Page 102 - Demo
P. 102


                                    P ag e 5ix, FnU fcN iANo Butter EitherIn a recent PHOENIX editorial we tried to focus attention on the Nixon Administration imposed moratorium on subsidized interest rate housing, and the impact on developments here. As the days pass and more of Mr. Nixon's intentions become perfectly clear, it also becomes apparent that many of the programs on which we in Brooklyn have been planning will be eliminated.The Brooklyn Library System, one of the older and most respected in the nation will now have ghetto programs discontinued. If present cut backs are not changed, the Brooklyn Librarian program will go and with it the custodian of 200 years of recorded Brooklyn history.The loss of the day care subsidy will only mean that many working parents will be forced to leave their jobs and once again be at the mercy of a vicious welfare program.The dismantling of OEO programs is simply the playing out of the self fulfilling prophecy. The Nixon Administration came into office with the belief that the poverty program was not desirable, they emasculated it and then point with justification to its ineffectiveness.Now no sane man could give a blanket endorsement to all of the OEO sponsored adventures, but here in Brooklyn the program has made some significant progress in the right direction. The legal services program here and around the nation is an outstanding example of what can be achieved with planning and direction.Among the programs which Mr. Nixon singled out by name for attack is the Hill-Burton hospital construction funds. The President cites the fact that the nation has a surplus of hospital beds as the justification for cutting off the entire program. The fact of the matter is that poor people still cannot get quality hospital care here. The hospital program needs to be changed, not discontinued.Brooklyn has long been the step-child of New York City, getting good programs last. Now it appears that we are going to pay the price for Mr. Nixon's desire to hold federal spending to a minimum.With all of the cutbacks, moratoriums and emasculations we note that the administration managed to find 55 million to keep the selective service program in tact and we are continuing to do intensive research on new military hardware. We can afford to support a federal agency without a mission but we cannot support housing for low income people or libraries or hospitals.Those of us who were involved in the Johnson Great Society programs must recall that the basic domestic policy of that administration was to extend the joy of a free democratic society to all.The Nixon domestic policy seems to be keep the poor, poor %u2014 the ill-housed, ill-housed %u2014 the uneducated, uneducated and the rich, rich. And this above all; keep those with the audacity to speak out under strict surveillance.Mr. Nixon may have solved one problem which has been tearing our communities apart. With the discontinuation of the HillBurton funds some of the LICH and Methodist hospital expansion fight may well be academic.LICH Building PlansReal Ruckus In CobTo the Editor: %u2022As ' we meditate on this traditional George Washington birthdate, our thoughts reflect upon what father George fought for %u2014 the very existence of this great nation, this just democracy. His cause is now equated in another battle, although insignificant in proportion, being waged in Cobble Hill.The Civic Action Group of Cobble Hill proposed a resolution to the Community Planning Committee of the Long Island College Hospital. This resolution was passed by a 30 to 15 vote at a community meeting on Feb. 5, 1973. The highlights of the resolution follow %u2014 with regard to air rights, the height structure for any new building would not exceed the height of any other building in the Cobble Hill community, and that any such building be kept in character with the community...........Also %u2014 in the event themassive complex the L.I.C.H. proposes to build will not comply with these guidelines, then it be imperative that the hospital investigate the possibility of alternate sites, mergers or a satellite type operation. Can anyone dispute the fact that these are in effect, sound, reasonable proposals?The L.I.C.H. feels that they cannot meet all their needs and the health needs of the community without massive structures, massive traffic jams and massive hysteria, attest: absurd proposals for 31 story towers%u2019, 3 %u2014 16-story buildings, etc., submitted by their architects and administrators for the air rights solution. It appears that these administrators are concerned with egotistical schemes at the expense of the Cobble Hill community and those surrounding it, at the expense of taxpayers money, and above all at the expense of those who will never be able to afford the cost of health care offered by the hospital.No one denies the existence of L.I.C.H. in Cobble Hill. What we do deny is the concept L.I.C.H. is aiming for, one which cannot be forced on this community and one which will have in the near future the same force and effect of a bulldozer. THE , VERY EXISTENCE OF THE COBBLE HILL COMMUNITY IS . AT STAKE.Will the real L.I.C.H. please step forth, sign in with a sensible, reasonable plan and stop imposing ridiculous demands on the community it purports to serve.PTH, WS, members CPCEDITOR%u2019S NOTE: We have a policy of accepting only letters that are signed, though we will honorrequests to withhold signatures. The reason for this is made clear by the above letter which incorrectly states the Feb. 5th vote as being %u201c30-to-15%u201d in favor of design limitations. The vote was actually 27 for; 26 against. We would have contacted the sender about this error prior to publication had we had his or her full name. In the future, the PHOENIX will only publish signed letters.Join The GroupTo the Editor:The CPC %u201cRump%u201d would like to know why both the February 15 Phoenix editorial attacking the resolution proposed by the Civic Action Group of Cobble Hill and passed by a 2-to-l margin, and the February 22 Phoenix Scorpio item continued to parrot an outdated minority position on Long Island College Hospital?Our petition supports both %u201cthe best medical care possible for the entire community%u201d and also %u201ca need to preserve the character of Cobble Hill.%u201dWouldn%u2019t it make more sense for the Phoenix and all other community leaders and concerned citizens to join the informed and growing majority?Sahid Bescheer Phillip Hajjar Paul Sayegh William Shahwan Thornton WillettControl NecessaryTo the Editor:Scorpio%u2019s implication that I had failed to do my homework before signing a petition regarding proposed Long Island College Hospital expansion, is unwarranted. The petition merely demanded that L.I.C.H. not do harm to Cobble Hill by constructing a building over the B.Q.E. which would destroy the character of the community. I submit that if forces supporting the compromise fail to insist upon some measure of control over the buildings%u2019 size & architecturalK3mu giQTOifiRobert Burke Jones, PresidentMichael A. Armstrong, Publisher132 CLINTON ST.,BROOKLYN 1120!643 1032JNavy Yard Has ABYBENITAKORNThe Gardening bodes all smugly say %u201c...and a couple of shovelsful of compost.%u201d The deeply committed ~' .y ecologist may be willing to rifice for a private heap a 4 x 4-----.l %u201en ____ *. c u t UUl \\JA %u00ab *0, U ibV j LUl,much of a plot. But most urban greenery has had to struggle along without benefit of the gardener%u2019s gold. Until now.As green-thumbers know, compost starts as garbage. And garbage is what the city has a helluva lot of. Every day, everyOne Of the f i t v %u2019s 9 non n r m nrotrucks gulps up 10 tons of it. And every day a dozen or more of them rumble up to 221 Varick Ave., hard by the Brooklyn Navy Yard, to Ecology Inc. There they dump as much as 150 tons a day %u2014 about 1 percent of the city%u2019s total %u2014 straight out of the trucks and into the hoppers.The gunk is promptly ground up and passed over magnets that snatch out ferrous metals (recyclable); glass and ether solids are pulverized and can stay in the mix to lend body to the end product. The pulp quickly moves into the first stage of the%u2018 H i e r n e f n r i n v o n t o H b y f Ln /Composcompany%u2019s president, Dr. Step! Varro Jr., where it is pasteuriz eliminating odors. As the p slowly moves through the rest the digestor system, it is raked iturned, and chemicals are addec help the bacteria that do decomposition work When bacteria get done, the mix stable.At this stage it can go on become garden compost by dition of trace elements that ' bring it up to State Department Agriculture standards. Or Varro%u2019s %u201cdirt%u201d can be used as basic material for wallboard 
   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106