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mmrnrnAt large byL.j. pavisTaking A Snide Look At Standard Summer ActivitiesBY L.J. DAVISFrankly, I've never seen much point in summer. It%u2019s hot and sticky, and for some reason I'm expected to go someolace and stretch out on some sand.If there is an activity more witless, more fraught with almost palpable boredom, less fruitful of insight into anything other than what it feels like inside a fish poacher, I have not heard of it, unless it%u2019s getting up from the sand to paddle around in some water. I can paddle around in my bathtub at home, thanks, and the sides keep by boat and my duckie from floating out of reach. When I was knee-high to a toadstool on the shores of Puget Sound, my summer was not made musical with the sound of gulls and the crashing manes of the tireless surf; it was made hideous by my mother%u2019s voice urging me to take my pail and my shovel and dig a hole.I was no dummie even then; 1 knew that my mother didn%u2019t give a fig if I took my pail and my shovel and dug a damn hole. She just wanted me to stop begging to go to a Roy Rogers movie, where there was (until the Japanese lobbed in a couple of shells and obliged us to turn off the electricity) air conditioning and action. I have never forgiven the Japanese for that, just as I have never forgiven the Japanese for the Betamax.1 have moved to different oceans since then, and silver has appeared in my hair. I am the autocrat of the breakfast table, the king of the typewriter, and the master of all I survey. And until recently, people still tried to get me to take my pail and my shovel and dig a damn hole in some hot sand. The culture expected this, and so did the wife and kiddies. In vain did I protest that the beach was no place to pass the subtleties of Mr. Clemens%u2019 thought, not only because the beach light made it hard to read Mr. Clemens%u2019 thought, but because on the beach I got the distinct impression that Mr. Clemens was laughing at me. I tried paddling around in the water until a tropical storm blew a herd of jellyfish north and I, alone of all the human flotsam off the Nantucket shore, tangled with the bastards and sued for peace. Tangling with a Jellyfish is closely akin to rassling with a barbwire fence. Take my word for it.Alternatively, one could go to the mountains. I know all about mountains. When I was not being raised on the banks of Pueet Sound. I was being turned into little man in the Sawtooths. In the mountains it is steep and there are many trees. The principal sports are snipe hunting, capture-the-flag, and stabbing yourself in the foot. There was frequently a lake where one could paddle around in some water. I vividly remember nearly drowning in one once, while swimming in the direction of a submerged stump. Swimming in the direction of the submerged stump was one of the tests of little manhood. I flunked.THE ETERNAL MOUNTAINSAs everyone knows, mountains are eternal. Boy, are they ever eternal. I mean, they never change. The elusive snipe still plies his trade, flags are there for the capturing, and my woodsy lore has often been called into play when the time comes to bandage some kid%u2019s foot. Fun? You bet.I suppose it could have been bearable if Gage & Tollner and Chinatown had followed my suggestion and assigned a little commissary to follow me around wherever my family decided to vacate next, but this is no longer necessary. Thanks to the chappies in OPEC, I%u2019m not going anywhere this year and neither are you. Actually, I haven%u2019t gone anywhere during any recent summer, except the places some nice editor has decided to send me (this is called work), and I%u2019m really pretty sorry you aren%u2019t going anywhere either. It was nice in the city without you.Oh, I have nothing against you. You%u2019re an absolutely splendid fellow in the autumn, the winter, and the spring. But just between you and me, you haven%u2019t been behaving very well these last few weekends, and the Puerto Ricans and I have noticed. 1 mean, it%u2019s all right for you to wear resort gear down to the A&P, but would you stop behaving like it was the gas line, for crying out loud? It%u2019s just like what happened when you discovered trains. The nun and the cleaning lady and 1 were perfectly willing to welcome you aboard, even though it meant giving up our pinochle game with the conductor, but our patience was a trifle strained last month when so many of you crowded into the cars%u2022that we had to sit on the roof all the way to Albany. Please, guys, 1 only want to help you, really I do.SOME HELPFUL HINTSHaving long prepared for the present crunch because I believed everything I ever read in the science fiction novels of myIt willprobably shock the socks off you, but there%u2019s more to do in Brooklyn in the summer than in East Moriches and it%u2019s cheaper.youth and adjusted my standard of living to the 19th Century long ago, I am an adept at living without gasoline. (I also believe that if man was meant to fly, Darwin would have given him wings; next week in this space, I will tell you how to care for your horse.) I am, therefore, fairly abrim with helpful hints.For starters, try to get over the idea that the Esplanade is nothing but a convenient way to get from Middagh to Remsen without encountering any curbs. The view of the skyline %u2014 the Manhattan Alps is a corker, and petroleum millionaires, European nobility, and derlicts pay thousands of bucks just to sec it.Get over the idea that the city reverts to savagery every May 31 and does not return to the busom of civilization until September 2; the only reason things have been a little wild around here the lastcouple of weeks is because you haven%u2019t gone. You want to flop on some sand, go to Coney Island. It isn%u2019t any more crowded than Jones Beach, and it%u2019s even better because there are a ioi of greai tacky games to play and a couple of real restaurants to eat in.NO KVETCHING, PLEASEA word of warning, though: the poor black and Hispanic people who have made it their special province for the last decade are great believers in good beach manners. They do not look kindly on unruly children, raucous shouting, and general kvctching. They are perfectly willing to share their beach with you, but you must come up to their standards.Although I realize that most of you suffer from a severe limp due to an atrophied left leg and an over-muscled gas pedal foot, this condition can be remedied by a novel new sport called walking. It%u2019s considerably easier on the old nervous system than driving (which you aren%u2019t going to get to do anymore, ever again; I%u2019m serious) and considerably more enjoyable than jogging (but then, almost everything is). Establish a goal, such as Prospect Park, and go there. On the way, you will make two great discoveries. One, Brooklyn looks terrific. Two, the vast majority of your fears exist solely in your head. This will probably make you feel exceedingly stupid for a while (and it should), but it will pay off in a vast improvement in the quality of the talk at Heights and Slope cocktail parties.It will probably shock the socks off you, but there's a whole lot more to do in Brooklyn in the summer than there is at East Moriches, and it%u2019s cheaper. Mr. Dewey does not automatically close up his establishment on your departure and weep bitter tears until your return, and neither does the Almontassar clan or Chef Dib Najjar. Mr. Locw%u2019s theaters remain in full operation. (But, as usual, nothing whatever is going on down in Carroll Gardens. Stay away from there. Especially stay away from Mr. Esposito's pork store on Saturday morning around eleven. It%u2019s hard enough to get served as it is. Git.) Moreover, the subways continue to run. Why don't you lake in a Broadway show or something and stop making a pest of yourself?Community ForumThe Boerum Hill Brouhaha: Comments On Community, Solidarity And G entrificationWe are writing as Brooklyn residents who believe that many of the letters in response to Jane Califf%u2019s article in the Phoenix Community Forum of May 24 deserve, in turn, a response.We are writing as members and supporters of the Anti-Displacement Committee, an organization which has grown out of the May 6th Boerum Hill House Tour protest. We are black, Hispanic and white people who have lived and worked in this neighborhood for periods of time ranging from one to twenty-six years. We are tenants and homeowners. We hold a variety of political beliefs. What unites us is our opposition to skyrocketing rents and property values which are forcing many of our friends and neighbors out of their homes and out of this neighborhood. We know that if we do not organize to stop this process of %u201cgentrification%u201d , we too will soon be gone.Rolf Knauer (Phoenix, May 24) makes two errors in his letter. He seems to believe that the only people against displacement belong to the Local Level. This is not true, as was indicated by the positive responses of many people during the House Tour protest. His second mistake is to believe that by labeling the Local Level%u2014some of whose members are in the Anti-Displacement Committee%u2014as a Marxist organization that he will frighten people away from them and us, make us isolated and ineffective. This kind of red-baiting has always been used against the efforts of poor and working people to organize to f g!%u2018. or their rights, and we hope that many Phoenix readers will reject this localized version of '50s McCarthyism.George Gonzaiez (Phoenix, May 31) ttuu William Haris (Phoenix, June 7) both are quick to point out that we live %u201c in a countrywhere individual initiative and hard work are the mainstay of our capitalist free enterprise system%u201d , %u201c in a free market housing economy...(in which) people from the middle class are crowding into more expensive neighborhoods all over the country.%u201d These realities have not escaped our notice either, but we see things differently. Most of us and many of the people who have already been displaced %u201c work hard%u201d too. We think that we, and all people in this richest of countries in the world, have a human right to a decent home in which to live. The fact that under our present system the housing crisis is growing, with a decline nationally of 2 percent a year in rental housing over the past three years, according to the National Association of Home Builders, should be a cause for questioning the priorities of this system, not for uncritical and head-in-thesand-like acceptance of it. For ourselves, we are committed to the principle that systems should meet the needs of the people, all the people, and it is from that principle that we are approaching our work against gentrification.We question Mr. Harris%u2019 assertion that %u201c it would be difficult to find a more faithful cross-section of the City than in Boerum Hill home buyers.%u201d According to the U S. Bureau of the Census, the median income for households in New York City in 1977 was $10,400 a year. How many of these people could be a %u201c Boerum Hill home buyer%u201d ? How many families making $20,000 or even $30,000 could afford a house in Boerum Hill today?There are a number of points made by Mr. Gonzalez, Mr. Harris and by Calvin K. Towle (Phoenix, June with which wp arp in much more agreement.We are helping %u201c tenants struggling inrun down buildings to organize around their problems%u201d , as Mr. Harris suggests. We have begun a series of tenant%u2019s workshops and are training ourselves so we can do just that%u2014for the tenants Mr. Harris speaks of, for others in privately owned buildings whose rents are skyrocketing and for ourselves. We have a question for Mr. Harris, though: what are you and what have you been doing along these lines yourself in all the years you and Renaissance Realty have been operating in this neighborhood?We think Mr. Towle%u2019s idea that landlords should tell their tenants where their rent goes each month is a good idea. Maybe a law should be passed to allow tenants to inspect landlord%u2019s books to see just what %u201chardships%u201d they have that are %u201cforcing%u201d so many of them to raise rents in this city!We are in support of Mr. Gonzalez%u2019s idea of %u201cfederal help in the form of low-interest loans%u201d , particularly for neighborhood residents who are already living here, both for renovation and for purchase of homes. We certainly don%u2019t support the way banks are raking in money hand over fist with the high interest rates they have set on mortgages! But this is not enough, not at all. New housing is desperately needed, as Jane Califf pointed out in her article. It is hypocritical to pose low-interest loans as an alternative%u2014it should be in addition to the building of housing people can afford.Finally, we think Mr. Towle%u2019s idea of %u201cseeing to it that houses are sold only to people who will guarantee not to charge rents above a certain level%u201d is an excellent one. This seems to make sense as a ronrrpte thing that could be done to stop the gentrification process.There is one other point to be made. Mr.Towle correctly points out that %u201c property taxes in the borough are lower%u2014on older houses at least%u201d . But he may not know of a bill currently in the state legislature that would more than double the property taxes in this area by basing tax assessments on the highly-inflated market value of homes. This will make it even more difficult for some of the older homeowners to stay here and will, in turn, lead to increased rents in the buildings where they are able to do so. This points to one inescapable conclusion: tenants and moderate-income homeowners must unite around an approach which understands that fighting for the needs of the entire community is, in the end, the only way that the needs of each of us individually are going to be met. Otherwise, our days in this neighborhood are numbered. And then where will we go?%u2014Moses Harris, 60 Hansen Place;Thomas T. Gorgan, Pacific St.; ZulmaOrtiz, 215 Wyckoff St; John L. Hicks,Bergen St; Stanley Mann, 479 Pacific St.;Bianca Perez, 461 Pacific St.; Letty Cruz,467 Pacific St.; Ramona Cortes, 278 DeanSt.; Tom McNulty, 406 Atlantic Ave.; ElvaJimenez, Pacific St.; Andres Jimenez,Pacific St.; Amy Herman, Court St.; MyraLeysorek, 222 Dean St.; Milagros Rivera,150 Bond St.; Nancy Zarider, 620 Vanderbilt Ave; Dr. George Caffentzis, 491 PacificSt.; Dorthe B. Hviid, 170 Dean St.; PaulHorowitz, 141 Bergen St.; David Horowitz,141 Bergen St.; Holly Ochoa, 178 BergenSt.; Ed Ocha, 178 Bergen St.; Ted Glick,222 Dean St.; Judy Levine, 392 State St.;Anne Mari Biutrago, Bergen St.; MartyEhrlich, Bergen St.; Patricia Samuel, Bergen St.; David Kottler, Atlantic Ave.;Stephen Karver. 489 Pacific St.; GloriaCarlson, Dean St.; Martin Fager, Dean St.;Continued, Page 22July 12.1979. The PHOENIX. Page 9