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Council Bill Will Ban Illegal Peddlers On Fuiion, Montague And Other StreetsA proposed City Council b ill attem pts to im pose restrictions on peddlers, especially in the downtown Brooklyn area. (Occhiogrosso Photo)effectively. %u201c Such use does tend toBY LIBBY HAYMANOn Thursday, August 23, the New York City Council adopted a series of new measures intended to deal with the problem of peddlers on major shopping streets throughout New York City. The measures resulted from cooperation between the City%u2019s Department of Consumer Affairs and the Council%u2019s Consumer Affairs Committee. Regulations drafted should prevent peddlers from being a safety and health hazard without violating the rights of licensed peddlers. The measures are of particular importance on Fulton and Montague Streets, where other legislation is already affecting both storeowners and peddlers.The new bills, which had the support of Mayor Koch and should be signed %u201c within several weeks,\according to the Mayor%u2019s Office, provide for a scries of hearings to be held by the Department of Consumer Affairs to determine in what shopping strips peddlers should be outlawed entirely, including designation of specific shopping seasons when such bans should be in effect. Where a ban on merchants has been set, police will be able to confiscate the goods of peddlers, whether licensed or unlicensed. A ceiling is also being placed on the issuance of peddlers licenses, restricting them to the number in existence as of September 1, 1979.Another measure attempts to speed processing of summonses against peddlers by shifting jurisdiction from the criminal courts to the F.nvironmental Control board, and in the case of foods vendors, to the Department of Health's Health Tribunal. This attempt to eliminate backlog in peddler cases will be instituted slowly over the next year. Fines for peddlers found guilty of violating regulations will be raised, with a first violation going from $10 to $25 and multiple violations going as high as $1000.BY ELIZABETH ALVAREZ%u201c We can%u2019t beat %u2019em, but we can move %u2019em,\Acting Presiding Judge of Brooklyn Criminal Court, summing up the general attitude toward prostitution expressed at the meeting in Borough President Howard Golden%u2019s office on Friday August 24. Police, and court officials, representatives of the Public Morals division, residents of Boerum Hill and parishoners of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church met with the Borough President to discuss the results of the crackdown on prostitution in the vicinity of Pacific Street particularly between 3rd and 4th Avenues and to plot further action to be taken.Borough President Golden commended the law enforcement agencies for their cooperation. (In a one week period, this resulted in 40 arrests for loitering for the purpose of prostitution and an additional 26 for patronizing.) But Golden expressed concern over what will happen when the extra manpower1 %u201e 11/vVit finoc iccnoH Kv thp ,VM,V,J %u201c%u201c%u201c \vcourts reinforce a revolving door justice system.%u201c Individual judicial determination,\Administrator of Criminal Courts in N.Y.C., %u201c means we cannot guaranA principal sponsor of the new legislation was Councilmember Abe Gorges, who represents the Downtown Brooklyn area and a member of the Consumer Affairs Committee. Gorges emphasizes that such a bill %u201chas no effect without administration.\officer of the 84th Precinct, in charge of the downtown area, pointed out that enforcement of peddler laws requires considerable %u201c manpower,\case of seizure of goods, where inventory, vouchers, and storage involve considerable time and expense.Testimony in favor of the new measures was presented to the Council by several Downtown Brooklyn organizations, including the Fulton Mall Improvement Association and the Chamber of Commerce, supported by the Downtown Brooklyn Development Associatiion and the Atlantic Avenue Committee. Ann Faulkner, of the Chamber of Commerce, pointed out in her testimony of August 20, that other legislation came into effect August 6, specifically prohibiting storeowners from occupying the sidewalk space in front of their stores. The result, however, has been that peddlers sometimes take up the space.The regulations against the storeowners specified Fulton Street and Montague Street, along with other streets around the city. Merchants now welcome the latest laws, which should help even the balance that temporarily seemed to favor (he peddlers over the storeowners.Richard Sachs, President of Sachs New York, and Chairman of The Fulton Mall Improvement Association, said that the new legislation is %u201cvery good if it is enforced.%u201d He emphasized that the restrictions on use of sidewalks by Fulton Street merchants arc necessary if the merchants expect to deal with the peddler problemtec a three month sentence.%up to each judge %u201c to weigh the offense with consideration to prior arrests and other considerations.\However, Gallagher stated that the issue had been brought to the attention of the courts. According to police officials, judges have responded to community pressure as indicated by an increase in sentencing in recent weeks.DeLury urged the community to %u201c keep up a constant outcry\attempt to meet with Brooklyn judges to educate them to the problem in the community. Golden further suggested a breakfast meeting with several judges to be scheduled after Labor Day. In addition, a committee will be established to keep track of the sentences issued and %u201c to meet periodically to determine whether the course of action has served as a deterrent,%u201d according to Golden.In addressing the immediate problems of the Boerum Hill community. Golden reported on two buildings at 582 and 584 Pacific Street which according to community residents, are used by the prostitutes. One of the two was said to be vacant, while the other, a rooming house, is still occupied. According to Golden, written complaints would be needed todowngrade the quality of a shopping street,\Until the new laws are implemented, police continue to regulate vending under regulations passed in November, 1978. Although a federal court found parts of those regulations unconstitutional, new procedures have been instituted so that police can issue summonsesBY ELIZABETH ALVAREZThe thirty story building at 66 Court Street, now about 40 percent vacant, slowly deteriorates as remaining commercial tenants without leases await the building%u2019s conversion to residential space. Following in the path of several other large commercial buildings in the vicinity, including 130 Clinton and 32 Court Street the owner, Jacob DeFreidus hopes to utilize the J51 tax abatement, which has made residential conversions profitable.enter the occupied buildings.One resident. Inis Ortiz, President of the 280 Dean Street Association, criticized the police and public morals division for concentrating exclusively on Pacific Street, since the prostitutes were now making more frequent use of the school yard on Dean Street, having been driven away from the Church vicinity.Captain Hill admitted that the church was essentially the target, but that it was not intended to be exclusive.Higher fines and sentencing is not always the answer. According to DeLury, often the prostitutes do not have money for fines or bail. Pimps put up the money, only for those women for whom it is economically feasible and when the prostitute is released she is forced to %u201cwork off the fines\effect, DeLury said, %u201c the court becomes the pimp.%u201dIn addition, police officials have noticed that pimps, aware of the crackdown, have imported %u201crookie prostitutes,\offenders, in order to avoid paying the stiffer fines awarded to the women with lengthier prior records.against vendors who are a nuisance in specific areas, whether licensed peddlers or unlicensed, and can seize goods in the case of peddlers deemed \regulations.Support for the new laws, which broaden and streamline the old provisions, was nearly unanimous in the City Council, three Puerto Rican Councilmembcrs opposedPlans for the conversion designed by.thc architect firm of Wcehsler, Grasso and Menziuso call for the establishment of 102 apartments including four penthouse apartments on the 26th to the 30th floors, two to six apartments on each of the 2nd to 25th floors, with the first floor remaining commercial space. Cost of the conversion, according to A1 Menziuso, one of the architects, is estimated at $3.5 million.According to Samuel Roberts, of the city%u2019s Department of Buildings, the final plan which was approved on June 15th, 1979 was authorized by the Court Towers Corp., and signed by Ella DeFreidus, President, and Jacob DeFreidus, vice president. The permit was signed by Sanford. Stein Consultants. At this time it is not known who the developer will be.Residents, who still occupy office space in the building complain of. a general lack of maintenance service. Signs of deterioration are visible in the halls where paint crumbles from the walls and flood damage on the 18th floor resulting from a burst water pipe two years ago stands neglected. The hallway lights on the vacant second floor are frequently turned off. One of the maintenance men said that the rule was %u201cno service is to be given unless it is very important.%u201dOccupants unable to renew their leases, and renting on a month to month basis feel that it is just a matter of time before they will have to vacate.One tenant of the building, the Council of Churches of the City of New York, has occupied space at 66 Court Street for about nine years. According to the Administrative Assisstant, Charles Henze, he would not be surprised if they were given %u201c two weeks notice.\other tenants, the Council of Churches has a place to go, as they have been invited to use the Kea Cross Building between Concord Village and Cadman Plaza. Henze singled out the elevators, which are rarely functioning, as a major problem in the building.one of the bills, however, including Councilmember Luis Olmedo, who represents a district in northern Brooklyn where he says %u201c 75 per cent of his constituents%u201d are from Puerto Rico and a vote against peddlers would constitute a vote \his culture\accepts peddlers.Since the area along Court Street is zoned for commercial use which permits residential usage, no zoning exceptions need to be made. %u201c Nothing much can be done about 66Court Street%u201d said Gina Holmes, of Borough President Golden%u2019s office. %u201c Once the conversion is done, if the building meets the requirements for residences, the owner will be entitled to a J51 abatement.\Golden has initiated a study by the City Planning Commission to determine how the increase of residential space at the expense of commercial space would affect downtown Brooklyn as a business center. However, the Department of Buildings could not comply with the Borough President%u2019s desire for a moratorium on all conversions until the study was completed.Sewage Plant Hearing NearsThe floor will be open for Brooklyn residents to submit comments to the Department of Environmental Protection as engineers prepare to begin the final design for a $150 million sewage treatment plant slated for construction in Fort Greene%u2019s Navy Yard.The plant is one segment of a city-wide plan, designed to draw New York%u2019s water quality levels up to an acceptable state by the year 2000; it is scheduled to begin cleansing local sewage sometime in 1987. Locally, some $378 million will be pumped into plants, pumping stations, and sewer tracts.The hearing will take place on September 6 at 7:30 pm in the Dr. White Community Center, 200 Gold St. Materials and draft plans will be available for public inspection until the hearing in Borough Hall, the Community Board TwoHi rlrir>t Dffi ot 1 M.xnt'ioup %u2018 --------O -the Community Center where th hearing will be held, and the Clinton Hall. Walt Whitman, and Brooklyn Heights branches of the Brooklyn Public Library.Police And Court Officials Continue Crackdown On Boerum Hill ProstitutionDeteriorating Court Street BuildingWill Convert To Residential SpaceA u g .30.1979, The PHOENIX. Page 3