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West Side Senator Reports on His Legislative Activities BY JAMES SHEEHAN West Side State Senator Manfred Ohren- stein will spend most of his time in Albany over the next two months, but he found some time last week to meet with reporters in his lower Broadway office to discuss local and state issues. Housing issues are at the top of Ohrenstin’s laundry list for the working days ahead in the Legislature where, he is leader of the Democratic Minority in the State Senate, but the. Senator also offered views on matters ranging from the upcoming mayoral election to the politics of Governor Mario Cuomo. Ohrenstein launched into Mayor Ed Koch early on in the discussion saying lie “did a good job in honchoing the budget’/during his first four years as Mayor but “as a person he has caused too many frictions/Und that has carried into his second term/He can’t get beyond his fractious personality. At first op portunity he will exploit a fight and that’s not the mark of a good leader/’ As the Senator sees it,,his priority to pro tect the rights of tenant? (vis a vis rent con trol, rent stablizatiori, co-op laws and residents of 421-a bpildings) is largely a result of a hot real estate market in the West side district, coupled with the policies of a mayor who has been less than candid with the community in forwarding his develop ment plans. “If you’re going to say ‘Let’s get all possi ble tax dollars out of developing real estate in Manhattan than say it,” said Ohrenstein. “Hie unwillingness to acknowledge what you’re doing is to turn it on the community and make it their fault. There is a certain amount of intellectual dishonesty in that.” NO ENDORSEMENTS YET Ohrenstein added that he has not yet made any endorsements in upcoming city-wide elections but will do so in coming weeks. “I will not endorse Koch but I expect to endorse an opponent,” he said. “ I want the thing with Bellamy and Farrell to shake out a little.” Governor Mario Cuomo fared better by Ohrenstein who said he was not Cuomo’s “greatest fan when he was elected but I have grown to admire him.” Ohrenstein said Cuomo has “been very good to the city” and \when it comes to helping urban areas he’s been there and has not tried to play the 'upstate, downstate game.' ” As much as the After meeting with reporters in his downtown office. State Senator Manfred Ohrenstein (center) and an aide peruse the latest edition of The Villager as Robert Trentlyon (right) publisher of the Chelsea Clinton News takes a look. (Vlllager/Sheehan Photo) governor has become a popular national figure, however, Ohrenstein doubts that Cuomo would be a viable presidential can didate. “He’s too much of a New Deal Democrat,” he said. “I don't know if he could unite the party.” In Albany, Ohrenstein said he and his col leagues are keeping a close eye on the year- old Division of Housing which he said initially had an inadequately trained staff and is runn ing behind in addressing cases such as rent overcharges and owner failures to register buildings. “We had some tough conversa tions with them,” he said and noted that the Legislature had cut the housing agency's budget by f i million with the intention of put ting back 92 million based upon the submis sion of a new agency plan by June 15. PROPOSALS SO FAR INADEQUATE The issue of preserving neighborhood businesses is one that often crops up in Ohrenstein's district as increasing numbers of long-time retailers are forced to vacate their space as the result of huge rent in creases. Ohrenstein noted a strong local ad vocacy for commercial rent control and said the loss of neighborhood services is a \serious problem which ought to be address ed” but that “every proposal I have seen has been inadequate.” “I don’t know which businesses you would save,” he continued, pointing out that he has been approached by doctors and lawyers as well as by neighborhood businesses who are not protected by rent controls. “We haven’t been able to develop a bill and I don’t think commercial rent control proponents have met the test of developing the criteria.” Others facing high rent increases as well as eviction are local loft tenants who ^eel the two-year old Loft Board has done little or nothing to protect their rights as tenants. Ohrenstein said he and his staff have been supporting tenants before the Loft Board but will probably not sponsor any bills in Albany until the board has finalized its regulations. LOOK FOR SOME LOFT RELIEF “The (original) loft legislation itself was a minor miracle since it had no other constituency anywhere in the state,” he said. “I think we’ll see some relief from the Loft Board and the City Planning Commission and, maybe next year, some amendments to the Loft Law.” Ohrenstein’s district also includes areas of the Lower East Side where the Mayor’s Cross Subsidy proposal, a plan to auction some va cant City-owned properties and use the pro fits to rehabilitate and construct low and moderate income housing, is a hotly-debated issue. Many in the community would like to see all such properties reserved for low and moderate income tenants. Ohrenstein said he sees “no inherent , problems with Cross Sub sidy but what we have to have is appropriate zoning resolutions/’ “I don’t think you canjust abandon every one who has lived in MafOiattan for years,” said Ohrenstein of the widespread displace ment of low income tenants. “There has to be mix of zoning regulations and government programs to preserve existing communities in some responsible way. Government agen cies should sit and negotiate with developers day after day on a site by site basis.” Conces sions to the community from real estate in terests, says Ohrenstein are a \reasonable condition to be extracted from developers.” Pending developments on the West Side in clude the massive and controversial Westway project which is currently coming under fire from elected officials across the river in New Jersey, and may be facing a rough time in Washington as a result. \Per sonally I’m enjoying the whole scene,” said Ohrenstein of the latest opposition headed by New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg. Ohrenstein, along with most local elected officials, had opposed Westway but suffered a setback at the hands of the Army Corps of Engineers which approved a landfill permit for the project earlier this year. \A month ago we thought we were finished,” he said. \I’m impressed with I^autenberg who seems to take a calm approach and details the cost and environmental impacts. I can’t unders tand how the leaders of this city have gotten Continued on Pafie 18 Local Board Looks at Its By-Laws During Monthly Business BY TIM McDARRAH Despite some three hours devoted to public comment on street peddlers, members of Community Board Two managed to conduct some other business at their regular monthly meeting April 18. It included a finish to amen ding by-laws_ that had been tabled from March, an adjustment in the board’s 19% budget that had been approved last month, and a few other resolutions. Regar^ding by-laws for the board, the issue is whether or not the board should have a parliamentarian, and if so, how the person should be decided upon. Board member Ed Gold, complaining about the length of the meetings, said the board didn’t need one, as it would only extend the meeting length. If the chairman was in control, he said, “we wouldn’t have the same kind of hassles over this itchky-pitchky stuff.” Rosemary McGrath, who along with Gold kept the debate on the issue raging for at least 25 minutes, said that a parliamentarian was imperative. After much more debate and snide comments all around, McGrath's motion to have a mandatory parliamentarian was defeated 19-16. The original motion presented by the board’s executive commit tee, that the chairman “may appoint a parliamentarian, if he or she so chooses” was subject of a hearing before the Landmarks Preservation Commission in May. They are: Guardian Life Insurance Building, 201 Park Ave. So.; American Drapery and Carpet Building, 33 E. 17th St. on Union Square North; Everett Building, 200 Park Ave. So.; Bank of the Metropolis, 31 Union Sq. West; Union Building, 33 Union Square West; and Lincoln Building, which is already on the Federal and State historic registers, at 1 Union Square West. In her report. City Councilmember Carol Greitzer reported on work she is doing in the Council on funding for the fight against the disease AIDS. Members not present at the meeting were Ann Abbott, John Fratta, Neil Getnick, David Shapiro, James Shaw and Ellen Friedman. Hear About Peddlers A licensed vendor^ Tom Waters, speaks at the CB2 meeting. From left are 6th Precinct com manding officer, Capt. Elson Gelfand; and District Manager Rita Lee. (Vlllager/McDarrah Photo) The discussion then turned to the nominating committee procedures. John “Happy” Ferri, who, another board member joked, “has not been to a board meeting since Nixon was in office,” said that he was indeed lax about meeting attendance, but that the fault was that of the entire board. “This board doesn’t get done nearly as much as it can, and should, get accomplished.” Ferri, who said, “I have no axes to grind here” said the board suffered from too many cliques that didn't allow the board to work as cohesively as it should. After prolonged discussion, a motion was passed to limit the amount of time a person can serve on the nominating committee to* no more than two consecutive years. A move to make the rule retroactive was defeated. Opponents to the entire discussion pointed out that since the nominating committee is elected by the board, if enough people didn’t want a person on the committee for more than two years, they could just vote against him or her, instead of making the rule. Anthony Dapolito’s chairman’s report noted that the Queens and Brooklyn Borough Boards have adopted resolutions to request a 9145,000 annual budget for each, a higher sum than the Manhattan boards adopted. So, since “it was learned that there are no limitations on recommendations for merit raises” it was decided to give the district manager and assistant district manager five percent merit raises in recognition of their services which several board members said was “more than anyone could ask for.” The office processed a record number of complaints last year, as well as making over 250 meeting come together, publishing and distributing hun dreds of reports, and is one of the most active board offices in the city, it was reported. The board formally was introduced to new Sixth Precinct commanding officer Capt. Elson Gelfand, who has been at the West 10th Street stationhouse for one month. He made a few remarks about increased police protec tion for Washington Square Park, and that he was looking forward to his new assignment. Verna Small’s Landmarks Committee recommended that permits be denied for alterations at 495 West Broadway and 73 Eighth Avenue, and a permit be approved for 21 Greenwich Ave., a three-story Greek revival house built in 1841 where restoration work is being done. That committee also recommended that the board support Landmarks designation for six buildings in the Union Square area, the Continued from Page I detractors to come and watch the money be ing made by vendors right in front of his store. Harvey Russack, owner of Unique Clothing Warehouse, with two stores on Broadway, distinguished between peddlers and vendors. “Pediers, says Webster’s, travel about with their wares for sale. What we have on the street are flea market vendors, not the historic peddlers the Village has allowed to wander through its streets.” Bleecker Street resident and street vendor Jim Lamb criticized the City for its huge list of regulations that vendors must follow. He said if the City opened up more streets, con gestion would be less of a problem. He noted that the entire midtown Manhattan area was currently off limits to licensed vendors. Pat Cohen from the Department of Con sumer Affairs said that the hearing on restricting the streets was no scheduled for May 17 at 9:30am in the second floor auditorium of the Department, at 80 Lafayette Street. April 25.1985, THE VILLAGER, Page 3 j . ' It ^
