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The Decade Turns.1 r - _ ______ t i __________ x _ A V / ________ t k I ________ pie A na cv^ms m ui iv iu u c m rt?ut i iw w amWSmi.ymmmm. SIS 1Demand For Space%u2019s Up: 1979 might very well be known in history as the year conversions started of any structure able to hold a few apartments. Developers are becoming ever more inventive and creative in spotting empty buildings and converting, usually into cooperative ventures. There is no limit to the type of building eligible%u2014former warehouses (Eagle Warehouse in Brooklyn Heights), factories (Doehler Die in Carroll Gardens or the Ex-Lax factory in Boerum Hill), office buildings (66 Court Street seems to be a prime candidate for this type of conversion); former hotels (St. George and Hotel Margaret in Brooklyn Heights) and even a church (the Spencer Memorial Church on Remsem Street) are all fair game. The reason for all this activity is that people have discovered that downtown Brooklyn is close to Manhattan, has excellent transportation and cuts down significantly on the amount of time required commuting to the job; the popularity of living in Brooklyn has driven up the prices but it hasn%u2019t deterred anyone from buying or renting. There is no end to the demand. (Occhiogrosso Photo)ry vying for first place uld be it. Starting in 5 either meetings took :ity and state officials itraged citizens tried to end work did start and ne%u2019s satisfaction. One us CB radio operators lum during rush hours iny motorists recently e on the newly paved sway. In 1980 we might asoline but Brooklyn%u2019s i)%u00a3 was the number one ulton Mall was a close ing season in 1978, 5d. When work should 1979, A.J. Pegno, the nillion. Finally, at the though Pegno and the All during the summer 1979 holiday shopping iestrian Mall, but the %u2022d to vote an additional r the deep cuts in the )ple have taken to the pedestrian Mall might 1 although that is still million Mall will need > not scheduled to beGreening Of Prospect Park: 1979 was a good year for Prospect Park and Grand Army Plaza. Prospect Park saw the arrival of 20 Urban Park Rangers giving nature tours explaining ecology, geology and all the other subjects that have to do with ! preserving the Park%u2019s wildlife, trees, shrubs and flowers. The Parks Department turned on the fountain in Grand Army Plaza and let a contract for $431,000 to restore the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch and replace the Winged Victory statue on top of the Arch. The Friends of Prospect Park are working with Parks Department officials to clean up the lake in the Vale of Cashmere in Prospect Park without costing the city a penny. But, on a less positive note, the zoo in the park was cited last summer for the less than perfect conditions the animals live in but city officials say that money is not available to rectify the situation. The people who use the Park, on the other hand, seem more determined than ever and are already preparing the next generation of Park-users with the opening of an Environmental Center in the Picnic House in the Park. (Occhiogrosso Photo)1979 Was Something To Shout About, BY L. J. DAVISDid cavemen have years? No, really, I'm serious. When it snowed (as it%u2019s doing now) did your typical caveman take a look at the flakes and say sonething like, %u201c Hey, it%u2019s snowing again, just like last year%u201d ? Or did he peer from the gloom of his cavern and say, %u201c I%u2019ll be darned. Look at that. Now what does that remind me of?%u201d Personally, I%u2019m inclined to come down on the side of the latter remark, if only because cavemen never invented resort wear. This indicates a certain lack of foresight. Fortunately, as Captain Kirk used to say (and say and say) the human race progresses, and it was only an eyewink later (in evolutionary terms) that a Babylonian tinkerer named Marvin stumbled upon the year while trying to invent the pocket calculator. Marvin had twelve fingers. Marvin also invented the month. He had eighteen toes, give or take a few.I%u2019m just being silly, and it's time to get down to cases. The year that is now ringing down its curtain has been a particularly splendid one for me. It began with the refusal ot everyone in Calhoun, Georgia to speak to me. and it is ending with aim %u25a0 i every rigln winger in Washington doing the same. 5 (lew or a DC-10. Hurricane Fred blew over my peach tree. Mv children attended public school In short, a banner year in a banner decade. Mv cat died, too.WHAT Dir**1-%u2019%u2019 ? HAPPEN But enough of me. 1979 was good to northwest Brooklyn, and that%u2019s something to shout about. It was the year Baruch College didn%u2019t move again. Nothing gotbuilt on the Hoyt-Schermerhorn blocks. Woodhull Hospital didn%u2019t open, but Columbia Street finally stopped falling down and killing people, so maybe it wasn%u2019t needed after all. The new bus to Manhattan ran once or maybe twice and then ran no more. The elms began to die on Eastern Parkway and Erica Jong visited A & S. Avis Rent-a-Car closed down. So did Martin%u2019s. Tom Cuite and Vince Riccio both won the Bigot of the Month Award from the Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Rights.It was cold in February, but July made up for it. Everybody on the Heights had an opinion about a new hotel that will never be built. There was a big fight over the BQE, but nobody seems to remember what it was all about. The Times Plaza Hotel remained a dump. Members of the local community boards remained faithful to tradition and continued to fail to show up at meetings. The Ex-Lax factory finally turned into a co-op, but Jerry Kretchmer was unable to get people to stop calling it the Ex-Lax factory. The Fulton Mall started and stopped, started and stopped.KARATE FANTASIESThe Boerum Hill House Tour wr picketed by a bunch of karate fan-tub called the Local Level a id somebody stencili< lot of dumb signs on %u00bb.'f people%u2019s houses, but the Local Level .s%u00bb it didn't do it. Ed Dewey decided to bring back the trolley cars. Nobodv was seized and held hostage, and Richard Nixon did not shop for a house in Park Slope. Several hornocidal maniacs were caught in various parts of the borough, but hornocidalmaniacs have become as commonplace as fireplugs and nobody paid much attention.Phoenix reporter Linus Gelber made 900 million Chinese mad as hell. For some reason, the Wendyburger stand on Fulton Street remained open. Nothing happened at the Atlantic Antic except that a couple of Cambodians handed out a number of fliers calling for the return of Pol Pot, or possibly Pol Parrot (the fliers wern%u2019t printed very well). It became too expensive to live in Brooklyn Heights and everybody moved out. Some knucklehead narrowed the sidewalks on Schermerhorn Street.Anyway, it was that kind of year%u2014a little of this, a little of that. Skylab missed us and fell on some kangaroos instead. A computer in Omaha reported that World War III had begun, but the computer was wrong. In other words, we%u2019re still here. We'll probably still be here tomorrow, too. Baruch College will continue to refuse to move, the Hoyt-Schermerhorn lots will continue to remain vacant.Snow will fall in the winter, heat waves will come in the summer, and things will go' on being far less important that they seem it' be at the time. If I%u2019m in luck, Dracula%u2019s 7 big will still be playing at Loew%u2019s Metropolitan XXXIV this weekend, and I%u2019ll be able to catch it. If I%u2019m really in luck, the person in front of me in the bank line won't be probating his estate, and if fortune were to grin rather than simper, the public librarv would declare a general amnestv on overdue books. A little perspective on these matters does wonders for the blood pressure.