Daily News from New York, New York • 1478

mi PHONES News Bureaa (718) 87S4455 Fax (718) 875-7795 Home Dslhrery "1-800-692-NEWS For information on wic groups and entertainment see the BULLETIN BOARD PACES u-fvim -m 111 HI lit mm? If I 1U ml Mi -viva By AUSTIN EVANS FENNER Daily News Staff Writer A Brooklyn Supreme Court judge yesterday ordered Cypress Hills Cemetery to pick up the cost of moving the graves of people buried in a "contaminated" area of the cemetery. Judge Richard Huttner agreed to let the families of persons buried in the cemetery's Westminster, Melrose or Terrace Meadows sections choose whether to move the bodies of their loved ones or allow them to remain where they are. Huttner ordered Cypress Hills not to charge any additional fees if family members want to remove and rebury any bodies buried in the contaminated sections. The cemetery also will have to provide replacement plots to those who purchased gravesites but have yet to bury family members there. State officials say the sprawling cemetery, which straddles the Brook-lyn3ueens border in the Bushwick-Ridgewood neighborhoods, used construction and demolition debris to create new land for gravesites, then sold more than 400 family plots in the new areas.

In 1993, a state law forbade cemeteries from burying bodies in plots that were filled with rocks, tires, construction material and other debris. Yesterday's ruling was small consolation to families who are outraged at having spent thousands of dollars to have loved ones buried, and now face the prospect of reburying them. Several families vented their frustration, along with Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-Brooklyn), in the offices of a Manhattan law firm that is representing more than 100 victimized families. "It's good to know, but I sill have this pain, and to know I have to remove my baby and bury her again is going to be difficult," said Evelyn Marrero, who buried her premature 2-week-old daughter, Taina Ibeth Diaz, at Cypress Hills in July 1993.

"I just want to put this behind me. I'm looking for a new cemetery because I wouldn't bury any more family members there," said Marrero. John Nieves, whose brother, David, 40, died this past January and was buried in the Westminster section, said he "felt great" about Huttner's decision. 7 li KEN MURRAY DAILY NEWS CUTTING DEMONSTRATION: Protester on stilts wields enormous pair of scissors in symbolic protest against Giuliani administration's proposed cuts of arts funding. MrtfaiS rr.

ft ilCS cadi IT By LAURA WILLIAMS By TARA GEORGE million they currently share. This fiscal year, the 400 arts programs that formed the COG organization shared $12.5 million in city funds. The proposed 1996 budget would eliminate that funding. "People in New York City especially in the outer boroughs their involvement in the arts is local," said Lorraine Boyd, head of BACA The Brooklyn Arts Council. Rally organizers said they were pleased at the turnout "I think it was a wonderful show of support," said Theresa Osborne, executive director of Queens Council on the Arts.

"We talk to each other within our particular boroughs, but it's rare that all the boroughs come together as a unit" "It will help us as a collective, coming together as a unified voice of outrage," said Bill Aguado, executive director of the Bronx Council on the Arts. "If an individual speaks out, there's less impact. With COG, people now have something to rally around." "We won't close," said David Kahn, executive director of the Brooklyn Historical Society, "but. right now, we serve 17,000 kids. After the cuts, we'd be able to serve half as many." Jacqui Woods, of Bedford-Stuyve-sant Restoration, said: "Cuts would decimate us.

We serve 300,000 men, women and children in the heart of Bed-Stuy. But now people are being told, 'You don't need cultural enrichment for your kids. Not in your Daily News Staff Writer About 150 members of a new coalition of arts organizations in all five boroughs marched across the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday and rallied outside City Hall to protest proposed cuts in city funding to cultural groups. The event had more than the usual theatrics. The procession was led by a man beating a bass drum, followed by a woman on stilts wielding an enormous pair of painted cardboard scissors.

Then came the black-clad marchers, some wearing white papier-mache masks, some with mourning bands tied around their arms. As the crowd gathered just east of City Hall, a brass quartet from the Brooklyn Philharmonic, seated in the shade, played a dirge. A puppet actually a man encased in a papier-mache head bellowed: "Bring forth the first victim." One by one, protesters submitted to simulated hatchet blows from the masked "executioners." The new coalition, called the Cultural Organizations Group, represents about 400 arts groups citywide. COG was formed to combat the Giuliani administration's plan to cut funding to arts programs that are not part of the 32-member Cultural In- stitutions Group, known as CIG. CIG is made up of establishments, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, that are housed in buildings on city-owned land.

Those organizations are facing a 15 cut in the $75 ing systems meant gas and electricity bills of as much as $6,000 a month. Aschkenasy had brought in renowned Southern chef Edna Lewis, who added "Charleston she-crab soup" and crab cakes to the famous menu. Last year Gage Tollner won the Distinguished Restaurants of North America (DiRONA) award. In March 1993, the restaurant filed for bankruptcy, citing assets of $328,669 against liabilities of $1.37 million. The Independence Savings Bank, the restaurant's mortgage holder, spent more than six months searching for an appropriate new operator who could be trusted to keep Gage Tollner's essence.

Charles Hamm, the bank's president, said he was confident the resurgence of downtown Brooklyn and Me-troTech would guarantee a "healthy" future for the newly renovated restaurant Chirico, who operates the nearby Marco Polo Ristorante on Court said he planned to restore the menu's "oyster and chop house" origins and emphasize seafood dishes. Chirico said he also hopes to expand to the third floor, augment the bar facilities and modernize the kitchen, which contains such antiquated gems as a coal stove. The restaurant has a loyal clientele, much of it from downtown Brooklyn's business community. Special to The News Gage Tollner, the legendary and financially troubled downtown Brooklyn restaurant that has been serving customers since 1879, has closed for renovations. It is expected to reopen under new management in the fall.

The 19th-century restaurant at 374 Fulton St. is as much a borough landmark as Coney Island or Prospect Park. And the prospective new owner, Joe Chirico, who must still complete the takeover, said yesterday he planned to restore the eatery to its glory. The restaurant's exterior was given landmark status in 1974, and the following year it became the first restaurant in the city with a landmarked interior. Chirico said all renovations will be delicately executed and care will be taken to preserve the historically important features of the restaurant, such as the gas ceiling lights and rich, woodwork fittings.

Outgoing owner Peter Aschkenasy bought Gage Tollner in 1989. He said he was giving up the restaurant he called "the soul of Brooklyn" because he couldn't turn a profit. Aschkenasy said about $10,000 was spent recently to replace the old lead pipes. And Aschkenasy complained that the obsolete air conditioning and heat.