Daily News from New York, New York • 147

nn By SUZANNE SATALINE i I 1 Daify News Staff Writer The afternoon air above the western Brooklyn waterfront is still. Some kids straggle past the spindly remains of once-busy piers, past yawning parking areas and sullen warehouse lots where the only hint of color is the glint of bright orange crates packed with sludge. For the folks of Sunset Park, to gaze across the water to Manhattan is a cruel joke, a whisper of the way things could have been. Once a bustling port that shipped nearly all the supplies and troops to Europe during World War II, the area's waterfront can now only remember the glory of that heyday. Instead, it has been decimated by losses: shipping cargo to Newark, sunlight to the Gowanus Expressway and residents to brighter, happier communities.

But now, as if it were being rewarded for having suffered through such duress, Sunset Park will get a break: high-speed ferry service to Manhattan. Two years from now, plans call for the inauguration of a privately run ferry from the 59th St pier, on Brooklyn Army Terminal property. The $25 million project would include demolishing the dilapidated concrete pier, and building a 500-car parking lot and a 300-foot public esplanade. For $3.75, harried motorists will be able to flee the Gowanus Expressway slated for a decade-long renovation or the frenetic Third Ave. drag race below, in favor of a 15-minute glide into Wall St "We think it will be a very nice amenity for the community," said Katie Marshall, spokeswoman for the city Economic Development which is overseeing the pier's reconstruction.

Maybe. Residents and merchants are skeptical. While those who do business in Manhattan welcome another commuting option, they remain doubtful that a ferry terminal and walkway will significantly change a neighborhood already cut off from its waterfront by a highway, private buildings and chain-link fences. Residents who work and play in Brooklyn say the ferry is nothing they will use or need. "I don't think it will help the community in a significant way because of its location," said Tony Giordano, president of the Sunset Park Restoration Committee.

"If it was at the 39th St. pier, it would be sort of a foothold for community access." That attitude stems in part from a HEUirNE SE1DMAM SORE POINT: Cesar Clara, of Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development at the site of planned 59th St pier ferry terminal. MAN. 1 QUEENS BROOKLYN decades-long grudge against the city. Over the years, residents feel, Sunset Park became a dumping ground for the city's woes.

Waterfront lots are filled with sludge bound for processing in Texas. The Police Department plans to park impounded cars on a local dock for a year until a permanent lot is built in nearby Red Hook. And the federal government is building a prison in the Bush Terminal vicinity. With all that, plus steady unemployment and a thriving drug trade, a single renovated pier albeit one with ferry service will provide little impetus to rejuvenate the area, said Giordano. He believes the best area for a ferry would be the pier off 39th St.

or another one nearby. The 39th St. pier is now the site of a cocoa port and a lovers' lane. It is Giordano's hope that small shops or a boat launch someday can be developed there. Without the ferry, city officials say, thousands of Manhattan-bound cars would be diverted into the neighborhood during the Gowanus Expressway reconstruction, slated to begin in three years.

By putting the ferry at 59th they say, drivers will have the option of turning off the highway before encountering construction. "At the very least, it would reduce the number of cars traveling through the neighborhood on the way to Manhattan," said Alan Olmsted, director of the city's Department of Transportation's Office of Private Ferry Operations. "You can bail out of the Belt (Parkway), go a few blocks down to Grants available at C3 17 Community Board 17 of East Flatbush is offering several grants ranging from drug prevention activities for kids to a toilet replacement program. For information on the grants, call the board at (718) 467-3536. Caring for family photos The Brooklyn Historical Society will sponsor a class on preserving family photos and books.

On July 9 at 2 p.m. the society's assistant head librarian, Clara Lamers, will lead a workshop on inexpensive ways to slow deterioration of prized possessions. Class participants should bring a book or photograph to preserve. Home-care kits will be available for $10. The course fee ranges from $5 to $9, depending on age and membership.

For further details, contact the society, 128 Pierrepont (718) 624-0890. Financial aid for tenants The Midwood Development Corp. is offering financial help to low and moderate-income tenants. Those over 62 years old with a household income below $16,500 who pay more than one-third of that for rent are eligible for a Senior Citizens Rent Increase Exemption. Call (718) 376-0999 for assistance.

Second Ave. and pull into the ferry terminal." City officials and area merchants see other benefits. The ferry could lead to an upsurge of business at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, which currently houses a mini-publishing industry where Wall Street firms like Solomon Bros, have based their printing operations. Cesar Claro hopes that's true. He is executive director of the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development one of the few remaining businesses in the industrial hub of the Bush Terminal.

Claro said he would use the ferry, but doubts that most Sunset Park residents would return to the waterfront they have been pushed away from. "As for area residents, it's not really helpful," Claro said. "We have a huge waterfront, which nobody can ever get to." Community Board 9 (Crown Heights, Lefferts Gardens) will hold its general meeting at 7 tonight at Atwell Jr. High School, 400 Empire Blvd. (718) 778-9279.

Community Board 15 (Manhattan Beach, Sheepshead Bay, Graves-end) holds its regular monthly meeting at 7 tonight at Kingsbor-ough Community College. (718) 332-3008. Community Board 16 (Brownsville, Ocean Hill) holds its regular monthly meeting at 7 tonight at 216 Rockaway Ave. (718) 385-0323..