Page 447 - Demo

ON THE 1986 CAMPAIGN TRAIL:F n i f n g f . Q r n i a f r n r H a h a c T r \\ I I n e a a f I m s n i m l t A n f I n Q f a f A R a r om w %u2014 A M V M V V A V # V 1 A W V M %u00bb J U A V % U A A M V A A A A A A M k W A V A 1 M WBY ROB TAYLORIn the month since the incumbent and challenger filed their nominating petitions for the Democratic primary race in the 22nd Senate District, the campaigning has been subdued and, compared to the similar race two years ago, uneventful.But State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, the incumbent who, since 1984, has represented the district which stretches from Bedford-Stuyvesant through Ft. Greene and Park Slope to Red Hook, knows her opponent, the former State Senator from the district, Anna Jefferson, is out there and waiting to strike.Two years ago, the place settings were reversed. Montgomery was the challenger and Jefferson was trying to beat an aggressive campaign. Jefferson%u2019s voting record wasn%u2019t the problem; it was her ties with former State Senator Vander Beatty, who served jail time for election fraud, that put her on the defensive.After Jefferson%u2019s primary nominating petitions were filed as an incumbent, Montgomery charged that Jefferson had grossly overstated the number of petition signatures they contained. Jefferson was removed from the Democratic primary ballot by the State Court of Appeals, but one day before the election a Federal Court judge reinstated her candidacy. The political damage was already too severe, however, and Montgomery narrowly won the primary and eventually the Senate seat. But, Jefferson vowed to run again in 1986.This year, Montgomery again challenged Jefferson%u2019s petitions. Jefferson was alleged to have filed petitions on two different days and did not include cover sheets the first day she filed. Montgomery said this violated the State election law, though State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Slavin said there was no legal precedence for the case. On Aug. 6, the court validated Jefferson%u2019s petitions.With Jefferson%u2019s candidacy assured, the evidence of serious campaigning should have been the next step. But with the primary less than a month away, questions are being raisied about how %u201cserious%u201d the challenge is. Missing are the posters, street and subway stop appearances, and other signs of an active candidacy%u2014all those things that propelled challenger Montgomery to a win two years ago and all things that Montgomery is actively pursuing now as she stands for reelection.%u201cI haven%u2019t seen Anna Jefferson anywhere,%u201d says Ed Hightower, Democratic District Leader from the Downtown/Ft. Greene 57th A.D. and a Montgomery supporter. %u201cShe is an underdog and is also still associated with Vander Beatty. My way of campaigning is that you go all out until the election.Hightower says that Jefferson might be running %u201cjust to be out there%u201d but added that more than likely she will %u201cblitz%u201d the voters with information just before the election %u2014 a technique often used effectively by inV e lm a n e tte M o n tg o m eryI learned a lot about how tomove around Albany this term.Now I feel like I am really inmy place.cumbents who have a strong record, but not the normal way a challenger seeks to win.Visability and access are both problems Jefferson seems to have. Her campaign is being run from her home on Washington Avenue where messages are left on an answering machine, but it is difficult to track her down for comments until late in the evening.Jefferson says she is relying on her name familiarity in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area to carry the tide. %u201cI have lived in BedfordStuyvesant all of my life,%u201d she says. %u201cI have proven that one can survive and live here.%u201dA n n a JeffersonI have lived in BedfordStuyvesant all my life. I haveproven that one can survive andlive here.Montgomery, a Ft. Greene resident, admits that Jefferson has remained active in neighborhood programs like the Boy Scouts and the United Negro College Fund and recently spoke at a meeting of the 81st Precinct Community Council. Montgomery, however, also made sure that a representative from her office spoke as well.Jefferson%u2019s candidacy has also been tied to those of a group of Black political leaders including the same slate of candidates who have been trying to keep Assemblymembers A1 Vann (56th A.D.) and Roger Green (57th A.D.) off the ballot. The two legislators lead amajor Black political organization, The Coalition for Community Empowerment, and are supporters of Montgomery.Jefferson was also on hand when Roy Innis, the former chairman of the Congress on Racial Equality, who is challenging Central Brooklyn Congressman Major Owens, announced his candidacy. Tne 22nd Senate District overlaps substantially with those of Vann, Green and Owens. While Jefferson denies she endorses anyone%u2019s candidacy, she said that he represented %u201csomething new%u201d for Black people.%u2018Although she is aware of Jefferson%u2019s political base in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Montgomery has spent a great deal of time trying to meet people in that area to develop her own more personal ties. Jefferson took Bedford-Stuyvesant by a very slim election majority and Montgomery thinks that she has made some inroads.A favorite technique of Montgomery%u2019s is the neighborhood community forum where she asks a number of local officials to come to talk about housing, day-care or drug abuse problems. She gets the visibility for organizing the activity and also gets to meet more voters.One such meeting about crack abuse was held August 14 in Red Hook. Montgomery said it %u201cdid not take a lot of work to organize the event%u201d and in a very low-key manner admitted that she was %u201cnot an expert on the matter.%u201d But she did stay and listen. What she got was the attention of some 150 voters there to what they feel are pressing problems in their neighborhood and the presence of police and other officials was a strong boost toward meeting the issues.As a Democratic member of the Republican-controlled Senate, Montgomery also admits to difficulties in producing results in her first term in office, but she has consistently worked on day-care issues and in the process earned a 100 percent rating from the New York Civil Liberties Union. She has also won the support of the Central Labor Council for her re-election.%u201cI learned a lot about how to move around Albany this term ,%u201d says Montgomery. %u201cNow I really feel like I am in my place.%u201dBut despite Jefferson%u2019s reputation and Montgomery%u2019s attempts to build a solid reputation throughout the district, the whole race is decidedly low-key. There has been no name-calling. Jefferson says, %u201cI don%u2019t really know much about Montgomery.%u201d Campaign literature is only now appearing on the streets and volunteers are just being prepared for the elections September 9.With so little attention being paid to the primary races especially as there are few campaigns being waged, Montgomery believes she has another hurdle to overcome, voter turnout. She wants to decisively beat Jefferson in the primary, and if there are few races in the Assembly Districts within her Senate District, she is afraid her victory might not be so sweet.//Nassau StBridge StJohnsonStDulfieldSt' MyrtleAv\Prince StHamStonAvExtroDouglass St' Hoyt St' DegrawStGoldstar as %u2022frontstN aw S,%u2122 - _ Bedford AvTMteH^ClassonAvWilloughby Avv 'University ptmg OeKalb Av/Nostrand Av HushingAv .MarcyAv ' Tompkins Av[ parkAv |\\%u201c Broadway20 \\\\ Pulton St .VHanoverPl r Bond St \\ 'Livingston St \\ NevinsSl Union St .Union St^MyrtleAv , SantordSt utayet*^ , WSIoughbyAv I Walworth StBedford Av Myrtle Av Utica > lltica AvSchenectady Av 2 2 Pacific SI fTroyAvI sar BayGowanusExpy2Av 5St . Gowanus Canal/\\j_Gowanus Bayr > \\ PtoStE rj f PtaaaStWr' Crown St/ Y V . C 4 TroyAvProspectExpy %u00a3 | EastNewYorkAv. I Prospect PkSW Clarkson AvGreenwood Av Ext V Coney Island AvPulton St n. x/ HopkinsonAvlAtlantic Av Eastern Pkwy New York Av ^ K Howard AvI Pockawas rBergen;, St Johns PI , Nostrand AvJ Carroll St%u2022k SctienectadyAvPitkin Av Pennsylvan Livon Georg ' Saratot Sutter Av Legion StAtlantic Terminal Moves Two Steps Closer To ConstructionContinued from Page 1to travel to and from Atlantic Terminal and Brooklyn Center, many of them using mass transit.The subway station reconstruction project, which will be funded by the City at an estimated cost of $13.8 million, requires that a schedule for work on the subway mitigation plan be submitted to the City and the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) before Rose Associates can apply for a building permit for the ATURA project. To make sure the work moves on schedule to complete the subway improvements jointly with completion of the development project, Rose has agreed to pay significant damages to the City for any delays not caused by circumstances beyond his control.The second major development for Atlantic Terminal came on August 12. Ending nearly a year and a half of speculation over plans of the City%u2019s Health and Hospitals Corp. to move its headquarters to Atlantic Termina i, Hit; a g e n c y *5 C a p ita l u n a iu -mously passed a resolution on that day %u201cauthorizing the president to negotiate and execute a lease,%u201d for the rental of space in one of the two new office towers to be built on thesite.The committee%u2019s approved resolution goes to a final vote by the full board membership on August 21.The long delay in finally reaching this tentative agreement has resulted in a cheaper price for the space for HHC. The committee resolution outlines an initial net rental rate not to exceed $16.50 per square foot for space not to exceed 500,000 sq. ft., and requires that a lease only be executed after %u201cappropriate assurances from the City that the City will fund all expense and capital obligations arising from HHC%u2019s move to Atlantic Terminal and its occupancy of the space.%u201d When HHC first announced its tentative plans to move to ATURA in early 1985, the price discussed was $22 per square foot.Jonathan Rose and PDC President Jim Stuckey presented the final lease plan to the HHC committee in a meeting in its present Downtown Manhattan space. The two urged swift action so that the decision could be resolved favorably in time for the September round ot appucations for Federal Urban Development Action Grants (UD AG), one of the key components of the financing plan for the development.The City of New York applied for a $16.41 million grant for the project in June but theapplication was held up over for a second time, because Rose did not have his private financial commitment complete, a requirement for the funding which is designed for developments in distressed areas.Rose says he is now optimistic that the UDAG grant will be forthcoming in September. %u201cWe had our bank financing complete last spring. The binding agreement with HHC will activate the loans,%u201d he says, adding he is optimistic there will be a favorable vote by the full HHC board this week.The $85 million HHC building will be one of two 24-story office towers to rise on the now largely-empty Atlantic Terminal land. According to Rose, $11 million of the financing for the building will come from his firm on top of the bank loan.Critics of the project were not happy with the outcome of either of these two recent votes. Raun Rasmussen, an attorney from the South Brooklyn Legal Services, representing clients in the Fort Greene community who fear secondary displacement and segregation in the community as a result of the project, says he wants an additional study conducted on the secondary displacement effects and mitigation measures undertaken if necessary.Before the City Planning Commission vote, members of the ATURA Coalition, a group long involved in trying to scale the project down and bring a low-income housing element into the 643 condominiums Rose has planned for the site, protested outside the building. Former Brooklyn State Assemblyman Joe Ferris charged that the project represented a conflict of interest between Rose and Board of Estimate members to whose political campaigns the developer has contributed.Rasmussen said after the CPC vote that South Brooklyn Legal Services is considering filing a law suit. %u201cIf the project goes ahead as currently planned, we will definitely be filing,%u201d Rasmussen says. He charges that the project%u2019s final environmental impact statement, released on August 15, violates the State Environmental Quality Review Act by not adequately considering problems of secondary displacement and hence also did not propose mitigation measures for displacement. He added that a suit would be filed in Federal court if the project receives its Federal funding. %u201cStrings are attached to the expenditure of Federal money under Title 8 of the Fair Housing Act. The project cannot result in discimination or segregation.%u201dA ugust 21,1986, T H E P H O E N IX , Pags 5