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NewsbriefsD . R 1 D u e D h n r U> %/4i W U O I IU I IORemain idleThe B-5l bus proposal isn%u2019t dead yet, but it isn%u2019t running either. Originally scheduled to begin service on June 25, the bus, linking Fort Greene, Boerum Hill and Downtown Brooklyn with Manhattan%u2019s downtown business and City Hall area%u2014as voted to an untimely demise in a late Friday meeting of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) on June 22, leaving a phalanx of disappointed riders waiting in vain along its route.However, Council member Abe Gerges, who first dreamed up the bus line more than two years ago, is still pushing to have the bus accepted. He says that the chances are good that he can have the bus matter placed on the agenda of the next MTA meeting on August 2, and from there on things look %u201cencouraging.%u201d%u201c I%u2019ve spoken to almost every member of the Board,%u201d he said, %u201c and I%u2019ve got indications from them that if this gets on the calendar, they%u2019ll look at it favorably. Right now, I%u2019m trying to enlist community support for the bus.%u201d Support, he explains, includes disgruntled residents writing letters to City Council President Carol Bellamy and the MTA, as well as showing up at the August.Y.P2nd meeting; the latter suggestion is complicated, however, by the fact that the MTA has not as yet decided where the meeting will be held.One of the ideas Gerges will present at the meeting if the B-51 gets on the aeenda will be a trade-off between the current but sparsely riden B-15 bus and the proposed B-51. The B-15, which makes only four trips daily during rush hours, rides from Brooklyn to Manhattan straight along Flatbush Avenue, passing only business districts and frequently carrying fewer than four people on a given trip. By the MTA%u2019s own admission, it loses more than $100 each day. Gerges hopes to cancel the B-15 and substitute instead his proposed line, which takes in several dense residential areas along its route and runs throughout the day, from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm. %u2014LZGCommission OKsRed Hook PlanIn its unanimous approval of three pieces of legislation that make up the Red Hook containerport plan, the City Planning Commission on July 16 implemented changes in the plan that had been suggested by many local residents and Community Board Six more than a month earlier. The plan, is designed to turn fallow land surrounding the AtlanticBasin into an active waterfront area.The two changes requested by community members at a loud and lengthy public hearing June 7, and again a week later by the Board, concerned the areas involved in both the actual containerport and an Urban Renewal plan thAt accompanies the port proposal. In one, area residents feared the closings and demolition of two factories on Sackett St., the Candida Manufacturing Co. and the Williamsburg Stock Co., and the impact that the local job loss would have on the surrounding area. The Planning Commission, Monday, However, followed suit with the Community Board, and removed the two buildings from the demolition area.The other major point of contention was over several properties along Carroll St. that had been originally slated for destruction as part of the Urban Renewal Plan for Columbia St. Under the newlyapproved plan, they will now be left standing. %u2014LZGHotel OwnerSeeks SupportMore than two months after the Times Plaza Hotel was set on a nonreferral status, the building%u2019s management has asked the community to lift the ban on welfare tenants. The non-referral meansSUSPECTED POT: Officer Norbert Wernicke of the 76th Precinct arrested Reinaldo Vasquez, 23, of 190 Columbia St., for possession of alleged marijuana at 4:20 pm on July 4. Vasquez was spotted with 8 manila envelopes and one clear plastic bag of alleged pot, with a small scale and a cigarette-rolling machine. He is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal possession of drug paraphernalia.EVENTUAL NAB: For a robbery he allegedly committed on June 16, Richard Gugleotti, 18, of 54 Cooke St. in Staten Island, was arrested July 3 at 11 pm by 76th Precinct Officer Ted Jurek. On that date Gugleotti, with two others, since caught, stole a radio from a man in front of 217 Van Brunt St. Gugleotti is charged with robbery.GAS SNATCH: At 11 pm July 3, 76th precinct Officer Charles Hart arrested Jose Santiago, 25, of 4 Union St., for allegedly stealing gas from a parked truck. Santiago was collared at Bond and Sackett Sts. with a flashlight, pliers, and a five-gallon can. He is also accused of trying to pay Officer Hart $70 not to arrest him. Santiago is charged with burglary, bribery, possession of burglar%u2019s tools and criminal trespass.BURGLARY: Officer Joe Favor of the 76th Precinct arrested Edwardo Garci, 26, of 707 Union St. at 2 pm July 3. Garcia is accused of breaking into a house at 107 Boerum Place; he is charged with burglary, possession of stolen property and possession of burglar%u2019s tools.WAREHOUSE BREAK-IN: Victor Aponte, 17, of 204 Richard St., was arrested at 11 am July 3 after he allegedly broke into the rear of a warehouse at 185 King St., making off with $90 worth of goods. Aponte, arrested by officer Gary Tepperman of the 76th Precinct, is rharped with burelarv.PROSPECT PARK SHOOTING:At 1:30 pm July 15, Manuel Olquin, 17, was riding his bicycle through Prospect Park near Parkside Avenue when one or more assailants tried to steal his bicycle.In the ensuing struggle, Olquin was shot in the face and head; he was sent to Methodist Hospital where doctors reported shortly after his arrival that he was in critical condition and not expected to survive. Police have made no arrests, and say they do not know how many times he was shot, with what kind of gun, or by how many people.KILLING: While Officer Leroy Reaves and Lieutenant Alvin Cohen, both of the 78th Precinct, were cruising June 16, they were approached by two women who said they had seen another woman struggling with several men near an abandoned building at Fourth Avenue and Warrent St. Shortly after a radio call for help, two units from the 84th Precinct responded, and a search of the area turned up an unidentified Hispanic woman, about 25 years old, lying in the basement of 583 Warren St., nude, and dead, with gunshot wounds in her head. Police arrested three men, Antonio Perez, 29, Jose Ramos, 28, and Ales Rodriguez, 24, all without address, who were in possession of a .32 calibre revolver with 5 live rounds and two spent ones, as well as a butcher knife.ASSAULT WITH POT: Officers Waverly Thompson and Howard Hoffman of the 78th Precinct arrested Rudolph Baker, 16, of 185 St. Marks Ave. at 1:30 pm July 4 for allegedly assaulting a man at 9:10 pm June 28 and striking him with a loaded gun. The victim was treated for 9 scalp stitches. When arrested, Baker also had in excess of 127 marijuana cigarettes in his possession; he is charged with assault, criminal possession of a dangerous weapon and possession of marijuana.TABLE LEGS: For allegedly trying to break into a house at 116 Sixth Ave., 78th Precinct OfficersC J --------------1 C 1-------------------1_ 1 I %u201e 1 V ----------------u u n u i u v z m p v , A u j i u o \\ J m i l o u n garrested Carlos Valentino, 18, of 531 Bergen St. at 3:30 am July 4. Valentino was spotted outside with two metal table legs. He is charged with attempted burglary and criminal possession of burglar%u2019s tools.WAVING PISTOL: 78th Precinct Officers John Young and Edward Skrzypek arrested Jose Ramos, 23, of 83 Amsterdam Ave. in Manhattan at 1:10 am July 4 on Bergen St. between 3rd and 4th Aves. for, during an argument with a 23-yearold male, allegedly pointing a black pistol at him. Ramos is charged with menacing and possession of a weapon.DOUBLE NAB: Sverena Bradly, a 26-year-old female of 292 St. Johns Place, was arrested by officer Robert Fornal of the 78th Precinct on July 1 after allegedly attacking a 24-year-old woman at 176 Sterling Place on June 30 at 4 pm, throwing her down a flight of stairs and causing her a back injury. Accompanying Bradly that day was Clarence Darvy, 24, of the same address, who was arrested again by officer Fornal on July 3 at 3:05 am when he allegedly returned to the woman%u2019s house and threatened her with a baseball bat. Bradly is charged with assault, possession of a dangerous weapon and menacing; Darvy is charged with assault, tampering with a witness and possession of a dangerous weapon.ONE OUT OF FOUR: 78th Precinct Officer Robert Fornal arrested Stacy Richardson, 22, of 781 Lexington Ave. at 12:05 am July 2 for, with three others, not arrested, allegedly jumping a 38 year-old male on Dean St. between Third and Fourth Avenues, spraying mace in his eyes and -ifling his pockets, stealing $23. She is charged with robbery, possession of stolen property and criminal possession of a dangerous instrument.BRIBERY: Zasilios Trappas of 101 Dorchester Road was arrested at 2:30 pm on July 13 by anti-crime officers Marvin Blackwell, Louis DeRosa, and Leonard Venito at 4312 3rd Avenue and charged withh r i h * a r v i n t h f* c n n n n H~ ~ %u2014 --- %u2014e> * w %u2022Trappas alledgedly offered one of the officers $120 and asked that they not arrest him for dealing numbers. Trappas also sought protection for his life.that the Single-Room Occupancy (SRO) hotel, located at 510 Atlantic Ave. in Boerum Hill, no longer receives tenants from Welfare or other social service agencies. This can be crippling for business, as the hotel normally receives some 50 tenants a month in this manner. The Times Plaza Community Advisory Board just set up the non-referral on April 20 because of deteriorating conditions in the building.Times Plaza owner Abraham Ailon and newly-hired hotel manager Mark Hollis, who is also a member of Community Board Two, went to a Community Advisory Board meeting on June 28 noting that most of the hazardous violations in the building had been remedied, additional staff had been hired and long-range renovation plans were in effect. Pointing to the recently done-over sixth floor, which received final repairs and facelifting touches following a fire last winter, Ailon and Hollis promised that the hotel would be fully renovated in a year.Unimpressed by their assertion that the non-referral could always be reinstated if promises were not made good on, Advisory Board co-chair Pat Snyder commented that the ban would not be lifted \not interested in taking it off and then putting it on again%u2014this is a weighty matter, not something you do lightly.%u201dA letter sent by the Board after the meeting echos Snyder%u2019s comments. %u201cThe Board,%u201d it reads, %u201cdoes not feel that it can, in good conscience, recommend the lifting of the non-referral on the basis of promises alone. We must see some tangible evidence before we can do that.%u201dAilon, who admitted that the hotel%u2019s 415 rooms are currently holding only some 275 people, said that he planned to %u201ccooperate all the way with the community, and work together to get the nonreferral lifted as soon as we can.%u201d %u2014LZGJudge DismissesSit-In ChargesCharges have been dismissed in the cases pending against State Senator Thomas Bartosiewicz, Councilperson Mary Pinkett, Ernest Nelson, president of the Albany Houses Tenants Association, and Samule Pin, a representative of the Brooklyn chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality, for their participation in the occupation of a Crown Heights firehouse on October 21 of last year.The decision handed down on June 15 by Judge Donald Grajales of the Kings County Criminal Court dismissed the charges of Criminal Trespass and Obstruction of Governmental Administration in the interest of justice.%u201d In dismissing the charges the Judge referred to the fact that Bartosiewicz and Pinkett are %u201c deeply involved in community activities in the Crown Heights neighborhood.%u201d He also made reference to %u201ctension between the New York Police Department and Fire Department%u201d which led to a misunderstanding over whether or not the defendants had permission to be in the firehouse.Councilperson Pinkett labeled the decision %u201c a triumph of innocence.\city %u201c saw we weren't going to surrender%u201d their attitude became %u201clet's get out of an embarassing situation.%u201dThe October 21 sit-in of Engine Company 234 at 1472 Bergen St. was held to protest the closing of the firehouse. Following the incident the Fire Department moved a salvage company to the firehouse and kept it open on that basis. Pinkett reports that the community is not satisfied that the firehouse situation has been satisfactorily resolved. She explained that fire salvage activities (things like trying to save as much property as possible from burnt houses), cannot really take the place of real service. %u2014J.S.Contested CenterOpens DoorsDespite a vehement letter from Brooklyn Borough President Golden asking that the program be closed, the Phoenix House %u201cGenerations%u201d program at 55 Flatbush Avenue in downtown Brooklyn is still open and functioning.When \doors on May 1, it did so without the formal approval of either Borough President Golden or Board 2. While these approvals are not legally required for statefunded programs such as %u201c Generations%u201d , they are seen as desirable by both Golden and community board members, in order to prevent inefficient provisions of services.An agreement between Golden and the State Division of Substance Abuse announced by Golden on March 27, according to a press release, stated that %u2018%u2018programs making substantial changes or seeking new locations, or new programs seeking to establish themselves, will be required by the Division to seek the approval of the appropriate local community planning board and the Borough President.%u201dThe breach of this agreement was strongly protested by Borough President Golden in a May 23 letter to Julio Martinez, Commissioner of the State Division of Substance Abuse Services. In his letter Golden requested that the %u201cGenerations%u201d program be closed until he and the community board had granted their approvals.Martinez, 6 weeks later, has made no response to Golden%u2019s letter. Lynn Ansara, a spokesperson for Martinez, said that %u201c I don't think he has really specifically responded to him .%u201d The Borough President has no immediate plans to take further action on this matter, and in the words of press secretary Gina Holmes, %u201cwe%u2019ve done what we think we can do.%u201d - J .S .Board TwoSelects ManagerCommunity Board Two%u2019s new district manager will be Evelyn (Tessie) Williams of 43 St. Felix St. She was selected with 21 votes from a field of three candidates at the July 17 meeting of the Board at Borough Hall with 37 members present. Others nominated ,by the Board%u2019s selection committee were Gregory Schwartz and Jose Velez, who each received eight votes.Williams is currently Program Coordinator of the New York/New Jersey Minority Purchasing Council, where she deals with identification of minority vendors. Velez is currently assistant district manager of Manhattan%u2019s Community Board Five. Schwartz is liason for Borough President Howard Golden to Brooklyn Boards Two and Eighteen.The Board made its choice by secret ballot after listening to a five minute statement and allowing 15 minutes for questions and answers from each candidate. Salary of Williams was decided in Board executive session following the Tuesday meeting.Community Board Two,' which covers Brooklyn Heights, Clinton Hill, Ft. Greene, and Boerum Hill, has been without a manager since Robert Bish resigned effective April 20. %u2014JSJuly 19.1979, The PHOENIX. Page 7

