Page 601 - Demo

O ff th e R e c o rd by Jon CinerTo some, Wall Street is just a place.To others, it is an institution.To some, Wall Street is a charming paved rivulet that runs from the eastern tip of Manhattan through the canyons of downtown a few blocks west to Broadway. Over here%u2019s the Stock Exchange and there%u2019s Trinity Church and right over there is the Federal Building where George Washington was inaugurated.To others, Wall Street is a representation%u2014either of all that is virtuous or evil in the world.To Governor Carey, Mayor Koch and President Carter, Wall Street is a place to meet a week before an election. To Mario Cuomo and Harrison J. Goldin, it%u2019s a place where one can get a taste of what it will be like to act ceremoniously in public. To Robert Abrams, the remainder of the Democratic %u201cTicket%u201d it is a place not to be when you%u2019re running a campaign for us little folk.To all liberal Democrats, Wall Street is a representation of both evil and virtue. They are supposedto hate Wall Street types and are supposed to love everyone in Bensonhurst.Bat then, Carey and Koch can offer to build for all those Wall Street republicans they are supposed to hate a $40 million complex that will presumably keep them in New York. We will still have Wall Street to kick around. Because Wall Street isn%u2019t a place after all. It can MOVE if it wants to.And Washington%u2014-the place, not the person%u2014can raise the federal Reserve Board%u2019s key bank lending rate an unprecedented one percentage point (thfe day before the President%u2019s Wall Street appearance driving bank lending rates to an all-time high and raising confidence in the dollar and the Wall Street Community.Because when Wall Street isn%u2019t confident, everyone suffers.So everyone was in a mood to cheer last Thursday, before the President%u2019s scheduled arrival to the steps of Federal Hall. Of course hardly anyone among the thousands that impacted the narrow street could now get a loan from abank because interest r a t e s a r e sohigh. But Wall Street%u2014the institution%u2014seems to like that, so people are cheering.They cheered the Brooklyn Boys Chorus%u2014at least until they heard the chorus sing %u201c Amazing Grace,%u201d Jimmy%u2019s favorite hymn, for what must have been an unprecedented third time. Then some people started to howl. Those Wall Street types!And they cheered several Catholic High School bands, and a dance swing band that sometimes played along with %u201c Hail to the Chief%u2019 in Ivesian conterpoint.They didn%u2019t cheer'Harrison J. Goldin very much. But then, no one cheers the butler. They cheered Mario Cuomo. He%u2019s handsome. They then cheered mayor Koch and Governor Carey%u2014although both of them had to name-drop the New York Yankees before they could arouse the throng. %u201c I stood up here with Reggie Jackson two weeks ago,%u201d said Governor Carey, extemporaneously interrupting his own written speech. Koch goofed and said %u201c I was here when the City ofNew York honnrpH thp Yankees and let me tell you that this is even bigger%u201d which precipated a mild chorus of boos that may have been directed at Fred Patek.In the meantime, they had cheered the presence of the likes of James Scheuer, Mary Ann Krupsak, Stanley Steingut, Mario Biaggi, Leo Zeferetti, all of whom seem to be forming a repertory company that has perfected the art of sitting on daises and smiling.They then cheered Senator Pat Moynihan, who may someday challenge the President. Then they cheered the Great Man himself.One person didn%u2019t cheer. A tall black man, who was quickly, and somewhat violently hauled off by the police after he tried to interrupt the President with a megaphone%u2014 %u201che didn%u2019t have a sound permit,%u201d a police spokesman later said.By then the cheering had stopped. The President seemed to parody the statue of Washington that loomed behind him. He didn%u2019t name-drop the Yankees and the crowd did not cheer.But even if he had thrown in a%u201c w* v Ui m U C ) U1CPresident still probably would not have gotten many cheers during his speech. The President, you see, is boring. He comes across much better on television.In person, his jowls are more pronounced. His southern accent has little charm. He doesn%u2019t even have a bad sense of humor. He has no humor at all.He still has that cloying sincerity that, if it doesn%u2019t infuriate, is boring. He talked about the right to vote%u2014because the Governor at the time needed a big New York turnout to offset all those cityhaters upstate%u2014but, I imagine, six or seven percent of the people there would not have voted because of it. He talked about his inflation program%u2014that relies on the whims of 200 million people%u2014and, I imagine, a few more union activists were created because of it.I got chills thinking that another Franklin Pierce may be standing before me.Coping by Judy Linscottvisual changes. My parents, dear people but stuck in the old school design rut, never used that bathroom again. Nor did they ever steer guests in that direction.The main and fourth point is this: go ahead and do it. Rely on your instincts. Don%u2019t worry about what anyone is going to think. They usually don%u2019t tell you. Plunge right in there and slap that paint on. If you decide two weeks later that you shall commit suicide if you wake one more morning to a purple, green and black bathroom, then by all means take another crack at it. The beauty is that there%u2019s no one to stop you (unless you%u2019re under 18, and then there%u2019s your father).water, I decided was akin to a gentle .waterfall; the greenish brown spot it left on the tub but reminiscent of woodland idylls. A few Oriental prints on the wall, a brown and green towel scheme and voila! a Chinese water garden, right here in Brooklyn. A crude visitor once likened it more to Chinese water torture, but 1 paid no heed, nor should you. A clear case of sour grapes.Thematic decorating, as applied above, uses all of our little rules. Just think of all the good ways this thematic decorating can be and is applied. Airfields have airplanes, which lend themselves to runways and terminals. Coffee shops have Greece.After all, if we are w hat we design, who w ants to peel, d a sh or leak? Take heed%u2014and you, too, will be freed forever from the tyranny of the perfect Ming vase.Finally, design has come home to the people. It%u2019s like jogging%u2014everybody%u2019s doing it. High time, I say, that people recognize that decorator touch buried deep inside.But recognize the wisdom of accepting a few pointers, which I%u2019m happy to share. After all, if we are what we design, who wants to peel, clash or leak? Take heed%u2014and you, too, will be freed forever from the tyranny of the perfect Ming vase.First rule: don%u2019t ever be mealy-mouthed with color. I became a de facto decorator at the age of 15 when I transformed a boringly sunny downstairs bathroom with a few vivid coats of purple and dark green. The effect was based largely on the thenpopular ghetto hippie pad motif, and included imaginative woodwork coordination. Instead of merely painting six shelves green, for instance, I layered them green on purple. Just one example of the things that can be done with color.Second rule: don%u2019t ever be afraid to rip up. Intending to tile that bathroom floor, I spent an afternoon ripping up the linoleum. After calling the tile place people, and getting a few estimates, I decided to paint the floor black instead. This produced an interesting effect of purple, dark green and black, which I called avant-garde-hippie-pad motif. Pure demonstration of the interesting things that can happen by accident. And under pressure: I should explain that all of this was preparatory to a dinner party my parents were throwing that very night.Speaking of parties, rule number three: design can work wondrous social as well asRule five: start with what you have, even if it%u2019s a blond Neo-fifties dining roombedroom-home entertainment combo. Think, for instance, what people have done with dog houses. (As a matter of fact, you may not know, and I%u2019m not going to tell you but they%u2019ve done things. Let us instead take the bathroom, as I did).The stellar feature of one bathroom I took was that the bathtub faucet would never stop running. The constant trickle ofCampaign headquarters have folding chairs. Gas stations have pumps. Dry cleaners have cellophane. Libraries have librarians. Discount drug stores have those little cans of tomato juice. Cafeterias have that funny smell. The Upper West Side has actors, the Upper East Side has poodles, Brooklyn Heights has brownstones and the Village has its name.Thus are whole design identities forged.It holds everywhere. The city near whereI grew up operates on a linear motif: straight through and out again. In between beginning and end are two rows of squat establishments that no one slows down for, never mind stops at. Social legislation by design: very clever. No zoning problems. No loitering problems. No growth containment problems. Just a speeding problem.See? It%u2019s simple. Use color. Rip up. Trust your instincts. Use what you have*. Think thematic. And always use design to good purpose.Want to discourage small children from playing in your yard? Design with a German Shepherd. Want to keep chatty friends out of the kitchen? Focus around a simple, stunning, empty coffee pot. Tired of landmarks preservation, renovation and restoration? Paint your house hot pink. Tired of community activism? Pile your front yard with used auto parts. Better yet, used autos. Tired of weekend and overnight guests? Design without beds and toothpaste. If you must have a couch, make it horsehair and put it next to the front door. Better yet, design around the front door. You might want to consider one of those chic neon Exit signs.On the other hand, if you%u2019re tired of life, try painting the bathroom purple, dark green and black. It%u2019s one of the quickest ways to put our priorities in order that I know of. And I should know. Just you and the razor blades, 1950%u2019s minimalist style.With any luck, you and a new color scheme will win out.Community ForumBY CHRIS STANDWSKIBank on Brooklyn, a community organization, is planning a multi-faceted antiredlining attack on the Dime Savings Bank, the largest bank in New York and third largest bank in the country.Savings banks are chartered by the state legislature as non-profit community institutions. Our local banks, however, appear to have forgotten both aspects of their charter.The Dime Savings Bank of New York has $4.5 billion in assets, $4 billion of which comes from depositers. Brooklyn communities supply 63 per cent of the Dime%u2019s deposits and yet only seven per cent of this money stays here. The rest goes to SuffolkKdltnr%u2019a Nnt%u00ab! O iris Stannu/sVi ican organizer for Bank on Brooklyn. The group is a subsidiary of the New York Public Interest Research Group and is based in East Flatbush. Other chapters are working in downtown Brooklyn and Bedford Stuyvesant.County or out of state. Brooklyn funds, desperately needed to finance rehabilitation and stabilization of our existing houses, have instead been used by the Dime to build the suburbs.In 1977, the Dime had accumulated a net worth of $319 million. These are unencumbered funds which can be invested at any rate of return without a resulting inability to pay depositors dividends. Euphemistically called %u201c surplus money,%u201d it cannot be claimed as profits because the bank is a non-profit institution.Despite this available money, the Dime in 1977 made only six mortgages for a total of $250,000 in downtown Brooklyn (Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene, Cobble Hill, Clinton Hill, Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens and Prospect Heights.) In the first six1 0 7 0 i L %u201e n : ---------------X %u2014 1 a . v/%u00bb u i v A /iiu v u n a i u w u nuv>v>mortgages for a total of $173,000 in the same area.Independence Savings Bank, which has one-fifth the assets of the Dime, was able to give 25 mortgages for a total of $1,250,000 during the same period. The Dime%u2019s investment policies bear no relationto source of deposits. It is motivated only by its desire to make huge profits in order to expand the Dime empire.Bank on Brooklyn believes that the best way to begin changing bank investment policies is to make formal, written agreements with banks. We have been able to negotiate 10 of these agreements, which, although not legally binding, spell out a bank%u2019s obligations to a community. Agreements are important because they are a start to increasing a bank%u2019s lending in credit-neglected communities. Increased lending will develop a bank%u2019s economic interest in those areas and result in continued increases of available credit.Such an agreement was reached with the Dime. It provided that $7 million be made available annually in mortgage money toa -------a-------- n -------- %u2014 j v-* u u w u iu n il, V.1UW1! UUU L/ttOlFlatbush; that the Dime make a commitment to offer mortgages with a 20 per cent down payment for periods of up to 30 years for one and two family homes and also make available mortgages for one-to-four family homes; that the Dime advertise regularly in neighborhood newspapers theavailability of loans; and that the Dime allow community members to monitor the bank quarterly and make available the latest data on its lending activity.Three weeks after this agreement was signed, a Dime officer called Bank on Brooklyn with the message that the bank had decided it could not honor the agreement because of the tight money market. It is interesting that despite the tight moitey market, the Dime had accumulated $300 million of %u201c surplus money%u201d with which it plans to buy three Savings and Loan associations and one savings bank, all outside Ne w York City.With the Dime%u2019s breach of faith, Bank on Brooklyn has decided to make a long term commitment to make reinvestment in the communitiesjhat supply this $300 million %u201c surplus.\course of action is provided by the Feder tl Community Reinvestment Act, whi'h requires savings banks to meet the needs of their existing service areas before expanding into new branches.%u201d rNovember 9,1978, THE PHOENIX, P a r