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New Area Policy Boards To Be Elected To Replace Community Anti-Poverty CorporationsBY IRENE VAN SLYKEA n p f i t i o n i n r y r a m n o i n n c t a r t o H * - r - --- o -----July 9th to elect representatives to newly-created Area Policy Boards in 25 designated low-income communities in New York City. The Boards, when elected, will be responsible for allocating $25 million in federal anti-poverty funds in their communities and replace the former Community Anti-Poverty Corporations dumped earlier this year by Mayor Ed Koch.The five-week petitioning campaign and the eventual elections to be held in September have both appeared with little fanfare. Margaret Bald, Director of Public Affairs of the City%u2019s Community Development Agency, responsible for conducting the elections, says that %u201c the agency is waiting for approval for a couple of issues we are negotiating.%u201d As soon asapproval by the Federal Community Services Agency (CSA) comes through, publicity will start, according to Bald, who also conceded however, that the lack of publicity and a lack of interest in the election %u201c is a problem we are trying to deal with%u201d . She explained that the Federal CSA had been %u201c pushing for the elections%u201d to be held.Grace McCabe, CSA regional representative in charge of negotiations with the city declined to discuss why elections had to be held so soon without adequate notice to the areas involved, and said %u201c 1 cannot discuss it, we are in the middle of negotiations.%u201d No one else at the agency would speak to the issue.Community Districts 2 (Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene); 6 (Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Red Hookand Park Slope); 7 (Sunset Park); 8 and 9 (Crown Heights) are all designated %u201c Primary Neighborhood Development Areas\Under the plan thirty three persons in each district will be elected from allocated seats in the district%u2019s sub-units. Geographical boundaries and seat allocations are available at the CDA election headquarters at 349 Broadway in Manhattan in addition to petitions and instructions, according to Bald and interested people can call 433-6960.%u201c Board members,%u201d said Bald%u201d will not handle funds%u201d but will have actual %u201capproval and disapproval power%u201d over anti-poverty funds. %u201cThey will accept proposals for funding and decide how funds are allocated in their community,%u201d Bald added. Contracts to deliver services, however, will be between a funded agency and the city Community Development Agency (CDA) Bald explained, and CDA will have veto power in cases where fiscal mismanagement is found.The present elections are part of Mayor Koch%u2019s plan for the restructuring and reorganization of New York City%u2019s Community Action Program. Restructuring resulted after federal and local critics said that anti-poverty funds handled by autonomous Community Corporations did not reach the poor.David Billings, former Executive Director of the Fort Greene Community Corporation and a former chairman of the city-wide Council Against Poverty, said that from what he understood of the new plan, Mayor Koch would hold the %u201c purse strings%u201d and that there fore there would be no true %u201c community participation%u201d . Billings alsofound a lack of interest generated in the poor areas for the elections and telt that this was by design.\Thelma Martin, former Executive Director of the South Brooklyn Community Corporation echoed the same sentiments and said. %u201c It is not a good plann,%u201d and she added, %u201c nobody has been told about it. The idea behind restructuring was for people to find out what is going on, but nobody really knows.%u201dMartin explained that temporary contracts with delegate agencies to provide services until new boards are installed, will run out at the end of September, but the new boards will not be installed until the beginning of October, leaving Martin to wonder if boards will be ready to deal with all the new contracts coming up and at the same time organizing themselves into a workable unit.Luxury Hotel Plans Advance For Fulton Ferry AreaBY LIBBY HAYMAN' Plans for the possible development of a luxury hotel in the Fulton Ferry area moved ahead with the city Office of Development sending letters to community groups informing them that De Matteis Construction is looking into uses of the site and the Office is updating a hotel feasibility study.De Matteis, represented by Anthony Vaccarello, former city Sanitation Commissioner, is looking into the use of the historic landmark Empire Stores and the surrounding site according to Hardy Adasko, coordinator of the city Office of Development. Adasko described the area as the %u201c Empire Stores, dry land to the East of the Stores and the %u201c Purchase Building%u201d underneath the Bridge,%u201d a warehouse owned by the City.Even though plans for the Fulton Ferry site are %u201c far away from terms\office has sent letters to several community groups, including the Fulton Ferry Renaissance Association, the Brooklyn Heights Association, the Vinegar Hill Association, and to Community Board Two informing them of De Matteis plans.The Office of Development has discussed with the State Parks Department, owner of the Empire Stores and the park area nearby, the possibility of hotel development, said Adasko, and conditions have been enumerated including assurance of public access to the waterfront, the preservation of the Empire Stores building, and the availability of part of Empire Stores for a State Maritime Museum.The Office of Development is also updating a hotel feasibility study done last year for the Brooklyn Union Gas Company, andi for this purpose will grant a $9,000 contract to Laventhal and Horwath.Sites being considered by theOffice of Development include not only the Fulton Ferry site, but also the large two block site at Flatbush Avenue and Fulton Street, one site next to the old Granada Hotel and the parking lot at Pierrepont and Court Street.The study, which will try to answer %u201c specific questions%u201d including the advantages and disadvantages of various sites and the strength of the market for one or more hotels, %u201c should be ready by Labor Day,%u201d Adasko said.De Matteis, authorized by the Office of Development to do studies, is hiring two architects, the firms of Edward Durrell Stone and Edward V. Giannasco, Vaccarello reported. %u201c We want to see what the numbers look like,%u201d Vaccarello said. Hilton has been interested in a franchise hotel in Brooklyn but Vaccarello said that De Matteis is %u201c not committed%u201d to any one hotel chain.Downtown Brooklyn To Get $9.2 Million For Urban RenewalThe Hotel Montague, has recently been bought byBrooklyn Heights developer Bruce Eichner, and willsoon be converted into co-ops. (Cuiccio photo)BY JEAN STERNLIGHTA total of $9.2 million has been unexpectedly included in the 1979/ 80 New York City Capital Budget for site acquisition and clearance in the 45 acre Brooklyn Center Urban Renewal Area in downtown Brooklyn.Of this total, $5 million is in lump sum form, not earmarked for the acquisition of any particular sites, reports Hardy Adasko, Brooklyn coordinator of the New York City Office of Economic Development. Ray Levin, assistant to Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden noted that large sums are frequently allocated for site acquisitions since %u201c you have to move fast those things.%u201dThe selection of individual sites for acquisition will take place at a later date, and will depend on various factors including the terms which arc offered to the city, noted Adasko. The Granada Hotel site at the corner of Lafayette and Ashland was mentioned as a possible future acquisition by Levin.The $4.2 million allocation has been specifically designated for acquisition of the southwest corner of Fulton, Flatbush Avenue, and Nevins Street. This site has an area of less than one acre, contains a total of 14 firms, and consists of five pieces of property, two of which are vacant. George Klein, head of the Brooklyn CenterDevelopment Corporation and developer of the new Telephone Company and Con-Ed buildings at Fulton and Flatbush, is the citydesignated developer of the site.Preliminary plans have been submitted to the Office of Ecnomic Development by Klein to build four story office building covering approximately 150,000 square feet, the ground floor of which would have retail establishments.The 45 acre Brooklyn Center Urban Renewal area was initially designated for urban renewal in 1970. It includes territory on both the north and south sides of Fulton Street and is roughlv circumscribed by Schermerhorn Street, Ashland Place, DeKalb Avenue, Debevoise Place, and Albee Square West. George Klein is the designated developer for much, but not all, of this area. Nopt all the properties within the broad Brooklyn Center Urban Renewal arpa have been designated for urban renewal.Just because $9.2 million has been placed in the budget for urban renewal in the Brooklyn Center area, the total $9.2 million won't necessarily be spent, explained Levin. Before any particular sites are acquired by the city, the expenditures must be approved by the local Community board, me City Planning Commission, and the Board of Estimate. If the whole of the lump sum $5 million allocatedto the Brooklyn Central Urban Renewal Area does not prove needed, Levin noted that the budget %u201c could be modified later.%u201d According to Adasko, the owners of the five properties on the Fulton/Flatbush site, where the $4.2 million has been allocated for the site acquisition are Gabriel Podlofsky of Podgel Associates (two properties), Felix B. Fuchs and others, Gloria Pitkow Zuflacht andothers, and Regina S. Klein and others, of the George Klein family.Greene GroupGives MealsTwenty-five organizations across Brooklyn will distribute free meals to indigent children this summer under a program sponsored by the Fort Greene Young Adults Org. Utilizing money from the Department of Agriculture, each outlet will give between 100 and 300 lunches, afternoon snacks and dinners to children every day.The program will begin July 1 and run on weekdays through the summer until August 31. Lunches will be served from 11 a m. %u2014 1 p.m., afternoon snacks from 2-3 pm, and dinners from 4-6 pm. For a listing of individual outlets, call the Young Adults at 59b-2549 or 596-8879.Hotel Montague To Reopen As Luxury Co-OpsBY JEAN STERNLIGHTThe long vacant Hotel Montague (103 Montague Street) has now been purchased by Brooklyn Heights developer Bruce Eichner, who plans to convert it into a set of about 20 co-ops to sell for approximately $85,000 each. Eichner, who took title to the hotel on June 18, says that the apartments will mostly be %u201c two bedrooms and duplexes.%u201dBrooklyn Heights residents who were worried about the incompleteness of the protective shed formerly in place at the Montague may now relax reports Eichner, because he completed the shed structure as soon as he took possession of the hotel from its former owner, DiLorcnzo. The sidewalk shed is there to protect pedestrians from being hit by loose slate falling off the roof. The old shed had beams but no roof, so that large pieces of slate could still have fallen upon passersbv.Construction of the co-ops can be expected to begin %u201c sometime in beptemDcr , according to hienner. Permanent financing for the project has already been obtained from the Brooklyn Savings Bank, but theconstruction financing has not yet been finalized.Eichner has been very active as a developer in the Brooklyn Heights area, where he specializes in converting old buildings into coops. His projects include co-op conversion of the Franklin Arms Hotel on Orange Street, the Hotel Margaret at 97 Columbia Heights and the Brooklyn Women%u2019s Club at 104 Pierrepont Street. Eichner has also been tentatively slated as developer for the Mohawk Hotel at 369 Washington Avenue in Clinton Hill, which he plans to convert into co-ops as well.Meanwhile, Eichner notes that construction on his own home at 222 Columbia Heights is %u201c going well.%u201d He expects the exterior of the house to be complete by September 12, and says that %u201c it is reasonable to expect occupancy%u201d of the house to begin by November 1st. The four story building will contain two three-bedroom floorthrough co-ops which Eichner will sell. Eichner himself will live in the remaining two floors ot the building, which will also contain an indoor heated pool, a sauna, a bar, and a solarium.July 12,1979. The PHOENIX, Page 3