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Page Eight PHOENIXOn Saturday,March For PeacePreparations are now in the tinal stages for an inaugural gala inWashington. From all indications the event will be a spectacularcomparable to the half-time show at last Sunday%u2019s superbowl.At the same time, in communities throughout the country,citizens are preparing to demonstrate against the SoutheastAsian war during the Inauguration festivities.A horde of Greyhound buses and at least one train will carryBrooklynites to Washington to take part in the demonstrations toprotest the waste of money and human life in Vietnam.The huge Brooklyn turnout is testimony to the fact that we arepaying for the war here in Brooklyn through a calculated federalneglect of the urgent priorities of housing, public safety, andeducation in order to direct funds to the military.On Monday of this week, five days short of the inauguration,President Nixon called a halt to the bombing of North Vietnam.There is an eerie similarity to the \which preceded the November elections and the gorey spectorwhich followed.It seems that Mr. Nixon has the unique good fortune to havegood news precede each of his political milestones.There is little to say about the Southeast Asian war that has notalready been said. The time clearly has come to put an end to itand to set about the task of winning an ideological struggle, ifindeed there is one, by setting an example here at home.We urge our readers to join with their neighbors and make thetrip to Washington to impress upon President Nixon on thisimportant day that his election was a mandate to end the warimmediately.Housing HurtLast week, the Nixon Administration announced an 18-monthmoratorium on all %u201csubsidized\this action means an end to new housing for low and moderateincome families.Construction costs in New York City are so high as to make itimpossible to build new housing for people of modest meanswithout the favorable FHA provisions which are affected by thefreeze.The administration%u2019s action spells an end to new public housingas well as much of the housing planned for both the AtlanticTerminal and the Downtown renewal projects. Rehabilitationefforts currently underway in Ft. Greene and Park Slope will bestymied.The administration justifies the action by charging waste in theprogram. We are just as opposed to waste and chicanery as Mr.Nixon is; however, we don't feel that the way to stop it is bycutting off an entire national program.Perhaps Senator Proxmire of Wisconsin summed it up when hesaid \tinued war in Southeast Asia will simply cause a housing shortagehere and in Asia.%u201dRobert Burke Jones, PresidentM ic h a e l A. Armstrong, Publisher132 C LIN TO N ST.,B R O O KLYN 11201TEL 6 4 3 - 1 0 3 2Justice W ro u g h t S m allThis the court of last resort for people often fighting for their last or next to last buck. If you%u2019ve been there you know what I mean. The air is a palpable entity, hot with hostility, aiive with anger. Vibrations of human rage, doubt and fear pulse wave against wave in time with your increased heartbeat.And it%u2019s not always poor people against rich. This is a place where it%u2019s cheap to stand on principle. It%u2019s a bargain. For $3.18 you can bet on yourself without a lawyer and the odds are better that at O.T.B. depending on the strength of your case, you have about a 50-50 chance of winning. But, sometimes you may lose your cool and your objectivity and forget that it%u2019s not a matter of life and death with millions of dollars riding on the outcome. At most it can only be $500. That%u2019s the limit in small claims.My last experience in Small Claims Court had to do with a customer. A nice, pleasant woman, quiet and gentle, she had ordered flowers for her wedding totaling $45. The day came to deliver the flowers and, as is customary, we called to tell her that the bouquets were on their way. You see, brides worry a lot. The driver called about 20 minutes later to say there was no one by that name at the address. We called the telephone number to which we had previously spoken and received no answer. Telling the driver to check around, we frantically searched the telephone directory for the correct address. No luck. TheWindow onBrooklyn HeightsBy BERNARD H U G H ES A TK IN Sdriver called again and was told to bring the flowers back while we continued to call the bride%u2019s number.One week later the bride and groom walked into the shop asking why the flowers hadn%u2019t been delivered and demanded a refund. They were shown the now dead bouquets sitting in the rear refrigerator as well as the work order showing the address given us. She had given us 45 St. instead of East 45 St. No explanation was forthcoming when we asked why she hadn%u2019t called when the flowers didn't come. Only a demand for a refund. In view of our costs and the fact that she had given us the wrong address, we offered half which was refused. A few days later a summons from Small Claims.When we arrived in court, the place was crowded with hundreds of milling and angry people. The judge came on to the intoned phrase, %u201c All rise, all rise, Judge Takachance presiding!%u201d With a dropping of papers and hats and a soughing of shuffling shoes, weCity Council Ignores NeighborhoodsTo the Editor:I have been surprised by the lack of comment in the local or citywide press on the recent activities of the thieves, scoundrels and nincompoops in the New York City Council.Last month, the Majority Leader of the Council, Thomas Cuite, who represents the South BrooklynPark Slope area, drew the new councilmanic lines for Brooklyn. A quick glance at this reapportion map for Brooklyn would indicate to any observer that very little, if any, consideration was given to the concept of keeping neighborhoods intact. In this day when everyone is screaming about %u201c neighborhood%u201d control, Mr. Cuite performed a slaughter job not only on neighborhoods but also on ethnic representation. For example, there are two or three districts in the middle of Brooklyn which are three or four blocks wide but run up and down Brooklyn for miles. The intent, of course, was to destroy any chance for new people running against the organization since the assumption is that in any such strangely shaped district the regular organization would be better able to cope with petition gathering and campaigning. Some news stories also indicated that various opuncilmen who had their districts chopped up for the benefit of other incumbents were paid off with commissionerships orj u c t g o m p o .- JIn our own area we have two seats. In the north (roughly north of Amity Street), the regular organization gave Councilman Skolnick a judgship and then paid off its financial obligations to millionaire Fred Richmond by giving him that councilmanic seat. In ths south, on nrcu covc*,ir'rtSouth Brooklyn and parts ot Park Slope, Sunset Park and Borough Park, Mr. Cuite drew what he thought would be an invulnerable district by chopping up the neighborhoods of Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, Gowanus, Park Slope, Flatbush, Borough Park and Sunset Park. At the hearing last month on the lines, representatives from Cobble Hill, Park Slope and Borough Park raised serious objections to having their neighborhoods divided among different districts. Residents from many neighborhoods throughout the city likewise complained. However, the council under the autocratic control of Thomas Cuite went ahead and passed the lines the way they had originally proposed them. The consistent party line as given by Councilman Merola (who is now the District Attorney of the Bronx), by Councilman Skolnick (who is now a Supreme Court Judge), by Councilman DiBlasi (who it is rumored will soon be a State Commissioner), and by Coun cilman Cuite (who figures the district he drew is inviolate) was that these lines were required by the %u201c one man-one vote%u201d decree. Such decree never required the disenfranchisement of neighborhoods.Only time will tell whether the arrogance of Mr. Richmond and Mr Cuite will be repaid by the voters. Mr. Cuite has picked his own weapons, his own time, hisuwn place anu ins own uisulcl. IIwould indeed,be ironical if after all of that arrogant manipulation, both Mr. Richmond and Mr. Cuite lost their seats in this year%u2019s elections.Very truly yours, Arthur J. Paonerose and then sat again. The clerk set the ground rules, %u201c No smoking, no talking, and speak up in a loud voice when your name is called!%u201d As the names droned on theC o n tin u ed on P a g e 13v! .v(Crime To (Decrease)jin City |New York%u2019s crime rate %u201c will be among the lowest of the nation%u2019s 25 most populous cities by the end of 1974,%u201d the chairman of the Association for a Better New York predicted recently.Chairman Lewis Rudin made his forecast in a luncheon speech to The Society of Foreign Consuls at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Jan. 9.%u201c Because the business community is now deeply involved in the problem of crime,%u201d Mr. Rudin said, %u201c it is my belief that, in the next two years, we will witness a dramatic decrease in New York%u2019s crime rate.%u201d He based his conviction on the five-point anti-crime program developed by ABNY, which is made up of 100 prominent Lucinessmen in the city.Under t V crime program, ABNY is emic^ng building superintendents and doormen as %u201c block-watchers%u201d to observe the streets and report unusual activities to police; using security guards to patrol building grounds; encouraging employees to join the auxiliary police; purchasing highpressure sodium lamps to brighten neighborhoods, and promoting the identification of movable property by the police to cut thefts.%u201c It is our hope that this anticrime program will serve as a model for other business, civic, service and fraternal organizations,%u201d Mr. Rudin said. %u201cWe anticipate that our efforts will be multiplied by others in the coming year.%u201dMr. Rudin pointed out that New York ranks 11th in crime among the nation%u2019s 25 largest cities. The crime rate per 100,000 persons in New York, for the first six months of 1972, is lower than the crime rates in Denver, Detroit, San Francisco, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Boston, Baltimore, Cleveland, Phoenix and New Orleans. %u201c And, serious crime in New York City decreased 17 per cent during the first nine months of last year,%u201d Mr. Rudin said. %u201c New York has always been the most progressive and flexible of cities, and, today, ever mindful that a major corporation must deal in the global market, New York is prepared to meet the challenges of world trade.%u201dMr. Rudin said that private U.S. investment abroad has increased 100 per cent in the last decade. And, he said, for the corporations engaged in international investment and production, no U.S. city can remotely match New York%u2019s amalgam of specialized international services.Only m New Yuik,%u201d M i. Tvuuiii said, %u201c can a corporation president have lunch with a consul from an African nation, spend the afternoon with a banker who knows the market in that nation, a lawyer who specializes in African law, a translator, a currency expert, etc. Imagine putting together a $500 million investment in Africa from