Page 666 - Demo

Coping by Judy LlnscottTurkey Isa Damn Versatile Meal. We%u2019ve LearnedThanksgiving, for obvious reasons, is archaic. Its prime reason to be these days is to make us fatter, like the proverbial Christmas goose, and tc remind us all (including parents) once again why we left home.Gratitude? Thankfulness? The collective sigh of relief uttered round the nation as siblings, cousins and other ill-fated souls pack up%u2014post turkey, to lea v e - should provide anyone with ample inspiration for the rest of the year.Home is always the same, which is why parents like it there. And why kids don't. And why kids don%u2019t is why parents like it%u2014alone.We go home for Thanksgiving, in large part because there%u2019s little else to do with the day. Precisely because there%u2019s nothing else to do, we eat all day. Precisely because there's nothing else to do, we eat all day with relatives. Somehow relatives always bring food with them when they come and we talk about it, along with reminiscences about great meals past. Think of all the tedious descriptions of %u201c Grandma%u2019s pie%u201d and %u201c Mom%u2019s checken%u201d and %u201cCousin Maybelle%u2019s gravy%u201d you%u2019ve been subjected to over the years of \home.\discussions of %u201c my co-worker%u2019s cranberry sauce,%u201d or %u201c my office-mate%u2019s exquisite yams.%u201dMy family poses as the ubiquitous happy clan of familiar and sullen, albeit gussied up, New England puritans partaking of turkey. The %u201c festivities%u201d are conducted round the good old pine table, fine-honed by my father%u2019s hand; a table which yearly warps an extra degree or three. As the carpenter himself admits, we can predict the weather by the way the soup lists.We make jokes about such things, fitting enough, at the table, when we%u2019re thus all gathered round, with a centennial addition or two to spark the interest. A brother-inlaw joined us five years back, and things have never been the same. For starters, we women of the family are trying to teach him to clear the table, a feat which we never quite managed with the father and now assume to be so much water under the proverbial bridge. This new effort to ours has created a few jokes in itself, rapidly becoming traditional.So it goes.One year my mother sprang pheasant and blackberry pie on us. We did not takewell to the sudden change and she wisely reverted to turkey and yams by the same year%u2019s December 25. Nevertheless, an annual topic of conversation%u2014after we%u2019re seated, forks raised%u2014is %u201c wouldn%u2019t it be interesting to have goose (pheasant, roast beef, hamburgers, etc.) for a change.%u201d My mother quite justifiably reacts negatively to this collective and historic bad joke.The yams will be abig seller, andsomeone will haveforgotten thecranberry sauce.Which leads me tothe mimicking of mygreat aunt Dorothy%u2019smemorablepronouncement oncranberries whenshe last joined us foran historic mealsome 12 years ago.Other predictable events will take place. My father will declare as he brandishes the carving knife about that it is not sharp enough. The usual (and justified) jokes about his surgical prowess ensue. The intensity of the jokes and his irritation will increase in direct proportion to his demonstrated lack of skill. At the height of all this he will be reminded of the stuffing still in the bird, which he has forgotten, and which he will then attack with such vehemence as to guarantee some portion of it flying against the dining room wall. This is a predictable event which is a real crowd pleaser. It puts everyone back into something roughly akin to a collective jolly mood.We will run short of green string beans with almonds, and so my father vyill recallseveral plates, with all the good humor and optimism of General Motors recalling a fleet of defective transmission systems. There will be much discussion of the fact that one sibling is delighted to give her beans to another, wherein she will announce, as she has annually done for something approaching 20 years, that she doesn%u2019t much care for string beans after all. Much surprise will be evidenced.The yams will not be a big seller and someone will have forgotten the cranberry sauce. Which leads us to the mimicking of my great aunt Dorothy%u2019s memorable pronouncement on cranberries when she last joined us for an historic meal some 12 years ago. (This is not to imply that she passed away since that last visit. The truth of the matter is that we bored her so much that she never came back.) In fairness to us, I should note that the cranberry statement was the high point of her dinner table repartee. It is memorable largely for its utter foolishness.Some variation in the routine is usually provided by the stages one or another of the children of the family is passing through. Three years ago, for instance, we were treated to a dramatic scene provided by the youngest, who was determined to carry her meal to the television set. This was a horror not to be even contemplated, and it should surprise no one to learn that she lost out. She consumed her meal (at the table) with a stormy running commentary on the fascist nature of her life at home.Those little deviations keep us all breathing clear through to the apple pie.After years and years of these Thanksgiving celebrations, everyone has, by now, established a role. My older sister, well-schooled in the art of diplomacy, will be the one to remind my father of the stuffing. Another, a serious eater of the school that shuns all vegetables, will request more meat before anyone else is finished, which will carry us into a replay of the carvipg jokes. The one from New York, by virtue of her exotic and cosmopolitan habitat, will be expected to wax enthusiastic about the otherwise suspect yams. The youngest, who has a decided flair for the histrionic, will be expected to do the cranberry statement imitation.When food talk and patter wears thin someone will switch the conversation to talk of What%u2019s To Be Done in the way of Christmas. My father will bring up the subject of greeting cards, traditionally sentout round December 30, and my mother will grow justifiably irritated, since she has already cleverly bought the cards and put them somewhere safe and can%u2019t find them. After dinner, we will have a Hunt for the Cards, which we won%u2019t find. Someone will note that somewhere in the bowels of that house are enough cards to supply a shop. This will lead into a heated argument over whether or not a good card shop is a good business to open in Pittsfield, Mass.There are few marketable business ventures possible in Pittsfield, Mass., which is why after dinner everyone will all be Bored. My father, because he is a fitness freak, will suggest a walk, and everyone will think of a good reason not to go. My brother-in-law will suggest a game of poker, which is either good natured or foolish of him, because he always loses. My mother will respond enthusiastically, which is smart of her, because she always wins. No one else will be interested. My father, who in deference to his puritan heritage will refuse tb play poker, will instead go for that brisk walk, in defiance of his turkey dinner and the general stupor around him.The rest of us will languish about idly annoying one another and discussihg the possiblity of taking another crack at the turkey. Someone will suggest going to one of the two movies playing in town, both of which everyone has already seen and neither of which anyone wants to see again. It will be noted that we will no doubt run into Old High School Acquaintances should we do anything so public and the horror of that possibility kills any %u201c going/, out%u201d idea fast. My brother-in-law (once my mother has cleaned him out at poker) will proceed to entertain us with a crashing rendition of %u201c Now Thank We All Thy God%u201d on the piano. Someone will mention that the piano sounds out of tune.Television might provide escape, except that we only receive one channel in my home town, straight from Albany and the %u201ctri-city area.%u201d We will likely be treated to a live interview with the mayor of Rensselaer.In fact, what will happen is we will eventually take another crack at the turkey. We will decide that turkey is a damn versatile meal and it%u2019s lucky my mother didn%u2019t decide to cook something wacko like goose or rabbit this year.My mother, bless her soul, will grow justifiably irritated.Scofflaws Abandon Real Estate%u2014to the Imaginationmoney now, but the taxes were never paid. Put a big zero next to each one.%u201d Aaron Kahane%u2019s empire, all 133 plots, is no more.OFFERING CUT-RATE DEALSlike a bargain basement sales clerk, the city is offering cut rate deals to encourage payment by scofflaws. Those who want to pay can get long term s (eight years maximum), lowered interest (15 percent) and a smaller downpayment (15 percent). The deal remains open until the Dec. 31 foreclosure deadline and seems to be working. Since summer, 2,000 Brooklyn taxpayers, like Angelo Guarino, have grabbed the offer.%u201c I believe things are getting a little better,\made deals on $37,171 in back taxes on four Park Slope apartment buildings. %u201cThere are a few more restaurants, and many stores have been fixed up,%u201d adding stability to the neighborhood. What%u2019s more, the value of the properties, he says, is far higher than the taxes. %u201cIt would be silly to lose buildings for so little.%u201dTed Cooperstien, owner of the Alco Butler Corp., at 302 Butler St., near the Gowanus Canal, also made a deal but for one reason only. %u201cI want to sell this building and move. There are constant burglaries. Children break in and start fires. If they foreclose, I can%u2019t sell. So I paid.%u201dBy anotner means, tne city has a lucrative deal with Penn Central, the giant railroad company. Penn stopped paying taxes simultaneously to its slow dancewith bankruptcy in 1969. Cut off at the spigot were millions of tax dollars, Penn Central%u2019s annual bill on many midManhattan luxury addresses and one Brooklyn eyesore, a 147-foot lot in Bay Ridge. Penn%u2019s total arrears: $47,908 on the Bay Ridge lot, $91 million city-wide.To the astonishment of skeptics, the bankruptcy package recently imposed by a Philadelphia federal judge guarantees complete repayment of that debt. The company has already pushed across $34 million cash, and is upping federally guaranteed bonds to meet the remainder.LEADS TO STRUCTURAL DECAYThe caliber of deadbeat ownership is distinguished by recurring traits. One, found extensively in residential buildings, is managerial neglect%u2014leading, in turn, to structural decay.Each of nine random ly selected apartment buildings of deadbeat owners has between 44 and 359 building code violations, The PHOENIX found when examining city records. Owner William Menzies%u2019 four-story, 39-unit building at 1405 Prospect Place had 44. Records describe 36 of the 44 as %u201coverdue%u201d for repair, some since 1965. Neglects include lack of heat and hot water, crumbling plaster and dangerous accumulations of trash. Menzies%u2019 tax bill is also neglected: $46,749 owed on four-and-a-half years worth of bills.City Rent and Housing Maintenance records tell similiar stories about the other random selections, but threebuildings stand out. Four-story tenements owned by Joseph W. Kay, III, at 298, 304 and 310 St. Johns Place in Prospect Heights have 173,359 and 226 building code violations respectively. That%u2019s an average of 18 violations in each apartment.It is not true that the identities of majorThe caiiber ofdeadbeat ownershipis distinguishedby recurring traits.Nine randomlyselected buildingshave 44 to 359 codeviolations each.landholders are always concealed Behind impenetrable corporate structures and sham addresses. Some property owners who have quit paying their Brooklyn taxes are very upfront about their identities.Eugene Hollander, the convicted nursing home owner, owes $67,312 on four properties, including two warehouses and a huge lot near Marine Park in Sheepshead R a v T W v> A n n n r> %u00ab w iin n n m . .u- --- WAMkfcS) Uk236 Barbey St., is $5,437 in arrears. Brooklyn Hospital is $9,156 overdue and the Lafayette Hotel, at 25 Lafayette St. opposite the Brooklyn Academy of Music,owes $14,628.FRUIT OF BAD LOANSThe foreclosure action also includes the spoiled fruits Of bad loan-making by major banks. In the pipeline toward foreclosure are dozens of properties held by banks on mortgage foreclosures. Empire Savings Bank is negotiating with a potential buyer for the major commercial building at 33- 49 Rockwell Place in downtown Brooklyn, with the buyer to take over past taxes. But headed toward foreclosure by the city are properties held by Emigrant Savings Bank (18 properties, $119,000 a rre a rs), Prudential Savings Bank (9 properties, $109,000 arrears), Citizens Savings and Loan (4 properties, $101,000 arrears), Freedom National Bank (21 properties, $98,000 arrears) and Hamilton Federal Savings and Loan (2 properties, $92,000 arrears) among others.What becomes of properties, after foreclosure, is essentially a matter of j imagination. Under powers granted by the newly-revised City Charter, community %u2018planning boards have first say over the disposition of foreclosed properties and lean, within the limits of feasibility and Imagination, stipulate use of the land. The ,U.S. Commerce Department has awarded ,$5 million for redevelopment of the Rheingold site, with Bushwick communityB r n im o n lo tr in r r n t * n l%u00ab A %u00ab ai----- ***o M *****jw %u00bb * v * v . v u i c i[alternative, properties are sold at auction, traditionally to speculators who, in due time, skim profits and give them up again for unpaid taxes.Page 10, THE PHOENIX, November 23,1978