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Design Engineer On Hot Seat At Slope Meeting:Committee W ont Endorse Traffic Solutions For Fifth Ave.BY ROB TAYLORMerchants on Fifth Avenue may be getting a new road and sidewalks, but at a meeting on Sept. 11, to review the final design plans for the work, local store owners said they were concerned about the loss of business during the construction period.Richard Mehrman, a consultant hired by the city to be project manager of the design and reconstruction of Fifth Avenue between Flatbush and 1st Street, was asked by the members of the Transportation Committee of Community Board Six to improve the traffic maintenance plan and to try to assure better coordination between the merchants and the contractors before returning to an October meeting for an approval of the plans.%u201c The bottom line will be who is coordinating the utilities with the contractor, whether there is any supervision from the City and how the traffic safety will be maintained,%u201d said committee member John Laufer.The reconstruction project is currently scheduled to begin in the spring, 1987, at an estimated cost of $1.4 million, according to Mehrman. Plans call for the rebuilding of the water main, a new sewer system, a new road bed and the extension and/or rebuilding of the sidewalks and the curbs.Mehrman says that the project will take place in segments of up to six blocks at a time. The water main, which dates back to 1856, and the sewers will be reconstructed in the first phase. That will be followed by the sidewalk curbing and then the actual roadbed in the other phases.%u201c The signals will be replaced with new ones so that they can eventually be run on a computer system,%u201d said Mehrman. The street lights will also be changed though the project manager said that he was not able to get %u201c the decorative ones.%u201d Keith Getter, the manager of the Fifth Ave. Local Development Corporation said he was expecting better street lights like the ones being installed on Rutland Road in Flatbush.%u201c Working with the board and the community we have managed to convince the Public Development Corporation to fund some more trees,%u201d Mehrman said, explaining that 78A p p ro v a l o f th e fin a l d e s ig n p la n s fo r th e re c o n s tru c tio n o f F ifth A v e n u e w as d e la y e d u n til O c to b e r at th e C B 6 T ra n s p o rta tio n C o m m itte e m e e tin g , S e p t. 11. A b o v e le ft, N o rm a V elez, re p re s e n tin g C ity C o u n - c ilm e m b e r A b e G e rg e s (29th C .D .) lis te n s to C e lia C a c a c e v o ic e c o n c e rn s . Sal D 'O rio (above rig h t) c o m m e n te d a b o u t th e q u a lity o f tre e s th a t w ill be a d d e d to th e s tre e t.(le ft) R ic h a rd M e h rm a n , th e p ro je c t m an a g e r, re v e iw s th e p la n s w ith c o m m itte e m e m b e rs . (P h o e n ix /T a y lo r P h o to s)new trees would be planted along the road.Predictably, committee members and local residents who came to hear the presentation reacted with concern about the disruption that would be caused when construction begins. Mehrman told the group that water service would not be out for long periods of time and traffic would always be flowingsouth. Only half the street will be blocked off at any one time and northbound cars will be detoured along Fourth or Sixth Avenues.These assurances did not seem to placate the merchants, however, Although the current plans call for construction to stop during the holiday periods from Thanksgiving to Christmas, one merchant did not feel this was a long enough time period. %u201c We%u2019ll go bankrupt,%u201d said Susan Contento, the owner of The Pottery Shop at 3234 Fifth Ave. %u201c October and November are crucial to retail businesses.%u201d Contento also maintained that sidewalk reconstruction was not necessary in front of her store and expressed concern that she did not have early notice when different phases of construction would begin at her street location.Her concerns were echoed by other CB6 committee members. One, Celia Cacase, said there never seems to be any coordination so that the local people know what construction is taking place.%u201c That begins in the field,%u201d said Mehrman. %u201c You have to get out there and make contacts with those doing the construction to know what is going on.%u201dLaufer added that the standard police barricades that will be used to detour the traffic away from the construction areas were %u201c unacceptable.%u201d He requested that the City offer full time traffic control workers to monitor the project. Otherwise, %u201c it%u2019s too dangerous,%u201d he said.With these concerns in mind, the committee delayed a final approval of the design plans until they had some assurances that the issues could be resolved.%u201c All we can do is request them and make sure they are part of the contract,%u201d said committee member Jerry Armer. %u201c There is no mechanism, but we can fight for them.%u201dMehrman cautioned that delaying final approval could jeopardize some of the Federal funding that is expected to help cover the costs of construction. He said it could not be held up longer than three months.The committee will meet again Oct. 9 to try to approve the plans.Members Wait More Than An Hour For Quorum:Heights/FtBY LIZ KOCHMembers of Community Board Two seemed reluctant to turn back to business after their summer break, as the Heights/Downtown/Ft. Greene area board was only able to muster a quorum to conduct business an hour and a half after the meeting started %u2014 and after board members who were there telephoned their colleagues to call them to the meeting.Finally, enough of the 48 members had gathered to conduct the business of the meeting which then lasted one half hour. At the brief meeting, held at the Con Edison Building, board members approved a statement of Community and District Needs and Priorities submitted by the finance committee as part of 1987-88 fiscal year City budget process. The statement outlined urgent needs for increases in police manpower, renovation of district schools and the encouragement of new jobs. It also called for the formation of a drug task force for the Community Board Two area.The board approved the needs statement with few comments, but board member Jon David Nalley, praising the sensitivity of the needs statement asked that in the future, the board consider the problem of AIDS in the district. %u201c The district has a large concentration of so called %u201c high-risk%u201d groups and the problem is only getting worse,%u201d Nalley said. Board Chairman Jerry Renzini responded that the issue would be brought up in meeting with the City%u2019s Human Resources Administration.In other business the board unanimously approved an application by Living well Inc. to operate a Livingwell Lady Fitness Center in the basement of 471-485 Fulton Street, the old Korvette%u2019s building. The chain operates 400hosiHh fooilitioc natmnunHo anrl will nnon oclub that will include an aerobics area and Nautilus machines.On a much more controversial subject, the board voted to reject the City%u2019s plan to auction leases for two stores in the municipalGreene Board Almost Doesn%u2019t Meetparking garage at Livingston and Bond Streets. Housing committee chairperson Donna Cambus, pointing to the City%u2019s past history with auctioning leases, urged rejection of the proposal, saying that the auction would result in vacancies and displacement of former tenants. Businesses already in place in the stores could not compete with speculators for the lease, she said. %u201c Today there are nine vacant store fronts where there were once all businesses,%u201d she said. Her committee, rejecting the lease auctioning, urged the City in its resolution to negotiate with existing tenants. The CB2 resolution also states that if need be, a request for proposals be issued and that the community board be given the opportunity to review proposals by potential tenants. The resolution was passed unanimously.The renaming of parks was also on the agenda for this first fall board meeting. John LaCorte, of Brooklyn Heights, president of the Italian-American Historical Society, appeared to request that the board approve the renaming of the park in front of the Supreme Court building from Cadman Plaza Park to %u201c Columbus Park.%u201d The board approved the name. CB2 Parks Committee chair Ed Carter also recommended on behalf of Councilmember Abe Gerges that the MiddaghAtlantic Terminal Opponents Plan A Rally Against Project At Board Of Estimate MeetingSome people who are opposed to the proposed Atlantic Terminal project in Fort Greene are planning to rally their forces as the New York City Board of Estimate prepares for a September 25 vote on the residential/commercial plan being developed by Rose Associates.The ATURA Coalition, a group of some 20 organizations who say they are opposed to the plan as it now stands, will hold a rally at 1pm on September 20, five days before the scheduled vote, where they will address concerns over the lack of low-income housing and fair job opportunities in the proposed project. The development has received the approval of downtown%u2019s Community Board Two and the City Planning Commission and the September 25 Board of Estimate vote is the final approval required for the project.%u201c We will focus on the major issues of housing and jobs at the rally,%u201d says Coalition~i%u2014 %u00ab%u2014 i : t ; %u2014 n CUUU VJI UC1\\ %u25a0 X 11 Vs CVUUUUli flUlIM Mnegative vote on Sept. 25 if the developer does not make changes in his plan. The group is calling for the inclusion of low-income housing in the project where 643 condominiums for families in the $25,000 to $48,000 incomebracket will be built, and the creation of a specific program to address job needs in the community, specifically for blacks, hispanics, women and unemployed,%u201c Two years after the plan is announced we are still getting pious statements from Jonathan Rose on how he will address the jobs issue, but no program,%u201d Gliek says. The coalition proposes that Rose consider allocating money to establish an office specializing in affirmative action plans. The group has also charged that the project will cause extensive secondary displacement in the still predominantly low-income neighborhood of Fort Greene and requested that a study of the displacement be conducted and mitigation measures developed.The rally will begin from the comer of Atlantic Avenue and S. Elliott Place. From there it will move to the Brooklyn Arms welfare hotel on Ashland Place, a site that isK o m rt n rtn c iH n ro H K tr th o P ih r f r%u00bb*%u00bb H o iro ln rv.~ ~%u2014o w --%u2014---~~ ----- '----J ---------- -------fment, and then to Albee Square Mall. Speakers will include Assemblyman Roger Green, a representative from the Coalition for the Homeless, and residents of the hotel as well as others. %u2014 L.K.Street playground be renamed Harry Chapin park. That suggestion, too, received the approval of the board.With agenda business concluded, board members addressed the concern over illegal drugs in the district. Member Ed Carter urged that the growing crack problem not only be stemmed but that more concrete solutions be found to tackle the problem head on. %u201c We need to get some sort of treatment facilities for these youngsters,%u201d he said, pointing out that many treatment centers had six week waiting lists.Renzini called on the community to take stronger action in combatting the problem. %u201c I think the message that we have to get across to the community is that we need to do the reporting to the police ourselves. We need to educate the public and get them out of the habit of not responding directly,%u201d he said.Board member Alber Parham addressed another issue concerning the youth of the district. In the recently-adopted budget for Fiscal Year 1987, the construction of a new walkway at the Sarah J. Hale High School, a priority of the board%u2019s for many years, was included in the adopted budget for %u201c out%u201d years. Renzini explained that this meant that the project was included in a four year plan and would not necessarily be funded immediately. %u201c Somebody is delaying the construction and I want to know who,%u201d Parham said. %u201c Out years means whenever we get to it, whenever we care to get to it,%u201d he added with exasperation. No solution for the problem was proposed.Board members not ever arriving for this regular monthly meeting were: Leslie Agard-Jones, Tina Barber, Charles Murray, Helen Grange, Charles Hargett, Carolyn Hubbard, Gertrude Jefferson, Ann King, Janet. Matloff. Dorothv Nies. Wallace Nottage, Shirley %u201c Joe%u201d Payne, Francis Perry, James Pressey, Jon Quint, Roy Vanasco, Howard Zimmerman, Kathleen Mighty, Lance Ringel, Litman Miller, Dr. Jane Williams, Maria Lemons, and Steve Bartley.SeptembeMB^laseTTHETHOENlxTpag^i