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Brooklyn%u2019s Suffering Through The Suffrage DollarBY NANCY STEDMANMosi Brooklynites are about as attached to the new Susan B. Anthony dollar coin - the first U.S. coin to honor a woman %u2014 as they arc to cockroaches.%u201c They%u2019re terrible!\Ahiri, owner of the Clark St.-Henry St. Candy Store in Brooklyn Heights. And Ahiri%u2019s sentiment about the coin portraying the 19th Century suffragette is echoed throughout Brownstonc Brooklyn. %u201c Very difficult,\Lewis, a cashier at Sid%u2019s Hardware in Fort Greene. %u201c Awful,\Brooklyn Public Library employee who wished to remain unnamed.An instance of government doing something %u201c it thinks the public wants instead of what the public does want,\aide to Brooklyn Congressman Leo Zefcrctti. %u201c Just like the $2 bill,%u201d according to Williamsburgh Savinas Bank administrator, John Ring. %u201c Almost destined to disappear,%u201d states Sharon Vatramides or Park Slope%u2019s Women%u2019s Works Bookstore.WHAT%u2019S THE PROBLEM?The problem is, that after years of legislative wrangling over a new dollar coin, the government produced a quarter clone. Although the dollar coin is significantly heavier than the quarter, it is only 2.3mm larger, and it has the same shape and color.Released with much fanfare on July 2, the nickel and copper coin features, in high relief, Susan B^.Anthony on one side, and the American Eagle landing on the moon on the other side. On both sides is an 11-sided inner border within the coin%u2019s outer edge.The government is %u201c very committed%u2019%u2019 to the new coin, says Arlene Kigin of the U.S. Bureau of the Mint, because of its potential for cost savings. The coin costs a penny more to produce than a dollar bill, but should stay in circulation ten times longer. According to the Federal Reserve, if Americans substitute the coin for the dollar bill, savings would reach $50 million a year. Technical considerations - such as making the U.S. coin distinguishable from foreign coins by automated cointing, sorting, and vending machines-prompted the .-\shape and color.Ms. Kagin pooh-poohs the ideaBY RICHARD AFFLICKThe new Susan B. Anthony dollar has not been a boon to the business of Standard and Johnson at 388 Atlantic Avenue even though it could have been since the company makes coinsortcrs.John O%u2019Grady who heads Standard and Johnson (S & J) says that many owners of sorters don%u2019t want to have their machines changed because they fear (hat the coin might be taken out of circulation and they would have to foot the bill to have the machines changed again.S & J has been in business since 1903 and originally started out as a coffee and tea importer. But when the Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, commonly known as A & P, got into the tea business, S & J began making coinsorters.S & J builds sorters and wrappers for banks, subways and casinos and they vary in price andthat the new coin is too similar to the quarter. %u201c It is no different than a $1 bill and a $10 bill,%u201d she says.size. The smallest weighs about 115 pounds, the largest about 1,300. This year it is planning to produce some 275 of them, each one taking two days to two and a half weeks to assemble.O%u2019Grady points out the accuracy of his machines that can separate any coin within one 20,000th of an inch. That might explain why the price of these machines runs from a low of $1,600 to a high of $16,000 and sometimes if a client wants additional options it might go higher than that.O%u2019Grady is hopeful (hough that the Susan B. Anthony dollar gains wider acceptance and says that he knows that the U. S. Mint has struck %u201c millions of them.%u201d Since most of the old machines are not able to sort the coin, Brooklynites should keep the Susan B. Anthony in circulation because it might be a boon to a Brooklyn company.John O%u2019Grady with one of the coinsorters his company,Standard and Johnson, located at 388 Atlantic Avenue,m anufacturers. (Occhiogrosso Photo)Sorting the Susan B.s ShouldBe A Big Business-But Isn%u2019tArson Prevention Program Set UpAlong Slope%u2019s Fifth Avenue CorridorBY JEAN LENIHANAnita De Martini, on November 1, announced to a group of community leaders and residents that the area had been chosen for a $32,000 experimental arson prevention program.Funded by the Florence V. Burden Foundation, an Arson Strike Force will work under the auspices of the Mayor%u2019s Office for Criminal Justice. The program will fund field representatives who will work with a local organization, in this case, the Fifth Avenue Committee, to provide arson education, tenant inspection of buildings for fire safety violations and block watcher patrols.Kitty Terjen, the Board%u2019s Public Safely Committee Chairperson said at the announcement that %u201c last year there were 57 suspicious fires along the Fifth Avenue corridor, 41 of these fires occured within a ten block area from Union Street to Flatbush Avenue,%u201d and that the area wouiube %u201c the target atea\the program%u2019s activity.Community Board%u2019s Six share of $32,000 is one of three grantstotalling $247,900 for projects aimed at reducing arson. Other grants went to the People%u2019s Fire House and Los Sures in Williamsburg.In addition to an Arson Strike Force on Fifth Avenue the federalLaw Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) will develop a $195,000 computerized information retrieval system and the United States Fire Administration will provide $20,000 for an arson information clearing house.Development Plans May ReachFifth Avenue%u2019s Baltic Street LotBY IRENE VAN SLYKEThe Fifth Avenue Committee on November 8 will be making a presentation to the Community Board Six Land Use Committee for possible development of the vacant lot between Baltic and Butler and 5th and 4th Avenues.At its last meeting School Board 13 voted to keep part of the lot for a future elementary school but to relinquish control of the remainder of the properly. The School Board also wrote a letter to the Fifth Avenue Committee inviting them to become the developer.Pat Conway, a housing organizerC . 1. %u201e f? %u2019. fl L A ,,n n l l n , \\ %u00bbV1 %u00bb-%u00bb> I t t OO wi ins* a m u i n v u m v ..................(FAC), explained that the first step in the process of development is to get control of the site and thatFAC is looking to Community Board Six and its Land Use Committee for support in their endeavor.Conway says that FAC would like to see both residential and commercial uses for the area with a maximum of four story buildings. They would also like to see a combination of ownership and rentals of the housing stock to be built and also to make some housing available for low and moderate income residents.For now, however, the Board of Education will have to review the decision of the local school boardom/4 ortrttvw r* a tr a n e ff'r to th o c it y %u2019 s ---------r r -Department of Real Estate which will then decide on future uses of the lot.But that argument doesn%u2019t prevent confusion in Brownstonc Brooklyn. Congressional aid Phil Leshin, for example, reports giving a $1.25 tip to a taxi driver when he intended to give 50 cents. Brooklyn Heights shopkeeper Abdo Ahiri was once charged with shortchanging by a customer.Even blind people, who were supposed to benefit from the high relief on the new coin, find the dollar confusing. %u201c Blind staff members agree the coins haven%u2019t been a boon,\states Susan Shopsis, a Brooklynite who teaches daily living skills to the blind at the Lighthouse in Manhattan. The tactile difference between the quarter and the new dollar, says Shopsis, isn%u2019t great enough to make a positive difference. %u201c It would have been better if the coin had 11 sides, as originally publicized.%u201d she states. Many blind persons, she adds, prefer receiving a dollar bill, which can be folded in a particular way to distinguish it from other bills.Mary Episcopia, a member of the senior day center at the Industrial Home for the Blind in Brooklyn Heights, agrees. %u201c I wouldn%u2019t be bothered,%u201d she says. %u201cThe coins arc not appropriate for a blind person.%u201dEXTRA PRECAUTIONAmong sighted people, those who handle money in their jobs report taking extra precautions to avoid mistaken identities. Neil Muro, a token booth operator at the Court and Montague subway station always inquires as to the number of tokens wanted when he receives a dollar coin. %u201c Sometimes people make m istakes,\explains.Linda Volpe, a salesclerk at Abraham and Straus, tries to get rid of dollar coins before the end of the day. She%u2019s afraid she%u2019ll count them as quarters during (he tally of her cash register. Other storekeepers arc reluctant to give the coins as change. %u201c I%u2019m confused onthem,\Burger King on Fulton St.%u201c Do you know how many people I%u2019ve had arguments with?%u201d asks Abdo Ahiri in Brooklyn Heights. Ahiri no longer uses the coins for change. Ray Zli of Ray%u2019s Deli in Bocrum Hill takes the coins directly %u201c to the bank.%u201dAs for the banks-Williamsburgh Savings Bank gives the coins out only on request. %u201c We don%u2019t force them on customers,%u201d states John Ring. And the Livingston St. branch of Citibank doesn%u2019t even carry them. According to branch manager, George Lortz, the coins have received %u201c a negative reaction because they%u2019re so much like quarters.%u201dAPPRECIATIVE CUSTOMERSBut at least one group of customers is appreciative of the Anthony coin -- those at the feminist Women%u2019s Bookstore in Park Slope. %u201c Most women say they%u2019ll save them,%u201d says Sharon Vairamidcs. Bui, in general, according to Vairamidcs, %u201c Everyone seems to be upset about the size - almost ensuring that many business people don%u2019t want to deal with them.%u201dThis failure to circulate the coin is, according to the Mini%u2019s Arlene Kagin, %u201c the real problem.%u201d %u201c You can talk to many people on the street who%u2019vc never seen one,%u201d she says. Familiarity, she feels, would diminish confusion.While Kagin%u2019s statement has a bit of circularity to it - if the coins were less confusing, (hey might circulate more - it may well prove true. In contrast to early press reports about countless mistaken identities, a spot check of about a dozen establishments in Brownstone Brooklyn revealed only one clerk who mistook a dollar coin for a quarter.Brownstonc Brooklyn may yet come to agree with token booth operator Neil Muro, who says, %u201c If it%u2019s money, it%u2019s money. As long as it covers the fare, I don%u2019t care.%u201dPaul Roebling (L) great grandson of John Roebling, thebuilder of the Brooklyn Bridge and Julia Hotton (R) who ispreparing the festivities for the Bridge%u2019s 100th birthday weresome of the guests attending the unveiling by BoroughPresident Howard Golden of the \tourism poster. (Van Slyke Photo)November 8,1979, The PHOENIX, Page 5