Page 488 - Demo

12, PHOENIX, June 13, 19743Lucu! Primary Race Lorn.CONTINUED FROM PAG IPesce, who had been considering such a race for the past few months, last week announced he would be a candidate for re-election in the 52nd Assembly District, which includes Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Red Hook.%u00bb On Monday, however, Arthur Jr Paone, who has been a close political advisor to Pesce, announced that he would be a candidate in the 15th District Congressional race. It is legally possible for Paone to petition for a position on the ballot, decline to run, and have Pesce%u2019s name substituted.IN THE BALLOTING for thereform designation for Congress in/ ------------------------ --------------------the 14th Congressional District, the original arrangement among the candidates was that they felt it important to eliminate reform and liberal opposition in advance of the actual Democratic primary. The four candidates had agreed that if one received 40 per cent or more of the weighted vote, the others would drop out of contention.The final results, however, did not produce a clear win for any of the four, leaving confusion over what happens next, since it had been expected one would clearly emerge. This problem is compounded by the possible candidacy of a black Democrat%u2014possibly Joe Mann%u2014who could appeal to both the liberal Brooklyn Heights-Cobble Hill community, as well as tominority neighborhoods.Donald Elliott, a Brooklyn Heights resident who is former chairman of the City Planning Commission, has indicated he plans to pursue the endorsements of individual independent political clubs, and expects to receive them, based on his front-runner status on the balloting. Sam Beard, who won most of the community public meetings that were part of the process says that his margins there give him broader support throughout the district, and he believes his candidacy is far stronger than Elliott%u2019s.THE %u201cMINI-PRIMARY%u201d of thereform Democrats was conducted over a week-long series of public and organization meetings, involving a total of 1,305 people, who either cast ballots at club meetings, or were invited to one ot the area-wide public meetingsElliott was the winner in all of the club meetings. He bested Beard in Brooklyn Heights, at the West Brooklyn Independent Democrats 103 to 55, with 22 for Perales, 19 for Rassin and 29 for no endorsement. In the Independent Neighborhood From the W illiamsburgh-Greenpoint Independent Democrats, Elliott got 56 compared to 51 for Perales and two for Rassin; Beard received no votes. From the Clinton Hill Democrats, Elliott received 80 votes, Beard 49, and others 10.In total votes, however, Beard was the clear winner, even though Democrats based in Carroll Gardens and the home club of Assemblyman Mike Pesce, Elliott got 42, compared with 27 for Beard, 17 for Perales and three for Rassin. Elliott received a higher percentagebecause of the advance %u201c handicap%u201d arrangem ent. Beard outpoiled Elliott in Fort Greene, l2i to nine, with 17 for Perales. He got a plurality in Gowanus-Boerum Hill, polling 70, compared to 49 for Elliott and 37 for Perales. In Greenpoint, Beard got 19, with two for Elliott, and six for others.The greatest surprise of the entire reform process is the enormous turnout in the Hassidic community in W illiamsburgh, where Beard got 228 votes, compared with 67 for Elliott and 58 for Perales. This vote is the first time the Jewish community in Williamsburgh has participated in any significant numbers in any reformoriented democratic activity, and observers believe it might indicate that the retirement of Rep. John Rooney may mean a switch from that community%u2019s traditional role as a mainstay of the regular Democratic organization.---------------------------------------Parks ProbeRecovering Alcoholics, ParksBoth Benefit from Ft. Greene sWhile at the residence, participants take part in peer groupsessions. %u201c It%u2019s on the model ofencounter groups, somewhatsimilar to the Synanon-PhoenixHouse therapy,%u2019 %u2019 reportedLennie Singer, who runs theclinical part of the program.Project Renewal TherapyBY JOHN BLACKMOREThink of rehabilitation programs, city health clinics, methadone centers, social service centers. What comes to mind? Dingy waiting rooms, lines extending around the corner, surly secretaries, bureaucrats in triplicate, condescending adm inistrators? the PHOENIX visited Project Renewal last week, a Ft. Greene-centered rehabilitation program for reco vering alcoholics, and found that the usual impressions did not apply.We first heard of Project Renewal while investigating the %u201c how to%u2018s%u201c of the Mayor's Playlots Programs. One of the questions that came up was how these playlots were maintained. A playlots administrator responded, %u201c No problem. Project Renewal will take care of that.\Project Renewal, it turns out, is based on the philosophy that the best %u201c therapy%u201d for recovering alcoholics is independence through selfsupport and self-regulation. The project is able to offer the opportunity for such selfsupport through a contract with the city, where project participants pay their way by cleaning, maintaining and repairing playlots throughout the city.The Project pays the men a salary for this work, and out of this salary, the men contribute to their room and board at a family-style residence where, through counselling and mutual reinforcem ent, the men are encouraged to stay sober and become self-respecting citizens once again.The Project Renewal residence is located on Ft. Greene Place in an attractive doublerow house, the men participate in various activities that more closelv aoDroximate a normal life situation than their past existence on the Bowery. %u201c They live in a community away from the Bowery; they go to work every day; they participate in an educational program; and they l ave the responsibilities of lining together and sharing the rent for the buildingProject Renewal is beginning its fourth year of operation. The project was developed by the Vera Institute of Justice and the Manhattan Bowery Project, is sponsored by the Mayor%u2019s Playlots Project and is funded by the Manpower and Career Development Agency. Since it began in June, 1970, as a six-month program with ten men, the project has been expanded to fifteen men, who participate for up to one year. The fifteen project participants clean and maintain 91 parks and playlots throughout the city on a weekly to bi-weekly basis. This service is a considerable one, considering many of the playlots in the program are in areas where there are no community organizations to take care of the parks. rcompare favorably to most alcoholic treatment programs. And indeed, if eighteen men can be returned to productive sober lives, any of whom had spent fifteen to twenty years on the Bowery, this is an accomplishment. An interesting and unexpected result is that many of the graduates have gone onSome community resistance met the project when it first came to Ft. Greene, a commu nity which has more than its share of drug, methadone, mental health and other rehabilitation centers. %u201c But we%u2019re more welcome now,%u201d said Bill,%u201cWe don%u2019t try to control allaspects of a person%u2019s life here, %u2019%u2019he added, %u201cThere%u2019s no curfew,the guys have their own keys.We provide a person with analcohol-free environment with aminimum restrictions on theirliving situation, a maximumemphasis on work and self help,and a lot of time to go out andexplore. %u2019 %u2019 He added that few ofthe participants had this opportunity while on the Bowery,%u201c They didn%u2019t have a chanc e tostop and consider life. Theycan do this here.%u201dJerry Woloz explained theeducational program at thecenter. %u201cThere%u2019s a period oftime set aside each week foreducation,%u201d he reported, %u201c Butwe define education widelyhere. We see it as includingskills and hobbies that the menare interested in.%u201dThe project has served over 90 men over the past three years. Of these, fifteen are still active participants, and eighteen have fully %u201c graduated,%u201d i.e., gone on to active, productive lives independent of the center after spending a year there. The remainder have left for personal reasons or have returned to drinking. At first glance, these may not seem outstanding statistics, but theyto work in alconolic rehabilitation where their experience and expertise is extremely valuable.One important facet of the program is that %u2022 it is fully voluntary. W hile,90% of the participants were pulled off the street and de-toxified at the Manhatten-Bowery Project, they were required to have been sober for a certain period of tim e and to voluntarily choose to join the program.Project Renewal has had a great deal of continuity over the past four years, with many of the personnel having been involved from tne beginning. Just hired is a new director, Ann Foote, who most recently ran a storefront alcoholic program in Baltimore. She herself is a recovered alcoholic.The graduates, those who have re-entered the everyday world of problems and frustrations, do they sometimes wish to return to %u201c the life?%u201d %u201c Of course,%u201d says Bill, %u201c Sometimes I get down to the Bowery and see some of the men sitting around without a care in the world, while I have bills to pay, job worries. But you only have to remember what happens at four in the morning, when they%u2019re in some filthy hallway, shivering and sick. That keeps me away.%u201din which mey nve.