Page 511 - Demo

Montague Street Litter Gets The Golden Touch For FallBorough President Howard Golden gives a helping hand to Heights summer sweeper Cindy LaBron as part of the Montague St. tour.(Phoenix/Koch Photo)Borough President Howard Golden (left) inspects the garbage situation with Commissioner Brendan Saxon as thetwo tour Montague Street. (Phoenix/Koch Photo)BY LIZ KOCH%u201cI%u2019ve never seen Brooklyn this clean in 30 years,\stressed repeatedly as he toured the Downtown area with Sanitation Commissioner Brendan Sexton on August 26. The two peered into waste baskets on Court Street and at tom up parking tickets that littered the gutter. He added dubiously, however: %u201cI%u2019ll believe it if it%u2019s still like this tomorrow.%u201dGolden and Commissioner Sexton were joined by local community leaders for a walking tour of Downtown Brooklyn to assess the effectiveness of sanitation efforts in the area. The group of ten who explored the Court Street area and side streets of Brooklyn Heights that day were greeted by predominantly clean streets, a few litter strewn areas and one of the Brooklyn Heights Association%u2019s summer employees sweeping Montague Street.Stopping on Montague Street to study a few coffee cups on the sidewalk, Golden remarked that the litter problem was improving but stressed that the business hub of Brooklyn needs a cleaner future to accompany increased business and commercial activity forecast for coming years.PERK UP CLEANLINESS%u201c People have a tendency to fall into a particular position. If they see things dirty, they will continue to let them be dirty,%u201d he said of merchants and people who frequent the area. %u201cPeople perk up when they see an area like this clean. Now that the city is coming out of its fiscal crisis and Brooklyn is growing again, people want to see that the streets are cleaned and that the prosperity is reflected in the surroundings,%u201d he added.Solutions for the litter problem varied during the tour, with a general consensus that the problem was not insurmountable and that improvements were already underway. Golden pointed at and contemplated smaller trash baskets on Court Street, saying they cause trash to escape on the streets. He suggested to the Commissioner that the baskets be emptied more frequently to prevent them from overflowing.Commissioner Sexton pointed to a number of plans geared to cleaning the streets. Brooklyn merchants, he said, were a particularly vital link to a clean future. %u201cWe%u2019re alerting merchants that they have an obligation as well to dispose of their garbage properly and not leave it untied on the streets,%u201d he said. In addition, he said, the sanitation departmenthad been in contact with the City%u2019s Department of General Services to obtain their cooperation in maintaining cleanliness in front of City agency buildings.%u201cWe have to make sure that people are cleaning up in front of the court houses,%u201d he said is an example. %u201c Also, the municipal par ig lots could be better looked after.%u201d He ad i, however, that since his previous sanitat ,i tour of Downtown Brooklyn several months ago, sidewalks in front of City buildings were beginning to lose their littered appearance, testament of the success of his discussions.PLAN IS EFFECTIVE %u201cThe Department of General Services didnot try to pass the buck. They obviously have been effective,%u201d he said.Cooperation from another City agency is also on the agenda as well from New York City motorists. %u201cTransportation has to make sure that the vehicles are off the streets so that sanitation can come by and sweep the streets. But, the Department of Sanitation needs more cooperation from car owners,%u201d he explained.A few particular areas of concern were pointed out during the stroll. Stopping in front of Walden Books on Montague Street, Golden checked the waste basket. The store apparantly received complaints that discarded loose books were finding their way onto thestreet as well as into the litter basket. %u201cThese baskets are not meant for commercial purposes,%u201d Sexton said. %u201cThese stores must have their own disposal methods so they don%u2019t use street baskets.%u201d Golden said efforts to solve problems with merchants must favor education, not ticketing.Ultimately Commissioner Sexton reported favorably on the Downtown litter problem. %u201cThe Heights Association has to be complimented on their efforts,%u201d he said, suggesting that similar programs be established to help the sanitation department in their efforts. %u201cIn the long run we cannot do it ourselves. Government cannot handle the entire problem.%u201dPersonnel Problems Renew Bickering In S. Brooklyn BoardBY TRACY GARRITYThe uneasy peace between the two factions of the Slope/Sunset Park/South Brooklyn community school board faltered at a meeting August 27 when board member Philip Kaplan charged that the majority of the board had attempted to interfere in staffing decisions that he says should be made by the superintendent. The disagreement flared as the board voted unanimously to approve a budget of $41,632,906 for the 1986-87 school year.Although he voted in favor of the budget, Kaplan said he did not agree with some $160,000 in cuts made in the District Office. The cuts, which included one supervisor and our other staff members, were requested by the majority of board members, who directed Superintendent Jerrold Glassman to make the staff cuts. %u201cIt%u2019s the board%u2019s responsibility to set policy,\hire and fire. Once the board becomes involved in that you have nothing but chaos. Kaplan said the cuts were %u201cpolitically motivated%u201d although board member Norman Fruchter said the cuts were a necessity to strengthen a budget already $500,000 in deficit.We have a budget that gives us less money than we had last year,%u201d said Fruchter, adding that the 1986/87 budget did not reflect automatic increases in personnel and supply costs. We had to make these decisions.%u201d Fruchter said that several poitcy decisions warranted the cuts from the District Office, including the board%u2019s educational agenda that includes smaller class sizes in the elem entary school %u201cWe had to make some policy changes and some cuts to carry out these educational priorities,%u201d he said. According to Fruchter the board has tried to insure that no class in grades kindergarten through third has more than 25 students. He added that he %u201cregretted%u201d more cuts weren%u2019t made in the district office.The cuts, equalling some $160,000, are actually reassignments to vacancies in the district. According to Board President Philip Scala, Kaplan%u2019s argument was clutching at straws. %u201cWe didn%u2019t fire the staff in the District Office. We just redirected them to other places,%u201d he said, adding that the supervisor may go to another district.Scala said he could not give any names but said that a teacher trainer, two secretaries, an attendance teacher and a supervisor in bilingual and community relations would be moved to other positions in the district. Scala said if the supervisor chooses to remain in the district she will become a teacher, taking a pay cut from $48,000 to $41,000. All the other staff members will maintain their salaries in their new positions. Scala said this measure saves money because the redirected employees are filling vacancies in the schools.%u201c It%u2019s really just a relocation,%u201d he says. %u201c But we needed those people in the schools,not in the district office.%u201d Scala also challenged Kaplan%u2019s assertion that it was not in the board%u2019s purview to make these types of staffing decisions. %u201cWe have always directed the superintendent what to do. There is nothing new about this procedure.%u201d Scala said the board also directed Glassman to restore two administrators in the bilingual program to the budget, that he had cut.%u201cWe are trying to maintain the program and could not do it without those people.%u201d Other cuts made by Glassman in an attempt to balance the budget were $200,000 in school aids, $170,000 in cutbacks on the night centers, guidance counselors, and an assistant principal in P.S. 27 in Red Hook. That school%u2019s principal resigned during the summer and an interim administrator has been appointed.Scala said the District Office%u2019s budget was $1.5 million. %u201cBasically we asked the superintendent to cut 10 percent. I believe that is perfectly acceptable, especially whenStrikers Still Committed At Brooklyn UnionBY ROB TAYLORSome 500 striking workers from Brooklyn Union Gas Company (BUG) chanted and marched from the gas utility%u2019s Montague St. headquarters across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall Aug. 27 in an attempt to bring attention to their continuing battle for a new contract.Nearly 2,500 BUG employees, members of the Transportation Workers Union Ijocal 101, have been locKea out oi tneir jods since Aug. 12 after they overwhelmingly voted to reject a contract offer from the company that union officials say contained a %u201chost of givebacks%u201d including a medical benefits package that would require the employees to pay most of the premium themselves beginning in 1988.BUG says the proposal is similar to benefits received by management employees. %u201c We can%u2019t give them a blank check,%u201d says BUG spokesperson Bill Federici, commenting on a contract offer that did include four percent pay increases.%u201cBrooklyn Union stock has split, but on the curb its workers sit,%u201d chanted the demonstrators referring to a split in the company%u2019s stock issued in April.Talks between union and management negotiators since the strike began have not been productive, according to I-ocal 101 officials. Workers, angered with BUG%u2019s offer, were rumored to have overturned a company car the day the strike began, though no chargesContinued on Pune ftwe are simply redirecting that energy somewhere else.%u201dLOSE TITLE ONEAlthough they all voted for the budget, none were happy with it, including the superintendent. %u201cThis is not a budget I am proud of,%u201d said Glassman, adding that more money is needed to implement the programs he would like to see continued in the District. %u201cWe need more money and we just aren%u2019t getting it.%u201d Glassman said part of the problem was that more schools in the district are receiving less funds from special programs, as reading scores and economic background improve. %u201cWe are losing our Title One funds,%u201d he said at the meeting. %u201cWe could us> that money to help with our re; ig programs.%u201d Title One funds are based on a combination of economic and educational need.In other business, the board accepted several million in funds ior programs in the schools and remained united in their decisions. In total, 17 budget items preceded the board%u2019s budget vote accepting runds for both in school and afterschool programs. Included were funds for a teacher training program, staff development, prekindergarten classes, a dropout prevention program, and funds specially earmarked to aid the students at P.S. 38, where children who live at the Brooklyn Arms Hotel go to school. That money, totalling $95,811, will go to employ extra guidance counselor help and social workers to deal with family situations.In addition, the board accepted funds for an Early Morning drop-off program at P.S. 107 and P.S. 321, both in Park Slope. The board also voted unanimously to approve the services of George Shebitz as legal counsel to the board.The next board meeting is scheduled for September 24, at P.S. 131, 4305 Fort Hamilton Parkway. The meeting begins at 8pm. Board member Judy Hoffman was absent from the August 27 meeting.Septem ber 4, 1986, THE PHOENIX, Page 3