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PHOENIX, Page Nine%u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605Councilman%u2019s CornerO u r Councilm en R eport On Their A c tiv itie sBY FRED RICHMONDAs a member of the City CouncilFinance Committee, most of mytime for the past two months hasbeen spent reviewing the executivecapital budget for 1973-74. Thisyear the mayor requested $2.48billion dollars for capital projects.The Capital Budget is theauthorization for and commitmentof funds for all capital projects ofthe city Government. A capitalproject is defined by state law asthe acquisition of property, construction renovation,rehabilitation or a combination ofthese with a probable usefulness ofmore than five years.Our Finance Committee heldthree days of public hearings withthe Board of Estimate during thelast week of February. We thenmet in executive sessions for 11 days in March. These meetingswere of great significance, for itgave the council a chance toscrutinize budget requests andinterrogate the heads of the different city agencies.As the hearings proceeded it wasevident that the Finance Panelheaded by my colleague, QueensCouncilman Matthew Troy wasdefinitely reasserting itself in thecity %u2019s budgetary process. Thefinance Committee was successfulin having top officials of every cityagency justify their budgetrequests.As a result of the sessions, wesubmitted a revised capital budgetto the mayor, indicating theprojects which we felt should begiven greater priority in thecoming year. We added highlycrucial projects and deleted thosewe felt were unnecessary.I am happy to report that inaddition to other needed projects,funds were appropriated for siteselection for relocating BaruchCollege at the Atlantic TerminalUrban Renewal area. I feel this is amandate to the City Universitythat it once and for all live up to its1967 commitment and bringBaruch to Brooklyn. I have urgedMayor Lindsay, CUNY ChancellorRobert Kibbee, Baruch PresidentClyde Wingfield and the City%u2019sBoard of Higher Education tofollow the Council%u2019s lead and moveBaruch to the Atlantic Terminalsite without any further delay.Finally, within the next fewweeks I plan to introduce a seriesof legislative reforms which Ibelieve will make the budgetaryprocess more responsive to theneeds and wishes of the public. Iwill be more specific on thosereforms in my next installment ofthe Councilman%u2019s Comer.To the Editor:In reply to Mr. Clurman%u2019s letterto The PHOENIX (March 8, 1973)in which he states that he wants toge to work on the real issues involving the city%u2019s parks, I feel surethat he will be interested in theplans that are currently beingproposed for the vicinity ofVoorhees Park in Brooklyn.The masterminds at Ferenz &Taylor, guided by the sleight-ofhand artists at The Long IslandCollege Hospital, have once againattempted to solve the age-oldproblem of stuffing 10 pounds into afive-pound bag.One of the most recent flights offancy in regard to the hospital%u2019sproposed expansion plans is a 31-story monument which might well,on a sunny afternoon, cast itsshadow all the way to Nevins St.Aesthetics and sunlovers aside,the present city zoningrequirement (R-6) on the LICHland and surrounding propertyprecludes the amount of floorspace now advocated for theproposed expansion by thehospital%u2019s Board of Regents.The total square-footage of theLICH %u201csuperblock%u201d (the formerCobble Hill blocks 284 and 290 witha block-long stretch of Pacific St.thrown in) comes to roughly168,000.Since R-6 zoning permits construction of a maximum amount offloor space equal to 4.8 times thelot size, the most floor space thatcan be erected on this superblock is806,400 square feet. The ExtendedCare Facility, now under construction, has eaten up 196,200square feet of this total, while theexisting landmarked buildingstake up another 70,000 square feet,leaving the total of remainingallowable floor space at 540,000square feet.R-6 also imposes otherrestrictions on the builders in theform of a demand for 35 per centopen space on the superblock, or58,800 square feet, reducing theactual land area from 168,000square feet to 109,200 square feet.Subtract from this total, the ECF(16,350 square feet of land area)and landmarks (20,000 square feet)and you come up with 72,850 squarefeet of actual land that can be builton, or a parcel perhaps 200 by 360feet in size. If one then divides thetotal perm issible floor space(540,000 square feet) by theavailable land space (72,850 squarefeet), R-6 need allow a building tobe constructed to a height of nomore than 7 or 8 stories.Since the 31-story monstercurrently in the hopper wouldrequire 1,200,000 square feet offloor space, perhaps someone atFerenz & Taylor will be goodenough to explain to us and toParks Commissioner Clurman justwhere they intend to put the excess660,000 square feet of floor space.The current plan, by the way,provides for not one inch of the822,500 square feet of parkingspace required for 2,350 cars on thesuperblock site which, estimatesshow, will be necessary to preventtotal traffic and parking chaos inCobble Hill.Are the hospital plannerscounting on a mass mental breakdown among the residents ofCobble Hill that would allow LICHto sneak through re-zoning?Even R-10, the densestresidential zoning classificationwould permit only the constructionContinued on Page 10BRAVO BROOKLYN%u2019S YOUTH: For the fifthseason, The Brooklyn Museum joins in celebrating the talent and imagination of Brooklyn%u2019s young people with the exhibition Salute to Brooklyn%u2019s Creative Youth, on view in the Museum%u2019s Community Gallery, March 18%u2014April 15.Sponsored by the Brooklyn Arts and Culture Association (BACA), the colorful exhibition is comprised of more than 160 paintings, graphics,sculptures and collages chosen from the work of kindergarten through high school students attending public, private and parochial schools throughout the borough. Simultaneous exhibitions will be held in numerous Brooklyn schools, banks, libraries and other institutions, (see full list elsewhere on this page).Opening Day celebrations at the Museum on Sunday, March 18, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. include: 1 p.m. %u2014 a free concert in the AuditoriumCourt by the John Dewey High School Stage Band; 2 p.m. %u2014 young poets of Brooklyn reading their work in the Egyptian West Gallery; a slide show prepared by the South Brooklyn Arts project; and a warm personal welcome from many of the young artists who will be on hand to greet the Sunday visitors.This exhibition was made possible with a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts.'D o n %u2019t Q uote Me,BY SCORPIOB u t...%u2019The bail-out of the Lindsay%u2019s administration that started the day after the Mayor%u2019s announcement that he would not stand for re-election has reached local residents. Asst. Economic Development Administrator John Scanlon (of the Slope) will soon be announcing his departure to head up fundraising operations for Phoenix House. His boss, Ken Patton (also a Sloper) is probably the only member of the entire Lindsay adm inistration who could keep his job no matter who becomes Mayor %u2014 if he wants to stay, that is.%u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605The Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats finally did it %u2014 proved that reform Democrats could have as much fun as any other class of human beings. The club%u2019s St. Patrick%u2019s Day party was a real bash, and probably raised some nice cash too. A.D. Leader Charlie Monahan was really in his prime, but I%u2019m still mad that he conned me into buying a losing ticket for a basket of cheer raffle.%u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605Waiting in the wings? Former assemblyperson Gail Hellenbrand, who had retired from the political scene temporarily after giving up a re-election bid following reapportionment in 1970 so that what would havebeen her new district could be pick a black assemblyman. Now she%u2019s back, with club-house and all, reviving the Washington Democratic Club. Certainly the new group represents an op portunity for Fred Richmond to get help in his council race in Prospect Heights and Park Slope, but we bet Gail has her eyes on a race next year %u2014 maybe against a reform lady state senator?%u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605In spite of, and probably because of the crowded field, Bobby Steingut is the odds-on favorite to take the Democratic nomination for Councilman-atLarge from Brooklyn. Now with the Wagnerian ode Nelson Rockefeller is singing, though, what will happen to the other post may be in doubt. An aggressive GOP fight is in theworks for that party%u2019s nomination.Though Assemblyman Vito Batista has just won the endorsement of St. Francis College%u2019s Republican Club, and the backing of the dissident Kings County Republicans for Responsible Government, and its local leader Frank Gargiulo, John Gangemi will put on a fight to get that post.The rub comes if Wagner is successfully crowned with the GOP and Liberal nominations. Lurking in the background is incumbent Councilman-at-Large Ken Haber, who was swept in on Lindsay coat-tails in 1969. Haber has resisted the lure of a switch to the Democrats that his fellow Manhattan Liberal, Eldon Clingen succumbed to, and has been biding his time, in Democratic Brooklyn, with a Wagner on the GOP line, Haber and Gangemi might just be the winners this year.Do you have something to sayW e w e lc o m e yo u r contributions tothe FHGENiX Comm unity F o ru m P a g ePrefer 5 0 0 -7 5 0 w ord length.Send Your M a te ria l to: Editor,PHOENIX, 132 C linton St., Brooklyn.