Daily News from New York, New York • 112

MTJ7. DAILY NEWS, WEDNESDAYS-MAY 28, 1975 iniinis niii ot liiescne Aran; Was Factor iii Drowning By JAMES DUDDY The lives of two fishemen who drowned off Orchard Beach on Sunday might have been saved if police launches normally assigned to those waters had not been removed this season because of city budget cutbacks, a high police official indicated ves- terday. In Tast seasons, two or three chored at Harts Island, they could respond here within five to eight minutes." Sun-day's tragedy occurred launches based at Harts Island, which is about two miles off the beach in Lonr Island Sound and just north of City Island, patrol led the waters at Orchard Jeeach. Police reported that the two drowning victims had clung for some minutes to their capsized boat while apparently waiting for a rescue attempt, according to the official. wnen a lb-loot boat carrying four men -capsized.

Two of them swam safely to City Island. However, two brothers, Ival Santiago, 31, and Ruben, 23, of 3412 Gunther Bronx, chose to stay with the sinking boat in an apparent attempt to await help. Gregor said he had requested a launch from police headquarters to be operated by his substation and was told yesterday Another police officer, Lt. Bernard Gregor, commander of 12-foot boat now, thanks to James Hannon, chief of operations, but on the two occasions my men have used it on a rescue operation, they almost went into the drink themselves," Gregor said. "What we need is a 16-footer or 25-footer to handle the choppy waters around here." Although Hannon is working to get a larger boat, Gregor said, "Time is of the essence." Last year six people drowned at Orchard Beach.

An official Police Department spokesman said that boats from Fort Totten still patrolled Orchard Beach waters and that the operation appeared to be adequate. It was not known whether the police launches at Fort Totten had been called to respond to Sunday's accident. Gregor said his men had been unaware of the accident in time for his 12-foot boat to make the 1 fi2S3 the police substation at Orchard Beach, acknowledged when questioned that the launches "were transferred and assigned to op erate from Fort Totten, which is on the Long Island side, just above the Throgs Neck Bridge. Notes Aid Time "Now it will take them 20 to that the matter was being processed. Larger Boat Needed He intends to train some of the men from his command to use the boat themselves.

The 70-man squad is assigned each summer to the beach and picked from all Bronx borough precincts. "We have been given a small, SO minutes to give assistance in an emergency case here," he declared. "Normally the launches patrolled these waters regularly, and at worst, if they were an- News photo bv Jim Moonev This room in the lllard Houses, subject to demolition, is often called the gold room. i for Dirge? usic litoom Irisade anelists to By ELEANOR SWERTLOW A last-ditch effort to save a valuable gilt-laden music room in the landmark Villard Houses on Madison Ave. and 51st St.

may be a "long shot," Community Planning Board 5 Chairman William L. Stuhlbarg said yesterday. The music room, which is Manhattan College By STEVEN MATTHEWS A special, four-man committee was named by the Board of Higher Education last night to investigate the administration of Edgar Draper, president of Manhattan breathtaking in its richness and detail, is scheduled for demoli tion according to plans developed by Helmsley-bpear Inc. Keal estate mogul Harry Helmsley want to construct a 52-story of Community College. fice building and super-luxury hotel on the rear portion of the Villard Houses, leaving the Ital Foes Squaring Off The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission heard its proposal to designate Stuyvesant Square in Manhattan as a historic district lauded and lambasted at a public hearing yesterday.

Several homeowners ridiculed claims of orchitectural glory in the tiny area bounded by E. 15th and E. 18th Sts. between Second and Third Aves. Proponents of designation inluded City Councilman Henry Stern L-Manhattan) and Councilwoman Carol Greitzer ID-Manhattan), a tenants group and the Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association.

Several religious institutions, including the Friends Seminary on E. 16th asked to be excluded from the historic designation area. The commission closed the hearing and is expected to render a decision in about two months. Owen Fitzgerald mit it to plan how to allocate its resources. No Comment In a confidential report to the board last month, Kibbee recommended that Draper be asked to resign his post at the college, which occupies buildings in the upper Times Square area, on July 1 "for whatever reasons he wishes to give." Holding that it would be "inappropriate" for him to comment on a confidential report.

Draper has taken the position that he will not publicly answer Kibbee's charges at this time. Board Chairman Alfred Giar-dino directed the special committee to report back to the board "as soon as expeditiously possible." Giardino also noted that the investigation was in addition to a continuing board study of performance by all 18 college presidents in the university. The action to launch the probe follows by more than a year a report in which University Chancellor Robert Kibbee said he had found "severe deficeincies" at the midtown school. "At no other division of the university are there so many problems in one place," Kibbee said. "All Time Low He charged that Draper, 53, the head of the school since 1970, had allowed faculty morale to slip to "an all-time low," that student grades had been inflated beyond meaning, and that the college had failed to provide councelling and remedial services for its students.

Kibbee also found that frequent personnel changes "represent still another example of administrative instability" and that the administration did not even have the means to develop accurate data sufficient to per ian Renaissance facade intact. "We have examined every possible avenue to save the room, to no avail, said Kevin B. McGrath, an attorney with Shea, Gould, Climenko, Kramer Casey, which represents the Archdiocese of New York. The archdiocese, which began acquir-i the property in 1947, is working to get the architectural plans approved so that it can the property to Helmsley. According to William Lillis, senior vice president of Helmsley Spear, the problem wit'-, the music room, sometimes callel the gold room, is that the corporation's plans for the hotel lobby call for the lobby floor to be on a lower level than the music room.

Lillis explained that, because the street is on an incline, the architectural plans for the hotel make it impossible the Office of Midtown Planning Development, which is watching the Villard Houses situation, suggested yesterday that Helms-ley's arguments "are not very substantial. Probably, this is not what they prefer to do." Community Planning Board 5 was asked at its meeting earlier this month to approve a request about preserving the music room and has asked that the developer try once more to save the room. The board will meet again on June 18 to reconsider the variance request. The Board of Standards and Appeals will ultimately decide the matter. "It seems to be a long shot that at this stage of the game, after all other experts have seemingly exhausted their alternatives, that yet another might save this room," said Stuhlbarg.

for a zoning variance to permit the developer to build the 52- story building straight up, without the setbacks required by current zoning law. The planning to save the room Architect Georere Lawrence of I board, however, is concerned i Opener From Eyesore to Eye By ALBERT DA VILA Just two years ago the building at 72 Clinton St. on the lower East Side was burned out, vacant and the eyesore of the neighborhood, but it was all different yesterday. costs combined with minuscule federal subsidies means that new construction is no longer a viable alternative for meeting the housing needs of middle and low-income families," said Sutton. He added that renovations and co-op conversions were the answer.

The city established a cooperative conversion unit within the Minuscule and Development Administration two years ago to help tenants and community groups rehabilitate buildings. The project on Clinton St. was one of the first to be nle will take care of the building better. We own it." The purchase price of the 19 apartments ranges from $500 to $750, with monthly carrying charges ranging from $115 to $172. "Beyond the importance of this building to the families and the favorable impact on the neighborhood, the renovation of 72 Clinton St.

is symbolic of a new direction in the housing policy of New York City," said Manhattan Borough President Percy E. Sutton during the ceremonies. "Skyrocketing construction The building, now a low-income co-op, held an open house and some of the families already living there showed visitors around. The building was given new life with the help of a municipal loan of $271,195, Mobilization for Youth Legal Services and the Pueblo Nuevo Housing Association. Sutton Sees New Turn "Oh, it is so comfortable, so clean and wonderful," said Guadalupe Gonzalez as she let visitors in.

"It is so quiet here now. I have no complaints. Peo- News nhoto by John Pedin Gloria Manigo shows her apartment to Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton and Housing Administrator Roger Starr..