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Page 2 PHOENIX April 11, 1974O%u2019 NEILL BECOMES PRESIDENT-James A. O%u2019 Neill was recently named to the past of President of Atlantic Liberty Savings and Loan Association of 186 Montague Street. He had previously been Executive Vice President of the organization. Leonard O%u2019Brien, who had been president of the merged organization, retired from Atlantic Liberty in February, but remains a director of the Association. Mr. O%u2019Neill is treasurer of the Brooklyn Kiwanis Cluband a member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce. He is a graduate of the American Savings and Loan Institute and its School for Executive Development, and is a member of the Institute%u2019s Professional Activities Committee.NOT ELIGIBLE FOR MEMBERSHIP-StateSenator Carol Bellamy, Henry Street resident, applied for membership in the venerable Brooklyn Cl ub i n March, but was told she wasn %u2019 t %u201c el igible. %u201d In a letter from Harold A. Meriam, J r., secretary of the Club, which was founded in 1863, the Senator was told that she was %u201c not eligible for membership because from the date of its founding, the Club%u2019s By-Laws have limited eligibility for membership to men.%u2019%u2019 %u201c How long is that going to last?%u2019%u2019 asks an associate of the Senator.NAMED TO BOARD OF REALTORS-Bernard Hughes Atkins, Montague Street real estate broker, has been named to Active A Membership in the Brooklyn Board of Realtors, A.L. Santagata, president, announced last week. Mr. Atkins is now entitled to be called a %u201c realtor.%u201dHOSPITAL EXPANDS BOARD-Two women, Delia Jackson, project director of the Police Athletic League, and Jean Cruz, assistant director of LaCasa Neighborhood Services Center, have been promoted to the Board of Regents of Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill. They had previously been on the Hospital%u2019s executive board.JOINS PLANNING BOARD-John M. Flanagan, 21, has been named a member of Community Planning Board Number Six, which covers Brooklyn Heights, South Brooklyn and Park Slope. Flanagan, a Slope resident, is chairman of the South Slope Betterment Association and an officer of the 72nd Precinct Community Council. The new appointee has been critical of the Planning Board in recent years, accusing it of not being %u201c responsive to the communities%u201d it serves. He says he will %u201c lead the fight to bring the Board cioser to the community and inform the community of what is going on inside the Board.%u201d__________TO BE HONORED AT TEA-M rs. James P. Costello of Brooklyn Heights will be honored April 16 at the Annual Awards Tea of the Volunteer Department of the Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill. Chairman of the Hospital%u2019s volunteers, Mrs. Costello has served 8,000 hours since becoming a volunteer in 1952. Also to be honored from the Heights are Margaret Baird, Mrs. Richard Hickmey and Mayde Wilson.i -----Reaction to Vote on Gowanus Site:SupermarketeersSay Locals Don'tWant Public PlaceBY DAN ICOLARIWhen the City Planning Commission last week approved public-place designation for a six-acre tract of vacant land between Smith Street and the Gowanus Canal south of Fifth Street, it echoed the positions of almost every elected official and most civic organizations in the area. %u201c But it didn%u2019t reflect this community%u2019s true feelings,%u201d says Mrs. Joan Hanley, head of Carroll Gardens%u2019 Ad Hoc Committee in Favor of Pathmark. Mrs. Hanley%u2019s group is opposed to public-place designation, and favors a plan put forth by developer Louis Rosenberg, who bought the property last fall and wants to create a shopping mall which would have as its major tenant a Pathmark supermarket.\wants that superm arket,%u201d says Mrs. Hanley. %u201c We%u2019ve got 6,000 signatures in favor, and if that%u2019s not a reflection of true community feeling, I don%u2019t know what is.%u201d The petitions will be presented at an upcoming hearing of the Board of Estimate, which has final say on the designation.But another group, the Ad Hoc Committee to Clean the Gowanus, is circulating its own petitions-in favor of public-place designation. In a telephone interview, Eileen Dugan, chairperson of the Committee, expressed some doubts about the signatures collected by Mrs. Hanley%u2019s group. %u201c We%u2019ve seen copies of those petitions, and there are some glaring irregularities that just won%u2019t hold up,%u201d she said. %u201c First of all, those petitions are misleading. All they say is %u2019Sign if you want a Pathmark supermarket.%u2019 What housewife doesn%u2019t want a supermarket? but what they don%u2019t say is that if the supermarket comes in, a cement factory that nobody wants will remain on the site as well. And that cement factory is counter to what everybody wants - which is to see the Canal and the area arounc it cleaned up.%u201dIn the opinion of another Carroll Gardens resident and member of Ms. Dugan%u2019s group, the Pathmark issue and the effort to clean up the Gowanus are directly related. Said Ira Levine, who is also president of the South Brooklyn Development Council, %u201c When we started our committee in 1973, we realized that no matter how much money we might raise for interceptor sewers, dredging, and a treatment plant, our efforts would be wasted if we couldn%u2019t make some impact on the blight around the Canal.%u201c Most of the surrounding blocks are residential, but because they%u2019re zoned M-l or M-3 (industrial), every time a house burned or was abandoned, somebody would comein, tear it down, and put up a one-story factory building. Our residential base was being seriously eroded, so we knew we%u2019d have to petition for a zoning change to residential on those blocks, and for public-place designation on the vacant land. While we were exploring such a change, Rosenberg bought the property for development.%u201d [Mr. Rosenberg recently sought a variance before the Board of Standards and Appeals which would permit him to erect another shopping center bordering Udall%u2019s Cove in the Little NeckDouglaston area of Queens-again, with considerable community opposition. A decision on the variance has been %u2018 %u2018laid over, %u2019 %u2019 according to a Board spokesman.]Those in favor of public-place designation have proposed that the site be devoted to a recreational facility. One member of Ms. Dugan%u2019s group, Peter Drago, an assistant to Democratic Assemblyman Michael Pesce, admits the designation is essentially a holding action. %u201c There%u2019s no money available right now for the kind of thing th ; community wants. So initially it would probably be an outdoor space--possibly a ball field. Eventually, we%u2019d like to create an indoor space for ice and/or roller skating, something of that sort. ButContinued on Page 6Heated Debate OverMental Health UnitBY DAN ICOLARIAt a hearing of Community Planning Board 2 (Fort GreeneClinton Hill), angry pro and con groups faced each other at the LIU Humanities Building April 4 to air their views on the temporary installation of Cumberland Hospital%u2019s mental-health facility in a furniture showroom/warehouse at 3 Lafayette Avenue, near the corner of Flatbush.Hampered by a faulty p.a. system that made it necessary for speakers to shout, the hearing took on a strident, unpleasant tone;repeatedly it became necessary for speakers to pause, waiting for the shouting and arguing to subside among factions in the audience.Those in favor of the installation argue that Cumberland's mental health unit cannot effectively serve the needs of the community in its present cramped quarters; that it is a stop-gap situation at best and is failing to deliver the quality of services it might in an expanded, modern facility.The opposition contends this is yet another case of institutional expansion in Fort Greene; that within a three-block radius of the proposed site there already exist twelve social-service and related institutions.And while Cumberland%u2019s administration states the Lafayette Aven-%u2014 _%u2022*-------------------i i --------------f%u2014----- : i_ t - i_u w a u v i v p t v a v i u a u i c u u i j u %u00bb u u u u i vsolution to its space problems (ending a three-year search for appropriate space within the area), those opposed question whether alternative sites have been adequately investigated and whether the outlay for two facilities-one temporary, one permanent-is really justified.The building at 3 Lafayette is slated for eventual condemnation by the City of New York, which will acquire it as part of Brooklyn Center y Urban Renewal Project. So whatever the Planning Board decides, Cumberland%u2019s mental health unit must continue its search for a permanent site.Support for the proposed site has come from Councilwoman Mary Pinkett and Councilman Fred Richmond, both Democrats representing Fort Greene. Said Richmond, %u201c While 3 Lafayette Avenue is included in Phase 2 of theDowntown Brooklyn Urban Renewal Area, I am certain that the utilization of the building by the Cumberland Hospital Mental Health Department would be appropriate and advantageous to the Fort Greene community.%u201d Richmond says he is calling on Cumberland to set forth a definite proposal for a permanent site as quickly as possible.Mrs. Morrell M. Avrarn of Brooklyn Heights discusses plans for the April 20 Spring Ball of the Guild of Long Island College Hospital with Dr. Joseph R. Bongiorno (1) and Dr. Robert L. Pinck of the Cobble Hill hospital%u2019s staff. The Bali is set for the Americana Hotel in Manhattan.lWBtin%u00bbntifWHWWttWtMWMeiHBM88WIIIIIOTriiagmi155 Atlantic Avenue oioukiyn, Ntrw York i i/ v %u2019l Tel. 643 1032A w e e k ly c o m m u n ity n ew spaperpublished 50 tim es a vear by AdvocatePress Inc serving the neignborhoodssurro unding D ow ntow n Brooklyn in %u00adclu d in g : Boerum H ill, B rooklyn H eights,C a rro ll G ardens, Cobble H ill, F o rtGreene and P a rk Slone S u h^rrint ion 15per year.A p plication to M a il at Second ClassPostage Rates -s P ending at B rooklyn,New Y o rk