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February 21,1974 PHOENIX Page3Antidote for Rising Costs:Bill Would GiveBreak to Thosein Cad TowersLegislation would help hold down rents here.BY CORRINE COLEMANA bill to continue the interim financing of the Cadman Towers project in Brooklyn Heights for three more years has been introduced in the State Senate by Senators Carol Bellamy and Chester J. Straub.Designed to amend the local finance law, the legislation (which was sponsored by Straub last year, was passed in both houses, but vetoed by Governor Rockefeller) would assist the Cadman Towers cooperators who have been unable to benefit by the usual five-year financing period because of the long delay in construction of the Mitchell-Lama project.The Cadman Towers story, a saga of middle-class shafting, began during the late 1960%u2019s though the cooperators didn%u2019t begin to occupy the 422 apartments in the two high rise buildings and town houses until last May, 1973. Caught in a four-year battle with Cad-Plaz Sponsors, the original developer, the tenants began their association with the project by putting their money in during 1969 on the basis of the stipulation in the developer%u2019s prospectus that rentals would amount to $51. per room. Feeling secure in their investment because the prospectus stated also that a construction contract would be signed to provide for a fixed cost to the contractor of $12,168,000. with the contractor responsible for completion within that amount, thetenants were looking forward to moving in during 1971.After some time however with construction lagging, the would-be tenants learned that the contract was not at all fixed. They discovered as a matter of fact that the cost of the project would amount to nearly $21,000,000, rather than the originally projected $16,000,000, and that monthly rentals would be jumped to $86. per room.The rise in costs resulted (by the summer of 1972), in an exodus of IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICourt SaysIncrease OKIn Manhattan Supreme Court Tuesday, Judge Sidney Fine, upheld the ruling by the City%u2019s Housing and Development Administration (HDA) that would boost monthly carrying charges at Cadman Plaza North by 31 per cent. This decision will allow the management of the 250-apartment development to raise charges, as they had requested in an application last summer.iiiiiiiimiiiiiiiimimiiHiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiabout half the cooperators; in the indictment of sponsor Michael Mishkin (who was eventually acquitted) on 86 counts of grand larceny in the second degree and three counts of a violation of thegeneral business law; and in a removal of the developer from control of Cadman Towers, which was still not completed.Efforts before the City Board of Estimat to reduce the rentals from the projected $86. per month (up $35. from the original $51.) brought about a monthly maintenance charge of $62. per room under the current interim financing. Without continuation of this arrangement, the monthly cost will rise to $77. under permanent financing, and move up two years later with every boost in interest rates.The bill%u2019s sponsors note that Mitchell Lama co-ops are financed for a period of five years under the local finance law. However, since four of the years have elapsed since the beginning of construction, the tenants having moved in in 1963 would obtain but a year%u2019s benefit without the revised legislation. Bellamy and Straub are thus proposing the three year extension on the basis of Cadman Towers %u201cunique%u201d situation.Gene Krinsky, recently elected President of the Cadman Towers cooperators is determined to fight for the continued interim financing.%u201cWithout it, rents would eventually rise to the ceiling and families with young children %u2014 the elderly, who chose to remain in the Heights %u2014 to live in the Towers %u2014 would be forced to leave and run off to the suburbs,%u201d he feels.%u201cThe city, state and federal government will have to come up with an allocation of resources in recognition of what the leaving ofthe middle class means in terms of vitality%u2014in terms of the tax revenue that would be gone.%u201d Krinsky, a born New YorkeR and Heights aficionado, adds.%u201cAfter all, they subsidize convention centers, give tax breaks to sports arenas, it can be done for human beings,%u201d he declares optimisticallyPlanners to ConsiderPublic Place' StatusFor G as Com pany SiteAlice Van Bolt president, Cobble Hill Association, and owner of Felix%u2019s Barber Shop, 196 Court St, display one of the posters that were distributed on Feb. 9, the group%u2019s Poster Day, when literature and information about clean streets and sidewalks was distributed to merchants along part of Court St. A similar day is set for Feb. 22 by the Carre!! Gardens Assn on lower Court St Rachell Haskell is chairman of the Cobble Hill Group's Court St Committee.The much publicized block on the west side of the Gowanus Canal between 4th and 7th Sts., is now up for approval by the City Planning Commission %u201cas a public place for use compatible with the surrounding residential community.%u201dThe seemingly vague designation of the nearly six acres means that if okayed at the CPC meeting, set for Feb. 27 at Manhattan%u2019s City Hall, the property could no longer be used for the industrial purposes which the current resident, the Ferrara Cement Mixing Plant fulfills. The %u201cpublic place%u201d category, it is emphasized by a Commission spokesman means %u201cnothing other than a holding action to keep the land vacant to later return the question to the community.%u201dSought for years as a site for a high school to relieve the overcrowded John Jay H. S. in South Brooklyn, the former Brooklyn Gas Co. property was the subject of controversy untill last year. While students, teachers, parents and community organizations were in favor of a new upper school on the canal%u2019s edge, opponents (most of whom live in the adjacent area) seemed to be able to convince Board of Education officials of the possibility of a neighborhood confrontation.Sought for years as a site tor a high school to relieve the overcrowded John Jay H. S. in South Brooklyn, the former Brooklyn Gas Co. property was the subject of a controversy until last year. While students, teachers, parents and community organizations were in favor of a new upper school on the canal s edge, opponents (most of whom live in the adjacent area) seemed to be able to convince Board of Education officials of thepossibility of a neighborhood confrontation.Since no resolution was made after a vociferous hearing on the II. S. question at Bd. of Ed. headquarters last Feb., the cement factory, despite initial difficulties in obtaining a permit, was able to move onto the area.When the entire surrounding community %u2014 including pro- and anti-high school people reacted negatively to the cement factory%u2019s appearance, the Mayor%u2019s Committee for Gowanus Redevelopment (again including both sides in the high school fight) with recentlyresigned Planning Commission Chairmand Don Elliot as chairman, voted unanimously in favor of a public place designation for the acreage on the side of the canal.After recommendation by the City Planning Commission and the Canal Redevelopment Committee, plus backing by State legislators Carol Bellamy and Michael Pesce, City Councilman Tom Cuite and Democratic District Leader James V. Mangano, the area was %u201c mapped%u201d by Boro President Leone's office. Though $517,000 has been allocated under the Parks Department Budget for acquisition of the site, it is assumed that actual cost may be higher after 'he expected Ferrara Court battle and tho likelihood of its receiDt of vacating expenses.Though the %u201c public place%u201d designation seems universally favored, latest reports about theinaction of Community Planning Board Six on this issue, suggest the possibility of a snag The issue was put over during last week%u2019s planning board meeting when board and Gowanus Redevelopment Committee members Lou Valentino and Joan Hanley were not in attendance. Though their absence may account for the holdover, it was noted that Nat Levine, Brooklyn Heights member of the board, suggested that members of the Gowanus community might be interested in a Pathmark supermarket with satellite stores on the site, instead of the %u201cpublic place.\Corrine ColemanGoldin in Visit To Cobble HillHarrison J. Goldin, the recentlyelected Comptroller of New York City will be the guest speaker at Independent Neighborhood Democrat's annual elections meeting Feb. 27, at 8 p.m. at the club headquarters, 345 Court Street.IND was one of the first reform Democratic clubs in the city to give Goldin its support in his campaign last year. He is expected to speak about his plans for the ComptrnlW s nffirp over the nomine years. The meeting is open to the public. Coffee and cake will be served before the meeting which begins at 8 p.miiiiHinmiiimmimHmitMiiiiHiHiiiiiiiimnitiimHuiiKOTiimmmntiiiniiHiiiimmmMiiiuiiu130 CI inton 1 tree*Brooklyn New York 11201 TPI 643 103?*%u2022 v*,P%u00bb>kiv r o i r u n u n i l y n e w A p a p p ' PuDDSPnO 60 times A v('8r by A(lvOC Atf* Press inc serv.ny the neighborhoodsV.'%u201d rounding D n w e 'n w n Brookl yn n i jd ny Boerum h.ii Brooklyn He gMs ( rtr r oi Gardens Cobb1** H f or * Greene ,ira Park Slope Suostr pt on per yearApplicat'on to Ma I at $r. find C.y-\\Postage P.ves %u2022. Prrcfmq a* r.r . %u2022