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Keep Mechanics forCommunity InputThe story elsewhere in the PHOENIX this week about the fateof Sam Azadian and the local Urban Action Task Force leaves amajor question unanswered: What is going to happen to theconcept of neighborhood government in New York City?The Charter Revision Commission is hard at work on oneplan that would embody a proposal for neighborhood input intomunicipal decision-making. The planning board conceptrepresents another approach which, like the task force idea, hasenormous merit, but is only partially effective because it isn%u2019tproperly supported on official levels.We hope that the task force idea will not be allowed to diewithout serious consideration for a replacement that, at least forihe Heights-Slope and South Brooklyn areas, will offer theopportunity for the same kind of community input into themechanics and processes of city agencies that we have had inrecent years.Please, Mayor Beame, put this on the top of your actionagenda.aimsiliiiiiiiiiiMiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiil|1 WAY BACK WHEN DEPARTMENT: This turn-of-the century postcard view shows| the Brooklyn Museum before its east wing was added on. (George Guzzio Collection)SniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiuiiHiiHiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirSpring RenewalSpring brings the promise of traffic jams and temporaryheadaches on three major local thoroughfares-Flatbush Avenue, Court Street and Myrtle Avenue. The work is alreadyunderway on Myrtle; Flatbush activity was announced thisweek; and Court Street work will begin soon. All this work,coming at one time, is a healthy sign of renewed official interestm our historic downtown neighborhoods, and promises to bringwith it renewed city efforts to bring at least two of these streetsback to healthy commercial life.Success to the YThe YWCA has embarked on a campaign to raise capitalfunds to renovate and refurbish its huge building at Third andAtlantic Avenues in Boerum Hill and we wish them success.The YWCA has resisted many of the temptations otherinstitutions have succumbed to, including that cardinal sin ofmoving out of a %u201c bad area.%u201d The struggle over the recent yearsto re-orient the %u201c Y%u201d to what is happening in the DowntownBrooklyn area and in the world at large would certainly appear:o be successful with the announcement of this campaign.r %u2014 %u2014 %u2014 %u2014 %u2014 %u2014 %u2014 %u2014 %u2014 %u2014 - %u2014 >Do You Have Something to Say?We welcome your contributions to the Phoenix Community Forum Page.500-750 word length prefered.Send y ou r m a teria l to:The Editor, Phoenix,130 Clinton St., Brooklyn,, N.Y. 11201V ...... -... JTin- PHOENIX is published SI) lim es a year by Advocate Press, Inc.. 155 Atlantic Avenue , Brooklyn, NewYork 11201. Single copy price is 15 cents, annual subscription by mail in New York State, effective July 1,l!)7:i is $5; outside New York, 16.Michael A. Armstrong, Publisher155 Atlantic AvenueB r o o k ly n 11201Tel. 643-1032SCI JElderly Don't Want Segregation by AgeTo the Editor:The Brooklyn Heights Association in their letter of March 5,1974 requested my opinion on the comversion of the Brossert Hotel. Please print my reply of March 12th which is enclosed in this letter. Thank you.Ms. Sara Brown The Hotel Committee Brooklyn Heights Association Dear Ms. Brown:Thank you for inviting our views concerning the Bossert Hotel conversion.No, this is not the sort of hotel renovation we have petitioned for.I am chairperson of Citizens For The Rights of Older Adults. We have been deeply involved in fighting for improvements in the critical situations the older adults in Brooklyn Heights face in theOn Tennis Courts...Dear Sir:I%u2019ve been following with great interest the pro and con discussion on location of tennis facilities and would like to contribute the following thoughts:. . .Why not press for the placement at the Fulton Ferry area (I don%u2019t know if space is available, but it would lend itself nicely if feasible). . .As one of the original signers of the Pesce sponsored petition for tennis in the Heights, I did not sign expecting tennis courts in Cad. Plaz. Park. . .1 strongly agree with my neighbors who feel the park should be re-vitalized as a multiuse facility. . .and Ms. Rowen%u2019s point about tne aoggy-ieavings is particularly well put!In conclusion, let%u2019s do get tennis in the Heights but not at Cad. Plaz. Park and let%u2019s see more stories on Heights problems, activities, et al.Sincerely,Elane Feldman CADMAN TOWERSr.o. i iii sull awaiting story on when we can expect to see.the%u2014 promised for this Spring%u2014Fufton Ferry service restored!community%u2019s residential hotels. We have petitioned for the renovation of these hotels so that the elderly who have elected to live in them have safe, liveable and affordable housing. Furthermore,I do not believe that one group of elderly should be evicted or harrassed into moving to make room for other elderly from outside the community and in order to turn the local hotels into %u201cProprietary Homes for Adults%u201d .Brooklyn Heights has a phenomenal %u201cnatural%u201d resource -- it has hotels in which older adults can and do live. These hotels are within com fortable walking distance of the facilities necessary to older adults -- a health station, community and recreation centers, shopping, transportation, and churches and other houses of worship.You request a statement of our position regarding %u201cProprietary Homes for Adults%u201d . Most older adults are mobile, well and active, and want freedom to come and go as they please. Less than 5 percent of the senior citizen population in New York City is institutionalized. If M edicare and Medicaid payments for Homemaking and Visiting Nurse services were expanded, many older sick and disabled adults would rem ain active and independent.As one of us recently commented, %u201cAnother senior citizen residence? We don%u2019t need it; we want a remodelled hotel - carpeted, walls painted, priced m oderately for all people, irrespective of age. I want a mixed age group hotel.%u201dLucy Lee, a resident of the Pierrepont Hotei, told me: \not want to be segregated by age. This is a new racket in real estate that tries to take over unfortunate hotels in the guise of charity to the aged and decrepit. We need real middle income housing for people who are more or less able to take care of themselves and who have a lot of pride in their hearts - people who are not asking for hand-outs and who want to live the best they can on their own incomes.%u201dYet another said, specifically in regard to the Bossert: %u201cToo expensive; 80 percent cannot affordit. The Bossert is no good as it is or remodelled. This is institutionalizing older adults and people living alone.%u201dWith the encroachm ent of proprietary homes for adults on the local hotels in Brooklyn, the elderly in our community will no longer have a choice about where to live ~ and how to live.Proprietary homes are built for profit motives. Their owners are not accountable to the communities in which the homes are located -- and they should be. If there if really a need for proprietary homes, then site selection and facilities should be planned to meet real needs and not approved ina haphazard, lastminute way. When the proprietary homes are completed, older adults will be forced to live in them because there won%u2019t be space elsewhere.%u201dCustodial care should be for people who are absolutely helpless. Proprietary hames claim that they do not accept people who need medical attention. The proprietary home doesn%u2019t solve the real problem and only creates additional ones such as a large population of dependent older people.Older Americans have enriched our country with their loyalty and integrity, their experience and wisdom, and hard work; and, last but not least, raised and supported a new generation. We demand first-class citizenship, which means the right to housing suited to our needs, adequate income to buy food and basic necessities, free transportation, health care and paying jobs. We want a hot line to our elected officials, be they City Councilmen, Mayor%u2019s Office of the Aging, Borough President Leone,State A ccomkltrm anCongressman and Planning \Six. We want to participate in the decision-making process.Youth and Age in Action will make a coalition to return government to the people. Thank you for including us in your decision-making on this vital issue.Sincerely,A n n e Cohen ChairpersonCitizens for the Rights of Older Adults