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M M M A L SBrins Election Choices Rapv tn thp VotersIt%u2019s election time again. Wliile that turn of the calendar should bring us to the happy season for elected officials and those who seek to be to meet the public, it isn%u2019t here this month. Instead, the races for many offices are being decided inside a courtroom hidden away from the public. It%u2019s nothing new %u2014 except perhaps only a little worse this year - but the situation continues to be dead wrong. We have let this part of the election process evolve into what we think has become a violation of the spirit of the very democracy it is supposed to sustain.To be a candidate for public and party leadership office in New York State a person or his or her supporters must present a legally-required number of signatures of registered voters who are, in effect, saying they wish that person to be listed on the ballot as a candidate for public office. It is in that process of gathering and filing and certifying of signatures with the local Board of Election that many find themselves %u2014 to their suprise %u2014 not a candidate after allMaking the courtroom an early, and sometimes the most important, stop on the campaign trail is nothing new. The practice of challenging an opponent%u2019s nominating petitions as a campaign tactic is a well-trod path in the fight to gain and hold public office. Some of those who use it cloak their rationale in an often-sanctimonious justification, but the practice is, we think, essentially an attack on the democratic process by denying voters an opportunity to make a choice.Nowhere is this observation so true as in the unseemly battle now being waged by thepolitical forces of Governor Cuomo, seeking to avoid relying on the will of the voters inratifying nis choice as party nominee for Lt. Governor. The practical reasons in thiscase, as in almost every other, are plain: the Governor is out on a limb in his choice ofa state-wide unknown as a running mate.But the tactics in the atack against Abe Hirschfeld%u2019s nominating petitions, as in virtually every other case now in the courts this month, are possible because of the enormous body of legal opinion on what is and what, perhaps, is not a valid petition. Virtually no candidate is successful in even becoming a candidate these days without an election law attorney. That two sitting members of the State Assembly, whatever the inspiration of the legal attack against them, should find themselves disqualified to be on the ballot to stand for re-election tells just how far wrong the present system is.It is sad to be reminded that views like this are expressed every election year around this time. In 1985 we and others were writing similar sentiments over the challenges in a race for President of the City Council of New York City that had, for a time, threatened to leave not one of the candidates for that office on the primary ballot. In other years other outrages have been chronicled and lamented. It is in the hands of the State Legislature to do something about the situation. If Mr. Vann and Mr. Green find their way back to Albany %u2014 and we hope they at least make it back on the ballot to let the voters decide the outcome %u2014 we hope their voices will lead the pack in pushing to reform the capricious process that cheats the voters of the opportunity that our democratic process is supposed to offer them.( C o m m u n i t y f o r u m views of headersA TURA Will Hurt Not Help Area Brooklyn Residents A nd MerchantsThe %u201cbest of all possible worlds%u201d scenario rhe %u201cbest of all possible worlds%u201d scenario obstacle. The onlv s o l u t i o n . C o m m o n spn sp western Sllhlirh. T C A n n o t q a p t h a t i f i c a n . t a i n a h l o f n r f h a m o m r ln n roffered in last week%u2019s Phoenix (Sound Off,Aug. 7, %u201cMore ATURA Support%u201d) by BruceH. Witmer of Con Ed prompts me to send youour July 30 letter to the City Planning Commission on the same.Mr. Witner, speaking for the %u201csilent majority%u201d in support of this project, envisions%u201cblocks of vitality, humming with urban activity.%u201d Development? Urban activity? Yes.We need them both, if they will indeed be anintegi ai part of the local community. But thisparticular %u201curban renewal%u201d has distinctlysuburban overtones. Brooklyn will fade fromview within this shopping m all, condo, officetower complex. Unfortunately, so will manyof those who currently live and work in itsvicinity.It does not have to be this way. Other citieshave evolved programs that incorporatecommunity needs within developers%u2019 projects. The only %u201cplanning%u201d involved inATURA has been from the top down and, notcoincidentally, includes $28,000 in campaigncontributions from Rose Associates in 1985and 1986 ($15,000 to Koch and $13,000 toHoward Golden). This is not illegal in thegame of city politics, but it forces the rest ofus to watch from the sidelines, to suffer theconsequences. %u2014 Pam Miller, Save OurSlops, Brooklyn Heights CommitteeHerbert Sturz, ChairmanCity Planning CommissionDear Commissioner Sturz:Further to my letter to Larry Pames(7/12/86) regarding the ATURA project%u2019sretail space, I am now writing about the effect this component of ATURA will have onthe air quality in the vicinity. This is a matterof grave concern to those of us who live here,as it must also be to the City of New York,which is under a state mandate to clear up 12carbon monoxide hot spots in downtownBrooklyn by 1988.According to a report in the July 3 Phoenixnewspaper, by 1988 there will be 5 more suchhotspots, 4 of them in the ATURA vicinity.Please note: this is currently the site of 4hotspots; the number will double to 8.Such an increase on already congestedthoroughfares is not surprising. With the addition of a 50,000 square foot supermarket,and ancillary retail space, and parking for1000 cars, it is inevitable. The anticipated440,000 square foot total (over both phases ofthe project) will equal the active retail spaceon Fifth Avenue between Flatbush and theProspect Expressway. It will be a constantdraw for traffic at all hours of the day,beyond that of the office workers commutingto the two office towers, and their own contribution to reverse flow rush hour traffic.According to the Phoenix, this health hazardwill be with us for at least 4 years beyond the1988 deadline. Apart from the fact that thissubstandard air will be a violation of the law,does anyone believe that it is a solvable problem, within the context of the current plan?The Planning Commission has scheduledtheir vote on ATURA for August 18, before therelease of the air pollution study (by Urbitran, see Phoenix 7/31) commissioned bythe Public Development Corporation, (nowcalled NYC%u2019s Office of Business Development) to resolve the hot spot problem.The sheer number of automobilesrepresents, I believe, an insurmountableobstacle. The only solution, common sensewould dictate, is to have fewer cars attractedto this area, and one way to manage this is toscale down the retail space. Surely, there isno need for a supermarket almost twice thesize of the Key Food on the north end of FifthAvenue, let alone for a total amount of retailspace that equals a nearby, active linearstrip. (Please see attached NY Tim es%u201cSupermarket Glut%u201d ).And wouldn%u2019t a 5 (not 10) screen cinema bemore than adequate? There is another m oviehouse nearby. And, of course there is BAM.The ATURA project, as presently envisioned,might be appropriate for a growing midwestern suburb. I cannot see that it is ap- tainable for the many low to moderate inpropriate for this city, or any city. Brooklyn come residents now living in thisis not a suburb of Manhattan, and does not neighborhood.deserve to be turned into one. Nor is there any targetting of jobs, or jobThis brings me to two other very disturbing training, for this community. The jobs thataspects of ATURA, i.e., the lack of low in- will be available, such as car-parking,come housing, or, a program for local grocery-bagging, and the selling and sweepemployment. In a project as geared as this isto the office working middle class, there isgoing to be secondary displacement, asacknowledged by the DEIS. On themagnitude of this displacement, the DEIS ism erely equivocal; no studies were done togauge what it might be or how to m itigate it.One fact is clear: there will be no housing atChildren in Carroll Gardens enjoy an afternoon of fun and sun In Carroll Park.(Phoenix/Cheech Photo)ing up of popcorn, are not in the sam ecategory as the entry-level jobs availablenow in sm all businesses on the linear strips.Furthermore, even these will vanish, as theestablishm ents offering them are secondarily displaced by the encroaching %u201csuburbanm all.%u201d (please see attached Gavin & FinleyMarketing Analysts%u2019 statem ent.)Altogether, the flaws in this project aremany and serious, but they are not beyondcorrection. Their revision is now in the handsof the City Planning Commission, and I amsure you have no intention of jeopardizing thecity%u2019s adherence to the Federal clean airstandards by 1988. Accordingly, I have everyhope that you will arrive at bona fide,workable solutions and will delay your voteuntil these have been reached.Thank you for your concern. Yours truly %u2014Pam Miller, Save Our Shops, 228 UnionStreet, Brooklyn 1123LNo More VietnamsA war hero, Charles Litke, recently returned his Congressional Medal of Honor. Thiswas his protest to President Reagan againstU.S. aid to the Contras trying to overthrowthe legal Nicaraguan government. Litke hadwon his medal for carrying 20 men out of acombat zone in Vietnam. He gave the medalup, together with all its benefits ($200 amonth, free plane rides, etc.). This was hisway of trying to warn us that with $100million more American aid to the Contras,we are heading for another Vietnam. He said,%u201cMy God, when will we learn?%u201dLitke%u2019s concern is not only that the Contrashave murdered thousands of civilians %u2014children, teachers, nurses and doctors. Hisconcern is not only that the World Court andUnited Nations have condemned us for aidingthese killers. His concern is that, just as inVietnam, Americans will inevitably be sentto die next if we continue to refuse the pleasfor peace of Latin American countries, including Nicaragua, which has accepted theContadora peace proposals.Charles Litke gave up a lot to warn us. Wemust let our Senators know we want no further tax money to be spent on aiding the Contras. We want no more Vietnams. %u2014 AliceGordon, Surf AvenueOne More CandidateIn the July 17 issue we neglected to includethe name of one of the candidates running inthe Democratic primary for party nomination in 11th Congressional District race. Sonny Zayas filed three volumes of petitions thatincluded 7,500 signatures. He listed his address as 1320 E. 40th.If You \\ e Got SomethingTo Say A bout LocalIssues, Sound OffHerein Our Space.P%u00bb8%u00ab 22, THE PHOENIX, August 14, 1986