Brooklyn,%u201d asserts Carroll. %u201c It is this conscious and callous neglect that has meant Elizabeth, New Jersey gets a containerport while New York gets the World Trade Center.%u201dBoth candidates are campaigning on their personal prescriptions to combat neighborhood deterioration. Mega said th at unlike abortion and the death penalty, the issue of neighborhood preservation puts both candidates %u201c on the same side of the fence%u201d , and he pointed out Sunset Park as an area of considerable neglect. Carroll claimed that %u201c 20 years of Republican control%u2019%u2019 had done nothing to %u201c redress%u201d decline in District neighborhoods, like Sunset Park, which he characterized as having %u201ctremendous%u201d growth in blocks of burnt-out buildings and in decay of some linear shopping districts.REPUBLICAN REDUNE?Mega indicated he has been working with community groups such as Kings West, originally an anti-crime organization, to revitalize the communities that are threatened with decay. Carroll blames Republicans %u201c who sit on banking and insurance boards and go to savings bank openings%u201d while allowing the same banks%u2019 redliningpractices to \bate%u201d housing deterioration.As an assemblyman for the past five years, Mega has the edge on Carroll in organization, but other factors favor Carroll. Like Conklin, Carroll is Irish-American; unlike Conklin, he is a liberal. Buddy Scotto, a Bay Ridge resident and Republican delegate to the 1976 Republican convention, thinks Carroll stands a chance if he follows fellow Irishman Hugh Carey%u2019s example.%u201c When Carey used to run in the 15th District, he could hold the conservative Irish votes and the liberal votes together to win,%u201d Scotto points out. %u201c W hether Carroll can draw on liberal and Irish support is key to the campaign. If he beats the liberal drum too loud, he%u2019s in bad shape.%u201dCarroll%u2019s defeat of Zito in spite of the la tte r%u2019s regular Democratic support meant that many supposedly conservative voters chose Carroll despite his reform background. Carroll thinks he can convince District voters this fall in the same manner.%u201c Voters took me over Zito because like Pesce, Barbara, and Ferris (three Assenjjplymen in the reform camp) I have shown concern over community problems. It is this rudimentary approach and not just one-shot issues that they%u2019ll want for full-time representation,%u201d he said.Mega sees his advantages, beside the conservative bent of his politics, in the fact that area voters tend to vote more for the %u201c individual.%u201d%u201c They know Conklin is gone and they know I%u2019m here and who I am. The district%u2019s voters don%u2019t vote the straight ticket and even if Carey runs well for governor among certain Democratic voters here, they%u2019ll vote for me when they reach state senator.%u201dRepublicans are not taking this race for granted and will probably beef up their financial and physical forces to keep the 21st Republican. Carroll will probably have a small financial war chest but has already shown that he intends to campaign hard. The fight will be won among the area%u2019s Democrats and how many of %u201c Conklin%u2019s%u201d Democratic supporters will leave him for newcomer Carroll will decide if the 21st is to remain Republican territory.30,000 At %u2018Best%u2019 Brownstone ConferenceBY JEANNETTE WALLSEvery year the Brooklyn Brownstone Conference sponsors the largest preservation and renovation promoting event of its kind in the nation%u2014filling the public in on all aspects of brownstoning from choosing a brownstone in the right neighborhood to taking more advantage of the services offered to each neighborhood. But this time the Conference, presently in its sixth year, was better than ever.Visited by an estim ated 25- JO,000 people, this year%u2019s affair rated over all previous, according to Nat Hendricks, president of the Brooklyn Brownstone Conference, because %u201c ...it was much more visual...more interesting, and the people were more involved than in the past. They were interested, very intrigued & asking questions, and there was a lot ot inter-contact. And after all,*that%u2019s what the whole thing was about.%u201dHosting the theme %u201c City of Small Towns%u2014Revival & Restoration,%u201d the Brownstone Conference was held Saturday and Sunday, October 14 and 15 at the Brooklyn Union Gas (BUG) Building, 195Montague Street.Some 70 exhibitors specialized in domestic and civic related displays, with information not only on brownstone renovation and repair, but also extensive information on neighborhood services and associations. Representatives handed out or soldand charts to a BUG entitled %u201c A New Life In Brooklyn.%u201d One very popular attraction was a series of tours, which included excursions in every neighborhood. A total of 16 of these %u201c snyall towns%u201d participated, including Vinegar Hill, a new addi- g tion. |The Conference attracted people a who are affiliated with brownston- i ing in all capacities: buyers, ~ sellers, owners, renters and those | simply \bornoods. It also attracted suen celebrated figures as City Council President Carol Bellamy, Councilman Abe Gerges and Assemblyman Harvey Strelzin.\Hendricks summed up. \made possible by all the effort and planning that each of the particiimaginative booths like this one by the Brooklyn Arts and Culture Association helped to make this year%u2019sBrownstone Conference a success.pants contributted. They put a lot of preparation into their presentations...it made the fair a real pleasure to be at.%u201dPlans for next year%u2019s conference,proposed to be held at the same location, are already underway. For further information, call 643-3895 or 986-1000, ext. 259.HighwayConflictsContinueBY PETER HALEYWith the contracts for the upcoming Brooklyn-QueensExpressway reconstruction to be let this October, city Transportation Department officials anticipate that actual work will begin in December.Conflict between city officials and the various communities that will be affected by the reconstruction and its accompanying traffic detours continues but in an abated form, since many issues have been resolved. Among these are:%u2022 forcing all truck traffic (except when making local deliveries) to stay in the Expressway lanes which will be one-lane south bound and two lanes northbound;%u2022having the state set aside a separate study on the construction and traffic%u2019s effects on neighborhood housing; ,%u2022including an $1.2 million in the contract for traffic control.Community dissatisfaction still exists over the Signing-off of traffic, particularly northbound, and how traffic control will be enforced. While acknowledging that contracts were being let, South Brooklyn Citizens Committee cochairman Vito C%u2019Erasmo described the reconstruction project as %u201c still not a green light%u201d as far as the communities represented on the Borough President sponsored BQE Task Force were concerned.%u201c The diversion of traffic and liability for damage suffered by homeowners and other property owners during construction have yet to be resolved,%u201d said D%u2019Erasmo.Other community members of the Task Force echoed D'Erasmo%u2019s sentiments and indicated further discussions were needed before community approval for the entire project could be assured. George Silver of the Brooklyn Heights Association maintained that the documentation and data that Task Force members received at the last Task Force meeting in August %u201c raised more questions%u201d about the project, instead of providing more answers.%u201c The counts of automobiles at certain points and the projected volumes of traffic along certain streets such as Henry Street for example, must be discussed as well as questions about the signing of traffic detours, their positions and the quantity of traffic guards,%u201d stated Silver, who indicated that he and%u2019other Task Force representatives from the community intended to issue %u201c definitive statements%u201d in the future.The reconstruction of the BQE will extend from A tlantic to Hamilton Avenue and it is expected to take 30 months to complete. During this time northbound and southbound traffic will be alerted by signs and encouraged to take detours along Third and Fourth Avenues while truck traffic north and south bound will be kept in the BQE lanes.New ProgramTo help foster parents deal with the problems of raising foster children, the Brooklyn Catholic Guardian Society has begun a10-session training program with %u202250 parents presently enrolled.The \program ts a course conducted oy social workers, psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, educators, and foster parents to give the parents insight and understanding into child care.The Society was formed in 1914, and one aim has been the bettering of conditions for children.uuiuber 13, 1575. THE rnuEriiX , ra g e 5