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Page Six, PHOENIXParks Neglected%u201cGet Tough\presidents and governors these days, but also from the mouth ofthe newly appointed Administrator of Parks, Recreation andCultural Affairs, Richard Clureman, who threatened last week to\munity collaboration to keep the services intact.%u201dWhile we are just as opposed to the willful destruction of ourparks as Mr. Clureman, we are not sure what he means by%u201ccommunity collaboration.%u201d It is obvious that there is little thatthe Park Slope community can do to prevent the rampant vandalism in Prospect Park, and it is also equally obvious to us thatthere is really very little a community can do to protect its smallerparks from the handiwork of the midnight graffitti specialist,short of dipping into its own pockets for repairs or forming a 24-hour vigilante. Is that what Mr. Clureman means by %u201ccommunitycollaboration?%u201d And will he \forthcoming?We hope not. We hope the new Parks Commissioner hassomething else in mind, like making sure that the new numberyou can call at the Parks Department (472-1003) to reportvandalism is always in working order and not out of order for%u201crepairs%u201d as it has been all week. Or making sure that the newanti-vandalism brochure we have heard about%u2014but not seen%u2014gets into the hands of the public.While Clureman denies that he plans to \which are continually vandalized, doesn%u2019t the \services\parks have already been all but abandoned by the ParksDepartment %u2014 the Old Stone House in Byrne Park, Carroll Parkand Ft. Greene Park, to name but a few. These neglected parkshave become breeding grounds for vandals , because%u2014face it%u2014it%u2019s hard to instill a sense of civic pride about our parks if they area wreck already.It%u2019s Still ThereAcross the street from the PHOENIX office on Clinton St., a blueDodge has been parked%u2014very close to a fire hydrant on thecorner of Joralemon%u2014for weeks accumulating tickets. On its dashwas a piece of cardboard reading, \voucher 2296.\When we asked the 84th Precinct about the car, we learnedanother of the myriad problems confronting the police force inBrooklyn%u2014the endless sea of red tape they must wade through toget an illegally parked vehicle towed away.As it turns out, all those numbers did not mean that the blueDodge belonged to an errant policeman, but, instead, indicatedthat the precinct had already been notified of the car and hadtagged it to be towed away at least a week ago.Because there are no tow trucks at the disposal of the police inthe Heights, Downtown, South and Central Brooklyn, abandonedand illegally parked cars remain in fire zones or blocking streetcleaning procedures for days and, often, weeks on end.Tow trucks^-readily available to enforce parking regulations onBrooklyn%u2019s streets%u2014would do much to solve our neighborhood%u2019sproblem of illegally parked cars%u2014cars which clog our streets andendanger our health and safety.Corrine Colem anI$lWmmwmFeelingswmmmmwmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmNo need to check official statistics for evidence of die increase in marriage breakups. Rather, a review of parent lists sent out by private schools to families of their students manifests the changing situation of the local middle class.Though growing enrollment may account for some pages added to these yearly lists, the wholesale swelling can be attributed to the burgeoning need for enumeration of two parent addresses and phone numbers.The changes, noted officially in those printed lists, are being lived through in Cobble Hill, Park Slope, Fort Greene, Brooklyn Heights and in all the middle class bastions, where not too long ago the same participants followed a script that was written long ago and was reaffirmed, it seemed conclusively, in the 1950%u2019s.What now? What%u2019s happening in the newly fashioned system of the divided family? Part of the old scenario still holds for the male in the recently dissolved partnership. The work started long ago continues. The day spent in that world of business, banking, law And engineering goes on as usual. A move to Manhattan may havetaken place; more travel, swinging, quiet, a new marriage, are some of the possible accoutrements.But the moves by the woman of the split unlevel twosome cannot be so easily assumed. Certainly not in the way her old life style was once apt to be predicted. (It would be interesting to know how many women are still around for daytime parents association work). The script for her is now in the process of revision. The dialogue needs changing, but nobody%u2019s got it right as yet.However some specifics may be determining a new mode, though unreflective of her deeper changes. In some cases, a drop in income has necessitated a new accommodation %u2014 a nine to five life outside %u2014 sometimes in a pursuit that is engaging. However, not all females once thickly in the protected %u201cother%u201d role can take the jolt of depressed status. Some have turned to alcohol, to fantasy, to the old 50%u2019s heads of orthodox shrinks.But other women are just beginning the process of moving to new places. To personalities, work and statements which they once considered the province of the men they hoped would front for them. Now with most hopes for others toRegulars Picked RichmondTo the Editor:Your readers in Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene are probably wondering how they acquired a new city councilman without even trying. They may rest at ease%u2014 they didn%u2019t forget to vote and the Board of Elections didn t schedule an election while they were away for the holidays.The city councilmen from everywhere in New York, except here, picked a new councilman for us. In effect, the voters in the Bronx, Staten Island, etc., had more of a say in who was to be our councilman than we did.Of course, the councilmen exercised their privilege to decide for us in the worst tradition. They ratified the choice of the regular Democratic county leader. While it is nothing new to have the county leader hand-pick elected public officials for us, it has been customary that they be tested in a primary to see if the organization :an produce enough votes for them.Although the county leader was urged to consult with all segments of the community and party in thedistrict before making the selection, he failed to respond to such suggestions. Had the county leader done so, he might have lessened the voicelessness so many citizens experience in such matters.One can only hope that someone will turn up a better way to select a councilman to fill a vacancy. My modest suggestion would be that we let the people elect their representative.Martin E. Connor President West Brooklyn DemocratsIndependentPratt StudyTo the Editor:The Pratt Institute study on Methodist%u2019s expansion plans (PHOENIX, January 4th) exposed glaring inconsistencies with the h o s p ita l%u2019s s e lf-p ro c la im e d %u201ccommunity%u201d approach.Methodist wants its neighbors to believe that the massive disruption of the surrounding community that its expansion would entail is not too large a price to pay for the improved medical services they willDo you have something to sayW%u00ab welcom e your contributions toth%u00ae PHOENIX Community Forum Pag%u00aePrefer 500-750 word length.Send Your Material to: Editor,PHOENIX, 132 Clinton St., Brooklyn.%u00a7 HBcover for their once unacceptable wishes and ambitions quashed, they are becoming (to quote the headline of the new year) %u201cthe men they wanted to marry.%u201d And some are breaking forth, despite old reasoning blotching up the surface%u2014 warnings against exhibitionism%u2014 commandments against aggression %u2014 the forbidden blocks%u2014 the acceptable ass-kissing smile. One woman says she is reliving what%u2019s called the latent period. She%u2019s trying to discover %u2014 in her early thirties %u2014 what pursuits excite her %u2014 what she wants to do which will transcend her super-imposed need to merely please. And other women are coming to, despite more current handicaps %u2014 the need for bread %u2014 the need to be sole caretakers for young children, the intermediate stage between a known way and an unknown resolqtion.As a matter of fact, a women who has made careful note of the changing composition of the parent lists and is most aware of the life style changes of the women whose addresses are now separate, has wondered about the possibility of exchanging information %u2014 perhaps consolidating in some as yet unthought of way. All women interested can check in by directing communiques to PHOENIX, Box 403.offer. But the crux of their plan is to convert the hospital to a teaching and research institution and to provide parking lots and housing for its doctors.According to the Pratt study, the community programs Methodist has proposed won%u2019t significantly improve health services for the people of Park Slope. Their present community service could use improvement. As it stands now, it costs twice as much to merely visit the hospital%u2019s clinic (not including diagnostic tests or treatment) as it does to see many private doctors.If Methodist%u2019s heart were really with the community, they would offer medical service that the poor of the community could afford and they would expect its doctors to live in the community rather than in Methodist%u2019s enclave.Kevin Lancaster 8th Ave.JANUARY CLEARANCEPlastic Santas, sleighs andreindeer,After Christmas, create pain,dear.Likewise tinsel, wreaths, et aliaBring on, baby, melanchalia!Take, Oh, take them all away,piease,Balls, and chains of holiday-sies.And evergreen, beyond its duty,Holds no joy, 's no thing ofbeauty.So, lest litter pile yet deeper,Now cast your pine 'fore swirlsI ' U I %u00ab A %u00bb N A K I- V> I V /V /^ V I .Norman WiltsieWE PAY $ 4FO R P H O T O S