The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 3

Boston Evening Globe Wednesday, October 26. 1977 3 New traffic chief faces challenges on 2 fronts ing permits, with special permits for By Peter Cowen Globe Staff has tentatively established reduction of illegal parking as one of her top J. i government and. most likely, with White's performance as welL "Obviously, there's a clear mandate by the mayor, probably as a result of the Hart polL that traffic services be made better for neighborhood people," says Delmonaco, a North End resident who joined the administration in 1971. At the same time, Delmonaco expects to scrutinize the department's costs, especially the overtime collected by some of its employees.

For instance, city payroll records indicate that the department's director of operations, George Farrah, received almost as much pay last year as the mayor, who is paid $40,000 annually. Farrah collected $26,697 in salary and $13,007 in overtime for a total of $39,704, according to the records. Referring to departmental employees, Delmonaco says she will find out "what they do now, how they do it and how much overtime they get for it." Cost-cutting, she asserts, will be a high priority. To improve the traffic situation in Boston, Delmonaco says she is considering increased use of residential park residents have been short changed in traffic and parking services. Working with the Little City Halls, she plans to create "something like a customer service program" in the Traffic and Parking Dept.

to make the department more responsive. "One of the biggest problems I had as head of the Little City Hall program was getting anybody from that department to come out and talk to neighborhood people about traffic-related problems," Delmonaco says. Such problems can range from questions about how to change the direction of a street or how to replace a traffic sign, to angry complaints about trash, snow or double-parked cars in the street. If the White administration had any doubts about the department's success in responding to neighborhood grievances, those doubts were removed by a federally-financed poll in May of Boston residents' attitudes toward municipal services. Dirty streets and traffic-related difficulties were found to have created significant dissatisfaction with city visitors, to preserve as mucn parking as possible for residents.

"You want to give city residents a break because they are registering their cars here, paying the taxes on them to the city and paying pretty hefty insurance on them," she says. Delmonaco also expresses interest in placing more traffic bumps so-called "sleeping policemen" on streets in areas where there are large numbers of small children. The bumps force drivers to slow their vehicles. The new traffic chief says her plans are still tentative, although "it's not like I'm going into something that I don't know anything about." But her ideas are likely to sound extraordinarily ambitious to some members of a department whose current head, Noonan, when asked recently what departmental changes he thought were most urgently needed, replied: "I certainly think we need to beef up the shop areas" with more employees. The shop is used to repair parking meters and paint and repair street and traffic signs.

As Boston's new traffic commissioner Claudia L. Delmonaco will face equally formidable challenges in the office and on the street. In trying to clear away traffic congestion, illegal parking and a host of other neighborhood complaints, she will have to harness a department with a reputation for being unresponsive to public needs. And as a loyal political operative of Mayor Kevin H. White she is a precinct captain in the North End Delmonaco is aware that with the next mayoral election only two years away, her time is limited.

In a recent interview, she said she has always believed that "the delivery of good government services makes good politics" and she offered what she called her tentative thoughts on improving Boston's traffic and parking services. Although she probably will not take her new office before January, when Traffic Comr. William T. Noonan is expected to depart, Delmonaco already "There are parts of the city that are chronic areas of parking for out-of-city people," she observes. "Forest Hills, for example, is always congested with out-of-city commuters.

They should be paying for their parking on residential streets." To reduce the congestion caused by' such parking, Delmonaco plans to step up the ticketing and towing of illegally parked vehicles. "I don't think you can realistically cut down on the number of cars," she says, "unless you make it a little more difficult and expensive to bring them in." The long-range impact of that policy, she hopes, will be to facilitate street cleaning and snow removal, while causing commuters "to think twice before parking illegally." Running the Little City Halls program since February 1976 has given Delmonaco, a 27-year-old Providence native, a front-row vantage for examining neighborhood concerns. It has also convinced her, she asserts, that Boston WILLIAM T. NOONAN leaves in January Timilty, White aide back district representation 13 face IJS action in looting of train i A mm MSjJ ,1 J)) 1 made myself available to people to talk about it." Meade said he does not believe his support will jeopardize his relationship with White. "I'm not tilting at windmills, but it will probably mean a few strange looks," Meade said.

Galvin said he and his Committee for Neighborhood Representation are working to inform voters about the referendum. He said 300,000 leaflets, entitled "The Plan to Put Boston Politicians in Their Place," have been printed and are to be distributed to every household in the city. He said next week the city's election department will send out postcards informing voters of the two referenda questions, one on the City Council change and the other on the School Committee change. Asked about Timilty's concern that voters don't understand the referenda, Galvin said: "Issues are always more difficult to explain than personalities. We're working at it." Timilty is not a member of Galvin's referendum campaign committee.

The senator said yesterday that his membership might politicize the issue "make it into a Timilty-White thing." He also said his support of the referenda "has nothing to do" with whether he'll run against Mayor White in 1979. "The (referendum) change will be better for the neighborhoods, not better for the mayor," Timilty said, pointing to a bumper sticker reading "Neighborhood Representation." By Nick King Globe Staff State Sen. Joseph F. Timilty yesterday joined a long list of public figures and announced his support of the Gal-vin referendum for bringing neighborhood representation to the Boston City Council and School Committee. But with the Nov.

8 binding referendum vote just two weeks away, Timilty said he thinks many city residents don't know what the proposed political change is all about. "There is a communications problem," Timilty said at a press conference. "What the referendum does still has to be communicated." The referendum stems from a bill sponsored by state Rep. William F. Calvin (D-Brighton), and approved by the Legislature.

Galvin has formed a committee of citywide activists to campaign for it. If the referendum passes, it will change the present at-large nine-member City Council and five-member School Committee to 13-seat bodies nine members from neighborhood districts and four at large. Timilty, leader of one of the two major political camps in Boston, said the change will "give neighborhoods a voice in city government" and that he will be working to inform the electorate of that view over the next two weeks. The other political camp is headed by Mayor Kevin H. White, whom Timil- SEN.

JOSEPH TIMILTY sees communication problem ty opposed in the 1975 mayoral race. White has said the plan would be a "disaster" for Boston. But yesterday support for the Galvin Bill came from an important figure in White's administration. Peter Meade, White's commissioner of parks and recreation and former director of the mayor's Little City Hall program, called the switch to district representation "a positive step that the city needs. I'm supporting it and I've By Jerome Sullivan and Thomas J.

Morgan 3d Globe Staff A group of young people who stopped a Conrail freight train in Ded-ham last night and then ransacked and looted several box cars may face Federal prosecution, the Globe was told today. "What they did was more than just vandalism," said Robert McKernan, public relations director for Conrail. "It was outright theft from a sealed freight car. That is a federal offense and we intend to prosecute. "They also placed a log across the tracks which caused the 88-car freight to grind to a halt, McKernan added in a telephone conversation from his New Haven office.

"It's just fortunate it wasn't derailed." Thirteen alleged participants in the freight train incident, five adults and eight juveniles, were taken into custody and appeared in Dedham District Court today. Arraigned before Judge Daniel H. Rider were Richard E. Barter, 18, of Lancaster road; William E. Jones, 18, of Eastern avenue; Paula Benson, 17, of Fleming road; Eileen Dowling, 17, of Vincent road, and Karen Donoghue, 18, of Central avenue, all Dedham.

Jones and Barter were charged with breaking and entering in the nighttime to commit a felony. The three young wjomen were charged with trespassing. All pleaded not guilty and their cases were continued to Nov. 18. Eight juveniles were also arraigned on similar charges.

According to police, the trouble started after more than 100 young persons had gathered for an outdoor party Dghjnd the Rust Craft Greeting Cards Itjc! plant on Rust Craft Dedham and had started a bonfire of old railroad Ues, The 88-car freight train, rumbling along out of Readville into Dedham, a log thrown across the tracks by the partying group, according to police. Police said the crowd then swarmed around the train, breaking into sealed box cars and ransacking them, strewing 2everything from chairs to cereal" along the roadbed, and carting away jjpme of the contents. Fore River bridge detour A 4.5 mile detour through Quincy, Braintree and Weymouth has been set up for the early morning hours of Thursday, Friday and Saturday to allow repairs to the Fore River bridge between Quincy and Weymouth, it was announced by state Department of Public Works Comr. John J. Carroll.

The bridge will be closed between midnight and 6 a.m. to vehicular traffic while the span is raised to the open position to repair its girders. Outbound traffic, which normally made a left turn onto Washington st. from the Southern Artery, in the Quincy Point section, will be required to re main on the artery to Rte. 53, (Quincy Avenue, Quincy) take a left and continue to Weymouth Landing.

At Weymouth Landing, drivers are to take a left onto Commercial street, and travel to Church street, take a left, and take another left where Church street meets North street. Continue on North street, until it joins Rte. 3A (Bridge the regular highway. For drivers proceeding toward Boston on Bridge street, Weymouth (Rte. 3A) exit onto North street, Weymouth and retrace the same route; North to Church, to Commercial to Rte.

53 to Southern Artery. I NWEYMOUTH BRAINTREE Couple sits quietly in a front yard, Dighton and milkweed pops its seeds, Weston. (Globe photos by Ulrike Welsch, Tom Landers) 'Ijj The Monday morning Red Sox massacre at Fenway Park LU I 11 1 1 "I illMIIMI Minimum 1 IIIIIWi ill mm 1 tC I I I Joe LaCour, an accountant and lawyer from New York along with Jean Yawkey, widow of a baseball man, moved into Fenway Park promptly at 11 Monday morning, intent on showing their disrespect for New England baseball fans. Carlo Gambino would have been proud of the moves these two people showed us. First, they handed Dick O'Connell, the general manager, an envelope with a letter inside telling him to clean out his desk after 31 years of service.

Next, they hit John Claiborne, the assistant general manager and the only man in baseball who beat down the demands of an agent and signed us all to pleasant summers when he got Lynn, Fisk and Burleson under long term contracts at a good price. The accountant-lawyer and the widow woman then moved on to Gene Kirby, the fellow who got the Red Sox the best and biggest media contract in the major leagues. They thanked Kirby by telling him to get off the premises. Baseball, of course, is not a life or death issue. The Red Sox are.

What the accountant from New York and What the accountant and the widow don't look at is the fact that Hobson, Fisk, Burleson, Lynn, Evans, Yaz, Campbell and Carbo are, in effect, O'Connell men too. Who did Joe LaCour ever sign? He probably wouldn't know Tommy Helms from Pele. Who did Jean Yawkey ever bring up from the minor leagues. The execution was held because the club is supposedly about to be sold. From much of the public speculation and written reports about the purchase it seems the financing agreements are about the same as those involved in putting together a 48-month car loan.

One of the bad elements about the whole thing is that all of us have only so much emotion to expend in this life. Some people expend their emotion on their wife, their kids, their dogs or cats. Some others put a little emotion into the summers of the Red Sox. Call it escapism. Call it foolishness.

Call it childish. Call.it wonderful; it's a fact of our lives here in New England. New England has stood with the Sox through Mike Higgins and Bucky Harris, through Billy Jurges and Billy Herman. New MIKE BAKNICLE the widow Yawkey don't seem to realize, is that, more than any other sports franchise in the country, the Okie Towne Team is one institution that really belongs to the people. And their actions on Monday show that they don't seem to care.

When Dick O'Connell got promoted to general manager 11 years ago, he took over a baseball team that resembled the Bad News Bears after they reached the drinking age. In 1965 the Red Sox looked worse than the Italian Army did in 1943. O'Connell's time at the top ran through the miracle of '67, the midnight madness of October '75 and all the million dollar years at the gate that filled the gaps. O'Connell might be many things; a guy who smokes smelly cigars; a guy who doesn't put verbs in most of his sentences but, bottom line, the man is a winner who gave us teams that ran like good race horses instead of the Edsel-like clunkers of the frustrating 50s and the embarrassing early 60s. Apparently, Claiborne and Kirby were dismissed because they were "O'Connell men." England has supported the Olde Towne Team when they had players who moved with all the grace of paperweights: Dick Stuart, Don Bud-din, infielders who played like piano movers; Carroll Hardy, Tommy Umphlett, outfielders capable of losing a ball in the grass.

"Firing O'Connell makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?" John Murphy, day man at The Wursthaus was saying. "It's probably part of the nostalgia craze. She gets rid of him and brings back the 50s. Wonderful." Jean Yawkey, owning the ball club, and Joe LaCour, being her principal messenger, are entitled to do anything they want. Except, treating the fans arrogantly, taking us for granted.

On Monday, the two of them did a poor imitation of the oil lobby and the big insurance companies. LaCour, and the widow Yawkey told us, in effect, we do not care what you fans think, what you fans feel or how much you care. They sent a message to anyone who has ever cared about this franchise that really belongs to the people. And the message reads: Tough Bananas. MRS.

YAWKEY.