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Group Aids Tenants in City BuildingsBY MARTHA DOGGETT%u201c The roof leaked and the rain put the boiier out. There was no heat, no hot water, and no lights in the hall. I%u2019d call the landlord and he kept hanging up on me. He told me %u2018I%u2019m not coming back to collect no rent. Don%u2019t call me, I don%u2019t want to hear anything about V it. I%u2019m not going to fix anything,%u201dThough these are the words of one woman, Park Slope resident Iris Burke, the situation is far from uncommon. New York City landlords, claiming that it just doesn%u2019t pay to own apartments anymore, abandon hundreds of buildings every year, forcing the city to take ownership.At the present time, the city owns 670 occupied buildings in Brooklyn and is attempting, through the Housing Preservation and Development Administration, to manage the buildings until new owners can be found.Size of the city%u2019s holdings, however, is expected to growgigantically within the next few months. Under a revision to the city charter, the government is now permitted to take over buildings when landlords fall one year behind on taxes, instead of three years, as in the past. Implementation of the revision is being handled on a borough-by-borough basis. Approximately 5,000 buildings were vested, or taken over, in Manhattan, and the process is nearly complete in the Bronx.For tenants like Burke, the long gap between abandonment and city take over is a time when services disappear completely. Unfortunately, improvements under city management are often hard to detect, as the housing agency finds itself swamped with problems and short on staff.One group that has stepped into the void is the Park Slope Community group, the Fifth Avenue Committee, which is concentrating its efforts on housing already taken over by the city because of unpaidtaxes.%u201c1 think we are experiencing a complete collapse of the low income housing m arket,%u201d says Rebecca Reich, the committee director. %u201cThe city is now coming into the real estate field and it is just not prepared for it. It doesn%u2019t have the staff or the expertise. Until now, most buildings the city has taken over have been vacant, ft is just beginning to grapple with the fact that the city is a manager.%u201dThe vesting process is tenatiyely scheduled to begin in Brooklyn by January, but Reich thinks it may come later. %u201c It%u2019s in the city%u2019s interest to put it off as long as possible. That way they have no responsibility for heat this winter. Tenants in buildings abandoned by landlords are in for a very cold winter this year,%u201d she says.In buildings already owned by the city, Fifth Avenue Committee organizers are currently attempting to organize tenant associations and inform tenants of their rights. Thegoal is to have tenant associations in each building, wiili the Fifth Avenue Committee serving each association as a tenants%u2019s advocate.%u201cThey%u2019re kind of grateful to have a community group interested in them,%u201d says Fifth Avenue organizer Tana Meadows. %u2022 %u201c Ironically, we-%u2019ve gotten the best response from buildings with a majority of senior citizens. You%u2019d think it would be.the young people. I tiling it%u2019s because senior citizens have the most fear. They%u2019re not as optimistic as young people about finding another apartment. They have a fixed income, and for them this is a depression. They call and complain and are told to move. * What are they to do?%u201dBurke had never heard of the committee until conditions in her eight-unit Warren Street building deteriorated in the two years since the landlord disappeared. %u201c We tenants had so much trouble. There \\yas no heat and no hot water, the doors were broken andsquatters came in. There was no light in the iiaiiway, so I went up to Con Ed to ask them to turn the lights on. They told me we%u2019d have to form a tenants association. I%u2019d never heard of one. I inquired around and found out about the Fifth Avenue Committee.%u201dBurke says Meadows helped organize the five tenants as an association which now takes responsibility for building repairs. %u201c We decided voluntarily to all start paying rent, $50-a-month, and put it in a bank account. So far we%u2019ve gotten the lights turned on and fixed the doors,%u201d she said.%u201cTenant organizing is important for two reasons,%u201d says Reich. %u201c It allows people to have a say over their own living conditions, and it can be used as a community organizing tool. It means people are starting to take control of their own lives instead of letting some one else do it.%u201dNewsbrieffsCharities OpensNew ResidenceWith Governor Carey on hand, the Catholic Charities dedicated the Helen Owen Carey Residence for Retarded Adults, named after the Governor%u2019s late wife, during ceremonies October 23. The residence is the fifth such hostel maintained by Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Brooklyn, which also includes Queens. Like the others, the new residence is designed to %u201c provide a real home environment as an alternative to institutional living.%u201dTen mentally retarded people, ranging in age from 18 to 50, will live in the four-story building at 174 Java Street in Greenpoint. Round the clock supervision will he provided by the house manager, assistant manager and four counselors. Provided for residentsM. T . P.THAT%u2019S THE BREAKS: On theweekend of October 7 and 8, Prospect Park West residents reported a rash of vandalism between 9th and 3rd Streets. The mayhem included breaking bottles, ripping up pavement stones and smashing house windows along the avenue. Police in patrol cars began a %u201c Post-Condition%u201d operation, in which any group of four or more youths was stopped and questioned; neighborhood residents have since noted a lessening of the destruction.FIRE AND RUIN: On October 14, a gang of youths piled park benches 30 feet high in the picnic grove of Prospect Park and tried to set them on fire. Failing at this, three youths then tried to torch the Picnic House between 7 and 10 p.m. Repeated calls to the 70th Precinct brought no response, and the fire department eventually arrived and saved the building; no arrests were made, and locals blame insufficient police security during the %u201ccritical Saturday and Sunday evening hours%u201d for the vandalism.WITH A GRAIN OF ASSAULT: On October 9 at 9 a.m., Philip Anderson, 30, of 75 Cumberland Walk, assaulted an unidentified man at 795 Hicks Street, beatingwill be a special day activity center and sheltered workshops.Carey hailed the residence as a symbol of %u201ccommittment to the mentally retarded.%u201d He added that his wife %u201cwould have loved it. Above all, she was a person of joy, generosity and loveliness.%u201dEcon DepartmentIssues 1st ReportThe Economic Development Department (EDD) of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce has released its first annual report detailing its past year%u2019s activities and aspirations for the future.The Chamber established EDD in July, 1977, in an effort to make the borough a viable place for businesses, and offset the estimated annual loss of 1,000 jobs.Among the accomplishments listed in the report, coveringhim with his fists on the face and body, and then stabbing him in the right leg with a screwdriver. 76th Precinct Officer Joseph Valentine arrested Anderson October 20 at 9:55 a.m ., charging him with second degree assault and criminal possession of a dangerous instrument.HILT TO THEE: Samuel Quniones, 16, of 101 Bergen Street, was arrested by Patrol Boro Brooklyn South Officer Doublas Hopkins at 4:50 p.m., October 19. Collared on the corner of Dean and Smith Streets, he was found with a gravity knife, and charged with possession of a dangerous instrument.WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU GOT?:Police nabbed Dalton Cumberbatch 54, of 455 Schenectady Avenue on the corner of Baltic and Hoyt Streets at 3:25 p.m. October 20 for a variety of offenses. Cumberbatch was charged with possession of gambling records, promotion of gambling, possession of marijuana cigarettes and possession of a gravity knife. The arrest was made by 76th Precinct Officer Joe Favor.it%u2019c a REAL STEAL: Gr. Octo ber 20 at 4:05 p.m., James Maddalena, 27, of 73 Fourth Place was arrested for burglary. The arrest was made at 120 Richard Street by Officer Douglas Lithgow.activities between July 19771 and last August, was the creation of the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation which is expected to employ 2,000 workers within the next two years. Located near the Gowanus Canal area, the Corporation %u2018%u2018will acquire, renovate and/or build 400,000 square feet of plant space which will house six manufacturing tenants,%u201d according to the 26-page report.The EDD has also helped the Union/Columbia Streets Merchants Association revitalize neighborhood shopping center, and helped Kosher King save 80 jobs and obtain a $430,000 capital improvement loan.During the year, the EDD said it has 228 requests for business assistance from Brooklyn firms and merchants. For the next year, the EDD said it hopes to handle 250 cases and increase its loan assistance to businesses by up to $2.5 million.Beep AppointsHistorian PanelBorough President Howard Golden has appointed an 11- member committee to review applicants for the unsalaried position of borough historian and advise him on an appointment.%u201c All of the members of this panel are active in the historical community throughout Brooklyn, and they will bring to our consideration a wide variety of the views, concerns and issues which should be reflected in the choice of a borough historian for Brooklyn,%u201d Golden said.Appointed to chair the committee is Donald Simon, Long Island University urban historian and former curator of Prospect Park. Other members of the panel are Russell Bastedo, director of the Long Island Historical Society, Peggy Latimer, project director of Brooklyn Rediscovery, William Fisher, vice chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Irving Choban, president of the Town of Flatbush Civic and Cultural Association, Eric Ic(