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EditorialsNothing%u2019s ImpossibleThe Bailey Fountain in Grand Army Plaza has stood dry and empty forthan fo iir t / o o r o Dl it t h o n r v n o H o w n o r h / t h i n o %u25a0 I m rv> r K n o H i n n i %u2022 r> ' ' \w> %u2018 vt iv/ v-iiAjr v^ui i jr u no oui i n 1101 i iouoii upFlatbush Avenue towards the Plaza we noticed cool, refreshing wateronce again pouring over the Neptunes. Kids have discovered the watertoo and a few have even jumped in with all their clothes on. Older folks, alittle more sedate, now sit on the edge dipping in a toe or two.Why did it take so long to turn the fountain back on? PreviousCommissioners and Park officials said that it could not be done %u2014 that itwould be too expensive and the City%u2019s fiscal crunch made repairs to thefountain impossible. But when Parks Commissioner Davis sent out acrew to find out what was wrong, it turned out that a minormalfunctioning of the pumps was easily repaired.With only a few fountains in Brooklyn %u2014 the others are in ProspectPark%u2019s Vale of Cashmere and in the Botanic Garden %u2014 the return of theBailey Fountain to active duty is most welcome.No AccountingCommunity groups have asked why John Jay High School has such ahigh truancy rate (on an average day, 4 out of 10 students are not intheir classes), and why the school is assigned 50 percent more studentsthan it can handle, making it necessary for the school to keep doublesessions. One way, they felt, to force the Board of Education to addressthese problems was to oppose the granting of tenure to principal RobertWeinberger, which had been scheduled for hearing by the CentralBoard of Education.But, now, it seems there will be no accounting. The principal was not upfor tenure after all. He was, however, routinely approved to continue in hisprobationary period. It had all been a mistake: he wasn't due for tenureuntil next year. The routine approval of his continuation at John Jay,however, seems to indicate that the Central Board has no intention ofdealing with problems at John Jay, and no one seems ready to call for anaccounting from a principal who often refuses to live up to hisstewardship.Sound Off R eaders Talk BackToo Soon Support?Last week%u2019s %u201c Sound Off%u201d printed a letter from Peter Drago (Kennedy Support, July 19). In it he described and commented on the voting at a recent Delegate Assembly of the New Democratic Coalition on a resolution in which the NDC criticized President Carter%u2019s leadership and urged Senator Kennedy to make a firm and unmistakable commitment on his candidacy, one way or the other.Drago suggests that delegates and party officials who voted against the resolution were motivated by the idea that %u201c it may be too soon to commit support to an undeclared candidate.%u201dAs a delegate from the Independent Neighborhood Democrats who voted for the resolution, may 1 suggest that there was, indeed, concern about this problem. From the debate it would appear that a number of delegates voted for the resolution not so much as a commitment to Ted Kennedy, but because they recognize that his popularity combined with his present uncertain stance makes it extremely difficult for other Democratic leaders to enter the race.One strategy addressed to this problemis to so overwhelm him with support that he can%u2019t back out. Another could be to let him know that he%u2019ll get support if he runs, but he%u2019ll also get plenty of resentment for the future if he doesn%u2019t make up his mind finally and quickly. That was the full sense of the NDC resolution, as 1 understood it.As to Drago%u2019s implication that State Committcewoman Eileen Dugan and the delegates of the West Brooklyn Independent Democrats who voted against the resolution were awaiting %u201c the Party Leader%u2019s O.K.,%u201d it is both curious and mystifying. Curious, because he knows them all personally. They may have faults, but kowtowing to leaders of any kind isn%u2019t among them. Mystifying, because 1 (and I%u2019m sure they) can%u2019t figure out who %u201cthe Party Leader%u201d might be. The title does have a heavy and sinister ring to it, though. Perhaps that%u2019s what captivated the writer. %u2014Gordon Haskell, 50 Cheever Place.Eroding StructureThe Brooklyn Eye and Ear Hospital has been an abandoned facility for several years and over that period of time it has steadily eroded as a solidly handsomestructure, through destruction by the elements and vandals.Numerous efforts to have the city seal the building have been ignored and recently the locked doors have been forced open and the gradual destruction of the building has continued indoors.The loveliest architectural elements of the building were the huge transoms over each of the entranceways. They were made of metal intricately cast into lacy arabesques.This morning when I passed the building these lovely remaining elements in a continually deteriorating building were gone. They were not maliciously broken but were neatly and with great care chiseled out of their frames and removed.Neighborhoods in the process of reviving themselves, as once again proud and liveable places, have to contend not only with city non-caring and destruction by vagrants and delinquents but also with the professional middle class %u2014 thieves who systematically rape and pillage the remaining vestiges of past grandeur from these neighborhoods.Undoubtedly, these missing transoms will surface in one of the new chic lower Manhattan galleries of architectural ornaments or in one of Atlantic Avenue%u2019s %u201c reclaimed%u201d artifacts stores.There arc discussions under way to sell the building to an organization which will once again make it into a functioning structure in the community but every morning when I pass it on the way to the subway I will be aware of the missing note of beauty which will possibly be decorating someone%u2019s exposed brick wall. %u2014HenryTaplitz, Carlton AvenueSummer TheatreWhat a sheer delight to attend a summer theater and not worry that it will be cancelled due to rain. Through the skilled hands of Theater director Burt Hash a simple picnic house in Prospect Park has been transformed into the magic of theater.My friends and I went to three out of the four performances the first weekend. Both the audience and the performers were alive and full of spirit.The %u201c Free For All%u201d Summer festival being presented by the N.Y.C. Dept, of Parks and Cultural Affairs is a gift to our community. I want my Brooklyn neighbors to know about it and not to miss the forthcoming performances.Thank you Bill Hash, Larry Phillips and all the performers and staff that makes this possible.%u2014Bemette Rudolph, 457 Third St.Community ForumIn Search Of The Perfect BrownstoneBY ALDO BIANCHICommitted to live in New York City, my wife Arlene and I decided to survey the possibilities of owning a Brownstone in Park Slope. Ah, the Victorian splendor of a Brownstone %u2014 bevelled glass, parquet floors, tiled fireplaces, marble mantlepieces, and a fine wood-laden interior. With this vision before us, we directed our search. To the realtors we went.The realtors along the 7th Avenue strip fall essentially into two types: the old-timers and the newcomers. They are easily recognizable: the old-timers are older males who work out of unimpressive offices (at least two had no heat during the winti r), in workingman%u2019s attire (lumber jackets or mismatched layered clothes), and they reflect questionable organizational abilities. My sense was that we were working in an orai tradition! We would watch their slow motion maneuvers as they stalked a piece of paper (often soiled) and a working pen to copy our name. They became some rare specie and I an anthropologist. But my better sense told me that they probably had the hearts and trust of the neighborhood%u2019s old-time families and, as such, they would be our avenue to a not-too-terribly inflated brownstone. I was wrong! Houseless momhs silently passed despite our weeklyAldo Bianchi is a Bensonhurstresident.phone updates. I am sure they%u2019re still looking for a working pen.But the newcomers are another breed. Mostly younger females, they do not suffer from %u201c tired blood%u201d : they are casually cladA %u201chandyman%u2019s special%u201d may walk you into the shell of a house, al fresco, roofless.sophisticates in constant motion amidst their polished surroundings. After a brief spiel on %u201c the real estate reality%u201d of Park Slope, they click their pens and dart their questions %u2014 How much cash in hand?The newer agents indeed produced houses to show; however, 1 never anticipated language barriers. Being an English professor, I feel reasonablycomfortable with words, but being a naive real estate shopper, I was in for a seminar in semantics: %u201c quaint, cute, doll%u2019s house, upcoming block, needs some work, handyman%u2019s special, details.%u201d %u201c Quaint%u201d and/or %u201c cute%u201d mean essentially the same thing: one could never lose sight of another within the house; and %u201cdoll%u2019s house%u201d is a more literal term: a house for dolls. And %u201c upcoming block%u201d may land you in the Gowanus Canal; %u201c some work\indicate a floorless house, whereas a %u201c handyman%u2019s special%u201d may walk you into a shell of a house, %u201c al fresco,%u201d roofless. But perhaps the most amusing generic verbiage is %u201cdetails.%u201d Images of marble, carved wood, bevelled glass reeled before our eyes. Then the reality!Perhaps the problem originates with singularity and plurality of the word %u201c detail(s)%u201d ? We would often be phoned, quickly told of a %u201c Super%u201d house just on the market and, Pavlov like, we would skoot off with anticipation. Inevitably, we would be maneuvered so that we stared at a fireplace, the only fireplace, a fireplace whose flame has long since been extinguished and whose character has been buried beneath a dozen coats of paint! Another main event, as it were, was a one-armed, paint-soaked, six inch figurine of Cupid on one leg, atop a columnal structure which served no other purpose than to ludicrously support it. We soon sobered to %u201c details.%u201dDuring this past year, I have been reviewing films for a newsletter. I shortlybecame aware of the fact that 19 out of every 20 films released are literally artless and unbearable. And so it is with mid-ranged (up to $100,000) brownstones. One humorous example involved an %u201c English Garden%u201d as a potential rental. We were unimpressed with the $95,000 brownstone overall, so the realtor pulled her trump: the rental. We descended to the garden level and, illuminated by the single bulb pullstring, were adamantine structures of concrete, wood-rotted ceilings and boarded windows. It was Kafkacsquc! I asked if this were an English Garden %u2014 of 1945!Our entire ordeal was educational. We have, like Plato%u2019s philosophers, emerged from the shadows of the cave into the blinding light of reality %u2014 $150,000 and up! Or, as we must, we wail. For like King Lear, we do have patience. We will wail for ,a homeowner who seeks a fair price with the comfort of knowing that his/her house will not be carved into co-ops, or turned over again by hungry speculators, or milked for its rentals by absentee landlords. Rather, the owner may take comfort in a non-exploitativc price, knowing that it is our desire to continue and accentuate the brownstone%u2019s original charm and add our voice to the next generation of Park Slopers.Still frustrated over availability, cost, and the slick milieu of the Slope housing market, we have sobered, rejected, and broadened our horizons by investigating areas other than Park Slope.July 26, 1979, The PHOENIX. Page 9