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BQE Detour GoingWell, Officials ClaimBY LINUS GELBERFrom the Traffic Control Officers assigned to local precincts by the Department of Transportation (DOT) down to volunteer local Citizen%u2019s Band Radio operators, everyone seems to be keeping the traffic detour from the BrooklynQueens Expressway (BQE) at a workable volume. While it may have begun with a bang two months ago, say police and representatives of the DOT, the detour is moving along now with barely a whisper.The detour, which runs some 25,(XX) cars a day through local streets while DOT forces work to repair the highway roadbed between Atlantic and Hamilton Aves., was originally seen by many local residents as a bane to the community, but, at least for the time being, that seems not to be the case.%u201c It wasn%u2019t at all what we expected%u201d , admitted Traffic Control Officer John Lopreto from the 76th Precinct. %u201cThe whole thing has been going very well%u2014people have learned what to do really fast.%u201d Truck traffic, which is supposed to remain in the BQE %u201c trench%u201d but had ventured out into local streets just after the detour began has by and large returned to the cut, he said, ushered in by Traffic Control Officers assigned to the area and by volunteer Citizen%u2019s Band radio operators, operating independently of the precinct.Between 6am and 10am, Lopreto reports, a CB operator named Moonbeam directs much of the traffic in the area; later in the afternoon, between 2:30 and 7:30 pm, another broadcaster who calls himself Long John Silver takes care of the evening rush hours. Both Moonbeam and Long John Silverbroadcast on CB channel 19, as do several other local operators.%u201c T * U ^ , --.-11.. ...A A. rra i iw j v c i t u n ) C U l U c U ilC ---- HOWthe trucks stay in the BQE most of the time%u201d , Lopreto said.%u201c We have had a couple of jam-ups, had an oil spill down there%u201d , he continued, %u201c but when you%u2019re talking about that kind of traffic, then that%u2019s only normal. Things have really been going very well.%u201dLieutenant Rudolph Philippin of the 84th Precinct, which covers the northern end of the BQE detour area, agreed with Lopreto, although he warned that there were %u201c many contributing factors%u201d that might lead to the ease of the detour, including decreased traffic because of the summer and the gas shortage. Traffic could well pick up in September and flood the area, he warned.George Zaimes, the Director of Intergovernmental Relations for the state DOT, attested that %u201c things are going just great with the detour.%u201d Calling it an %u201c absolute success%u201d , he enthused that work was progressing speedily and without the snarling of streets that many local residents had anticipated.The BQE, beyond the full-scale repair it is undergoing in its lower segments, is also being refaced and scraped up through Classon Ave., with the greater part of the construction being done in the evenings to avoid inconveniencing riders. The DOT is employing a new technique on the roadway, using a machine that rips off the top one-and-a-half inches of asphalt and tar to create an even, workable surface, before new asphalt is laid on.Petitions Filed ForCivil Court SeatsBY LINUS GELBERThe petitions are in and the deadline is up for candidates vying this year for Brooklyn%u2019s six vacant Civil Court Judge seats. The next concerted action in the off-year election race will take place on September 11, when the Democratic party will hold a primary run-off between its regular candidates, led by County Leader Meade Esposito, and its reform hopefuls, running under the umbrage of the Kings County Democratic Coalition (KCDC), an aggregate of reform clubs in the borough. The period for filing ended on July 26.The six judges elected to countywide seats, as well as to two other district positions in Park-Slope-Flatbush-Midwood and WilliamsburgGreenpoint, will serve on the Civil Court, which tries landlord-tenant cases, small claims, consumer fraud and other assorted non-criminal suits for amounts under $10,000. Judges appointed to the Court serve for ten years.Four of the six Kings County Democrat reformers have filed 19,054 signatures each on petitions that will eventually list them on the ballot, well over the required 5000-name qualifying mark. KCDC candidate Bernard Kleiger tipped the scales at a slightly heavier 20,348 signatures, and Stanley J. Glantz, a candidate running with the Liberal party as well as on th 2 , KCDC ticket, handed in 18,995.Also endorsed by the KCDC are Eleazer S. Goldstein, Leona Freedman, Irving Sadur, and Renee R. Roth, who has been cross-endorsed by the Liberal Party.The six Democratic organization %u201cregulai%u201d candidates, each with 66,452 names on file, are Gloria Cohen Aronin, Samuel Greenstein, Herbert Kramer, Gabriel K.Kraussman, Jerome D. Cohen, who has been cross-endorsed by the Republican Party, and Lorraine Stein Miller who besides being on the Democratic line will also be on the Liberal and Republican lines.Four independent candidates also filed petitions: Hyman Klechter with 8,095 signatures, Herbert Feinsod with 7,247 signatures and a Liberal Party endorsement, Saul Glassman, who missed the 5000 mark with only 4875 names and will thus not show up as a candidate, and Leonard E. Ryan, with 6636 names and a Liberal Party endorsement.Republicans running for the six posts, each with a total of 9544 signatures, are Lorraine Stein Miller and Jerome D. Cohen, with the remaining four, Austen D. Canade, Kevin P. Flood, Kevin P. McGovern and Paul Silverman, also running on the Conservative Party ticket. In addition to its candidates running as Republicans, the Conservative Party has endorsed Vito Catania and George F. Donnelly; beyond its crossendorsed selections, the Liberal Party also supports Staten Island lawyer Philip Kaplan.In the Third District (Williamsburg-Greenpoint) race, Jerome L. Steinberg, running with the Democratic Regular, Liberal and Conservative Parties, will face Peter G. Mirto, an independent Democrat, and Joseph M. Parrotta from the Republican ticket. KCDC did not endorse a Third District candidate.The other district conflict pits KCDC%u2019s Michael G. Wolfson, running also on the Liberal list, against Democratic regular Martin Schneider and Republican and Conservative Edward J. Quinn. The Sixth District covers parts of Park Slope, Flatbush and Midwood.Residents of Gowanus Houses waiting for the frequently broken elevators. The HousingAuthority is due to replace the system by 1981. (Phoenix Photo by Ades)Gowanus Housing Projects StillTroubled Despite Upgrade PlanBY ELIZABETH ALVAREZTwo years have elapsed since the Gowanus Housing Project in Boerum Hill received $5,727,000 in state funds from the Authority Transfer Program (ATP) to upgrade the physical conditions of the 16 building complex housing approximately 4,000 people. According to Marvin Teitelbaum, District Chief of the Gowanus Project at the New York City Housing Authority, a date for completion is not expected for another two years.Residents of the Gowanus Housing Development have complained at recent tenant meetings that little visible improvement can be seen, since the ATP program went into effect on July 1, 1977. To date only one item of the proposed list of 13 long term projects, the pointing and sealing of the top floor of the buildings to prevent seepage, has been completed, while the installation of closet doors is presently underway. Before 1980, Teitelbaum claims that some work will have begun on the electrical upgrading and construction of a new boiler, however, a majority of items outlined for the ATP contract will not even be started until 1980.Included in the contract for physical repairs for the 30 year old housing project, is the placement of formica tops on kitchen cabinets, installation of closet doors, vandal proof hallway fixtures, exterior lighting, and vanity and medicine cabinets in the bathrooms. The plan also calls for the replacement of all windows, upgrading of the heating unit, electrical improvements, installation of a new elevator system, renovations of the community center, pointing and ceiling work and roof repairs.Installation of the closet doors for the Gowanus project will cost aproximately $140,000 and the pointing and waterproofing an additional $80,000 out of the $5,727,000 allotment. Among the largest expenses to be incurred for repairs is $1 million for a boiler replacement and $1,311,000 for the replacement of the steel casement swing out windows with the energy saving doubled glazed type.According to Teitelbaum, the time schedule for rehabilitation of the Gowanus Development compares favorably with the 16 other City Housing Authority projects where similar restorations are taking place. New'^jindows have been installed in the Lincoln projectin Manhattan, the Astoria Queens project also has received new windows and most closet doors have been installed, while the eleva- '.or of the Marcy project in Brookyn, is near completion.Attendance at the tenants meetings has grown to about 150 members since Thomas Greene, former Tenant Association President for 8 years, returned to office in February, 1979. Greene said hewanted to see something started.%u201d Progress to date, according to Greene is %u201c slow but sure,%u201d but nolt as rapid as he and other tenants would like. Greene meets monthly with Shenton, the Housing Authority Manager of the project and the District Chief, Marvin Teitelbaum. %u201c Pressure must be put on them to see that things keep to schedule%u201d according to Greene, which is one of the reasons he gave for resuming his old position as President.In addition to the difficulty in getting the state funded renovations executed, tenants face numerous other problems, for which there may not be any available funds, including a garbage overflow resulting from the law banning incinerator use, lack of an intercom system and a backlog of repairs.Fulton Merchants Band Together To Improve Local Street ConditionsBY LINUS GELBER%u201cThe Fulton Mall? The Fulton Fiasco, you m ean!%u201d exclaimed Scott Cohen of Filmac Jewelers on Fulton Street, summing up the feelings of frustration along the ravaged avenue that came to a head last month with the formation of the Independent Fulton Mall Merchants Association, a group separate from the already-extant Fulton Mall Improvement Association (FMIA). FMIA officials, however, feel that the new organization will' not substantially eclipse the functions of the older group.%u201c I hope it won%u2019t affect us,%u201d asserted Richard Sachs, Chairman of the FMIA and owner of a Sachs store in the Fulton Mall area. \don%u2019t think it will.%u201d He went on to say that he thought the new group was spawned %u201c kind of out of frustration with the delays in construction-but the delays are over now. I hope they (the merchants) will reasses the path they%u2019ve taken.\The FMIA was created to promote and maintain the mall in June of 1976; it is supported by a special tax assessment on 90 properties in the area and thus funded through tax levies.%u201c We want to reverse what'sbeen done to the street,%u201d explained Jerry Natkin of Contessa Jewelers, one of the organizers of the new association, ticking off reasons for forming a new group. %u201c If this construction is going to continue, then we want it to move in a way that%u2019s conducive to business. We%u2019d like to get police protection back on the street, and get rid of the peddler situation. We want to make this street good for business again.%u201dThe new merchant%u2019s association, Natkin said, has so far attracted nearly 40 stores as members in the three weeks it has been around. %u201c We%u2019ve got nearly everyone we%u2019ve approached, except Abraham and Straus and Korvettes,%u201d he noted. \the small shops, the shoe chains,%u201d and added that he hopes the group would achieve %u201c full membership%u201d of 80 nr 90 stores wjthin the next two or three weeks.Once the ranks of the Associaton have swelled further, Natkin continued, the group will then settle down to the business of selecting officers and olannine out a plan of attack, but until then it is certain only of its goals, and not of its means. %u201cJhere%u2019s a lot of chaos on that street between the pickpockets and the peddlers,%u201d he said.%u201c Pedestrians are like bowling pins for through traffic. The buses are running strangely. It%u2019s not comfortable for a nice customer to walk up the street as it is now. All our letters and our phone calls didn%u2019t help, so now we have to do this.%u201dWhile there has been some talk of going to court for an injunction against the mall, there are no immediate plans to do so. %u201c After all,%u201d commented Cohen, %u201ceven if we went to court it would serve no purpose-if we got an injunction against the mall (and we could), it would simply be overruled.%u201dSachs pointed out that most of the issues raised by the creators of the new group %u201c really have nothing to do with the mall,%u201d citing in particular the opposition to illegal peddlers. He also noted that the FMIA is in fact working to improve traffic conditions along the strip but that %u201c when you%u2019re taking things like that up with the city, it takes time.%u201d%u201c If they%u2019re frustrated with the FMIA and the Mall,%u201d he concluded, %u201c then I don%u2019t know on whath a c ic it ic T f i h p v a r p ih p n I t h i n l rthey%u2019re going about this all wrong. The Mall is a beacon in vision: it takes an area like this, that%u2019s in a kind of decline, and it gives it a real boost.%u201dAug. 9. 1979, The PHOENIX. Page 3