Page 131 - Demo

BY ELIZABETH ALVAREZ%u201c Younger, bolder and noisier%u201d is the way one resident of Boerum Hill described the prostitutes who have recently invaded even the steps of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church at Pacific Street and Third Avenue.A cross section of the residents of the brownstone neighborhood who tend gardens, fix up their homes and maintain a strong community spirit through a network of block associations are upset at the intrusion of the prostitutes.The church is situated just one block from a major intersection of Pacific Street and Fourth Avenue, where prostitution has thrived due to its central location on the route of men traveling to and from work.%u201c This summer is worse than ever\Hill Association said of the situation, which prompted the demonstration on August 14th when about 30 members of the church and Boerum Hill community congregated and attempted to turn their outrage into action.What started with a small group of outraged citizens banning together without a clear course of action, has now extended onto T.V. News shows, daily press coverage and all the way into the office of the Borough President.Church and community representatives met with Borough President Howard Golden, 78th Precinct Captain John Hill and other police officials on August 17. Golden and other local politicians have urged more police foot patrol and residents report that a large scale crackdown has begun with undercover officers being sent to the area, including female undercover police to attempt to arrest the often neglected johns.SIGNS AND CHANTSLillian Beckford, President of the Boerum Hill Association, lead the angry group which on the night of the demonstration, did not look as if it was destined for much success. Carrying signs such as %u201c Prostitution is not a victimless crime\and chanting %u201c No prostitution%u201d or %u201cJohns go home,%up Pacific Street to Fourth Avenue where they confronted several ladies of the evening.%u201cTake your a - to Manhattan\several of the demonstrators shouted. %u201c Move me%u201d the prostitutes challenged. %u201c We live here%u201d the group continued, to which one sociologically minded prostitute replied %u201c If you don%u2019t want prostitution get us jobs.%u201dOne of the women of the streets who preferred to be referred to as %u201c Blue Shirt%u201d claimed to be more content earning $150 for one night%u2019s work than to work a full week of 9 to 5 for the same money or hassle with welfare. %u201c At least I have Tuesdays off%u201d she volunteered.Blue Shirt, a woman in her mid-twenties and the mother of two children said that unlike a lot of other prostitutes, she is self employed and did not work for a pimp. However, she said that the troubles with pimps are %u201coften exaggerated, usually the money was split fairly.%u201d The interview was cut short when another prostitute scolded her for %u201cgiving an interview to those people.%u201d This reporter believed what %u201c Blue Shirt%u201d said, but is still trying to figure out why if everything runs so smoothly as she claimed, did she have a black eye.When it appeared that the prostitutes were not about to budge from carrying out their lucrative trade, the demonstrators attempted to initiate action. An effort to barricade the stredt to apparent johns was shortlived, when the occupant of the first car blocked, aBoerum Hill Residents Rally ToRid Local Church Steps Of Prostitutes I A L V A R E Z %u201e %u201e %u201e ------------- c._____mm%u2014 ............................................................. ........w i m h i i .......................... ..................... large hulking man. sprung from his car.%u201c Don%u2019t you jump on me%u201d the man threatened, while members held fast, to their signs countering with %u201c We are tired of prostitution in our neighborhood.%u201d The misunderstanding was soon cleared up when the man turned out not to be a john, but rather a distraught father looking for his 15 year old daughter, who had run away.After the failure of these strong arm tactics, the 30 persons opted for milder action and wound their way around the block and back to the church where someone suggested an impromptu meeting to discuss further action.AN OLD PROBLEMThe problem of prostitution is an old one, and hardly confined to Boerum Hill, and the solution will not be a simple one, especially when the prostitutes will not be intimidated. Although the demonstrators conceded that prostitution has always been present in the area, the situation had %u201c subsided but now had worsened%u201d according to Earl Scott, a 5 year resident.Especially angry are members of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church, where according to a church staff member, Maybell Lundahl, the solicitaions of parishoners has become so brazen that worshippers are approached enroute to and from Sunday services. Prostitutes requested to leave the church steps according to Lundahl have refused on the grounds that %u201c it%u2019s public property, but it%u2019s not public at all%u201d she said.Residents also claim that some of the prostitutes live in several abandoned buildings, formerly rooming houses, located on the block of Pacific Street between Flatbush and Third Avenue. The women have been known to beckon%u201c Respect Our School and Churches%u201d and %u201c Prostitution is not a Victimless Crim e%u201d w eresome of the signs Boerum Hillers carried August 14. (Occhiogrosso Photo)from the windows or front steps.578 ARRESTSAccording to Captain Hill of the 78th Precinct, most of the prostitution involves %u201c car tricks,%u201d those that occur in the vehicles of the johns driven to nearby parking lots or pulled over along Pacific Street. Hill reports that 578 arrests were made this year for prostitution related charges such as loitering or disorderly conduct, with 50 per cent of these occurring within a one block radius of the church.A 20 year resident of the area, and president of the 280 Tenant Association on Dean Street, Inis Ortiz, complained that the prostitutes use the schoolyard on Pacific to carry on their trade, and another resident, Sylvia Lennard, expressed concern for the safety of her three daughters, since she said, prostitution breeds robberies, beatings and other crimes in the area.As a result of the August 14 demonstration and possibly because of the amount of attention paid to it the demonstrators%u2019 efforts appear to be paying off. Not only has the police cracked down on the prostitution activity but more meetings are being scheduled in the Borough President%u2019s office.On August 24, community representatives will meet with Goioen and criminal justice officials, including the District Attorney, and the Administrative Judge of the Criminal Court to implement heavier penalties. Residents and police officials agree that arrests will not deter prostitution in the area if fines of $25 to $50 are meted out created a revolving door effect in the courts.And so the prostitutes in the Boerum Hill area surrounding the Bethlehem Lutheran Church may be %u201cyounger, bolder and noisier,%u201d but it looks as if the members of that brownstone community are kicking up a storm themselves.Fulton Mall Contractor Drops $4.3 Million SuitCharging City With Causing Delays And DisruptionsBY LIBBY HAYMANThe suit for $4.3 million filed against New York City by Fulton Mall Contractor A. J. Pegno last March has been dropped. Pegno had charged that the City was responsible for costly delays and insufficient engineering data concerning the site. Although negotiations between the city and Pegno, which have gone on for five months have not resulted in the signing ofany agreement concerning the lawsuit, the contractor is now proceeding under the original contract.David Trager, the lawyer with the firm of Max Greenberg who represents A. J. Pegno, Inc., said last week that %u201cthe suit has been dropped, there has been no agreement, and we%u2019re going ahead.%u201d Also dropped was a suit for a similar sum against Manuel Elkinand Company, the consulting engineers hired by the city to supervise construction. Another suit, against the design firm of Seelye, Stevenson, Value, and l'necht, which prepared the bidding documents and other design papers for the project, is %u201c still open,%u201d Trager said.David Ford, Counsel for the NYC Office of Economic Development, which is supervising the projectAtlantic Terminal Residents Will Gain FullControl Over Community Sponsored ResidenceBY JEAN STERNLIGHTResidents of the low and moderate income Atlantic Terminal housing cooperative in Fort Greene, one of the few co-op projects in the nation to have been built through the efforts of a community group, will finally have complete control over their co-op management. Until last week%u2019s, August 16th, closing with the contractor cooperative management was in the hands of the Fort Greene Non-Profit Improvement Corporation (FGNPIC), the neighborhood group which sponsored the project.The management shift is important because it marks the end of a twelve year battle by Fort Greene residents to build a large housing cooperative. Co-op resident David Dozier who is also the chairman of the tenant management committ f p H o p e n o t f n r p c p p %u201c a n v i m t n p .diatc changes%u201d in the management of the two buildings that make up the cooperative which opened its doors in 1975.Dozier points out that %u201c the cooperators had a majority on tne Board of Directors for a while already,%u201d and that the tenants management committee advice to the Board %u201c are usually accepted.%u201dThe Atlantic Terminal consists of two cooperatives: College Commons One and Two, both located behind the Long Island Railroad Terminal on South Elliot and South Portland Avenues. 1600 residents reside in the two co-ops, according to Dozier, with about 200 families in Commons one and 300 in Commons Two.The FGNPIC had to overcome many barriers before the two co-ops could be completed. Its plan to build 2400 housing units, a Baruch College campus and two schools had to be reduced in scale to the current size. Close to a half a million dollars in %u201c seed money%u201d had to ho raico/^ rop-iiic RnarH member, Allbray. Federal %u201c236%u201d subsidized mortgages secured and loans had to be obtained. Then a contractor went bankrupt and hadto be dealt with and last week%u2019s closing would have taken place much earlier had it not been for disputes with the current contractor, explains Dozier.%u201cThe development has been very successful so far,%u201d observed Dozier, who praised FGNPIC Board Chairman and Clinton Hill resident, Paul Kerrigan for having done %u201c a tremendous job.%u201d Dozier also praised the co-op residents for being %u201c very cooperative in keeping the building clean,%u201d and notes that there is %u201cvirtually no vandalism.%u201dIn the three and a half years that Dozier has lived there he says %u201c only about 10 families have moved out,%u201d adding that there are few problems with tenants being unable to pay the monthly carrying charges.To buy into the co-op, tenants must put up an initial payment or%u2014M J , tson %u201e cand arc responsible for monthly service charges, which on a three bedroom apartment might be $300.along with the Department of Highways, said that Pegno had apparently decided that he %u201c was better off not signing any agreement we were willing to sign,%u201d commenting, %u201c We negotiated and negotiated, and negotiated.%u201dFord and others involved with the project noted that Pegno can still sue the %u201c city caused damages%u201d when the job is completed. A procedure which is usual for contractors who believe that delays for which the city is responsible have cost them money. %u201c First you bill, and then you sue,%u201d one official commented.Pegno%u2019s suit had claimed $509,100 for the work already performed at the time. $3 million in anticipated profits, and $750,000 for expenses. The claim had charged the city with %u201cdelays and disruptions,%u201d apparently referring specifically to the stoppage during the Christmas shopping season in . December of 1978, which has not been in the original contract. The claim also cited %u201c misrepresentation of the site,%u201d a reference to the lack of exact information concerning the condition of the vaults extending under the sidewalks from a number of buildings along the street.The attempts to reach an agreement with Pegno over the last five months have focused on the exact extent of work to be done on the vaults. The city has also sought through an agreement to prevent Pegno from filing for further----------... -----A . u ~I t l U l l l V d U l l l I W W t l U V A l I I V j U U , M t l Uthe city%u2019s proposed agreement included a %u201c substantial number of claim waivers\l %u2018outmin'd pauo 9Aug. 23,1979, The PH O EN IX, Page 3