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Page Bight, PHOENIXBaruch StillCapstone ofTerminal AreaThe renewed drive announced last week to twist the arms of City University officials to honor their prior agreement to build the planned new campus for Baruch College in Downtown Brooklyn is welcome news to all the neighborhoods surrounding Downtown.When the Atlantic Terminal Urban Renewal Project (that's the name for those vacant and nearly vacant blocks north of Atlantic Avenue and East of Flatbush, behind the L.I. Railroad Station) was started in 1965, the construction of a new campus for Baruch was to be the focal point for redevelopment of this area. New housing, schools and a refurbished railroad terminal were also part of the plan. The Fort Greene Meat Market was to move. Demolition of the area started.What happened over the years is another of those stories of onagain, off-again indecision coupled with the indifference or impotence of public officials. Some of the housing is going to happen, as was announced earlier this year. The Meat Market is moving to Sunset Park. But little else has happened or is likely to soon. The reason: City University found reasons for backing out of its earlier ommitment, and began studying other alternatives %u2014 all in Manhattan. Everything else went into a tail spin because without this focal point, little private activity was likely to take place.THE END OR THE BEGINNING: We hopethese signs don't tell the story for the Fulton Ferry area, that neglected wonderland at the foot of what was once Fulton Street, now called Cadman Plaza West. The view has to rank as among the best urban scenes in the world. Thegarbage, abandoned cars, debris and rotting piles and force you to remember that in M id-20th Century America, the juxtaposition of good and bad is often a jarring experience. The PHOENIX is starting to receive comment on others%u2019 reactions to the cancer that has enveloped this area, andwe will begin to publish them in futu re issues, together with the ideas of others who see what potential the area has for public use right now. Let us hear what you think. Write: Save Fulton Ferry, PHOENIX, 132 Clinton Street, Brooklyn 11201.So, the fate of these dozens of acres of land, filled with scattered debris, occasional houses, abandoned cars, sits in the hands of the planners, who know they must have one single capstone if they are to build anything else coherently.This cap-stone still can be Baruch, and finally, the planners, with the constant and continued prodding of the Downtown Brooklyn Development Association, have mustered the political figures who have the clout to begin to fight to get what should have happened eight years ago. We hope they succeed, because our neighborhoods need this.What action on Atlantic Terminal will do, first of all, is to make the Flatbush-Atlantic-Fourth intersection a focal point for something more than the prostitution trade. It removes the noman's land along the southern edge of Fort Greene. It puts the Academy of Music back into a thriving community again, instead of leaving it an isolated island that frightens away patrons instead of drawing them. It means a new opportunity for retail development along the eastern edge of Boerum Hill, along Fourth Avenue, and along Atlantic Avenue too. Bringing back life to the Atlantic Terminal area can do a lot for the Downtown commercial and business area too.We find it particularly ironic that only a couple of blocks away first one and now a second new public-assisted commercial office building can be conceived and constructed within a couple of years, but that Atlantic Terminal has gone nowhere. The same job that the Downtown Development people and the Economic Development Administration have done at the Flatbush-Fulton intersection, must now be done at Atlantic and Flatbush.We hope that Borough President Leone and the other officials he gathered take seriously the campaign they have announced, and we and every other resident of the Downtown neighborhoods will be watching their progress with enormous interest. Even though late, we are glad something is being done now to put the arm on those who hold the key to bringing back life into these desolated blocks.ADVOCATE PRESS, INCD nkarl fti%u00abrLa In, d ______:M ichael A. Armstrong, Publisher132 CLINTON ST.,BROOKLYN 11201643-1032Fight For Library FundsContinues On All LevelsA borough-wide citizens%u2019 organization concerned with library services and facilities is fighting for funds for libraries from the three levels of government, federal, state and city.. The Brooklyn Library Council has a petition campaign going to support passage of Assembly Bill No. 683 and Senate Bill No. 638 to increase state aid to libraries. These are identical bills which could mean up to $1,226,754 more each year for the Brooklyn Public Library system. These important measures call for changes in the formula on which state aid to libraries is based, the first change in the formula since 1966.Calling for an increase of 30 cents per capita for the reimbursement of funds spent for books, periodicals and bindings, the new legislation would bring an additional $780,603.60 to the Brooklyn Public Library each year.The bills also call for an increase in aid to the central library from 5 cents to 20 cents per capita. For the Brooklyn public library this would mean an additional $390,301.80 to be used at the Ingersoll (central) Library, primarily for personnel.The Library Council%u2019s action campaign continues for Library Services and Construction Act funds in the Health Education and Welfare budget. Over 7,000 signatures have already been turned in. The Council has been trying to set up meetings to present the petitions to local Congressmen and the two U.S. Senators from New York. (You can help by clipping sample petition and circulating it for signatures).The fight against the city%u2019s staff freeze on libraries also continues. Letters to the mayor, borough presidents and Comptroller Abraham Beame are still needed. Letter writers are being asked to appeal for adequate funds for thefiscal 1974 city library budget as well as for a lifting of the freeze on the 1973 budget. The Council is still trying to set up a meeting with Mayor Lindsay to discuss the city%u2019sstaff freeze on libraries. Council is also anxious to enlist his support in fight for federal and state funds for libraries.The next meeting of the Brooklyn Library Council will be at 8:00 p.m., Thursday, April 26, Third Floor Board of Trustees Room. Ingersoll Building, Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn. The meeting will be devoted to the fight for City, State and Federal funds for libraries. There also will be election of officers.%u2022 A PHOENIX PETITION1 TO: THE HONORABLE JACOB JAVITS,2 The Senator Office Building,%u2022 Washington, D.C. 200252 (also)%u2022 TO: HONORABLE JAMES L. BUCKLEY1 The Senate Office Building,2 Washington, D.C. 200252 FROM: THE CITIZENS OF NEW YORK STATE%u2022WHEREAS, Congress has funded certain library services 2 %u00a9 under the LIBRARY SERVICES AND CONSTRUCTION ACT in the%u00a9%u2022 HEALTH, EDUCATION AND WELFARE budget, and %2 WHEREAS, funds for these services will be eliminated, 2%u00a9 completely for the fiscal year of 1974., by Presidential %u2022%u2022 Order, and 2%u2022 WHEREAS, these services, vital to the People of Brooklyn| and other parts of New York City and State and Nation will %u20225 thereby be eliminated. 2%u2022THEREBY, We, the undersigned, do hereby urge that you take %u2022 %u00a9 all measures, in concert with other elected officials, to %u2022- oncnro fko* LCAI XLI CXM ir*ATIAM A MP\\ r* nr i i . - ft%u00bb %u201c* w *.%u2022%u2022*-*. %u2022 %u2022*-# i, i-uv/vn i iv/1 %u2019i nnu vil.li ru\\L_ uuugci I5%u00a72 passed with fuil funding for the LIBRARY SERVICES AND* %u00a9CONSTRUCTION ACT. %u2022%u2022 Nom%u00bb %u2022%u2022 2%u2022 Address _____________________ 2