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Homeless Need Our Help NowIt%u2019s getting rnlfi in New York Citv AnH nnoe the tumn^pahirp dips below freezing %u2014just as surely as winter beckons %u2014 New York will be faced with yet another season oftoo many homeless people and too few beds to give them.As the years pass, emergency becomes more and more of a misnomer for this situatioa The problem of people with no place to live isn%u2019t one that disappears when the sunshines, and neither should the search for solution. But it does. Year after yearoutrageous sums of money are paid to flea-bag hotel operators to provide shelter thatbrings with it a heaping dose of misery and the explanation of the government officialswho pay out the money is that it%u2019s the best we can do in this emergency. It%u2019s an explanation that doesn%u2019t wash anymore. Over the years the City government has createdother routine ways to deal with other kinds of emergency situations and get its %u2014 andour %u2014 money%u2019s worth. No one knows when or where a fire will strike, for example, butwe have a fire department ready to deal with them when they do. No one can predicthow many or who is likely to become homeless, but you can sure predict there will bemany thousands of them in the course of a year. And with years of %u201cemergency%u201d experience now as a guide, the City can%u2019t explain away dealing with the problems of thehomeless like it was a situation happening for the first time.If the City government doesn%u2019t seem to be approaching the problem like it must tofind some permanent ways to meet it every year, the attitude of some localneighborhoods is even more unrealistic and contributes, we think, to the failure of theritv tn tin c n n a r o lv tn c n m o ln n o - r o n tlo nrairc tn F A i i t i n A l i r /Ja o I +V*io K n m n n-------^ %u2014 %u2014 %u2014 %u2014 g - \%u2018\*%u201d*' - %u2014 - %u201cO'O ' %u2022 %u2022 %u00ab%u2022** * %u00ab / M %u00ab%u25a0%u00bb%u00ab M WM I * ( III H U I M U U M i lneed. Although homeleiis people exist in almost every neighborhood in New York City,homeless shelters do not. Manhattan City Councilmember Carol Greitzer, says 19 of the59 community districts in the city have no city-run shelters within their boundaries.While everyone agrees that %u201cthe homeless%u201d is a problem, no one wants to see it astheir problem. Neighborhoods don%u2019t like what the City does and the City says that whatthe neighborhood groups want, like Community Board Six in its objections to a shelterin the South Slope and proposals for other permanent facilities, isn%u2019t possible because ofthe cost. Yet, it is hard to convince the reasonably objective person why, after theyears we have looked at this problem, we are better off spending it on ill-suited hotelhousing than finding a way to put it into permanent facilities. It all smacks of a problem that there is no will to ever really solve.Community districts where no shelters exist must be required to participate in finding a solution to this problem. The City must find ways to redirect funds to createhousing suitable for the homeless individuals and their families. And eachneighborhood must do its share to meet the perennial need. As the streets of Brooklyngrow colder, arguing and excuses are a poor blanket against the winter%u2019s wind.S o u n d ( ) f f feedback f e w h e a d e rThanks Section TwoThanks to The Phoenix for helping us toshare the good news about Clive Lythgoe%u2019sappointment as Executive Director of theRoosa School of Music (Section 2, September18). We%u2019re extremely proud to have an artistof Clive%u2019s stature not only at the school, but asa neighbor. It%u2019s one more indication that, asThe Phoenix reminds us so effectively everyweek in Section 2, the arts are alive and wellin Brownstone Brooklyn.Clive%u2019s first public concert of the seasonwill be at the Cathedral of St. John the Divineon Sunday, October 26, at 3:30pm. Admissionis free. The Cathedral is located at Amsterdam Avenue and 112th Street %u2014 take the %u201cK%u201dor %u201c1%u201d train to 110th Street. It would be greatto have a solid turnout of Clive%u2019s newneighbors to give him a proper welcome %u2014even in Manhattan! Tom Vachon, President,Roosa School of Music, 25 Columbia Place.Support Vets%u2019 FastAs we write this letter, four veterans arefasting in order to call attention to the U.S.covert war in Nicaragua. They are fastinguntil they see an increase in public oppositionto the U.S.%u2019s funding of terrorism against thepeople of Nicaragua. Typical of our government%u2019s disinformation, outright lies, and evasions of this war is the denial of our involvement of U.S. forces in this conflict. The recent downing of a plane with U.S. personnelin Nicaragua provides evidence of such involvement.In solidarity with the veterans, wechallenge the local candidates for public office and all citizens in condemning ourgovernment%u2019s current Central Americapolicy. This challenge is part of the NationalCampaign to Stop the Lies, launched on October 7 by the National Pledge of Resistance.The goal of this campaign is to refute ourgovernment%u2019s lies about the realities in Central America. Congressman Solarz, SenatorsD%u2019Amato and Moynihan, we hold you accountable for the lives of the fasting veterans andof the people of Nicaragua. %u2014 Cathy Barbanofor the Pledge of Resistance of CongressionalDistrict #13, 111 Court Street #3-L.Bravo To CinemaNot too long after a fabulous lunch with afriend, Ray Napper of the famed SchillerNapper Galleries, I chanced it to go to thenearby Cinema I to see the film %u201cOtello.%u201dDirector Franco Zefferilli has done truecredit to composer Guiseppe Verdi%u2019s greatmasterpiece of love, treachery, jealousy, anddeath and the performances of tenor PiacidoDomingo, soprano Katia Ricciarelli and bassJustino Diaz are overwhelming. Domingoshould receive a special Oscar for his profound and passionate interpretation of Otello,and the scene where he, in flashback, is soldin slavery as a child is unforgettable. Despitesome unfortunate musical cuts by Zefferilliin the duet and finale, this rose cannot befaulted for its tiny thorns %u2014 and to think thiswork is the ripened fruit of a composer whowas 74 years old and had not written an operasince %u201cAida%u201d in 1871,16 years earlier!The wonderful news is that the Cobble HillCinema will be showing this film beginningOct. 31.1 felt a pang of remorse when I exitedthe Cinema I because I felt, why shouldManhattanites be privy to such greatness andour own Boro be bereft because the filmmight not %u201cpack them in%u201d as would the usualtrite fare.A few days ago while viewing a free showof a documentary masterpiece called%u201cTosca%u2019s Kiss%u201d about the aged, poor singersand musicians who are spending their lastyears at the Casa Verdi, a special home tocare for the indigent and needy performers ofold that was given to the futures as the lastgreat legacy of Guiseppi Verdi, I saw a housepacked with young film buffs as well as aficionados. Famed vocal coach Bob Rossi, whowas present, described the fact that nothingof note appears to go to Brooklyn and he andhis entourage had to %u201cschlep all the way toNYC.%u201d Many elderly people can%u2019t travel, hewent on.Wouldn%u2019t it be great if just one Brooklyntheater owner would go out on a limb, and offer more artistic film fare? So that we too canshare in the Manhattan feast.Well, the Cobble Hill Cinema managementis to be commended for reaching out to thosewho thirst for beauty and I am certain thelarge appreciative audience will be a factorin future films of similar stature.Perhaps our youth would finally knowthere are alternatives to the car crashing inane shows that have flickered across thepsyche and the screen far far too long. BravoCobble Hill Cinema and may your tribe increase. %u2014 Nino Pantano, President St.A Poem To BrooklynWhen I was walking by Borough Hallrecently I glanced up and noticed the scaffolding around the cupola and the newly gilded dome.Later, at home, I thought about that dome,the one on Brooklyn College%u2019s LaGuardiaHall, the one on top of the WilliamsburghSavings Bank Building and began to write ...BROOKLYNTo me Brooklyn is gold domesand heroic statues,A triumphal arch showeringmagnificence throughout its area,A stone-clad, clock-topped spirepiercing the downtown sky,A looming classical facadeguarding centuries of art treasures,A vast greensward burgeoningwith the gifts of nature,A wooden esplanade sprawlingalong the thundering shorewith seagulls reeling up above,A necklace of neighborhoods,strewn with multi-colored jewelsand bathed by a river breeze,down whose streets Walt Whitmanwalked.Charlene Victor, BACA founder, says %u201cpeople need to get rid of that apologetic littlechuckle%u201d when they say they are fromBrooklyn (The Phoenix, Sept. 25). I neverused it. The media image never did matchthe facts. %u2014 Jerome G. Frank, West 5thStreetPlaza%u2019s Not SANEKings Plaza Shopping Center now refusesto allow Flatbush SANE to table at the mall,restricting first amendment activities of freespeech and petition. We had tabled theresince October 1983 for voter registration andpeace education. They had waived their insurance requirement %u201cin the spirit ofcooperation and support of free speech,%u201d accepting a %u2018Hold Harmless Agreement%u2019 releasing them of liability from our presence. Nowthey insist on a one-million dollar liability insurance policy, effectively keeping us out.We urge readers to write to Mr. JosephCilia, Manager; Kings Plaza ShoppingCenter, 5100 Kings Plaza; Brooklyn NY 11234,to allow us to continue tabling, as a service tothe community. Marion Kronheim, Chairwoman, Flatbush SANELiving A Nightmare?Am I living in an Orwellian nightmare?Our President was about to clinch thegreatest arms control coup in history whichwould even have allowed earth-boundresearch of %u201cStar Wars%u201d but instead chosethe most preposterous, extremely expensive,crazy scheme anybody has ever dreamt up(S.D.I.). How can a sane person stomach thisidea? The most ardent proponents say that atbest it's 99% effective: that%u2019s 200 missileswith 10 warheads apiece vaporizingeverything we cherish.When are we going to realize technologycan%u2019t save us; only we can save us. %u2014 JaneSimonton, Sixth Ave.If You've Got SomethingTo Say A bout LocalS ig n o f t h e T im e s%u2022 - ;t.T ;v %u25a0%u25a0%u25a0 J %u25a0 - %u2022,m f * eis s u e s , j o u n u u j jHere in Our Space.(P h o en ix/K o ch Photo)Page 34, TH E P H O E N IX , O c to b er 23, 1986