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EditorialsNext, Fulton FerryN ew Yorkers w ho have visited such c itie s as San Francisco or Bostonw ill rem em ber th eir renew ed w aterfro nt and pier areas filled w ith peoplestrolling past crow ded shops and restaurants or so m etim es just sitting ina sidew alk cafe gazing at the ocean and w ater traffic. The question hasalw ays been: W hy not som ething like this in New York?Harbors in the last few decades have faced a changing technology inthe shipping industry w hich has left large parts of the w aterfront w ithabandoned piers and em pty, deteriorating buildings.San Francisco w as the first city to realize the potential of her m iles ofw aterfro nt and opened up piers for people to use side by side w ith parts ofthe port still serving ships that com e from all over the w orld. Boston hasopened up her renovated piers and restored historic Faneuil Hall M a rketplace and the result has been record breaking crow ds. In both cities notonly have people been able to utilize unused space but developing thew aterfro nt has also provided brand new jobs and a boost to the localeconom y.W e like w hat w e have seen in these tw o cities and heartily w elcom e theS eptem ber 27 an n o u n cem en t of a $60 m illio n renew al plan for the SouthS treet Seaport area by the South S treet Seaport M useum and the RouseC om pany of C o lu m b ia, M aryland, developers of Fanueil Hall M arketp lace.The South S treet plan w ill bring new street life by building restaurants andsm all shops on tw o unused piers, and a new hotel. R estoration of historicstructures on Scherm erhorn Row as w ell as rebuilding the Fulton Fishm arket by the N ew York State and the Federal governm ent co m bin e c o m %u00adm ercial develo pm ent w ith a concern for the value of the c ity %u2019s landm arks.In addition, 1700 co n stru ctio n and 800 perm an ent jobs can becom e available in a city plagued by a high unem p lo ym en t rate.This is great for South Street and Low er M anhattan, but across the EastRiver a n o th e r%u2014 m aybe m ore m ag n ificen t %u2014 potential site for w aterfro ntaccess sits aw aitin g a m ajor co m m itm en t by the city and the state for itsd evelo pm ent. This is the Fulton Ferry H is to ric site. Som e sm all ten tativesteps have been taken to m ake it m ore accessib le to people. Late thissu m m er the S tate R ecreation D epartm ent opened up its new Fulton FerryPark, and private developers have started talking bout renovatingab andoned w arehouses. Plans for a new ferry %u201cse rvic e%u201d from the area arealso underw ay.M ore than a decade ago Fulton Ferry w as iden tified by the then-newD ow ntow n Brooklyn D evelopm ent A ssociation as being one of the m ostm ajor %u201co p p o rtu n ity%u201d areas in this part of tow n. U nfo rtunately, d espitesom e ten tative signs, everything is still m uch more prom ise than p otential. True, land has been acquired to guarantee that the publicinterest w ill be pro tected, but no agency or public au thority has takencharge of insuring the future of the area. W e think it is tim e now for thatto happen.The M ayor has appointed a w a te rfro n t advisory c o m m itte e to find waysto m ake public access possible and attractive along the m iles of N ew YorkC ity w aterfro nt. The an nouncem ent of plans for the South S treet Seaportarea shows, w hat is possible w hen governm ent goes to work to m akethings happen. Fulton Ferry deserves this sam e kind of support and wehope to see Brooklyn civic and political leaders get behind a push to m akeFulton Ferry a top priority of the Koch A d m inistratio n.Sound Off R e a d e r s T a l k B a c kUnmet Bank NeedsI am writing in reference to an article from the August 16th edition of the Phoenix, titled: %u201c Some Banks%u2019 Mortgage Reports Don%u2019t Say Much, Analysis of First Federal CRA Statements Shows.%u201dThe author quotes me as follows: They (the banks) are all happy to comply with the law, and willing to lend as much as they can, providing they have the money to lend.The quote should read that (he banks say they are willing to lend providing they have the money to lend.Bank On Brooklyn has gotten some banks to start lending in the Downtown Brooklyn neighborhoods, however most banks have still not changed their redlining ways. There is still much unmet mortgage demand that the banks have yet to discover, let alone fulfill. The extent of compliance for many banks, regarding the Community Reinvestment Act, is theproduction of a Statement which many are unwilling to have available on the banking floor.Bank On Brooklyn is in the process of getting banks to participate in a credit needs survey to determine the types of loans are needed in the Downtown Brooklyn area.--Andy Roth, CommunityOrganizer, Downtown Brooklyn Bank OnBrooklyn.Another BlotThe MTA, a New York State Authority, has decided to demolish the Long Island Railroad Terminal to remove what they consider an inconvenience to work planned below street level. The decision to destroy what should be a landmark building has been supported by our own Planning Board and tacitly at least by our elected officials. After all, who but a few hardworking citizens with an eye for reclamation and recycling and an aversion to such economic waste would dare challenge the power of New York State Authority. Sad to say, thebattle sccmcs to have been lost and we will face another blot on the Downtown Broklyn scene. Meanwhile, across the street hundreds of thousands have been poured into the ridiculous Atlantic Avenue/Flatbush Avenue kiosk. Who%u2019s doing the planning around here.--Richard Starr,Dean Street.CETA StrengthsI%u2019d like to congratulate Ms. Bronston on her well written letter to the editor which appeared in the Phoenix Newspaper, September 20th (Funds Well Spent).it%u2019s quite enlightening to read something positive for a change regarding our youth. The C.E.T.A. program has been negatively judged by many who fail to identify the positive aspects of the program, thus deflating themorale of those youth who successfully excelled within their job assignments.As in many other programs there are its strengths and weaknesses, and we mustacknowledge both in order to fairly judge its effectiveness.The strengths lie within our youth and the more cncouragment and praise given them for a job well done, will eventually build their self confidence, determination, morale and productivity.Your article was truly refreshing, and I truly hope that it opened many eyes that have been closed for too long.%u2014MariaRivera, Site Supervisor; Richardo Mulgrave, Training Coordinator, EconomicYouth Enterprise of Red HookParkSolutionThere is a solution to the problems of Cobble Hill Park (Different Kinds of Visitors to Cobble Hill Park Evoke Concern and Ire, Phoenix, Sept.20).A high fence should be installed around the park. There should be just one entrance to the park with a gate that can be locked each night on Clinton Street.%u2014A. Carr, Congress St.At Large b y L .J . D a v i sFlying Off the Handle At Schools, Libyans and the American Right WingIt is a weakness of mine, I know. I am the first to admit it:I tend to fly off the handle. It was entirely my fault that I blew up like Krakatoa in the office of my kid's school this morning; the principal had merely called me a liar and thus had done obviously nothing to warrant my unforgivable display of pique.Gracious me, it certainly is luck that I realized the error of my ways in time, or a deplorable incident might have occured. As it was, I choked back the demand 1 was on the verge of uttering%u2014viz. the precise address of the thimble shop where he buys his hats%u2014and turned to admire the rack next to the time clock, which revealed that no less than six teachers were down with an attack of recalcitrant plebney.This is a good example of how we learn things. If I hadn%u2019t determined to swallow a knucklehead%u2019s insult, 1 would never have discovered the existence of a disease hitherto unknown to medical science.LOOKING FOR LIBYANSI would also like to extend my apologies to T. Bertram Lance of Calhoun, Georgia, a prominent ex-banker in that community. Although the world is singing the praises of my recent expose in Harper%u2019s Magazine, 1 wasn't hunting for Mr. Lance at all when I began it; I was looking for Libyans in Idaho. I%u2019m afraid I stumbled onto Lance entirely by accident, and the whole article is simply due to my terrible temper. I am one of this nation%u2019s last innocents, and it makes me cross when I see people using money that doesn%u2019t belong to them. It also makes me curious, but, as you can plainly see, the whole thing was nothing but a big accident. T L%u201e,,n T iKtrnn V%u00bbnnt nnrl T nnnoor tn A 11C4 V V. OWIV.V 1 V V U l l i e u VU v%u00bb%u00bb. * * * * v%u201d %u2018 v* * %u201c r r -have bagged the lot ot tnem, but while 1 was out pursuing my sport in Idaho, I discovered that someone had left the door on the latch at the local booby bin and that the right wing was loose again. (The other possible explanation is that unseasonable rains had dampened the underside oftheir stones and awakened them from hibernation.) In a trice, my unhappy malady was called into play again, and I suffered a relapse: almost nothing makes me as mad as the American right wing, unless it is the American left wing. Racing to the nearest phonebooth, 1 quickly stripped off the cape, colored tights, and seamless red underpants that are my habitual streetwear and quickly donned a pair of baggy slacks, a shirt with a lot of cigarette burns on its front, a porkpie hat, and a loud checked jacket whose pockets were stuffed with notebooks, scraps of tobacco, and old pencil stubs. Thus garbed, I went out and caught OPEC and the Secretary of theTrasury.LOCAL THINGS THAT MAKE ME MADThere you have it again: no sense of proportion whatever. And possibly no sense of direction either, when you consider that I had to come back to Brooklyn to ma*ke the collar. Still, that%u2019s another story and I am straying from my subject, which is all the local things that make me mad.(Recognizing that you have a problem is the first step to successful therapy, and that is what I'm trying to do.)Among the things that have made my dentist a wealthy man, repairing the damage to my ground-down molars, are the river on State Street, the widening of Schmerhorn Street, and the threatened destruction of the Long Island Railroad Terminal. (I%u2019ve decided to give the Reverend Herbert Daughtry a rest this month, although 1 can scarcely wait to see what he%u2019ll pull during this year%u2019s Atlantic Antic Parade. I realize that lie will have to bustle some to top last year%u2019s attempted mugging of Mayor Koch, but he can*%u25a0......... %u00bb...... .......................... * %u00bb' u : %u25a0 %u00bb * u i u i ii u ic . n i \\_i \\ u j i iv u iif-, o u t v/i m o t i i i i i t .i i u t i

