Page 491 - Demo

Move To Add PS 8Grades Voted Downym|LiiyLiM||w^ i%u00bb>wpr^ nwnii%u2014 iwm >i%u00abwg%u00bbiwaMWMWBE%u00abBrooklyn Heights Association President Jim Masters chairing a meeting of communityleaders at First Unitarian Church on Nov. 20. At table are (top to bottom) Patricia Blanco.Peter Darrow, Diane Keehner, Anne MacDonald, and Anthony Manheim. (Feldman)Brooklyn Heights Association MeetsOn Local Plusses and Problem sBY LIBBY HAYMANDespite attempts to make a resolution seeking to add grades 7 and 8 to PS 8 in Brooklyn Heights acceptable to those who had previously voted against it, the resolution again failed to pass on Tuesday, Nov. 20. after extensive debate. Voting in favor of the much amended resolution were Charles Pauli, who introduced the motion. Rev. Sylvester Bcnack, Moses Davis and Mario DcFalco. Opposed were Board Chairman Carmen Norat and Mart ha Graham. Abstaining were John Kemp, and Gertrude Jefferson, while Velmanette Montgomery had an excused absence from the meeting. A resolution must have 5 votes to pass.The original resolution, to seek a zoning change from the Board of Education to add grades 7 and 8 at the public school, had failed to pass in October, with opponents stressing that they feared that additional grades would fill the school with children from the largely white Brooklyn Heights neighborhood, pushing out the children from other pans of the district who contribute to the 45 percent of the student body which is currently black and Hispanic.The resolution which was placed on the agenda for the November meeting had an additional part which provided that if the Board ofE q u ity J o b Waits FundsBY LINUS GELBERA group of volunteer workers in the Fifth Avenue corridor seem about to run afoul of city government red tape, as they wait for federal funds to help them renovate a building at Fifth Avenue and Berkeley Place under the Sweat Equity program.Sweat Equity takes vacant and abandoned buildings and advances funds to volunteer groups that arc willing to do the lion%u2019s share of the repair work on the buildings themselves, leaving the individuals eventually holding onto a good-asnew property to live in and manage. The funds come from the federal department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and arc then channelled through the city%u2019s Department of Housing continued on page l!lEducation granted the request for additional grades at P.S. 8, then the school would remain at least 45 percent black and Hispanic for %u2018%u2018at least five years.%u201d After some debate on the provision, Board member John Kemp, who had adamantly opposed the addition of the grades at the October meeting, but had apparently been prepared to accept the compromise resolution, decided to amend the new resolution to state that the 45 percent black and Hispanic figure should be maintained %u2018%u2018for the duration of the program.%u201dEven with theamendment,which was accepted by Charles Pauli, the resolution still failed. Martha Graham commented that the measure was clearly made in %u201c good faith%u201d but that she had seen the Board refuse to be bound by earlier resolutions on other occasions, so that she was not convinced that such a resolution would actually produce the desired result. Questions continue concerning wording and about whether a future school board could be expected to abide by a resolution passed by the present board; the question will be brought up against month, its proponents say.Board 13 Superintendent Dr. Jerome Harris says that he left the meeting before the debate on the resolution in order to attend a number of District schools for Open School Night, when parents visit their children%u2019s classes. Harris says that his own objections to adding grades 7 and 8 to P.S. 8 would not be met by the 45 percent provision, since he is most concerned about the %u201c quality of the school.%u201d Harris has stated that P.S. 8 would be inadequate for a junior high program because of its size and lack of facilities, while he also maintains that the Satellite West program, created to meet the needs of 7th and 8th graders in the western part of the District, including Brooklyn Heights, is a far better solution to the problem of finding a small, academic, integrated junior high. Harris emphasizes that the matter is one for the Board to decide, and that he has carried out his own obligation to %u201calert them to the educational, social and even political aspects of the issue%u201d on which they arc deciding.In other business at the meeting, held at P.S. 11 in Fort Greene, the loard held a public hearing on the preliminary District school budget and voted to accept it.BY LIBBY HAYMANThe Brooklyn Heights Association brought together representatives of more than twenty different block associations, committees, institutions and other organizations in the Heights for a chance to share problems and solutions on Tuesday, Nov. 20. Saying that the meeting was \type%u201d that he had dealt with, Association President Jim Masters led informal discussions of difficultics and successes in residents%u2019 efforts to clean up, spruce up, and occasionally quiet down their neighborhood.Planned by BHA Board members Anthony Manheim and Patricia Blanco, the meeting won attendance by several elected representatives, Assemblyman Michael Pescc, Councilmcmbcr Abe Gorges, and State Senator Martin Connor. Also present were representatives of Community Board Two, including the District Mana^ gcr, Evelyn Williams.Anne MacDonald and Diane Keehner, of the Sanitation Committee, reported success in working with merchants on Montague Street to clean up the street. But a discussion of problems caused by youths who inhabit the streets of the Heights in the evenings and at night showed that there is no easy solution.Assessments of the seriousness ofthe situation varied, with one speaker emphasizing that loiterers at the corner of Monroe Place and Picrrepont had been %u201c more than just a nuisance%u201d since they had thrown tilings at elderly people and committed other violent actions.Crime and Safety Committee Chairman Peter Darrow urged understanding of the limitations of the police, who he said, arc doingBY JEAN LENIHAN ANDLINUS GELBERA citizen%u2019s watchdog body to the Metropolitan Transit Authority has joined lines with local protestors in trying to stop plans for the demolition of the Long Island Railroad terminal complex at Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues. Both community residents and the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee, a 29-membcr group mandated by law to check the Authority%u2019s affairs, question the Authority's financial wherewithal, and fear that after the site is cleared the MTA could run out of money and leave (he area barren.The Authority has sliced the project into three overlapping phases, each of which will be run separately and will require individual funding. In the first phase, the terminal building is scheduled to be demolished so that the contractors can slip underground to straighten tracks and renovate the bclow-grade plant. Subsequently, the second and third segments would build a greenhouse-type waiting room on the plot now occupied by the terminal, and finally create an office building above the structure. Only the first part of the plan is now being looked at for funding.All is not well in the coffers of the Authority, however, and problems have arisen with digging up the money to work the project. With Phase I originally budgeted at $20 million and the only bid coming in at $35.8 million, the MTA may well end up strapped for funding soonerI n a n it n n n in o llt t tVw\\iir%u00bbF%u00bbt A Ir%u00bbv................... '%u2022 * - o -------- J - e * .......................~Zctlin from the Authority%u2019s press office commented reservedly only that the MTA Board was %u201c reviewing%u201d the bid and its proposals and that %u201c no decision%u201d was immediately being made, but members of the Permanent Citizens Advisoryall they can with %u201c very limited resources.%u201d Responsiveness of the precinct and its public affairs officer, Willie Nielsen, was noted by several at the meeting.Jim Masters announced that a community committee to deal with possible development of a hotel on %u201c block 239%u201d , at Picrrepont and Clinton, is being formed under the chairmanship of Jane McConnell.Committee (PCAC) spoke more freely.%u201c We%u2019re sure that the MTA has the best intentions for this project,%u201d said Bill Lane from the PCAC. %u201cThe problem is that the best of intentions can still sometimes screw things up.%u201d At its last meeting on November 19, the Committee recommended that the MTA not accept the $35 million bid, re-evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the different phases, and investigate the %u201c appearance of collusion,%u201d in the one bid it has received, as the bid came as a joint offering from two companies that had previously bid competitively on the same project.The local Coalition to Save the LIRR Terminal Complex has also been lobbying for the past several months to halt the plans, but has been taking the different tack that the Terminal, being a viable artifact from Brooklyn%u2019s past, should be saved and renovated. The PCAC has taken a more economic than nostalgic approach, but the two groups have emerged in the same spot. %u201c It would be insane to tear down the present terminal complex with funding not in place,%u201d stated Coalition co-chair Mark Zulli, a Bocrum Hill resident.%u201c We feel that we%u2019re driving that point home with the MTA and other interested parties.%u201dAction on the issue will be laying low for the next several weeks, until after a series of MTA committee meetings and finally a full Board gathering on December 14. %u201c We%u2019re just worried that they<>'%u202211 %u00ab'<%u2022 L> <-> o k lo t I \\ r>( \\ %u00bb-*-> r\\1 n* <-> I U ^building of the terminal after they demolish the building,%u201d concluded Lane. %u201c A new vacant site could affect that area very badly. We have to wonder: is the construction money actually going to be in place?%u201dBoard of Elections ReadiesFor Area Policy Board PollsBY IRENE VAN SLYKEIn the on-again-off-again elections for representatives to Area Policy Boards the City%u2019s Board of Elections is now getting ready for the December 4, the new election date set by the Community Development Agency (CDA).The CDA was to hold elections on September 25 but called them off at the last minute after the contractor hired to deliver voting machines and ballots in the Bronx failed to deliver them on time. Now the CDA has called on the City Board of Election to run the Dec, 4th election.Area Policy Boards, elected from sections of Community Board%u2014 ---- ...:n u ...... %u00bb o m im o iiin federal anti-poverty monies will be spent and which community based agencies will operate funded programs. Nineteen of the city%u2019s 50 Community Boards have been designated %u201c Neighborhood Development Areas%u201d , among themCommunity Boards Two, Six, Seven, Eight and Nine. Of the 33- member boards, 17 representatives will be elected while ll have been appointed by the CDA from theFor list of localcandidates, seeCommunity Forum, Page 7ranks of city, state and federal elected officials.People will also vote for a citywidc %u201c Community Actionon /4 /win o r v i'ill nunfront districts encompassing two community boards each. The city wide board says the CDA will be %u201c an advocate for citywidc issues affecting the poor%u201d and will have %u201c powers of consultation and review.\At community meetings and candidate nights, people have complained that the language on the CDA%u2019s posters seemed to imply that only poor people could vote, but CDA%u2019s Director of Public Affairs, Andrew McCarthy, says that everyone over 18 with proof of residency can go to the polls. The lengthy statement on the posters defining what is considered poor is required by the federal Community Services Administration, he says, and reads that the CDA %u201c legally requires the maximum feasible participation of the poor in these elections,%u201d then defining income categories for the poor as people on public assistance and receivingc %u2014 .,1 %u201e i < ju p |y iv u iv .n ii* i o o v iw i o v v u i i i j .Polls will be open from noon until 9 pm and to find out where your polling place is located call the CDA hotline, 433-3100. If problems arise with the voting machines on election day call the Board of Elections at 924-8688.Group Advises MTATo Halt LIRR DemoNovember 29, 1979, The PHOENIX, Page 5