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CanalHearingUnsureIn the continuing controversy over the future of a six-acre parcel of land bordering the Gowanus Canal in Carroll Gardens recently awarded public-place designation by the City Planning Commission, groups favoring and opposing such designtion continued this past week to prepare separate cases for presentation to an upcoming Board of Estimate hearing, at which a final decision will be reached.Eileen Dugan, chairperson of the Ad Hoc Committee to Clean the Canal, said her group had collected an additional 700 signatures within the Carroll Gardens area in support of public-place designation, bringing the pro-total to 4,700. This designation, if upheld by the Board of Estimate, will reserve the site for public use.Joan Hanley%u2019s Ad Hoc Committee in Favor of Pathmark has not counted signatures since its rally last April 20 in support of a shopping-mall proposal for the site; but Mrs. Hanley feels sure the number exceeds substantially the 8,000- signature figure circulated at the rally.Miss Robertson of the Calendar Clerk%u2019s office at the Board of Estimate says the hearing will not be scheduled for the month of May because the Board has not received a necessary report from the Director of the Budget. When informed of this, Mrs. Hanley stated her group had been informed a definite calender date will be assigned by May 6.ReadingSkillsImproveTeachers at Park Slope%u2019s John Jay High School have found their first year of working with an experimental new approach to reading retardation so %u201c rewarding%u201d that they are seeking ways of extending the program into upperterm classes. So says Mrs. Lillie Cohen, the school%u2019s reading coordinator.The new approach, funded under Title 1 Emergency funds (STAR and SSR), stresses individualized, prescriptive reading. Under the supervision of Melvin Krupitsky, English Chairman, students who are two or more years retarded in reading ability are programmed into small classes (15 maximum) with a specially-trained teacher and an educational assistant. The student%u2019s difficulties with reading are diagnosed in a series of tests, whereupon the teacher makes a prescriptive contract with the student.No group lessons are taught with this method. The emphasis is on individual skill-building. The student pursues the completion of the %u201c prescription%u201d and the teacher works with each student on an individual basis. The prescriptions are based on the areas in which the student needs special help.This year 300 tenth-graders at John Jay have been involved in these specially-funded classes. Teachers are impressed with the results so far, not only in increased reading grades, but more important in cfnH pnt o - H - i+ n ,\\c C C rd * u '*to Hugh Malanaphy, a veteran English teacher at the school, %u201c This works. For the first time, those kids arc ready to open up and admit where they really are so that we can help th en .%u201dThe Individualized Prescriptive Reading Approach is being used as part of a multi-level attack on the severe reading problems of students across the countrv.Prospect Park Boat House before renovation was necessary.Prospect ParkGets FaceliftBY JOHN BLACKMGREApparently city folk don%u2019t know the ins and outsof pot-belly stoves. At least this is the contentionof Prospect Parks Curator Donald Simon whenasked the cause of several mysterious burnings atProspect Park structures over the past few years.Certain Prospect Park structures have beenwarmed by pot-belly stoves, and in three casesthese stoves have been implicated in thedestruction of by fire of historical structures.Two such buildings, the music pagoda andCalvert Vaux%u2019s comfort station, are being lavishedwith full historic reconstruction. Work on bothbuildings is nearly complete.The third structure, the wood frame house atQuaker Cemetery, was destroyed last summer.We did not know of the mishap since the area is soheavily folliated that the building is obscured.Only when I went there to show a companion myidea of the perfect place to live in Brooklyn did Idiscover that only the brick fireplace remained ofthis little %u2018%u2018wood man%u2019s%u201d house that once gracedthe knoll at the cemetary. A real loss.The fourth recent fire, as has been reported earlier in the PHOENIX, was the victim of arson. That was the Teahouse (or Oriental Paviilion), which is scheduled to be rebuilt this year, (minus, thank the Lord, the hot dog stand that has marred the lines of this Vaux building for two decades.)BOATHOUSE OPENING TO BE DELAYED.The contractors working on the final stages of the boathouse renovation in Prospect Park are stillhaving their difficulties. This time with obtainingthe special materials for surfacing the structureand for repaving the terrace.The contractors working on the final stages ofThe boathouse was supposed to have opened inlate April, but even with the delays, parks officialsassure us that the boathouse should be inoperation by Memorial Day.Meanwhile there%u2019s still a good bit of lawn workand landscaping yet to be done in the boathouseand comfort station areas. Soon, they say.GO TO THE GARDENS.The Brooklyn Botanic Gardens are in fullbloom. Do not delay, go directly to the gardensand take in the folliage. The perennial treat, thedouble blossom cherry trees, have reached theirpeak, which lasts only a few days. Spring is here;on to the parks!MEETING OF MINDS OVER 3rd STREETPLAYGROUND.As reported in last week%u2019s PHOENIX* ParkSlope parents were infuriated by continual delaysand recent changes for the promised adventureplayground to be built behind the Litchfield Villain Prospect Park. As a result of last week%u2019sdemonstration and the list of demands deliveredto Parka Administrator Weisl, a meeting was heldlast Friday between community representativesand parks officials.Prospect Parks Curator Donald Simon presented the revised plans and asked the community representatives to make comments and suggest revisions. %u201d we did. They were approved. We got what we wanted,%u201d said Marjory Potts, who has led the four-year drive to bring a creative play area for toddlers to the park She cited the intervention of Councilman Thomar Cuite as the decisive factor. %u201c Like the Lord, he works in mysterious ways,%u201d Ms. Potts commented. %u201c Complete accordance has now been eached.%u201dAs it turns out, the project has already been rebid, one of the points of contention of the playground supporters. But the parents have been assured by Cuite that the budget will be increased so that no additional economy cuts will have to be made.The changes suggested by the design staff, andthose put forward by the community are not major changes, and will not affect the integrity of theoriginal concept. The city officialdom is notprepared to make a definite commitment overwhen the much-delayed playground wll be readyfor use. The best unofficial estimate is lateOctober.ri Location_ _ _ _ _ _Nature of Problem,IiiYour N am e.Your Phoneii iu H To The PHOENIX, 155 Atlantic Avenuen n u i>May 2, 1974, PHOENIX, Page 15