Page 372 - Demo

E d it o r ia l sSpeed Up Ferry SelectionIt's been nearly a year since we all herded on to the inaugural ferry run between Fulton Ferry, Brooklyn, and the South Street Seaport. Nearly a year since predictions of big money, saved time and extra sendees were made. And 10 months since the trial ferry sendee ended and the City promised the nowenthusiastic ferry travelers that a permanent sendee would be in place in time for spring time on the East River.But there are no ferries, and is well past springtime on the East River. And it seems that the ferries %u2014 like so many other small scale City projects %u2014 is swamped in red tape. Although we understand the City%u2019s own series of checks and balances is important in creating the healthiest projects in New York City, we feel that a year is more than sufficient time to review five proposals andselect a winner. Especially for a project that is being so readily welcomed by all involved.By delaying the start-up date for a ferry-service %u2014 unintentional as it may be %u2014 the city is creating an atmosphere for failure. Although the idea grew from the need for an additional commuter route between downtown Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, the trial period showed that the income from the commuters was far surpassed by late summer weekend tourists and travellers.The longer the City drags its feet on selecting a ferry service, that money will continue to be lost. Beginning a ferry service in the dead of winter is not giving the newly designated operator a running start, no to mention potential customers who would have enjoyed the service as promised this summer.We urge the City to speed up the selection process so that Brooklyn can enjoy ferry service before the snow flies.S'OUND ( y p F feedback from readersKids Love Phoenix1 would like to thank the Phoenix and reporter Marguerite Provenzano for the fine article about the Drawing/Preservation Workshops of \Kids\It was a joy to have Marguerite Provenzano cover the event. Her upbeat presence was an added impetus to the children and her accurate and sensitive story really told ours.\the Phoenix.%u2014Joan Baren. Founder/Director, Brooklyn Kids.the response it has generated.Your article made reference to a %u201cgentrification scheme%u201d which would force out young local players. I wish to assure any concerned residents that our new concessionaire, Michael Wind, has run a similar tennis facility in a middle class neighborhood in Queens for years, and that, in any event, the Department of Parks and Recreation will always retain the power to approve rate increases. We have already let the concessionaire know that we will insist on the retention of a Junior Development Program. Moreover, Mr. Wind has agreed to work with local parents to establish a scholarship fund for needy youngsters and to make unusedcourt time available to Junior Program members free of charge. Supplying a new clubhouse, to replace the existing unsightly trailer, was one of the conditions the Department imposed on any new concessionaire.I am confident that the effects of this change in management will be overwhelmingly positive. %u2014 Henry J. Stern, NYC Parks CommissionerOpposes IncineratorOn Tuesday, July 15, 1986,1 attended a hearing of the N.Y. State Dept, of Environmental Conservation at long IslandP ag e 18, T H E P H O E N IX , Ju ly 31, 1986S IG X 0 F THE J ^ M E S Help Save Our ShopsAttached is a letter that was sent to Jerome O'Donovan, Chair of Economic Dev. Committee in City Council, as well as to Peter Vallone, Majority Leader %u2014Diane StackDear Councilman O'Donovan,With the Mayor's Small Retail Business Study Commission finally complete, after 13 months of talk and hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' dollars spent, I am mildly encouraged that both majority and minority reports presented at the July 8, 1986 hearing have recognized that there is clearly a major problem: that small businesses throughout the New York City area are being forced out of business because of outrageous rent increases.Unfortunately, the suggestion on July 8th that more public hearings should be held in upcoming months seems absurd to those of us that have been following this issue for months and years. If more hearings are to be scheduled throughout the summer months, it is my opinion that a Moratorium be immediately enacted which would call a temporary halt to any further small business evictions until aviable law is passed which would bring commercial tenants some degree of equality with landlords.I hope that your awareness of this crisis in our city's economy and the character of its neighborhoods will convince you that immediate action, not further study, is essential%u2014Diane Stack. Save Our Shops.Defends Tennis PlanI feel that the Phoenix article on May 1 i %u201cKids Fear Destruction as Tennis Club Faces Greatest Match%u201d ) regarding the tennis bubble at the Prospect Park Parade Grounds warranted a few comments on behalf of the City.1 was taken by your reporter%u2019s pessimistic tone; any program, however good, can be improved and our tennis courts, by any measure, were being run into the ground by our former concessionaire.Our problem with the management of the bubble had never been with the Junior Development Programs or Steve Carberry. Rather, we terminated the license of New Parade Grounds Tennis, Inc., our former concessionaire, because they consistently left the courts in an unplayable condition at the end of each season. After new Parade Grounds challenged our right to terminateBottle cap studded telephone poles adorned with wind chim es make for aunique set of basketball hoops in this outdoor sculpture in Cadman Plaza aerofrom the Suprem e Court. Artist David Ham m ons created the soaring sculpture.(Phoenix/Koch Photo)won a cash award to the City to make up for the labor Parks employees put into refurbishing the courts, work which should have been done by the concessionaire.My Department supports and encourages Junior Tennis Development and we are quite pleased with Steve Carberry%u2019s program andUniversity. I spoke for the Cadman Plaza Action Forum. I am enclosing a copy of my presentation. I would appreciate your reporting this in your paper. %u2014 Esther Weinberg for the Cadman Plaza Action Forum, 140 Cadman Plaza West.The Cadman Plaza Action Forum, a Brooklyn Heights community based organization, strongly opposes construction of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Resource Recovery Plant. We have examined the proposals and Environmental Quality Reviews by the New York City Department of Sanitation and their consultants and have compared them with independent analyses by the New York Public Interest Research Group, Inc., the Environmental Planning Lobby, the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems at Queens College and the Environmental Defense Fund, and we are convinced that the City proposals are seriously flawed and contrary to the public interest.Among our conclusions are: 1. Hundreds of chemical pollutants, including heavy metals, dioxins and polynuclear aromatic compounds spilling out of the 500 foot high chimneys will contaminate the air of the New York metropolitan area leading to countless illnesses and deaths.2. The 50 to 8 plants proposed by Mayor Koch and Sanitation Commissioner Steisel for construction all around the city will cost billions of dollars more to build and operate than would development of a full scale recycling program, the only viable and safe alternative.3. Incinerator residue is about a third the volume of the original garbage and its toxicity is even more concentrated. It would still have to be disposed of at a landfill. But the City%u2019s already poisoned landfills are rapidly being used up. It is estimated that around the year 2000 we will have no room left for such dumping. Thus after wasting billions of dollars that the City could use better for other purposes, and after making our already polluted air more deadly, the incinerators will soon have to be abandoned anyway and recycling instituted.Therefore we urge the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to deny permits to build or operate the Brooklyn Navy Yard Resource Recovery Plant or to deposit its residues in a landfill.For the Steering Committee of the Cadman Plaza Action Forum: Esther Weinberg. Vivian I^vy, Chairperson 101 Clark St. Apt. 15G Brooklyn, N.Y. 11201. July 15,1986.It%u2019s Not HappeningYou guys really missed the point about the Prospect Park Zoo (%u201cIt%u2019s All Happening at the Prospect Park Zoo%u201d , July 24). You said %u201cIt%u2019s Happening%u201d, but the story is about how it still %u201cis going to happen%u201d. It certainly hasn%u2019t happened yet. And the way these things go, it may never happen.They%u2019ve had the project on the boards for years and years now. First they promised they were going to fix things up. Then they said they were going to change things. Then they didn%u2019t say anything, but things didn%u2019t change. Now, you say they are going to change things STARTING in the fall of 1987.Come on you guys. Who%u2019s kidding who here. It%u2019s just another excuse. Don%u2019t you recoenize a con when vou see and hear one? %u2014 George Crumm, 11th Street.If You%u2019ve Got SomethingTo Say A bout A LocalIssue, Sound O ff A bout ItHere In Our Space.