Page 73 - Demo

Board Two Chooses Evelyn Williams For DistrictIVIQI I v lU C llCI IUIIIT ki i i i i i u p v o u u u a n u i u aBY JEAN STERNLIGHT%u201c I want to be an active instrument in bringing together this board and striving for communality,%u201d said Evelyn (Tessie)Williams, the newly elected district manager of Community Board Two, which covers Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Fort Greene, and Clinton Hill. Williams, a resident of 43 St. Felix St. who also resides at 92 Lincoln Road in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, was elected to the $20,000 a year post at the Board%u2019s July 17 meeting, getting 21 of the 37 votes cast. In her statement to the Board, Williams said that she comes from %u201c a family of ministers,%u201d and sees %u201c community involvement as a responsibility.%u201d She noted that she has worked in the district %u201cfor twenty long years,%u201d and said that she has a special%u201c fascination with the makeup of the district%u201d which she sees as a %u201c rainbow of ethnicity and religions.%u201dIn an interview following the meeting Williams explained that she can%u2019t be too specific yet about what she will do as its district manager. %u201c At this point I would like to see what is being done now%u201d in terms of management. She does not see the position as a %u201c decisionmaking job,%u201d but rather she says %u201c I am at the service of the Board and will carry out its directives.%u201dWilliams last worked with the New York / New Jersey Minority Council as a program coordinator where she researched and responded to requests for minority vendor identification. The program she was working in was eliminated on March 9, and since that time shessv>sv NRHearing Nears for Hospital MergerBY IRENE VAN SLYKEDistrict Board %u2018A%u2019 of the Health Systems Agency will hold a hearing on August 7 on the proposed merger of Baptist Hospital in Park Slope and Interboro Hospital, located in East New York. Board %u2018A%u2019 is comprised of Community Districts Two and Six.'Six weeks ago Baptist Hospital announced that the stockholders of Interboro were planning a $10 million gift to Baptist and merge the facilities into the Baptist Medical Center combining their services.Interboro, located at 2749 Linden Boulevard in the East New York section of Brooklyn is a proprietary (profit making) osteopathic training institution owned by twenty stockholders. The major ones are: Doctors Salvatore Piseiotto, Raymond Goldstein, Martin Raskin and Stanley Schiowitz. After combining the two hospitals it will become a non-profit church related Medical Center with two divisions %u2014a Linden Boulevard division with 368 beds and a President division with 59 beds.The reason for the ten million dollar gift is that Interboro hospital %u201c will need to expand their educational programs,%u201d said Thomas Byram, executive director of Baptist Hospital, %u201c but cannot do so as a profit making institution%u201d adding that %u201conly a non-profit institution would be able to meet future quotas of internships and residencies at a low cost.%u201d Byram will be the executive director of the new medical center as well.Combining services now provided by Interboro and Baptist Hospital will increase community services, according to Hank McManus, a Park Slope resident and president of Baptist Hospital%u2019s Board of Trustees. The present 10 member board will become the governing body of the future Baptist Medical Center.Byram said that Baptist %u201d in a year or so%u201d would like to phase out its present acute care at-: the President Street facility and %u201c go into care for the terminally ill,%u201d adding that there is a need for this kind of service since %u2019%u2019there is no freestanding facility for the terminally ill in Brooklyn.%u201d Baptist would actively seek comments from the community on %u201cwhat programs would be acceptable%u201d to it, according to Byram.The hearing will be held at the HSA office, 180 Montague Street, 3rd Floor, on Adgust 7, at 6 p.m. 596-4550.Fifth Avenue Group Continues ProgramsBY LINUS GELBERProgress is mounting in a series of activities as the Fifth Avenue Committee (FAC) prepares to begin a facade improvement program, opens discussion on sanitation in the area and follows up a series of meetings it held in the past several months on abandoned buildings and arson.Starting off with a $5000 donation from Brooklyn Union Gas, FAC is readying to kick off a beautification program on St. Marks Place between Fourth and Fifth Avenues, repairing and cleaning the building fronts along the street. Rebecca Reich, who has been supervising this project, estimates that it will %u201cmost likely start this week%u201d with initial cornice restoration. %u201cYou know,%u201d she explained, %u201c when you%u2019re doing building work, you start from the top and go down.%u201dT L %u00abtotal of $10,000, and Reich says that more money is expected from Citibank and, beyond that, %u201c we have other feelers out.%u201d Owners of buildings that will get work have given donations of $50 or more to their block association to supportother local activities.On Tuesday, July 23, the Committee continued its beautification theme with the first meeting on sanitation, which has been identified as one of the major maladies along the strip. Representatives from the 78th and 72nd Precincts, and the 30th and 31st Sanitation Districts, as well as First Deputy Sanitation Commissioner Frank Sisto, came out to the meeting, joining some 80 local residents.According to Committee member Pat Conway, specific requests made by the community concerned the spottily-enforced Canine Waste Laws, garbage-strewn vacant lots and irregular pickup service, particularly in reference to bulk pickups. %u201c Everyone was very friendly,%u201d Conway recalls. %u201cThey assured us that they were aware of the problems and doing their best.c * :ii *i-------------j . ...____r ____ ___ ___ %u2022____ %u2022 J llii, UU-J 1UUUC VW1J lt/VY p iu u u JV, jto do much of anything.%u201dConway also noted that FAC was %u201cnot satisfied with the response we got%u201d and plans to continue holding meetings until some alternatives to declining service show up.Evelyn Williamshas been enjoying %u201c a much needed vacation.%u201dIn her previous job which the Council bookkeeper describes as %u201c secretary%u201d , Williams says she earned $19,000 annually.She has also been quite active in various civic, political, and religious groups, including in particular the Church of the Open Door in Fort Greene, The Women%u2019s City Club of New York, and the Community Association of Business, Labor, Education, and Services (CABLES), a group which %u201c helps prepare young people for society.%u201dWilliams was selected by the Board from among a group of three candidates recommended by the six member Selection Committee. Reverend Keiler of the Church of the Open Door, Chairperson of the Selection Committee reported that out of 23 applications, Williams,Jose Velez, and Gerald Schwartz were recommended. Velez, currently assistant district manager to Board 5 in M anhattan, and Schwartz, currently Borough President Golden%u2019s liaison to Boards Two and Eighteen, each received 8 votes of the 37 cast.In addition to picking their new district manager, Board Two also followed the request of the Health, Social Services, Youth, Handicapped, and Senior Citizens Committee, and conditionally approved two programs: The Center for Sports Medicine, an educational and medical program on the Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University (LIU), jointly sponsored by LIU and the Hospital for Joint Diseases.. Also, a drug-free rehabilitation Assistance Corporation (CRAC) was approved 16-0-10. Members of CRAC were required to abstain from the vote.NewsbriefsHousing ProjectScope RethoughtNow that Cauldwell-Wingate developers has withdrawn its request for federal aid to finance a middleand high-income housing complex on Hoyt and Schermerhorn Sts. in Boerum Hill, the company has turned to the private sector searching for funds.Originally, Cauldwell-Wingate with another realty company, Sylvan Lawrence, had applied for $2 million in federal Urban Development Action Grant (UDAG) loans for the long-contested 256 unit project, budgeted at that time at $12 million, but the application was pulled out before the deadline for its submission.%u201c We%u2019re rethinking the numbers right now,%u201d stated Wingate Executive Vice President Dan Nelson. He explained that the project is currently being re-planned as a two-phase operation, with 88 units to be constructed at first and %u201cthe remaining units at a later date.%u201dAlthough he would not say if a new budget had been finalized for the modified development, Nelson commented that Wingate is making %u201c very strong headway with local banks%u201d and expects a mortgage commitment in 60 to 90 days. Previously, Wingate would have fronted $2 million for the construction with a consortium of banks supplying $8 million more, leaving a total of $2 million unaccounted for. %u2014LZGMTA StationPlans ExhibitedPlans, drawings and art work for rehabilitation of the Clark Street Subway Station and Arcade, part of the Metropolitan Transit Authority%u2019s (MTA) %u201c Adopt A Station%u201d program, will be exhibited at Henry's End Restaurant in Brooklyn Heights.The project which is expected to cost about $223,000 is funded by private contributions matched with public funds for improved transit facilities.Donald Beckerman, the restaurant owner and representative of North Heights Merchants Association hopes that the exhibit willo ttr a r 't o Inf rtf rvuhlir* o f tp n f in n o n Hencourage private contributions for the program.Public funds will be used for cleaning, and treating floors, painting the ceiling, cleaning and replacing tiles, and improving lighting, informational and decorative graphics and maps in thesubway. The work to be performed in the arcade will include building a new ceiling, lighting, fare control modifications, maps, graphics and placing of two murals.Alan Samalin, Johan Sellenraad and Joe Stallone are the mural artists, assigned to the Cultural Council Foundation Artists Project, funded by the New York City Department of Employment.Outside private funding is needed for the refurbishing of the marquees outside the station at Clark and Henry Streets, installation of a closed circuit television, adding extra benches, trash receptacles and map panels.Heights StartsStreet ProgramsMontague Street may be looking a little cleaner and the Promenade may be a little safer this summer, thanks to the Brooklyn Heights Merchants Association and the Brooklyn Heights Association%u2019s efforts toward a street clean-up program, the addition of trash containers and late evening police patrol on the Promenade.The pilot program for a street clean-up instituted by the Brooklyn Heights Merchants Association includes the employment of a young man Monday to Friday from 8 am to 12 noon, who runs the hydrants, sweeps the streets and clears refuse from the drain basins along Montague Street.According to Harry Gordon, President of the Brooklyn Heights Merchants Association, %u201c Several people have stopped into stores to say they appreciate what%u2019s being done.%u201d If the 5 week program which began July 2, and costs the merchants Association about $400, is successful, they hope to expand the program to include a large staff for the winter.The Brooklyn Heights Association's concern for sanitation has meant the installation of 15 giant concrete trash containers along Montague, Remsen, and Henry Streets, and the addition of three green barrels to the heavily trafficked Promenade.In order to discourage the large numbers of people blasting radios, drinking and congregating alongih o P r n m p n a H p o nnlippm !H t n n o iscooter has been urged by the BHA to patrol this area during the 4 to midnight shift. Members of the Association are also investigating the noise code and talking to the Environmental Protection Agency to determine the possibility of instituting a law regulating thevolume of radios, similar to the sound system law presently in effect. %u2014E.A.St. George FinishPostponed AgainThe St. George Towers, the largest apartment conversion in Brooklyn heights, originally slated for completion in June and later moved ahead to August 1st, has been postponed again until either %u201c September 1 or September 15th%u201d according to Betty Russell, an agent at the St. George Towers.Russell cited the tug boat strike, which held up shipments of concrete and other construction materials, as the main reason for the delay.The $11 million conversion by GBS Associates involves two of the seven buildings of the block square complex, and is being developed with (he aid of the Urban Development Corp. (UDC).The tower building, constructed in 1930 is being renovated from 1,032 rooms into 272 apartments ranging in rent from $380 to $450 for a studio to $700 for a two bedroom apartment. The Grill Building which will eventually add an additional 27 apartments, is not yet scheduled for opening.7th BrownstoneFair PlannedThe Brooklyn brownstone conference is gearing up for its seventh annual Brownstone Fair scheduled for the 13th and 14th of October at the Brooklyn Union Gas Company located at 195 Monague Street.President Nat Hendricks reports how this year a Preservation Workshop is planned to explain the %u201chow tos%u201d of preservation and restoration of historic buildings.There will also be the usual exhibits of people who specialize in renovation and restoration of urban homes, people who sell them, and exhibits by neighborhood civic associations. The Conference is looking for more exhibitors and if interested, call 858-7760.Simultaneous with the Brownstone Conference house tours are being planned%u2014on October 13 a Pr/tcnpot W^ioVitc M in i-T o u r onr _ _ . ------- * oSunday, October 14, a house tour in Clinton Hill, and Southern Park Slope Walking and Mini HouseTour and the Cobble Hill House Tour.The annual Atlantic Antic will also be held on October the 14th rounding out a busy weekend.Aug. 2, 1979, The PHOENIX, Page 5