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Page 2 PHOENIX January 10,1974T o u r ' E y e s o r e *Hospital Lots; Ask CleanupDemolition crews were again at work tearing down row housesowned by Methodist Hospital that have been termed\disagrees.The preservation of this row of Whitestones on 6th Street is thecenter of a bitter dispute between Methodist Hospital andvarious Park Slope community groups Demolition was startedlast Saturday on three more of these houses.BY JOHN BLACKMOREThe Methodist Hospital Expansion Committee of the Park Slope Civic Council conducted a tour last Saturday of %u201ceyesores%u201d on Methodist Hospital property. The purpose of the tour was to highlight some of the glaring maintenance problems attendant with the stalled building program at the hospital.Conditions pointed out on the tour included garbage and debris at the receiving entrance on 7th Avenue, the rickety construction fence and building materials lying about the main entrance on 6th Street, an empty row house on 6th Street owned by the hospital which has not been properly boarded up since a fire occurred there last summer, and general litter and debris on the sidewalks and walkways surrounding the hospital.%u201cThese conditions tolerated by Methodist Hospital have no place in our neighborhood,%u201d said Richard Coyne, Chairman of the Committee and a past president of the Civic Council, %u201c Methodist Hospital properties are among the worst kept in Park Slope, and these conditions have persisted for several years despite efforts by the community to get the hospital to clean up.%u201dAccording to the Committee, the worst eyesore, and the most easily remedied by standard maintenance procedures, is the chronically unkempt service area along 7th Avenue. %u201cA hospital with pride in itself would not permit these conditions,%u201d said Frank Jones, the Committee%u2019s Secretary, %u201cAs anyone can see for themselves, the visual effect is incredibly depressing, with garbage, laundry and other debris carelessly scattered about the hospital%u2019s service entrance.%u201dFeatured on the tour were extensive areas of vacant property surrounded by high chain link fencing topped by barbed wire.H ealth Coalition SaysProhibitive Costs D elayM ethodist ConstructionMethodist Hospital will be unable to begin construction of its planned Seventh Avenue staff housing building because the private financing it had sought for the project is too expensive, according to a spokesman for the Park Slope Community Health Coalition, the umbrella group coordinating opposition to the institution's expansion plans.Methodist had planned to obtain a mortgage loan from a consortium of private banks interested in funding %u201c health related%u201d projects. Rising interest rates have made the cost prohibitive, claimed Bob Furman, a Coalition member.Robert Queen, head of Methodist%u2019s public relations department, said the hospital had %u201c no comment%u201d on \nouncement by the Park SlopeCommunity Health Coalition. %u201cI have to look into this situation. I have no inkormation at all with regard to this news at this time,%u201d Queen stated.%u201cThe Hospital will not be able to go ahead in %u201874 as it had planned,%u201d said the Coalition announcement. \vacant lot on Seventh Avenue, just as we had feared. We brought our suit last August to prevent demolition because we were afraid this would happen. Now it has.%u201dThe vacant lot, surrounded by a wire fence, occupies half the block between 7 and 8 Avenues and 5 and 6 Streets.Methodist had originally sought private financing to avoid public scrutiny of its plans in the State agencies that approve these mortgage loans,\130 Clinton Street B rooklyn, New York 11701T**l A44 ini?A w e e k ly c o m m u n ly n e w s p a p e r published SO tim e s a year by A dvocate Press inc serving the neighborhoodssu rro u n d in g Downtown B rooklyn in eluding Boerum H ill, B rooklyn Heights. C a rro ll G ardens. Cobble H .il Fort Greene and Park Slope Subscr.pt,on iS per yearA p p lica tio n to M a.l at Second Class Postage Rates >s Pendinq at Brooklyn New Y o rkman. %u201cThe State Dormitory Authority requires insertion of the hospital%u2019s name into its enabling legislation before a loan is made, he said and the Medical Care Facilities Finance Agency (MCFFA) requires approvals from the Departments of Health and of Housing and Community Renewal.%u201d No applications to these agencies have been made yet, said Furman %u201cand the Coalition will seek a community voice if one is made.%u201d%u201c Coalition policy,%u201d continued Furman, %u201cis to allow the hospital to rebuild with the least possible community dislocation and thegieaiesi possible benefits lo uuihealth care. Our soon-to-bereleased Alternative Plan, developed by the Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development, shows a building the community could live with; small scale, mixed hospital staff and moderate income community housing, community facilities, storefront health efforts and sufficient parking to not further overcrowd our streets. We will seek the adoption of this plan.\John Noonan, President of the Civic Council, pointed out that these forbidding vacant areas may be around for years if not permanently. %u201cThe Hospital, despite opposition by every active community group including the Civic Council, demolished sound, historic housing last summer on this now empty site. Yet they now state that there is currently no financing with which to start to build on the empty land even if necessary approvals are obtained.%u201d (The Phoenix, in an editorial published in August, 1973 warned that this precipitous demolition by Methodist Hospital might result in vacant lots in the heart of the historic Park Slope area for years.)What is needed, in the Civic Council Committee%u2019s view, is a major change in Hospital management%u2019s view of Park Slope and a determination to provide effective maintenance and repair. %u201c Hospital administrative personnel have actually praised their performance in property management by comparing it to conditions in Brownsville or the worst slum properties in the hospital%u2019s catchment area,%u201d stated Mr. Coyne. %u201cThis mentality%u2014that Park Slope is a %u2018slum%u2019 whose residents should be grateful for the Hospital%u2019s demolition of %u2018old houses%u2019%u2014has no place here or inthe management of any urban hospital.%u201dAnother community spokesman suggested that the Hospital may be acting out of spite because of unanimous community opposition to its present expansion plans and application to close Sixth Street. Tolerating rundown conditions and creating a wasteland, according to the spokesman, may also be intended to demoralize the surrounding neighborhood so that it will acquiesce in Hospital expansion as preferable to present unacceptable conditions.The Civic Council is demanding that Methodist Hospital clean up these eyesores, establish a clearcut maintenance program, make necessary repairs to its buildings on Eighth Avenue, institute a property beautification program, and make full periodic reports to the community on its progress.The Council%u2019s hospital Expansion Committee was formed in 1971 to %u201cget a grip on some of the alarming and unclear aspects of the then-proposed expansion program at Methodist,%u201d according to Coyne. Also sitting on the committee are: Michael Garret of 4th Street, Bernard Babb of Garfield Place, Minny Sunfist of 4th Street, and Hector Bright of Second Street.Center ExpansionFight Another MethCommunity Planning Board No. 8 held an open hearing on Tues. at P.S. 9 to discuss a request for expansion that has been submitted by the Addiction Research and Training Corporation (ARTC) methadone maintenance center on Dean St. The group is expected to meet for a second time on Jan. 10 to vote on its decision.The center, which operates at 549-551 Dean St. between 6th and Carlton Aves. is funded with public money and administered by ARTC. It currently serves about 107-191 patients and is requesting an annual budget of $371,807 for a staff of 28 to handle 200 out-patients.The officers of the Triangle Parks-Flatbush Ave. Im %u00adprovement Committee were polled with regard to the expansion and expressed the opinion that it should be fought. A Prospect Heights Addiction Advisory Committee was formed by six block association in the center%u2019s area to not only block expansion but to have the center closed entirely.The PHAAC is opposing the center because the members feel that it is not needed by the community, which is served by seven other drug centers; because the Dean St. block is fighting for survival against urban decay and its chances for success are lessened by the presence of the center; and because poor management has caused building deterioration and an unsafe environment.The continued funding of the Center is on the Board of Estimate Calendar for Jan. 10, but is expected to be laid over, according to Borough President Sebastian Leone%u2019s office.The Board had previously voted to fund an ARTC center at 937 Fulton Street in a reduced fashion following more than two years of opposition by residents of Fort Greene, who complained that morethan a thousand addicts being treated there were causing disruption in the community. The final decision funded facilities on Fulton St. for 250, instead of the 1000 plus requested.Set BoroTown HallOn Jan. 13Civic leaders from neighborhoods throughout Brooklyn will meet Jan. 13, to formulate a list of borough priorities and make plans for a Town Meeting to be held in March. Both sessions are being coordinated by the Better Brooklyn Committee, which seeks to develop a unified group of leaders who will help Mayor Beame tackle the borough%u2019s problems, said organizers.John N. LaCorte, Better Brooklyn Committee founder and Brooklyn Heights resident said, %u201cWe want to build a strong brooklyn Leadership Team with well-articulated goais to meet the present and emerging needs of the people of Brooklyn.%u201dOf the new mayor to whom the group will offer its assistance, Mr. LaCorte remarked, %u201c Our new mayor is a Brooklyn boy. We know the sinceritv. integrity, dedication and personal capacity demonstrated in his public service up to now. But he will need help to make the city a better place.%u201dThe January 13 meeting will take place at the Fort Hamilton Officers Club, Fort Hamilton Parkway and 101st Street, Brooklyn. Plans for the March Town Meeting, which will provide an open forum for citizens irom each Brooklyn neighborhood. will be formulated at the Fort Hamilton session.1