Daily News from New York, New York • 121

1 SdDOti CddCs 7ft 0 train ivEl get there, Tflmsists Tenant advocates rip lack of By USA COLANGELO DAILY NEWS CnY HALL BUREAU The city's Rent Guidelines Board is poised to take a vote on increases Tuesday even though one of its nine seats remains empty. New York Tenants Neighbors. The mayoral-appointed board is composed of two tenant members, two owner members, four public members and a chairman. "We're in the process of interviewing for the appointment and taking into consideration recommendations made to us from the tenant groups," said Jennifer Falk, a spokeswoman for Mayor Bloomberg. The board will make its final decision on new guidelines next month.

Last week, the board's staff released a report showing landlord expenses decreased dramatically during the last 12 months. MS7 (LjDto ODD GitaiiiD board rep Tenant advocates are outraged. "That kind of number, in this economic climate, is absolutely absurd," said Patrick Markee of the Coalition for the Homeless. Landlords also want the board to reinstate the 15 low-rent supplement on apartments that rent for $500 or less. "An owner is not going to reach into his pocket and maintain the buildings to a higher standard for less," said Dan Mar-gulies, executive director of Community Housing Improvement Project "All the studies show that when rents increase, housing quality increases." Tenant groups from around the five boroughs plan to rally outside City Hall today to make their case for rent rollbacks, and to ask Mayor Bloomberg to fill the vacant seat immediately.

Assembled over the past century, the 18,500 square foot library is the largest, most comprehensive plant studies collection in a single library in the Western hemisphere. It includes more than 775,000 print and nonprint hems such as literature, photographs, seed and nursery catalogs, and botanical art in the areas of botany, plant ecology, horticulture and gardening and landscape design. It is a key resource for botanists, researchers and scientists, but the library also is open to public. The garden has been sort of a bidden treasure," said John Reed, director of the Mertz Library.lf here for everyone to use. "If you ever want to learn about gardening, botany, history or legends about plants, cultural uses of plants, all of that kind of information is here." The new 70,000 square foot herbarium, which is not open to the public, holds about 7 million dried specimens of plants and fungi from the garden's plant research collection.

news At the same time, staff analysts said, rent collections in stabilized buildings increased dramatically last year in several neighborhoods, including Sunset Park, Borough Park, Brooklyn Heights and Fort Green in Brooklyn; Mott Haven and Fordham in the Bronx, Middle Village and Ridgewood in Queens and East Harlem in Manhattan. Rising costs cited Last year, when owner costs were up more than 8, the board approved rent increases of 4 for one-year -leases and 6 for two-year leases. This year, they asked for increases of 5 and 9, saving the report doesn't accurately reflect rising insurance costs, higher taxes and the expense of maintaining older buildings. work yesterday at the WBSam New York Botanical Garden. City Council Speaker Gifford Miller said the garden is "not only an oasis from urban life, but a bastion of learning and scholarship." home Delivery 1 800 692 By PETE DONOHUE DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER The Transit Authority is standing by the train.

Even though the authority has resorted to having its conductors practically plead with riders to take the train, major changes to the route will not be made in the short term, a top transit official said. Authority President Lawrence Reuter said preliminary numbers indicate ridership on the is picking up. "We've seen it growing," Reuter said. "It's slow, but it's growing." The runs between Forest Hills, Queens, and the lower East Side. It was launched in December to relieve overcrowding on the jam-packed and lines, which carry hundreds of thousands of riders daily.

Before the Vs launch, trains were running at 1 15 of capacity during rush hours, Reuter said. They now run at about 96 capacity. Reuter said the authority expected the to ease overcrowding on the and not eradicate it. A slow ride Yet the train has been blasted by transit advocates and shunned by many riders because it runs local. Straphangers hurrying to work or hurrying home don't want to transfer from the and trains, which run express.

A disappointing reception from riders prompted the authority last week to direct conductors and platform personnel to make public address announcements pitching the Vs biggest asset: space. In exchange for a few extra minutes on the train, riders can have a shot at a seat. The is a loser," said Gene Russianoff, a lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign, part of the New York Public Interest Research Group. "If slow and unpop-ular, and transit officials should rethink it." News The spot reserved for a tenant representative has sat empty for the past four weeks while board members have heard hours of testimony and detailed reports on the city's 1 million rent-stabilized apartments. Tenant advocates, who are pushing the board to consider rent rollbacks or a rent freeze, are worried the board's deliberations will be weighted in favor of landlords if the seat isn't filled soon.

"I think it's unconscionable for them to proceed with a vote without a full board," said Michael McKee, associate director of By JENMFER WEL OAKY NEWS WRITER With a host of elected and other officials on hand to help cut the ribbon, the New York Botanical Garden yesterday officially dedicated one of the world's leading centers for plant studies. The new $100 million International Plant Science Center, funded by the private and public sectors, includes the renovated and expanded Lu Ester T. Mertz library and the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium. The Pfizer Plant Research Laboratory, which also is part of the project, is scheduled to begin construction in 2003. Yesterday's event drew many well-wishers, from Gov.

Pataki's wife, Iibby, to garden lovers such as neurologist and best-selling author Dr. Oliver Sacks. Lewis Cullman, senior vice chairman of the garden's board, said the new center continued the garden's tradition as a leading research institution. "The garden's collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History, Cold Spring Bureau (718) 822-1174 I Gardeners at and Lynda Steere Herbarium at Harbor Lab, NYU and Yale School of Forestry has made the garden one of the greatest research institutions in the world," he said. Fax (718) 822-1562.