Daily News from New York, New York • 8

DAILY NEWS, FRIDAY, MAY- 20, 1977 (in easing Law Changes Coffee Grounds for Protest fflflK (r Frb to we fill urge By DAVID MEDINA In an apparent depperate move to stop the enormous housing deterioration in the Bronx, City Planning Commission Chairman Victor Maxrero and Borough President Robert Abrams urged yesterday that certain city laws and federal housing regulations be in order to open the Bronx for massive doses of public and private capital. where we "We're at the point now Marre- take whatever we can ro emphasized. The recommendations were contained in a 38-pase housing study of the entire borough sponsored by both the Commission and Abrams' office. -This is the first borough-wide study of us kind ever undertaken," Abrams said. Want Interest-Free Loans Among its many proposals, Jhe study the federal government to guarantee interest free loans for housing at all levels and to designate the Bronx as a special target area for massive federal housing funds.

Additionally, the study demanded that zoning laws in the Bronx be suspended and that "free-floating zones" be created to eliminate all restrictions to private development. "The idea is to really open up the Bronx," Abrams said. The report also demanded a moratorium on all city land sales in the Bronx "so that we can have something News pnoto by FranK Gioranatno Ben Fishbein and a group of youthful volunteers from the Little Red School- -house plant a coffee tree in front of his Greenwich Village coffeehouse at 184 Bleecker St. Ben feels that the brew plays an important part in the lives of many think of coffee breaks and is irked along with his customers over the tation. or redevelopment and that funds would be dispatched accordingly.

He said he favored low-rise, low-density construction for many of the "bombed-out" areas of the South Bronx for example. Abrams and Marrero said the report was released at this time because the Carter administration has expressed a wish to help the city. One area in which the report teliev-ed a large-scale renewal effort is in order is the Bathgate area of the South Bronx which has 50 acres of residential land. 19 of which are city owned. 20 are vacant and nine are filled with abandoned buildings.

Only six acres of existing buildings can be preserved. The report noted that more than 1.200 apartment buildings now stand vacant and abandoned in the South Bronx and that demolition is proceeding at a rate of almost 5,000 dwelling units a year. In addition there have been more than 7.000 fires in the South Bronx in the past two years and more than S20 million in insurance losses were recorded in 1975 alone. hope this study is taken to heart by leaders of the financial institutions of the Bronx because it clearly shows how refusal by the banking industry to grant mortgages and precipitate a process cf disinvestment will imperil the future of sound and decent neighborhoods," Abrams said. way cotiee prices nave soared recent mm mm mw mm mw mm mm mw mi mm mm mm mt mm mm mm mm mil mm mm mm mm wi mw mm mmm sb mm mmwmm mmmm.

mrnmrnm mm wa mwmm mrzm mmmm mmm mm mm mm twa mmm aa mm roar a to cor tv ir.am with when these developers le in." Abrams said. It further asked that a special depu- m.iyor be appointed to head the task dnetting the improvement of the ouih. Abrams said the boroueh would be i iraw Line on Reuniting By BRYANT MASON Urging that depositors show their displeasure at banks which redline, City Clerk David Dinkins announced that he will lead a protest rally tomorrow in front of a Manhattan bank at noon. according to whether it conservation, rehabili- D're- ed 'Boycott the banks that boycott our water ye pi. nsam neighborhoods," is the -theme of the examples of these practices in.

Manhattan and other boroughs, Dinkins goers laint ampen uwyer rally. Dinkins said it will take place in front of the Anchor Savings Bank at Fifth Ave. and 37th St. "This is the only type of pressure the banks will recognize," said Dinkins, who is running for Manhattan borough president. He is encouraging depositors to withdraw their savings from banks which lean heavily to redlining.

Choice of Target Explained The practice of redlining, ib ignoring or refusing to finance mortgages in changing or older neighborhoods, can be seen in Harlem, Washington Heights, the lower East Side and Brooklyn, said Dinkins. Referring to the recent State Banking A broken water main in the Bronx, which over the last two years has spilled out about 1.2 billion gallons of city water, was finally fixed yesterday just hours before City Council President Paul O'Dwyer was to hold a press conference at the break site to condemn the Department of Water Resources for its lack of action. "Now we have a handle. Let go out to the streets and tell the banks that they have got to stop this." Dinkins said the decision was made to demonstrate in front of one bank "to alert other banks as to what might befall them. We didn't want to dilute our efforts and spread ourselves all over town." The other purpose for the demonstration, is to drum up support for a proposal by Assembly Speaker Stanley Steingut (D-Brooklyn).

Dinkins said the proposal, which must be passed by the Legislature, would permit Gov. Carey to appoint one member of the public to The four-inch pipe is in the base- Izquierdo said. "It was first brought to my attention by my father, who lives just down the street and whose building was getting flooded due to the runoff." David Medina men! of the burned-out tenement at 1060 E. 165th St. However, the repairmen overlooked two other breaks at 1092 E.

165th St, and 1076 Faile just around the corner. "I do hope the department crew re Department study which documents fhe boards of New York banks. Singers Clean Up Needle Park Aria turns tomorrow," O'Dwyer said. "Al- though they plugged the major main 1 leak, they left two others flowing away." 1 O'Dwyer, who was named the city's ombudsman for official complaints in January, expressed surprise and a little embarrassment when he arrived yester- day. I 'I am very glad to see that the De- partment of Water Resources finally re- sponded.

It's a pity they didn't do it two 1 years ago," he said. Midnight Operation i Area residents were eagerly await- 1 ing O'Dwyer" arrival yesterday to tell him of how the Water Resources true I pulled up to the building shortly after 1 mid.iisht Wednesday and sealed the gushing pipe. "I also understand that the depart- meat has challenged my figures as to the water loss from the leak," O'Dwyer said. "It was their estimate of water loss that I used to calculate it at 1.2 I billion gallons. If in fact, it was only 1 By HARRY STATHOS The junkies, crazies and rummies staggered around Verdi Square Park, more commonly known as "Needle Park." A few old-age pensioners sat on the benches around the square at Broadway and72dSt Everyone perked up their ears when they heard a voice singing an aria from Giuseppe Verdi's "Un BaUo in Maschera" (Masked Ban).

The voice belonged to Penelope Daner, a dramatic soprano with the New York Grand Opera. She was accompanied by Virginia Gerhard on an upright piano which had been pushed down Broadway from the nearby Beacon Theater yesterday. Penelope and Virginia were joined by other singers of the opera company who want to the park to help spruce it up and remind New Yorkers that Verdi Square Park is a city landmark that was named after one of the world's greated composers. The singers, most of them wearing jeans and work clothes, were armed with buckets of soap and water and brushed which they used to clean up a memorial to Verdi which is located at the north end of the park. The heroic size figure of Verdi in Carrara marble, sculpted by Pasquale CivilettL stands on a 15-foot-high dark granite pedestal encircled by four life-size figures representing the leading characters from his operas, "Aida," "Falstaff," "Otheuo" and "La Forza del Destino." As the singers scrubbed merrily away, the New York Grand Opera's founder and artistic director, Vincent La Selva, said: "By calling attention to this square's proper name, and not its more commonly-referred-to name of 'Needle we may aU begin to reflect that this was once a haven for neighborhood residents who shared picnic lunches in the afternoon sun." La Selva, a graduate of the Jilliard School of Music who teaches grand opera and symphony conducting there, said that the park was once a favorite spot of Enrico Caruso and Arturo Toscanini, among other noted musicians and opera singers, many of whom lived across the street in the famed Ansonia Hotel.

Tomorrow night, just around the corner from the park at the Beacon Theater, the New York Grand Opera Company, conducted by La Selva, will perform a unique all-Verdi concert entitled "Viva Verdi," dedicating the evening to Verdi Square in the hope of erasing the negative name of "Needle Park." "We're trying to make the Beacon Theater the home of the opera," La Selva said. "We want to clean up the area and let the people uptwon who love opera have a chance to enjoy it." asiamawauwHfai i am 304 million, I stand corrected. I hop the major point was not missed." Ore of those who complained was Dr. Richard Izquierdo, executive director of the San Juan Medical Center directly across the street from the break. "I've been calling the Water Resources Department far two years,".