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Slope/So. Brooklyn CB6 Starts Year In ConfusionROB TAYLORSummer vacation tor civic activity came to an end last week in the Community Board Six area and board members picked up where they left off two months ago, when they came together for their regular monthly meeting Sept. 10, at I.S. 293 in Cobble Hill, examining several development issues that dumbfounded board members and stalled any action.The four-hour meeting appeared to be lengthened unnecessarily due to confusion stemming from the recommendations of the board%u2019s own City Housing/Properties Committee on some applications for community consultant contracts for local development organizations. The applications for money from the City%u2019s Housing Preservation and Development agency would pay to hire staff people to work on tenant rights and landlord disputes in the neighborhood development groups.The Fifth Ave. Committee, the Carroll Gardens Association and the 17th Street Brooklyn Association, all applying for the HPD money, had requested a letter of support from the community board. The board%u2019s committee made several complicated recommendations, but neglected to explain to board members what the money would do.%u201c How can you expect us to vote on anything if we don%u2019t know what we are voting about?%u201d asked board-member John Laufer. His sentiments were echoed by a number of other CB6 members.The voting became complicated by the relationship each development group has had with various board members. A1 Cabbad said he would not support the Fifth Avenue Committee because he felt it favored tenant interests over landlords in too many cases. Celia Cacase, a long-time opponent of any activity of the Carroll Gardens Association, said that the work the association intended to do is already being duplicated by other organizations. Only the 17th Street Brooklyn Association, an organization that is primarily located within the boundaries of neighboring Community District Seven, faced no opposition.%u201c I have reason to believe that the work the Carroll Gardens Association is proposing to do in Red Hook is already being done by another agency in that area,%u201d said board member Celia Cacase, referring to La Casa, a multi-service center that is applying for similar money from Federal Community Development funds.Board member Stephanie Twin, noted that the board should be supporting as many funding applications as possible, particularly at a time when less is available for local development organizations.With more than 100 additional people than usual attending this first fall board meeting in anticipation of a later discussion on a Brooklyn Sister City Project with Nicaragua, the board spent a gruesome 55 minutes trying to figure out what has actually turned out to be a very simple issue. After much discussion about what vote was actually being made, the board rejected the Fifth Avenue Committee proposal and passed the Carroll Gardens and 17th Street Brooklyn proposals; in both cases more than 17 board members abstained from voting because they did not understand the proposals.Because of the large number of abstentions, the board then voted to rescind its votes and sent the matter back to the committee for further review.A proposal to de-map Ennis Park was then tackled by the board members. CB6 has been dogged by the issue which would allow part of the park, located in Gowanus on 11th St. between Second and Third Ave., to be used as a City Sanitation Department garage for its trucks. The board unanimously rejected the proposal which has been under examination for nearly a year.%u201c I don%u2019t think it is good to put trucks in a neighborhood where children play,%u201d observed board member Anita DiMartini. %u201c It%u2019s not clean and it%u2019s not safe.%u201dThe board%u2019s decision removes any doubt about the park%u2019s future as the City%u2019s Sanitation Department has already said it would not seek to build the facility without the demapping by CB6, according to chairperson, Louise Finney.Prior to the community board%u2019s regular membership meeting, the CB6 Landmarks/Land Use Committee held a public hearing on several pieces of property in Park Slope, Cobble Hill and Red Hook. The committee agreed to unanimously approve new plans for the construction of a two-story addition to the Thrifty Beverage Company building at 252-60 Court St. An earlier application was rejected because considerations of design and members said they were pleased with the changed version. The full board later adopted the committee%u2019s recommendation.Two City-owned buildings in Red Hook, 186Richards and 393 Van Brunt, were approved for rehabilitation with the stipulation that the buildings be owner-occupied and that the work begin within 12 months. The owners of one other building, 149 9th Street in Park Slope, also applied for a change from commercial to residential zoning. The committee was ready to approve the change, but was held back by the objections of two local merchants who said residential use was inappropriate for the buildings. The issue will again be reviewed at the next meeting.Although the board spent much of the meeting haggling over the Housing Committee reports, it did take time to honor 76th Precinct Police Officer John Lo Preto who was responsible for the traffic plan on the waterfront during the Fourth of July celebrations. After receiving the Board%u2019s %u201c Core of the Apple Award%u201d and a special citation from Borough President Howard Golden, Lo Preto said, %u201c The people of Red Hook, I can%u2019t thank enough because they took the brunt of everything during the Liberty weekend.%u201dThose members not present at the Sept. 10 monthly meeting included Ed Carcase, Michael Carbojal, Michael Rosenthal, Efner Green, Emmial Gibaldi, Sue Scotto and Ramone Vasquez.The next CB6 meeting is scheduled for Otober 8 at the Methodist Hospital in Park Slope, 506 Sixth Ave., starting at 6:30pm. The committee will hold a public hearing on the installation of parking meters on Seventh Ave. between 9th and 15th Streets. Call 643-3027 for more details.Makes Supporters Wait Until End Of Long Meeting:Continued from Page I n n / m i j /-><-/ 1 D / i i i O CB6 Decides Not To Be Sisterly After A Heated Discussion 7 . . . . . . ... . . . . . ^ _______________________________committee felt that even if people are sympathetic to the issue and also feel very strongly about South Africa and Afghanistan, issues like the Sister City proposal should not be brought before this community board.%u201d She added that CB6 has taken similar stands on other positions of foreign policy like the nuclear freeze issue.The City Coporation Counsel said that according to the City Chrarter, foreign policy issues were not appropriate matters for community boards to discuss and that no staff or board funds could be used to implement any such resolution.Sister City supporters, undaunted by the legal opinion, however, chose to appear at the meeting anyway, but with a different strategy. Rather than seek an endorsement of the project, they would ask the board to merely sponsor a community forum to debate both sides of the issue.The discussion came at the end of a nearthree hour marathon business meeting of the board that proceeded even though the room was crowded from the start of the evening with visitors interested in the Sister City Project. The ground rules were agreed to ahead of time and after five three-minute presentations, much of the board%u2019s discussion digressed to whether or not the board should hold the forum. There was little discussion about the actual merits of the project.%u201c As our community board we feel you represent us,%u201d said Nicole Fauteux, a coordinator of the Sister City proposal to the board members. %u201c This is where we can come to discuss issues relevant to the community. We would like a forum to be sponsored by CB6 where these issues can be addressed in full,%u201d she explained.But CB6 Vice President Jery Armer had a different vie %u201c Providing a forum for something we can have no input would not be appropriate,%u201d he said. Board-member Stephanie Twin, who introduced the resolution requesting the forum, said, %u201c I think the community wants to discuss the issue,%u201d and questioned Finney%u2019s interpretation of the Corporation Counsel%u2019s letter. Twin said that her understanding of the City Charter was that the board could sponsor forums on any topic of interest to the community and that did not mean supporting the actual Sister City proposal.However, when Fauteux was later questioned by board-member Selma Abramowitz about what the Sister City suppporters would like to see happen after the forum, Fauteuxsaid she would still like to get an endorsement from CB6.Some of the tension in the room could be traced to a July 19 march the Sister City coordinators sponsored that travelled through Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and Park Slope. According to Burt Meyers, a Brooklyn ColThey didn%u2019t even carry anAmerican flag. All they hadwere red balloons and a tankwith Reagan%u2019s head on top.lege professor who helped organize the march, the event created %u201c enthusiastic support%u201d for the proposal.But, the march did not endear the project to many CB6 members, some of whom live and work on the streets on which the demonstration was held. With bursts of oldfashioned patriotism, some of the board members were incensed by the antiP a rtic ip a n ts in S is te r C ity P ro je c t m a rc h %u00aded th ro u g h th e s tre e ts o f C o m m u n ity B oard Six to b rin g a tte n tio n to th e ir p lig h t. (P h o e n ix/P e a rso n P h o to )District 13 Plans Two Pre-Kindergarten Classes To Ease Day Care Problems, Enhance LearningDay carfe is an ongoing issue all over New York City for both single mothers out in the work force and families where both parents spend the day at work and need to find an adequate child care facility for their preschool children. Two schools in District 13 will begin to help address the problem this fall by offering pre-kindergarten classes as part of the City%u2019s long-term plan to phase in an education program for four year olds.The Board of Education has just announced the selection of six public school districts, including three in Brooklyn, which are the first part of a program expected to be implemented city-wide by 1989. According to Marian Schwarz, coordinator of Youth Services for the Mayor%u2019s Office, the final six districts were selected on the basis of high need, defined as areas with a high number of economically disadvantaged four-year olds. The plan was a result of a Mayoral commission%u2019s report in April 1986. In the initial phase, 1,500 children will be served in the program that carries a price tag of $4.9 million.The iwu suiiuuis serviced ui District 13 cueP.S. 270 at 241 Emerson Place and P.S. 305 at 344 Monroe Street in Bedford Stuyvesant. Each school will house two half-day prekindergarten classes that are tentativelyscheduled to begin at the end of October, according to District 13 Superintendent Jerome Harris. In the interim, the district is engaged in the task of hiring teachers and recruiting children for the program. Although Schwarz anticipates that demand will exceed class capacity, Harris says he expects no flood of students.According to Harris, the district applied for the program in response to a need voiced by the community which he says has increased over his tenure as superintendent. Harris says that in its pilot year the program will be filled through active recruiting. %u201c We don%u2019t anticipate an overflow of students,%u201d he says. %u201c Because the program is a half day, it isn%u2019t suited for many people who then don%u2019t know what to do with their kids the other half of the day.%u201dThe four classes will contain approximately 20 students each and since transportation costs are not included in the program, Harris says the programs will service the area surrounding the schools. Recruiting studentswin lau un the ahuuiuei a of the uisiiici offices, but according to Schwarz, 90 percent of the students enrolled in the program must meet federal guidelines for free and reduced lunch programs. %u2014 L.K.American sentiments they felt were expressed by the marchers. %u201c They didn%u2019t even carry the American flag,%u201d pointed out Celia Cacase, an opponent of the project, who says she watched the march on Court St. %u201c All they had were red balloons and a tank with Reagan%u2019s head on top.%u201dSupporters of the Sister City project admit that this might have been a mistake, but the community-rooted members of CB6 did not want to have anything to do with a program they felt would be critical of American foreign policy.Encircled by the Sister City supporters, some of whom hissed as antagonistic points were made during the discussions, the majority of CB6 members seemed determined not to address the issue head on. While some of the members who did not support Lie forum indicated that they personally disagreed with the Reagan administration%u2019s policy toward Nicaragua, and sympathized with the Sister City efforts, including Finney, they did not seem to want to press an issue that could deeply divide the board.%u201c There are enough things that are our responsibility that seem to be divisive enough without debating something that the board could not take a stand on,%u201d said Finney.With the support of State Senator Veimanette Montgomery (22nd S.D. District), City Councilman Stephen DiBrienza (30th District), Congressman Ed Towns (11th District), Assemblyman Roger Green (57th District), the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, the Prospect Park Independent Democrats and the Fifth Avenue Committee, Sister City organizers say they still intend to hold a forum and are making plans to use the Park Slope United Methodist Church, regardless of the CB6 decision.Those CB6 members who supported the resolution to hold a forum of the Sister City Project included: Dawn Cardi, Joan Geitz, Marjory Levin, Bob Levine, Frank Lynch, Rafael Martinez and Stephanie Twin. Those opposed included Selma Abramowitz, Jerry Armer, Pauline Blake, Peggy Buffalano, A1 Cabbad, Celia Cace, Helen Cort, Rose de Crescenzo, A1 de Maio, Anita de Martini, Vinny Dolan, Mort Fleischer, Ed Fusco, Joe Galiardo, Arthur Gulhrandsen, Marie Haggberg, Sybil Henderson, Ed Joyce, Angela Beni, John Laufer, Barb Longobardi, Carl reeiv, v intern Sctgge&e, Lew cumin, TurnSpath, Tom Russo and Joyce Sarranto. Abstaining were: Tom Green, Mike Miranda, A1 Nembhard and James Malone.S eptem ber 18, 1986, THE PHOENIX, Page 5