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Park Slope %u25a0Group SeeksAttention toLocal IssuesApril 11, 1974 PHOENIX Page 3%u201c METHODIST HOSPITAL DAY%u201d is proclaimed by Mayor Abraham Beame at City Hall ceremony April 4. Left to right are Vernon Stutzman, Executive Director of the Hospital; Robert Steingut, City Councilman, representing the Majority Leader, Thomas J. Cuite; Dr! Nicholas Leone, President of the Medical Board, and John Willem, President, Board of Managers. A proclamation was also issued by Governor Malcolm Wilson, honoring the Park Slope hospital.Leaders and members of at least six major Park Slope community and political organizations have formed a coalition geared to clarifying the positions of and working with elected officials who represent Park Slope and several surrounding communities.The coalition, whose members came together this month at the urging of the Park Slope Neighborhood Tenants Council held its first meeting last week at the Prospect Towers apartment building on Fifth Avenue and 10th Street. The organizational representatives attending expressed a desire to pressure local politicians on housing, health, neighborhood and political questions in general.Those attending the meeting are active members of a wide range of groups, including the Park Slope Neighborhood Tenants Council, the Prospect Towers Tenants Association, the Fifth Avenue Coalition, the Park Slope Senior Citizens Group, the M ethodist Hospital Ambulatory Care Services Advisory Committee, Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, and the Third Street Block Association.Significant at the first meeting was the group%u2019s decision to invite Democratic City Councilman Tom Cuite to a public meeting slated for April 21. The representatives at the meeting adopted and sent the following letter to the Councilman: %u201c Dear Councilman Cuite,%u201c On behalf of our entire community, we wish to invite you to a community meeting to answer questions concerning the serious housing crisis facing all of us. Considering the seriousness of theBenefitsTo Fund PlayareaThe Brooklyn Heights Playground Committee will be holding two Spring benefits in an effort to raise the remaining funds for the creation of an adventure park. An additional $40,000 is needed to match the amount allocated by the City.Ina Feuerstein has arranged for the Off-Center Theatre to come to Packer Collegiate Institute, 170 JoralemonSt., on Saturday, April 20. The children%u2019s theatre company will give a performance of %u201c Beauty and the Beast%u201d at 2 p.m. Admission is $2, and reservations may be made by calling 642-1609.In addition, the Committee wi I i sponsor a bake sale on Saturday, May_18, at the eriirance xo the Pierreponi Street Playground. Anyone interested in making an individual tax-deductible contribution toward the $40,000 goal is asked to make checks payable to the Parks Council, BHPC, and mail to 1 Pierrepont St.,R r n n k lv n 11901 -----%u2014 - %u25a0housing problem and its significance for us and our families, we strongly urge that you be present at our meeting. To be sure, this issue will be uppermost in our minds at election time. Therefore, we are looking forward to hearing what your plans are regarding this crucial issue. Sincerely yours, Angela Beni, Director, Park Slope Senior Citizens; Frank Torres, Director, Fifth Avenue Coalition; John Wojcik, President, Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats; Zita Fitzgibbon, Chairperson, Ambulatory Care Services Advisory Committee; Richard Ayers, Chairman, Prospect Towers Tenants Association; and Thomasena Smith, Michael Shulman, Tom Scotto, Co-chairpersons of the Park Slope Neighborhood Tenants Council.Those present at the coalition meeting discussed their own special reasons for desiring to meet with Mr. Cuite in particular. Mike Shulman, co-chairman of the Tenants Council, said, %u201c We are interested in carrying on the tenants%u2019 fight on the Maximum Base Rent situation-we believe that the role of the City Council is crucial in this area, if tenants are going to get any real protection. Landlords,%u201d he stressed, %u201c are not making the repairs they should beCon Edison and Brooklyn Union Gas have agreed to cooperate in protecting and preserving the Historic District of Brooklyn Heights by requiring their workmen, as well as outside contractors, to follow stringent preservation procedures whenever operating in the District, the Brooklyn Heights Association announced this week.Under an agreement made after recent meetings held at the request of the Heights Association, the two companies have agreed to notify the Association whenever disruptive construction or maintenance work falls within the confines of the Historic District.The Association reached a similar agreement with New York Telephone last fall, after the Company caused a stir in the community when it removed bluestone sidewalks and disrupted traffic and pedestrian movement while repairing telephone conduit during the summer-without notifying anyone in the community in advance.%u201c We applaud Con Edison and Brooklyn Union Gas for demonstrating special concern and understanding of the unique historical and architectural environment of the Brooklyn Heights Historic District,%u201d said Edwards Rullman, pres ident of the Association. %u201c We are grateful for their willingness to sit down with community leaders and help work out procedures designed to protect and preserve irreplaceable elements which contribute to the character of the District.%u201dIn nH H itinn t o n n t i f v i n o th** r*nmmunity in advance of pending construction or repair work, Con Ed and Brooklyn Union Gas have agreed to: (1) Follow specialprecautions to assure that anv heavy equipment used in historic districts does not damage trees, fences, stoops and other valuable elements of the District; (2) Preserve present bluestone sidewalks and replace any bluestone which isdamaged by their operations.making, and we want the City Council to help insure that the landlords will have to certify that repairs have been made.%u201dAlso at the meeting was CBID president John Wojcik, who said, %u201c We want Mr. Cuite to help clarify for the community specific areas of responsibility for different elected officials. We believe that all elected officials must be advocates ofBluestone which is characteristic of 19th century sidewalk construction, is expensive to replace but very durable, helps contribute to the attractiveness of the Historic District; (3) Acquire and store quantities of bluestone for replacement use as needed; (4) Incorporate the above provision into their standard operating procedures for employees as well as into all oral agreements with independent contractors and supplies; and (5) Implement these preservation propeople's needs, whether or not the issue is a clear-cut matter of City or State jurisdiction; we%u2019ve had enough of the pass-the-buck game played by too many of the assemblymen and state senators in Albany, and by too many of the city councilmen in New York.%u201d Barbara Storace from the Health Advisory Committee said she wanted Mr. Cuite to support thecedures within the boundaries of all Historic Districts served by the utilities.%u201c We commend the officials of the utilities involved %u2014 John Cohoon, Assistant Vice President of Brooklyn Union Gas, and John Cleary, Vice President of Con Edison, Brooklyn Division. We also thank Michael Gold who attended all meetings as Director of Preservation for the Landmarks Commission, for his assistance and support,\community's Alternate Plan on the Methodist Hospital's expansion. \%u201c is putting primary stress on closing Sixth Street, building high staff housing and parking lots, and is putting only secondary stress on ambulatory care and emergency room services--exactly the two areas we want to have receive primary attention.\irman of the Brooklyn Heights Association%u2019s Committee on Streets and Sidewalks, who arranged and conducted the meetings.The meetings were initiated in conjunction with the Association%u2019s continuing efforts to implement equitable preservation procedures applicable to public agencies and private companies which perform construction and maintenance work in the streets and sidewalks and other public areas of Brooklyn Heights.Bklyn. Heights SANE toEnact Mock ImpeachmentA %u201c pre-documentary%u201d of the impeachment process will be conducted by the Executive Board of Brooklyn Heights SANE on Wednesday, April 24, at 8 p.m. at the 1st Unitarian Church, with SANE Board members taking the parts of the government officials who would participate in an actual impeachment in the U.S. Congress of President Richard Nixon.Taking part in the proceedings will be the following SANE Board members: Yetta Bloom, announcer; Robert Bloom, Speaker of the House; Robert Side, Recorder, Priscilla J. Rassin, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee; and Ken Boss, Director.%u201c Impeachment,%u2019 %u2019 said Ms. Rassin, who is candidate for the Democratic nomination for Congress in the 14th C.D., %u201c does not constitute conviction. Rather, it is a means of subjecting the evidence to public scrutiny, and it is incumbent upon all Americans to acquaint themselves th o r o u g h ly w it h t h e impeachment process. The SANE meeting has been designed toward this end.%u201c This heading will be a means of involving people in sifting through their own thoughts on the politics, m orality and justice of impeachment,%u201d Ms. Rassinsaid. %u201c The procedure has been planned to duplicate in authentic detail an actual i mpeach ment. %u201d Ms. Rassin, an attorney, has done the research for the SANE hearing.%u201c SANE%u2019s enactment of the procedure will also have the merit of involving the audience in the impeachment decision,%u201d she continued, %u201c sincethey will vote on i h e e v id e n c e p r e s e n te d a s the members of the House of Representatives would vote in an actual impeachment.%u201dThe public is invited to attend and to participate. The Church is at the corner of Pierrepont St. and Monroe Place.Heights Assn. Gets Pact:Utilities Adopt ConstructionRules to Keep Historic Traits