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EditorialsThe Greening Of The ParkIf there%u2019s a lesson to be learned, it%u2019s that diligence pays off, and this time%u00bb%u25a0 %u00ab # %u00bb%u2022 %u00bb* !%u00ab> # %u00bb >o iU I n n i * k / \\ %u00bb%u00ab / v > / > l%u00bb < \\ r > r iO I U U I I U U I C O f I I I I & U V I I M l H I V I W O I V I I I ^ W I I U .T K a r \\ 4 %u2666 h f tI I I V U V U I V U I I V I %u2022 V I %%u00ab I VProspect Park Environmental Center last week, after a year of groundworkand lobbying led by Park Slope resident John Muir, has put at our fingertips avast resource for hundreds of students and adults, and stands not so much asa tribute to the efforts of a few people as to the growing concern, among agrowing band, for the natural around us.Just casual passage through Prospect Park shows the neglect that thegrandly-designed pavilions and vales of the past have fallen into over theyears of neglect and barely-adequate maintenance. It seems now that there isa reversal of that trend in the winds. With the Parks Department headingforward on renovations of the Soldiers and Sailors Arch at Grand Army Plaza,and at least tacitly supporting an effort by the Friends of Prospect Park tov/-iin n f n a o h m o ra w o V o a t a n n in t u /h o ra th o rliim n in n | V J U V V I I M t V I I I V V V U V V t w w a v r t %u2022%u00ab %u25a0 i v i w y %u2022 %u2022 %u2022 %u00bb %u25a0 %u2014 %u2014 -%u00ab%u25a0 %u2022%u2014 f %u25a0%u2014 %u2022 %u2022 %u2022 * - - ------------------j wgrounds of the past can be salvaged, with some concern and monitoring, intothe gardens of the future.The Environmental Center might well prove the most important step of thelot, in the long run, as it not only appreciates its surroundings, but passes onthat love and respect for nature. While it is all very well to promise more andmore repairs and money, the bottom line in keeping Prospect Parkburgeoning will lie in the fealty given it by the strollers, joggers and childrenof the borough, and in the values and concerns taught them by the institutionsaround us.A Bad Trade For Terminal- When Community Board Twc voted several years ago to support theMetropolitan Transportation Authority%u2019s plan to tear down the Long IslandRailroad Terminal at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues there was virtually noopposition to the plans. The MTA then was planning to demolish the oldTerminal and replace it with a new attractive station/office building.The plans have gone through many changes to make up for the fact therejust isn%u2019t enough money to build a new structure on the site. And now, thefinal plan seems to offer virtually nothing to replace the structure that willcome down. For that reason alone, everybody should speak out against whatthe MTA is pressing to do.The Coalition to Save the LIRR Terminal has organized to make sure thatwhat is up now is not torn down leaving the surrounding neighborhoods withanother generator of vacant lots. They also think the old building meritssaving too. We are happy to hear that at least one MTA Board member, CarolBellamy, is rethinking the decision to demolish the Terminal, and hope thaton January 17 the whole MTA Board will vote to spend their funds onimproving transportation rather than taking down a structure that may havevalue to the downtown community while offering us next to nothing to replaceit. We don%u2019t want that trade.Sound O ff Readers Talk SackCum Laude CoverageI would like to commend Jean Lenihan and the Phoenix for the coverage given to the Summit Youth Program on the occasion of this fine organization%u2019s first anniversary. (Program For Drop-Outs Recycles Kids, Dec. 6)It has been a pleasure working along with the director, Father Alfred and Gasper Spano, job developer; in placing Summit Youth Program participants into job training at the Hospital of the Holy Family. Congratulations to them for the outstanding accomplishments they have achieved with %u201c their kids%u201d in just twelve months.%u2014Sister Ann Kohlhaupt, O.P.Coordinator of Public Relations andVolunteersGarbled PassagesOne passage in the article published under the %u201c Community Forum%u201d (Times Plaza Board: Guard the Tenants Not the Owner, Phoenix, Dec. 6) was garbled and changed in meaning by leaving out some words, and another sentence was rendered inaccurate by the adding of a word. The section should have been printed as follows:%u201c The non-referral was placed against the hotel by the Crisis Intervention Services (CIS) of the Human Resources Administration. Independently, after investigations of their own, the State Department of Mental Health also placed a continuing Non-Referral against the Hotel for psychiatric referrals.%u201dBy leaving out the second sentence except for the last three words, it appeared that CIS had jurisdiction over psychiatric patients, which is inaccurate. CiS controls referrals from Welfare Centers; a separate agency, the State Department of Mental Health, has jurisdiction over psychiatric referrals. This means that there are two separate non-referrals in effect, placed against the Hotel by two separate agencies.The other error was in the sentence following, and should have read: %u201c The non-referral was recommended by thisBoard because it was seen as the most effective way to force an owner to undertake renovations which he has no motivation to undertake so long as he receives a steady supply of welfare referrals which keep his hotel filled.%u201d %u2014Patricia Snyder, Lillian Beckford, Co-Chairpersons, Times Plaza Community BoardBrownstoning RememberedI attended a full day of Brooklyn Brownstones sponsored by the Brooklyn Union Gas. This was in 1975 (Fall), an experience never to be forgotten by us. ! plan a trip to N.Y. in July %u201980, and am interested in any sort of activities planned at this time. People laugh at the mention of Brooklyn. There is still plenty of culture, and also %u201c City of Churches%u201d is still true.%u2014 Vincent Joane Thompson, Toledo, OhioReading The LinesLiked the piece, %u201c Rosten Hailed as Brooklyn%u2019s Own%u201d (Phoenix, Dec. 6), especially what Jeannette Walls had to say about the poems (My God, she really read the book!%u2014Norman Rosten, BrooklynHeights.Sorry StylisticsI%u2019ve given up the hope of finding good writing style or even good grammar in the dismal prose of my favorite local newspaper. It%u2019s easier to keep The Phoenix out of the children%u2019s hands in hopes that their English will not suffer more tiian it already has at the hands of TV.But doesn%u2019t anyone edit copy? Entirely apart from literary style, how do these nuggets get into only one article (December 6%u2014Golden Addresses Boerum Hill)? %u2014%u201c A number of debates and statements were exchanged...%u201d (Exchanged any debates lately?) %u2014%u201c ...to insure that newconstruction will indeed be raised before the existing site is razed.%u201d That has to be the neatest architectural engineering trick of the decade. %u2014%u201c ...very few actual specifics came out of his discussion...%u201d What on earth is an %u201c actual specific?%u201d Sounds like a patent medicine. %u2014%u201c ...having such a thing built in their veritable backyards.%u201d Is that some kind of a garden? Anyone checked the definition of %u201c veritable%u201d lately?And how about the cold, police blotter prose of %u201c N.Y.P.D.%u201d ? You may have your own reasons for writing this as boringly as possible, but why do we read of %u201cthree youths that attacked,%u201d %u201c two men that allegedly stole%u201d and %u201c 15 assailants that allegedly beat%u201d ? What%u2019s wrong with the good old %u201c who%u201d to refer to presumedGUN THREAT: Carolyne Aiken, 35, of 470 Columbia Street, was arrested on Dec. 2 at 9:20am after she allegedly attacked a male at her home with a loaded pengun, described by 76th Precinct officials as a gun disguised in pen form. Aiken did not in fact fire the gun and is charged with criminal possession of a dangerous weapon criminal mischief, and menacing.TWO CAUGHT: Two of four assailants who allegedly mugged a man in front of 152 Court Street at 1:30pm Dec. 2 were arrested by Officer Robert DiLorenzo of the 76th Precinct. Anthony Patterson, 16, of 66 Boerum Place and one 15-year-old juvenile were both nabbed; the remaining two got away. The pair in custody is charged with robbery.DRUGS AND GUN: Members of the Brooklyn South Narcotic Squad arrested Steven Venus, 29, of Slidell, Louisiana, on Pier Seven of the Brooklyn Waterfront at 9am Dec. 3. Venus, who was allegedly carrying a loaded .22 calibre pistol and a capsules of an undisclosed controlled substance, was collared trying to make ahuman beings? Even the Times refers to defendants as %u201c Mr.%u201d at least until conviction%u2014and always as persons, not inanimate objects.This might all be nitpicking were it not that sloppy, careless, ungrammatical writing seriously diminishes, even if only subconsciously, the reader%u2019s faith in the writer%u2019s reliability and attention to detail%u2014 not to mention said reader%u2019s ardor for finishing the story at all.Just a tad of professionalism, please?%u2014 Joseph E. Mohbat, Pacific St.EDITOR%u2019S NOTE: The RandomHouse Dictionary of the English Language defines %u201c tad%u201d as %u201c a small child, esp. a boy,%u201d short for %u2018tadpole.%u2019getaway aboard the Thomas Nelson steamsiiip, and is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a dangerous weapon.CAPTURED BURGLAR: Officer Douglas Lithgow of the 76th Precinct arrested Brent Scotti, 29, of 621 Rollent Rd. Rollent, Virginia, at 8:20am on Dec. 6, for allegedly breaking into an apartment at 37 President Street, and stealing quantities of furniture. Scotti was also found carrying a crowbar and a blackjack; he is charged with burglary, criminal possession of stolen property, possession of burglar%u2019s tools and criminal possession of a dangerous instrument.SWITCHBLADE SNATCH: After he was spotted carrying a switchblade knife, Wayne Gonzales, 23, of 1572 Lexington Ave., was arrested by Officer Anthony Celano of the 76th Precinct at the foot of Van Brunt Street on Dec. 10 at 10:05pm. Gonzales is charged with criminal possession of a dangerous weapon.N . Y . P . D .For The RecordCouncilmember Abe Gerges (West Brooklyn), plans to distribute pothole complaint forms to community groups after the passage of a city ordinance requiring prior notice of a defect in writing if the city is to be liable for injuries caused by the condition. Forms can be obtained by calling Gerges%u2019 office at 875-5200.Mayor Koch testified at a legislative hearing against shifting the burden of the real estate tax from commercial property operators to one and two family homes.The Brooklyn Chapter of the National Organization forWomen (Now) sent questionnaires concerning abortion legislation to all thirty state legislators trom Brooklyn. As of December, NOW had received answers from State Senators Howard Babbush (East N.Y.); Martin Connor (West Brooklyn); Donald Halpem (Sheepshead Bay); and MartyMarkowitz (Flatbush); and from Assemblymembers Thomas Fortune (Bushwick); Hatvy Strelzin (Fort Greene); and Victor Robles (Bushwick). All seven answered %u201c yes%u201d to the question, %u201c Do you feel that the Medicaid program should pay for ibortions?%u201dFour indictments for fraud in the Summer Feeding Program brought to twenty one the number of indictments and convictions growing out of the 1976 investigation of the program by Congresswoman Liz Holtzman (Flatbush).A City Wide Transit Coalition has formed to work to save the current fare and prevent service cuts. City Councilmembers involved in the erouo include Brooklyn Councilmember at Large, Robert Steingut and Councilmember, MaryPlnkett (Fort Greent, Crown Heights).The House of Representatives adopted an amendment by Congresswoman Liz Holtzman which requires betterstandards of training for nuclear power plant operators.Congressman Leo Zeferetti (Park Slope-Bay Ridge) has charged that the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has failed %u201c to properly notify%u201d tenants of federally subsidized housing who are entitled to rent refunds of up to $500 each.Congresswoman Liz Holtzman (Flatbush) plans to announce her decision whether to run for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, Jan. 8.A public hearing will be held on Thursday, December 20, 1979 on the fitness for judicial office of Francis X. Egltto, of RrnnHvn fnrmerlv law secretary to State Sunreme Court Justice John R. Starkey, for appointment to interim terms on the Civil Court of the City of New York. The hearing will be held at 2pm, at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, 42 W. 44th St., Manhattan.December 20.1979, The PHOENIX. Page 11