Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page 5

DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE, ROCHESTER, N.Y., MONDAY, MAY 17, 1993 SA THE SEARCH FOR SHELTER: A Special Report on Housing it tr I March 26 County officials announce new hours for Durand-Eastman Park so shooting can take place. March 30 Town officials grant a special permit to conduct the bait-and-shoot plan. March 31 and April 1 Bait and shoot begins as four deer are killed. April 3 Opponents of the plan demonstrate outside Irondequoit Town Hall and Monroe County Legislature President Arnold Eckert's home. They return during the next three Saturdays until bait and shoot ends.

April 713 deer are killed. April 9 An Irondequoit woman, who said she had been against bait and shoot, changes her mind after hitting a deer on St. Paul Boulevard. The accident is detailed in the media by bait-and-shoot advocates who claim the plan is necessary to ensure public safety. April 14 DEC officials hold a press conference in the park to show the media that some of the deer would have starved to death if they weren't killed.

April 1 4 The third shooting lakes 1 9 deer. April 22 Irondequoit officials bow out of the effort because of the costs associated with it and public safety concerns. They vow, however, to take part in the effort next season. County and state leaders continue the plan April 27 As sheriff's deputies begin sealing off the park so shooting can begin, bait-and-shoot opponents demonstrate in front of the barricades. They return to the park the following evening as well.

April 27-28 Sharpshooters kill 25 deer. April 28-29 The fifth and final phase of the plan is implemented as sharpshooters kill 19 deer, thus ending bait and shoot this season. May 1 Bait and shoot ends for this season. Bait and shoot time line 1992 Aug. 3 Irondequoit Councilman Daniel Aureli announces he will push for a bart-and-shoot program in Durand-Eastman Park to reduce the risk of car accidents with deer.

Under the plan, deer would be lured to certain bait sites and then killed by sharpshooters. Sept 4 An 1 1 -member citizens task force recommends using expert hunters to kill 80 deer during the winter. The recommendations call for officials to study the herd for five years to decide if more deer should be killed. Sept 22 Irondequoit Town Board members approve the bait-and shoot plan, which calls fa killing the deer between January and March 1993. Sept 29 Monroe County Legislature OKs the plan.

Dec 15 County leaders amend the law governing discharge of firearms in the park to implement the plan. Town leaders amend their law the same way Dec. 28. 1993 Feb. 2 County legislators give final approval.

Feb. 9 Six groups opposing bait and shoot sue the county, town and Department of Environmental Conservation to stop the plan. A state Supreme Court judge grants a temporary restraining order stopping the plan pending legal arguments. March 2 State Supreme Court grants a preliminary injunction against bait and shoot saying it's illegal under a state conservation law. March 24 Appellate court throws out the preliminary injunction clearing the way for shooting to begin.

DEC officials extend a nuisance permit to kill deer through the end of April. i bj Wrecking crews begin demolition of Hanover Houses, Rochester's first public housing project, in 1980. Public housing here has a varied history By Betty Ciacchi and Chris Swingle Staff writers Kill more deer if necessary, says a citizens task force hen Hanover Houses opened in December 1952, Rochester first attempt It sets target of 160 animals for next winter By Trif Alatzas The number of deer to kill could be adjusted for public safety reasons. The number of deer killed this year was not chosen scientifically. Members of the citizens task force wanted to start the program and decided a graduated killing schedule would be more effective.

"We want a deer herd that is about 50 animals," said Jeff Smit-ley, a member of the Irondequoit Deer Action Committee, who served on the citizens task force. "We wanted it done in stages because we scheduled any meetings. But county and town leaders said the group is designed to consider the task force recommendations. "We'll do whatever is necessary to reduce the herd. If all of the sudden you came up with something that was not as expensive, that would allow the deer to be transferred to a venison farm, we could do that," said Monroe County Legislature President Arnold Eckert, R-Irondequoit.

"Further herd reduction is necessary. We didn't Bill Wfll don know much about the deer herd's size." DEC officials estimate up to 500 deer live in the park. Many other advocates of thinning the herd believe between 300 solve the problem with 80 deer." There also is concern regarding the other deer herds in town that weren't reduced by bait and shoot. Shooting took place only in As suburban development began, some returning veterans spent but a short time in public housing before buying their own homes outside urban centers. However, discrimination often kept black war veterans out of the suburbs.

And as tenants of public housing complexes in urban areas grew poorer and operating expenses for the buildings' upkeep increased, crime and drug problems began to emerge. Often, the complexes and neighborhoods around them began to deteriorate. Overall, public housing authorities focused on urban or rural areas. Of the 3,000 public housing authorities nationally that manage such housing today, 90 percent serve small towns and rural areas. In the 1960s, President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty provided cities with funding for urban public housing projects and agencies such as RHA undertook massive construction in neighborhoods.

Yet in many urban locations, homes leveled in neighborhoods to make way for new construction often were not replaced for years. In the early 1970s, numerous Rochester complexes many of which are now run through private management companies were built as part of an urban renewal project in the Upper Falls area under the city's community development department with funding from the state. Private developers as well were encouraged to build there through various subsidized programs, part of the new approach to housing that began to emerge in the mid-1970s. Terrence Slaybaugh, economic development manager for Monroe County, said that period was the last time major multi-family housing projects were built in the state. About 5,000 units were built locally then with federal money, channeled through the state, of which 3,200 were in the suburbs.

During the 1970s, RHA increased its housing inventory tenfold, producing 1,600 units with 69 percent of them for the elderly. In 1976, RHA was one of the first authorities in the state to participate in a new federal program known as Section 8. The leasing program provides rental assistance to tenants to make up the difference between what they can pay in rent up to 30 percent of their adjusted income and the market rent Adjustments to income include deductions for dependent children, handicapped or elderly family members or excessive health or child care costs. But between 1980 and 1990, budgeting for assisted housing programs through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was cut drastically.

And payment caps for tenant rents were raised from 25 percent to 30 percent of income in 1981. In 1985, New York state launched the Housing Trust Fund and the Turnkey and Homeless Housing programs to try to bridge the gap, but funding is limited. Yet housing experts hope increased national focus on housing will direct more money to municipalities to provide homes for low-and moderate-income people. In 1990, the government passed the HOME program, a restructuring of some former HUD funding. Yet the money which provides grants to cities and states to be applied to their greatest housing needs is just beginning to reach municipalities.

While some housing experts contend that only a minority of housing projects are poorly maintained high-rises with serious problems, most agree the concrete jungle approach of developing homes is a thing of the past Housing advocates say the wave of the future in housing the poor will most likely be away from the "cookie-cutter" approach and toward integrated communities of people from all income levels. Since 1980 in the wake of the Hanover Houses demolition city housing projects have been built only as low rises. Private developers say problems exist in low-rise units as well as high rises, and that the key to avoiding vandalism and crime is good management and security. Elizabeth Kurtz, vice president for residential management for Mayzon a subsidiary of Landsman Development said the extent of problems often depends on the mix of people living in a complex. Eckert Lapple at public housing was heralded as state-of-the-art living for low-income families.

The seven seven-story towers in the Baden Street area were to have provided "spacious" living rooms and a neighborhood atmosphere. Families paid 25 percent of their income in rent Yet the 392-unit, state-funded complex began to deteriorate shortly after it was built elevators often didn't work, the buildings were hard hit by graffiti, windows were broken. By 1955, the city created the Rochester Housing Authority for professional management and sold the towers to the new agency. Still, problems continued. A major rent strike was held in the 1960s, and the city and RHA undertook a massive renovation in the 1970s.

While many called for demolition as early as the mid-1970s, all seven towers eventually were razed by late 1980. The complex did not address the needs of families, particularly children, who had few play areas on the grounds and often congregated inside. The seven-acre area is now Harriet Tubman and Lena Gantt estates, low rises built for Hanover Houses families as the complex was torn down. The building of public, subsidized housing complexes such as Hanover Houses was the first of three phases taken by government to address housing problems, said Richard West of the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C. In 1937, the government first started providing low-income housing for working class families hit hard by the Depression.

Aftr World War II, public housing was also used as affordable living space for soldiers returning from the war. The city had realized by the late 1940s that private capital, even if used by nonprofit groups, could not produce housing at low enough cost to rent to returning veterans or to senior citizens. Staff writer At least 160 Irondequoit deer should be killed under the bait-and-shoot program next winter if the herd doesn't diminish, according to a citizens report that recommended the plan. Sharpshooters bagged 80 deer last month during the first phase of what could be a 5-year program to trim the town's herd. As long as officials believe public safety is jeopardized by the herd's size, some kind of reduction effort seems inevitable.

And until another method is approved by three government agencies, bait and shoot remains the plan most likely to be used. The citizens task force recommended the program continue during the next four years if officials believe it's necessary. The plan calls for state, county and town leaders to study a number of things, including deer-car collisions, vegetation damage, an aerial census of the animals and the herd's physical condition. Officials also will meet during the next few months to discuss this year's successful hunt and lowering of speed limits in areas deer frequent Officials also may add more deer-crossing signs along roadways. One of the major complaints from area residents was the sound of the night gunfire during the shooting.

Since the shoots were scheduled between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m., a number of local residents said the gunfire kept them awake nights last month. Town and county leaders said they will consider ways to minimize the noise, including the use of gun silencers, if they're legal, or using smaller caliber weapons. The citizens report calls for killing 240 Irondequoit deer in 1995. The report asks officials to decide how many animals should be killed in subsequent years to reach a goal of 20 deer for each open square mile.

Under those guidelines, the town would have 50 to 60 deer. and around Durand-Eastman Park. Because some herds occupy the town's more populated neighborhoods, officials aren't comfortable with shooting there. "We are going to have to continue until we get the herd culled it's not culled by any means," said Irondequoit Supervisor Fredrick W. Lapple.

"It's still a very serious situation and we have to work and try to remedy it." Opponents of the bait-and-shoot plan continue to lobby officials to consider immunocontraception injecting the deer with a serum that prevents them from reproducing. State, county and town officials, however, said because contraception hasn't proven effective on free-ranging deer, they can't risk using it until the herd is managed. "A sterilization that works would be a lot easier to use on 50 deer rather than 500 deer," said Larry Myers, a DEC wildlife biologist. "If you did nothing next year, then the herd would probably be back to where it was this year with reproduction." Opponents believe a two-year deer study will provide the best answers in dealing with the herd. They believe random killing is senseless and it doesn't adequately address public safety.

and 600 deer live there. A helicopter survey last year counted 178 deer in the park. Officials plan to study various techniques to properly count the herd. One method that county and state officials seem to favor is videotaping the area from a helicopter and using heat-sensitive computerized equipment to pinpoint hidden deer. The decision on how many deer should be killed next year most likely will come from the group that devised the bait-and-shoot plan.

They include county and town leaders, Monroe County Parks Department workers, sheriff and Irondequoit police officers and DEC representatives. Officials, however, aren't likely to continue bait and shoot every year because of the public outcry against it Leaders appear to favor carrying out the program during the next few years and then using an alternative method to manage the herd. That's where a task force chartered by County Executive Robert L. King is involved. The group will study long-term efforts to trim the herd.

The task force, which has yet to be fully appointed, has been criticized because opponents of the plan believe it is stacked to push bait and shoot again. The committee hasn't Juggling act for this family to stay ahead of homelessness iait and shoot cost $470 per deer has worked at North American Van Lines, Chase Pitkin and as a Kelly temporary worker for Mobil Chemical. At times they've received welfare. They've lived in various apartments in Newark, Macedon and Palmyra. The rents ranged from $385 including utilities for a one-bedroom place, to their current rent of $550.

They've never been evicted, Brigette said. "It always seems there's this angel following us that drops us something when we need it," she said. Sometimes they skip meals to make the food and the money stretch. "It's usually a choice between do you pay the rent or buy food or get things for our son," Brigette said. "We choose our son." Trying to do better They have also chosen to pay for a new entertainment system television, VCR and stereo system in a rent-to-own plan that costs them $28 per week.

Why not get rid of it to save money? "A lot of people have said that," Wayne said, adding that they lose their investment if they miss one payment "It's already half paid for. We want something better for our son." Lately, Wayne's parents have covered that expense. On a recent day, Anthony put a cartoon tape into the VCR and started playing it A dozen library books were stacked nearby, including Little Engine that Could. Brigette borrows videos from the library and takes Anthony there for books and to attend story hours. "We're trying to find a nice neighborhood to raise our son in," Brigette said.

The family is on the waiting list for Section 8 rent assistance, a program where they would pay 30 percent of their income for rent and the government would pay the rest Brigette said they're number 134 on the list and have already been waiting for three years. The hardest part, Brigette said, is worrying about money "worrying about 'are you going to have this for your son, are you going to have that for your son? Are you going to get Brigette said. By Chris Swingle Staff writer A few weeks ago, the Beaumonts of Newark didn't know where they'd be living today. Brigette and Wayne Beaumont and their 2-year-old son, Anthony, have been renting a three-bedroom apartment on Prospect Street since November. April's rent was overdue and they didn't know how they'd pay.

Their upstairs apartment in a house costs $550 each month, which includes utilities. Wayne's job as assistant manager of a convenience store was bringing home about $600 per month. That's all the money they had, and they'd used some it for car repairs. Brigette had worked as a convenience store cashier at minimum wage, earning about $372 per month. But she was fired for missing work when their son got sick and was hospitalized.

"Find me a cheaper apartment and I'll move," Brigette said. She looks at newspaper ads but said she hasn't found anything that's a better deal. "Yes, there are cheaper apartments, but gas and electric isn't included," Wayne said. Late last month, Brigette found a job as a waitress, earning $2.80 an hour plus tips. Child care at someone's home will cost $35 a week.

She's now pregnant and has been having additional health problems. Wayne's earnings are up to $720 per month because he stopped having health insurance premiums taken out of his paycheck. Making ends meet For the Beaumonts and many low-income families, it's always been a juggling act between money and expenses. Brigette is 21, Wayne is 22 and they've been together for seven years married since September 1991. They both graduated high school, although neither finished vocational training.

Brigette has previously worked as a waitress. Wayne to officials to decide during the coming months if and how many more deer should be killed. "I would hope that we would see a decrease in the car-deer accidents," said Larry Myers, a DEC wildlife biologist "It's likely we'll see something less, but nothing dramatic." In response to the rising number of deer-car accidents in town, as well as complaints about animals nibbling on area gardens, state, county and town officials approved the bait-and-shoot plan last year. The program, recommended by a citizens task force, lured the deer into five bait sites where they were shot by off-duty police officers. About 425 pounds of venison from 16 deer was processed and will be used to feed state prisoners.

The meat from three full carcasses was salvaged along with portions of 13 more, said Maurice Guerrette, director of the state's division of Food, Safety and Inspection. The remaining animals, which were either shot in the wrong body parts or weren't healthy, were processed at a local rendering plant DEC biologists, who studied the carcasses, believe 16 of the slain deer would have starved to death by the end of spring. They said another 26 deer were in fair to poor DEER from page 1A year, plan that called for studying the town's herd and using contraceptive darts to stall reproduction. Trapping and transferring the animals to a venison farm, which DEC officials opposed, was estimated to cost between $200 and $2,000 a deer. The time spent planning bait and shoot is not included in the final costs, officials said.

County parks department workers, DEC representatives, sheriff and Irondequoit police officials and government staff met a number of times to map out the effort's specifics. Officials believe bait and shoot was more expensive this year because it was a pilot program. Sharpshooters killed 80 deer during five different nights and those who carried out the plan said the operation became more effective each time. State, county and town leaders are expected to advocate another round of killing next winter to continue thinning the town's herd. Opponents, however, continue to believe that bait and shoot was a major mistake.

They hope bait and shoot dies before next winter. That isn't likely to happen. Officials didn't trim the herd on a one-time whim. Bait and shoot was the first phase of a 5-year plan to reduce the number of deer. It's up Sharpshooters killed 53 does and 27 bucks.

DEC biologists said 31 pregnant deer were carrying a total of 40 fetuses. DEC officials advocate hunting to manage Irondequoit's herd but county and town leaders fear the area is too populated. For that reason, DEC officials approved the bait-and-shoot program. Bait-and-shoot opponents criticize the DEC and its herd information. Opponents believe the state's findings are skewed because DEC officials want hunting legalized in Durand-Eastman Park.

Opponents of the plan frequently attended county and town meetings to voice their displeasure with bait and shoot. They wore purple ribbons to show their disgust. "For me, the most frustration of this bait and shoot was the hush-hush secrecy of it," Baker said. "That makes me feel like they were ashamed of what they were doing." Law enforcement officials did not allow members of the media to witness the shootings, citing public safety. For that reason, many opponents of the plan suspect foul play.

"As far as I'm concerned, public safety was addressed every time," said Irondequoit Police Chief William Frey. "The entire plan was well managed and run by a group of professional people." A.