Page 380 - Demo

Page 8, PHOENIX, May 9, 1974E d ito r ia lsDon't Nit-Pick Over Stadium%u201c Brooklyn is a big-league town!%u201d That%u2019s the message thatBorough President Sebastian Leone gave the assembledmembers of the Downtown Brooklyn Development Associationthis week at their annual meeting at the Towers Hotel. We%u2019venever doubted it, but the image never keeps pace with thereality (how well we know), and we were pleased to hear thatthe Beep is at work at closing that gap with regard to Brooklyn.The move to build a stadium somewhere downtown is a healthy one that is another component of the plan to make Brooklyn a real city again, in the mind%u2019s eye, if not the official one. We encourage those detractors who are arguing about location not to confuse an argument about site with one about right. The chances of actually getting this kind of facility are remote enough without worrying about where we are going to put it.= aws%u00ae'1\- >%u201d........................................................ ............................................. ........................................sunn..... .| WAY BACK WHEN DEPARTMENT: In the Twenties, the Public Baths at Fourth Avenue and President!| Street were In busy use. Today, this building will probably be a casualty of the parking-lot mania, since lt=| has recently been sold at public auction. [Photo courtesy of The State Street Collection.]Montague MallWorth TestingWe like the idea of a mall on Montague Street if the studiesnow underway by the City%u2019s Office of Downtown BrooklynDevelopment confirm that it does indeed make sense from atraffic viewpoint. Over the past year, we have commentedabout this idea for pumping a little life into Brooklyn Heights%u2019s%u201c main street%u201d and nothing we have heard so far sounds like aproblem that can%u2019t be solved.The issue came up at a recent meeting of the BrooklynHeights Board of Trade, and got a mixed reaction frommerchants, none of whom voiced complaints that seemed to ourear to preclude the idea. Naturally, the merchants areconcerned about knowing what is happening and the residentsof the Heights should be too. We look forward to what the Cityhas to say about what makes sense for Montague Street.One thing is for sure: this short street is a real asset to theHeights and needs some of the kind of excitement that a mallmight bring. We still like the idea of a trial period, which mightconvert the street into a noon-time mall, similar to that onNassau Street in lower Manhattan. It would be the bestpossible way to test public reaction.A Public Journalihe PHOENIX is a public journal whose pagesare open to its readers. We welcome and invitereactions and comment about both our views andour coverage. We are also interested in hearingabout the views of our readers on subjects of localinterest. Send your letters and longer commentsto: Editor, PHOENIX, 155 Atlantic Ave. Brooklyn11201. We reserve the right to edit all materialreceived. Please include a stamped self-addressedenvelope if you wish your material returned.t i ... PHOENIX is published 5b t : ~ %u2014; s ___ * Jvocatp Press, inc., . 155 Atlantic Avenue , Brooklyn, New\\ ork 11201. Single copy price is 15 cents, annual subscription by mail in New York State, effective July 1,I!I7:! is $5; outside New York, 16.Michael A. Armstrong, Publisher155 Atlantic AvenueBrooklyn u 2 0 i Tel. 643-1032to the EditorCarroll Gardens Hasn't Sold OutEditor:I cannot believe that George Spanakos speaks for the Carroll Gardens community in allying himself with the promoters of a %u201c Gas Site Pathmark%u201d (April 25). I can understand people signing petitions for an undesignated supermarket that fail to mention it will deprive the community of a long fought for recreational facility.But the thousands of signatures collected on petitions that honestly present the real choice, and my own canvas of the community leaders with whom I have worked for nearly a decade to develop the blighted and long neglected Gowanus'Canal area as a community recreational resource, convince me that Carroll Gardens has not sold out its integrity.Those who believe that recreational resources \ly dominated by undesirables%u201d insult the community%u2019s ability to see that is properly maintained and abandon the Canal area to further decay and exploitation.1 do not believe Carroll Gardens wants to subject its children to an additional 12,000 cars and trucks a week on an already dangerous residential street, nor that it is willing to sacrifice its local merchants to the wipe-out tactics for which Pathmark is notorious elsewhere.Carroll Gardens will continue to fight and speak for itself.Joseph F. Bruno 80 Third PlaceWho Do That DooTo the Editor:This letter is to inform you of the exasperation of one citizen who has taken his case to the Depts. of Police, Sanitation and Health to no avail, it seems that a few weeks ago l kindly asked a young woman who was walking her dog not to let the dog do his business in front of my house. She politely took her pet further down the street, but the next day she was back again and I was too late to stop her Great Dane from unloading a pompous mound of doo under the lip of my stoop.Justifiably exasperated, i charged out the door and, feeling it was my right and duty to reprimand the young woman, proceeded to do so. Well, you wouldn%u2019t believe the language she used! To compound her felony, two days later she was back and actually coaxing her monster to leave one in front of my door.Now, 1 am not a young womansixty-eight to be exact- so 1 can%u2019t quite take the situation in hand myself. 1 am appealing to you for help. The police say they are powerless unless they catch the dog and his mistress in the act. The Dept, of Sanitation sweeperman refuses to go up on the sidewalk, and the Board of Health tells me to call the Police. Perhaps you could print this letter and force the City%u2019s hand to move on this ugly situation. Thank you.Mrs. Irma Lechner132 Joralemon St.You Fill the GapSirs:1 have just finished reading your excellent %u201c Downtown Brooklyn%u201d Issue (4/26/74) and 1 wish to congratulate you on this progressive and well-written project. I am a native of Park Slope and it makes me happy to see the promising things happening in our borough.Continue your fine reporting and coverage. It is evident that N.Y. large newspapers have abandoned local neighborhoods and The PHOENIX is desperately needed as a source of information and communication.Paul Oppedisano 478 7th St.BY DAN ICOLARIThey found my friend Paposomewhere on State Street lastweek, o.d. %u2019don heroin. He andhis two brothers had startedfooling around with it in theirearly teens on Atlantic Avenue.After many tries Pedro andTommy, both in their earlythirties now, have kicked andstayed clean. But Papo justcouldn%u2019t face the world unlesshe was high on something.The last tim e Papo wasreleased from a treatmentprogram he came to see me,and we sat up late in thekitchen, talking. He told me,%u201c When a junkie gets into histhirties, it gets harder to hangout in the street on a cold night,waiting to cop. You can%u2019t runlike you used to. And in yourneighborhood, every cop knowsyour face. It%u2019s like they almostknow what you%u2019re gonna dobefore you know yourself.%u201dThe last tim e, it almostseemed as if Papo might makeit. He moved out of downtownBrooklyn, away from the streetlife, and settled down with hiswife (also a former addict) and%u2666 Kn/Ni r* rvk%u2019Ni I <4 i%u00bbv CT fTInlUi iaL 1 Iau i i i i u i i u a o i i l a i u u o n . I it?got a job as an electrician forSeatrain, in the old BrooklynNavy Yard. And he enrolled ina methadone program, whichmeant he couldn't shoot heroinanymore.And then his child becameterribly ill, and almost died;recovery was slow and torturous. Papo started drinking --first on his lunch hour, then onthe job. He was so high oneafternoon at work, he got hishand caught in some machineryand was fired for being drunk.When Papo%u2019s sister told meonce that she believes junkiesare a special breed of people, Ijust couldn't accept it. But Icame to understand what shemeant the closer I got to Papo.His intelligence was quick anddeep, and he was almostpainfully sensitive. He wasgenerous and thoughtful, andhe could con you out of your lastcent. But still you loved him.Until the day came when Ijust couldn't watch it anymore-and he knew; I never said aword. When the news came, Ihadn%u2019t seen Papo in over a year.I s till can%u2019t believe there,isn%u2019t some way we could havemade it possible for Papo to livevviti iGut drugs. We iiywj iiisbrand of intelligence and sensitivity; I know how much Paponeeded us.