Page 189 - Demo

PHOENIX, Page ThreeMeeting Erupts, Ends Without VoteCh oroe$ Fly Hospito! Pocksd Crowd to Swoy ElsctionMore than 500 people packed St.Peter%u2019s Parish Hall in Cobble Hilllast Thursday night expecting toelect someone or other as permanent officers of the' CommunityPlanning Committee for LongIsland College Hospital.Two hours after the meetingstarted, it ended abruptly in anatmosphere of turmoil precipitatedby the appearance of City Councilman Fred Richmond at thomicrophone, whose out-of-contextremarks in support of savinghouses from demolition by theHospital brought the pressure thathas been building through theevening to a boiling point.As Richmond spoke, with a roomlined with other local politicalleaders who had sat or stoodthrough two hours of discussionand debate without uttering apublic word the room came alivewith people protesting that he wasallowed to speak, protesting themeeting, and protesting the wholesituation. Apparently unable torestore order, temporary chairman Alan Kone adjourned themeeting with the business of theevening untouched.At press time, no date has beenset for a reconvening of themeeting, nor is there indicationthat the temporary leaders of thegroup intend to announce a datesoon.Kone, in a statement followingthe meeting explained, %u201cA majorcondition of the Long IslandCollege Hospital%u2019s recognition o{the Community Planning Committee (CPC) was that it be an%u2018open-ended and independentbody.%u201d Using our open-endednessto destroy our independence makesa mockery of both conditions,%u201d hesaid in decrying what he and hissupporters termed the %u2018%u2018packing ofthe meeting%u201d by Hospital employees.Previous meetings of the grouphave been attended largely bycommunity residents with only ahandful of hospital representativesand friends sitting in. This session,which was to have been the firstelection of permanent officers forthe group, however, was greetedwith an almost overflow crowd.The crowd at St. Peters Parish Hall before the meeting was interupted.-The charge of a %u201cset up%u201d by theorganizers of the CPC followed.Joseph L. Broadwin, vicepresident of the L.I.C.H. Board ofRegents, said that he%u2018%u2018categorically andunequivocably%u201d denied KonesSee additionalLICH coveragePage 7 and 12accusations, while agreeing thatthe announcements had beenplaced throughout the Hospitalfacilities urging employee participation in the March 29 meeting.The announcement was aduplicate, Broadwin said, of thenotice mailed to others in thecommunity, which said that%u201canyone who lives or works in thehospital%u2019s service area is qualifiedto vote.%u201dAnnouncements of the meetingwere sent by the Hospital to alldoctors on the Hospital staff by Dr.William J. Scarpa, secretary of theHospital%u2019s Medical Board, urgingeach physician to attend.The meeting opened in a semiorderly manner with doctors,architects And CPC members whohave attended the Hospital%u2019sPlanning Committee meetingsanswering questions from thefloor. Increased restlessness in theaudience apparently caused Koneto cut short this portion of theagenda and introduce MaryHartmann, nominating committeemember, who read the CPC slate ofofficers.During discussion of electionrules and motions over the right ofhospital employees to vote, theatmosphere in the hall becameincreasingly heated, reaching theboiling point with the opening ofnominations from the floor andRichmond%u2019s subsequent appearance. Boos, shouts andmuttered comments filled theroom, auxiliary police moved tosurround the platform and Konesuspended the meeting shortlybefore 10 o%u2019clock.In a statement made shortlyafter the meeting, Kone accusedthe hospital of attempting to gaincontrol of the CPC in a %u201ccrudepower play%u201d in which it %u201csought tovote in its own slate of officers,including a chairman (RobertWebber) whose wife is employed inthe hospital%u2019s Social ServiceDepartment.%u201dFrancois Qumaine PhotoCouncilman Fred Rich- Fodera, administrator of the mond at last week's in- LICH radiology department terrupted LICH Community as meeting breaks up P la n n in g C o m m itte e abruptly, meeting, arguing with VitoThe committee was organized in community%u2019s interests in athe summer of 1972 for the stated proposed LICH $100 million expurpose of representing the Continued on Page 12Shoppers Here Compare Prices,Show Concern Over ALL Food PricesGab at the grocery store stillcenters around the price of meat%u2014which has risen 30 per cent in threemonths%u2014despite President Nixon%u2019sannouncement last Friday that heintends to slap controls onwholesale meat prices.Although the nationwide boycottof meat got under way on scheduleApril 1, many consumers have notbought meat in weeks, simplybecause they cannot afford to.A spot check of local groceriesfound Brooklyn shoppers diligentlycomparing prices. Chicken seemsto be a popular alternative to redmeat these days, though it too hasbecome more expensive. %u201cIn threeweeks,%u201d one shopper in the Heightsnoted, %u201cchicken parts went upfrom 69 cents to 89 cents, but now,prices are back down.%u201d As sheexchanged parts for a wnolechicken, she conceded, %u201cA wholechicken is cheaper, but I have tocut it up myself, which I hatedoing.%u201dAnother alternative to beef isfish, but it has also become expensive, a wise Park Slope shopperpointed out. %u201cI put lots ofvegetables on the plate, with lessmeat, one woman said, %u201cbecause IMany people find their meat billstotaling $10 more than usual, evenwhen they compare prices. %u201cFoodexpenses are unbelievable and justoutrageous,%u201d said one harriedBoerum Hill housewife. %u201cI don%u2019tknow how families with limitedincomes can exist.%u201dAs in the depression days when%u201cpotatoes were cheaper,%u201d peopleare now turning to that starchy,but relatively inexpensive commodity. Glamorous om elettes,cheese souffles, fancy salads arealso being concocted by ingeniouspenny and pound wise cooks. %u201cA lotof people think we%u2019ll starve if wedon%u2019t eat meat. It%u2019s just not true,%u201dsaid one wise shopper.Most shoppers however, creativeor not, can be heard grumbling onthe supermarket checkout linesbetween dashes back to thecounters to return items unwantedafter second thought.Restaurant and supermarketmanagers, butchers too, arereacting to the unprecedentedescalation. Most dining places aredoing as Montague St%u2019s Picaaelidoes, preparing more salad andomelette platters. %u201cIf they keepr a is in g th e cost o f m e a t it %u2019 s ohvious that I too will have to raiseAs boycott week began this 7th Ave. butcher was closed. Francois Dumaine Photoprices%u201d Picadeli%u2019s manager said.Butchers, facing disastrousdrops in sales are recountinghorror stories heard at the meatmarket grapevine. Mr. Ambrosio,owner of Cranlyn Meats, was toldthat one proprietor lost $20,000. innno \\%u00bb/onir OvsnvhsliT.iUp ovsrhccdis forcing many meat stores out ofbusiness, Ambrosio said, addingthat customers storm out of theshops after paying an extra 12cents per pound for prime beef, 40cents more for poultry and anadditional $1.04 for frankfurters.A rundown of other food pricesio nlo L im a fi aL OO a a *%4a a a a a %u2014%u25a0%u00bb v * o u i o i/ u n w u o %u00bb i , v u i i b o c* v - a u n u ttoo long ago, now at 72 cents;onions raised to 39 cents per pound,danish at an Atlantic Ave. bakeryup 30 cents from its recent 20 centsprice. !%u2018It%u2019s not only meat,%u201d aconcerned consumer advised, %u201cbutthe whole food line that hasdramatically jumped in cost whilesupplying less nutritional value.%u201dContinued onj Page 10BY DEBRA PINCUS don%u2019t know what else to do.%u2019