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Board Two Changes Part nf PaHman Tn%u201cOldFulton Street'%u2019Mayor Ed Koch reads a proclamation to celebrate the 80th Anniversary of the Brooklyn%u2019sChildrens%u2019 Museum at 145 Brooklyn Ave. flanked by Lloyd Hezekiah (far left) Executive Directorof the Museum and Lucille Pearlman, Vice President of the Board of Governors (left)%u2014 (HaymanPhoto)Brooklyn%u2019s Own Park CenterOpens With Official FlourishBY LINUS GELBER%u201c Prospect Park is really the premiere park in this city, from my point of view,%u201d Parks Department Deputy Commissioner Eloise Hirsch told some 75 Park Rangers, nature buffs and politicians at the official dedication of the Prospect Park Environmental Center last Tuesday night. Stating that the ceremony and the on going repairs of the Golden Age Picnic House Building, which stands in the park near Fifth Street, are the first steps in a full program of increased attentions and rehabilitations for the Park, Hirsch assured the audience that %u201c we%u2019re going to see this park flower and green once again.%u201dThe official kickoff, tardy by two months to the actual opening of the center, was attended by Borough President Howard Golden, the Urban Park Rangers who staff the center on a day-to-day basis, and members of the Board of Directorsof the center, including its founder, Park Slope resident John Muir. Each speaker lauded the project, noting that Brooklyn had until recently been the only borough in New York to be left without an Environmental Education Center. The presentations ended with Golden, Muir and Hirsch cutting a red ribbon held across the stage by two of the rangers.The Center has so far toured about 400 schoolchildren through the Park, showing them the wiles and wares of the natural settings and trying to instill some sort of respect for the world of greenery. %u201cThe kids can grow, learn and discover on these trips,%u201d said Bill Casey, Principal of Park Slope%u2019s PS 321, whence the first ten classes to visit the center came. %u201cThis sort of project helps them to find a richness in the past, and insures them a brighter future.%u201d Casey is also a member of the Center%u2019s Board.Although he could not put in a personal appearance, Governor Hugh Carey sent an envoy with greetings and respects, and fond hopes for the future. Golden seized the microphone following Carey%u2019s regards, and said, \tell Hughie that we appreciate his thanks, and everything he sent, but soon we%u2019ll be coming to him for money!%u201d He also told the audience that repairs for the Picnic House will be finished within a year, adding %u201c other repairs are in the capital budget pipeline right now.%u201dBY LIBBY HAYMANThe members of Community Board Two agreed at their Dec. 12 meeting that Cadman Plaza West should only have its name changed to %u201cOld Fulton Street%u201d or Fulton Street at the end of the street between the river and the intersection of Henry Street, leaving the part next to the Cadman Plaza co-op complex with its present title. The decision was made after a public hearing which came after an attempt in the City Council to change the name of the whole street. Councilmember Abe Gerges told the group that he had learned %u201c at the last minute%u201d of the introduction of such a name change by Council Majority Leader Tom Cuite (South Brooklyn), whose district does not include the street.Gerges polled residents of the Cadman Plaza area and found that most opposed the change, while the Fulton Ferry Renaissance Association voted that the river end of the street should be named %u201c Old Fulton Street.%u201d The procedure for changing a street name does not require a public heariftg, but Gerges said the Board%u2019s vote would have %u201c advisory%u201d significance.The Board meeting did not measure up to its agenda when an announced appearance by City Comptroller Harrison Goldin did not materialize. All requests for Board action on committee proposals were granted, including a 7 percent increase for two staffmembers, approval of a board budget modification to use some extra personnel funds to pay unexpectedly large Xerox bills, and the adoption of the Board%u2019s $60,000 Fiscal 1981 budget; as well as the election of officers on the ballot approved by the board last month. Donna Cambas, who had beennominated from the floor last month for 2nd Vice Chairman, wrote to the Board withdrawing her name so that the nominating committee%u2019s slate stood unchallenged. Elected were Grantley Crichlow, Chairperson, Vivian Patterson, 1st Vice Chairperson, Howard Zimmerman, 2nd Vice Chairperson and Clara Schwabe, Executive Secretary.Approval was also given to plans for the rehabilitation of Cuyler Park, in Fort Greene. In the public session, pleas from the Boerum Hill-South Brooklyn Clean Air Committee, which has been fighting an emissions problem at the Ulano Corporation plant at 280 Bergen were responded to with assignment of the problem to the Health Committee and a statement from an aid to Councilmember Gerges requesting a public hearing , about the situation.The Committee to Save the Long Island Railroad terminal also sought help, saying that the plans for developing the site are no longer the same as those as approved by Board Two, since bids have far exceeded monies available.Frank GArrett, of Brooklyn Comprehensive Corporation summarized the %u201cTri-Block proposal%u201d for scatter site subsidized housing development in Fort Greene. Because the proposal has gone to the Planning and District Development Committee, speakers against the plan were not allowed to speak in the public session, though they pointed out that Garrett had had a chance to speak. Marcia Rimler, Chairperson of Planning and District Development, said that the committee would %u201chear the case%u201d of the opponents in January. The Board welcomed a new member, Bruce Whitmer.Board Six Supports Red HookRehab Idea And Park PlansReport Cites Boerum HiliClinic As Sparsely UsedBY JEAN LENIHANThe South Brooklyn Multi-Purpose Council at 141 Nevins Street in Boerum Hill is one of 14 privately managed clinics cited in a report released by City Comptroller Harrison Goldin as being underutilized. Since clinics have mostly fixed costs, the cost per patient has increased substantially and, Goldin suggests that underutilized clinics be closed and resources shifted to better utilized, better run centers.The 14 clinics examined in the audit report are operated under contract with the City%u2019s Human Resources Administration (HRA) to provide free medical and family planning services. Goldin%u2019s key finding is .that attendance at clinics had dropped substantially in recent years, and while HRA attributes the drop partly to funding cuts in the federally maintained program, Goldin also cites HRA%u2019s elimination of social services and outreach efforts as additional reasons. HRA for its part says that it is taking a number of steps to increase outreach efforts, but is deterred by %u201c a lack of bilingual staff.%u201dThe South Brooklyn clinic, budgeted for $107,505, has reduced the number of medical sessions per week from 4 to 3 with approximately 11 persons receiving treatment at each session. But even with reduced monies some clinics operate more efficiently than others, the Goldin report asserts, ranging from a low of $20.81 per patient to a high of $40.97 with the South Brooklyn clinic coming in at $35.58 per patient.The HRA clinics are designed to provide assistance to the economically disadvantaged providing free services to anybody on public assistance, or eligible for Medicaid. Yet the people the program is meant to serve are often not being attracted. Goldin%u2019s report finds that only 17 percent of the patients at the clinics were on public assistance.ContainerportLease SignedState and city officials signed the final operating agreements for the $20 million Red Hook containerport on Dec. 18 at a lease-signing ceremony. Simultaneously, the letting of the first major construction contract for the facility was announced, but this information was not available at press timd. The Port Authority will operate the containerport when it is built.BY LINUS GELBERBoard Six voted to support the skeleton of a rehabilitation proposal for an abandoned school building in Red Hook at its last meeting, Dec. 12, looking as well toward scheduled repairs for the Red Hook stadium and spotchecking the state of the hiring process for a new District Manager, to replace Joan White. White, the current manager, has been working with the Board for more than two-and-a-half years, and her resignation was announced two months ago.The frame of the old school PS 30 building in Red (Jook has become something of a touchstone for neighborhood residents. While the building has been logged onto the lists for public auction, seal-up and possible eventual demolition, there is a community effort, led by Richard Mulgrave from the Economic Youth Enterprises (EYE) of Red Hook to save the building, whip it structurally and aesthetically back into shape, and use it to house the increasing number of services, centers and programs available to the residents of the Hook.While the proposals of the community are still in a rather amorphous state and need to be solidified before any forma! fund ing requests can be filed with the city and the federal government, tne Boara cnose unanimously to support the concept. Before the meeting there was a public hearing on the matter, and the members agreed that the project could represent a much-needed unifyingforce and spirit for the community. %u201c I think this could be something we could all be proud of, and that Red Hook can be proud of,%u2019%u2019commented Board Chair Anita DeMartini after the vote had been closed.The Parks and Recreational Committee of the Board, chaired by Robert Hubbard and Joan Gilbert, reported that a $2 million workscope of repairs for the Red Hook stadium and surrounding parks had been received from the city. Gilbert noted that construction would notbegin for at least a year, and could not be finished before two years from now. Plans include refinishing and refurnishing existing equipment, and the Board voted to okay the scope.The Nominating Committee reported that 15 resumes for the post of District Manager had thus far been received, and Robert Hubbard from the Committee told the Board that review and interviews would begin after the first of the year.Laid-Over LandmarksPlans Heard At City HallBY LIBBY HAYMANThree local landmark designation matters laid over from an October hearing were given a chance for airing at City Hall on Dec. 11, with decisions from the Landmarks Commission pending in a month or two. The three buildings considered, all proposed for designation are the interior of Old St. Ann%u2019s Church at Clinton and Livingston, the First Free Congregational Church, at 311 Bridge St., and the Royal Castle Apartments, at 20-30 Gates Ave. in Clinton Hill.The Royal Castle Apartments, adjacent to the oroDosed Clinton Hill Historic District are supported for designation by the Society for Clinton Hill, and the layover had been scheduled only to give the owner a chance to speak, though he did not choose to do so. Old St.Ann%u2019s, which is part of Packer Institute, presents several difficulties, including the question of whether it is publicly accessible as a landmark normally is. The Brooklyn Heights Association opposed designation at the hearing, largely because Packer%u2019s use of the building might be so restricted by the designation that the school might not wish to continue ownership, while the interior is not sufficiently outstanding to justify such a problem.Polytechnic Institute, which owns the First Free Congregational Church, asked the Commission to delav a Honsion on status for ayear, so that results of studies of the Polytechnic area by Downtown Brooklyn Development Association, and by Polytechnic itself, would be in.December 20,1979, The PHOENIX, Page 5