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J J ditorialsThe spectre of a City administration at war with its Police Department is an unhappy one for all %u2014 the police officers, their government and the people both parties are supposed to serve. The upheaval that is rising to the surface of the department over the adminstration%u2019s responses to charges in Brooklyn%u2019s 77th Precinct is taking on the sounds of a war and we hope it doesn%u2019t reach the state of one.In an administration that prides itself on acting in a planned, coherent manner, it seems to us that the measures hastily announced to respond to problems in the department border on over-reaction; reflex action, not measures calculated to address a problem not yet fully identified to the public.Yes, the charges against the 77th officers are plain. What is not plain, however, is how a command structure in a department that has operated under a microscope for a decade and more since the days of the Knapp Commission can uncover so many people doing so much wrong all in one place. What we%u2019ve heard raises more questions than it answers: Is there more? Is this all happening in other precincts too? Is anybody in charge paying attention to what%u2019s happening out there?In the wake of trials now underway over charges of corruption in other agencies andhow it happened and how it continued over so long a period, the questions of accountability and of responsibility have got to be raised. As citizens, those are the first questions we have about what has been revealed in the 77th. wnere are the commanders, the supervisors and the fabled Internal Affairs folks and what are they doing? To have an immediate response that says we can%u2019t trust any of cur officers and commanders and the only way we can cope with the problem is to rotate everybody every so often to keep them off balance tars every member of the department with the same brush that every public official is tarred with over the revelations in New Haven. Both conclusions are unfair, but that%u2019s the imapct of the commissioner%u2019s order and we think it%u2019s wrong.We Know Enough To Recognize the Folly%u201cHow soon they forget,%u201d is an axiom that applies to just about every area of human endeavor. And nothing seems more appropriate as a response to the activities in which our government is now engaged in relation to Iran. President Reagan was swept into office six years ago on a wave of fervor over our national humilation in the taking and holding of hostages in our embassy in that country. Now, we find our government covertly dealing with that country %u2014 apparently providing it arms, no less. Whatever the truth yet to be known, enough is obvious to recognize folly when it is being pursued.S ound Q ffNot Olmsted%u2019s GardenThe story on the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (Phoenix, Oct. 30, %u201cGarden Raises Glass to the Future%u201d ) contains more than a permissible amount of misinformation. If the architect, Sam Brody, was accurately reported, he has done a slovenly job of research.Since the proposed botanic garden finally got under way in 1910, it could hardly have been designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who died in 1903. In 1911, Olmsted Brothers, headed by Olmsted%u2019s nephew and son, were engaged to draw up preliminary plans for the garden. Their firm was located in Brookline, Massachusetts. Since distance made frequent consultation impossible, the firm was replaced a year later by a local landscape architect, Harold Capam, best known as designer of the Bronx Zoo.The statement that the layout of the BBG is symmetrical is totally false, as a glance at a map will show. All the buildings, the weighty part of the design, are crammed against Washington Avenue. With the exception of the Osborne Memorial, designed in classic formality by Mr. Capam in admirable harmony with the neighboring museum, the rest of the garden is composed of disparate naturalistic plantings, irregular and unbalanced. It is difficult to understand how a trained eye could find symmetry in the resulting free-form aggregation.I feel sure that Mr. Brody was misquoted, or quoted out of context, when he is reported to have said, %u201cYou have to create something modern in an environment that was designed a long time ago.%u201d I know of no such compulsion %u2014 in fact, quite the reverse is true. The attempt to graft modem features on ahistoric scene inevitably results in a chimera, a disruptive clashing of styles. The Lasker Rink in Central Park, the skating rinks and bandshells in both Central and Prospect Park, are lurid examples of the mutilation inflicted when modem features are forced on a pastoral landscape. %u2014 M.M. Graff, 44th Street, Brooklyn.Theater Needs Fix-UpI read the Kaplan letter in last week%u2019s issue re : The Brooklyn Heights Cinema and concur with the writer (Sound Off, Nov. 6, %u201cA Theater No-Show%u201d ). The theatre is in need of a facelift. So are both movie screens.I also agree that an evaluation of local movie theatres is a good idea. Don%u2019t think you have ever done one. Now seems as good a time as any. %u2014 Howard Zimmerman, Pierrepont St.Dancers Want StoryOn October 24-26, the Diane Jacobowitz Dance Theater presented a special weekend performance entitled %u201cDancing In A New Space.%u201d The event marked officially the company%u2019s designation as Dance Company in Residence at the School of the Arts, Long Island University. It was, fortunately for the company and its followers, one of the finest seasons of the company, fully produced and danced extraordinarily well, now 5 year residents of Brooklyn. Unfortunately for Phoenix readers, the company barely got notice in the paper.Besides getting praise from the Village Voice, the New York Times, the New YorkPost and Dance Magazine, the company has been written up in other major periodicals including the now defunct Soho News, New York Magazine, several Italian arts magazines and press in both England and Taiwan.What is so irksome about our lack of press is that The Phoenix was called by the press representative at LIU, by the head of the dance program at LIU and by myself several times. In each phone call, a Phoenix editor promised the caller first a feature article on the company prior to the event, and when that fell thru, a centerfold photo.Considering how Manhattan press treats Brooklyn artistic events (virtually nil) and how the Diane Jacobowitz Dance Theater is a dance company particularly and unusually committed to bringing its dance to Brooklyn, the Phoenix%u2019s obvious ommission in the face of their many promises to cover the event is inexcusable sloppy journalism.Lastly, to top the cake with green icing, I called the Phoenix on Friday , October 24th before the opening of the show, and angrily stated my case. The arts editor had no good news. %u201cSorry, I%u2019m leaving town this weekend, we broke our word to you in covering the event and I have no writers for Friday, Saturday or Sunday to cover your concert season.%u201dWould we have been treated the same if we were not a Brooklyn dance company? %u2014 Diane Jacobowitz, Artistic Director, The Diane Jacobowitz Dance Theater.EDITOR%u2019S NOTE: Other than promises made to our mothers, no Phoenix editor has ever promised anybody he or she would ever do anything.S ign of the 'J'imesIn the Carroll Street subway station. (Phoenix Photo by Cheech)Scientists Say ThanksOn behalf of the staff and students of the Science Skills Center, I would like to thank you for the excellent exposure we received in your October 16th issue (Phoenix Special on Kids, %u201cThe Science of Getting Kids to Enjoy Learning%u201d ).We were very pleased with the fine journalistic and photographic job by Mr. Rob Taylor. Through his keen observations and thorough interviewing, Mr. Taylor produced a sensitive article giving positive recognition to an organization committed to working with the youth of our community.Our children, who for the most part go unnoticed, were exhilarated to have been spotlighted. It was refreshing to have an article exposing the %u201cgood%u201d things our youth are doing. It is this type of encouragement that helps them to pursue excellence.For this we thank you, and keep up the good work. %u2014 Michael A. Johnson, Executive Director, Science Skills Center, P.O. Box 883, Adelphi Station, Brooklyn.Dancers SlightedOn the weekend of October 24, The Dian. Jacobowitz Dance Theater performed its first major concert as the company-inresidence at Long Island University. This is a Brooklyn-based company and is, in my opinion, probably one of the finest dance groups in the borough, where they%u2019ve purposely chosen to make their home. As a result of my affiliation with LIU, and as the instrumental person in inviting Diane to work on our campus, it was inappropriate for me, as a dance writer for the Phoenix, to cover this event. It was, however, clear to those of us in the art world in Brooklyn that this event deserved, had earned the right to good local coverage. The Phoenix, much to my dismay, never did cover this performance, slighting not only Jacobowitz, but also LIU and its new School of the Arts.While I am well aware of the fact that The Phoenix is usually fastidious about covering local events, and is extolled for the high quality of such coverage, it doesn%u2019t help when what is important to you, and that which affects both a small private organization and a large one in the community, is so completely overlooked. Although press releases were sent well in advance, and phone calls were made confirming these dates, even listings for dance that week excluded the Diane Jacobowitz Dance Theater.If it had been publicized, your readers would have had the opportunity to see Jacobowitz%u2019s strongly emerging capabilities, not only as a highly expressive performer, but also as a choreographer with a unique gift in developing characters with many dimensions, exposing their emotional depths and vulnerabilities with both sensitivity and clarityIt is important to encourage awareness; nd respect for the art that is nurtured and grown in Brooklyn as much as, if not more than, that which we so readily import. %u2014 Judith Stuart, Associate Professor, School of the Arts, Long Island Universityf - U l i U K S i N u i i v . m s . Stuart is ionaneriy a dance critic for The Phoenix Newspaper.Page 34, THE PHOENIX, November 13, 1986