Daily News from New York, New York • 508

DAILY NEWS, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY Santucci Promises a War on Illegal Hack Rlpofh By MURRAY WEISS Representatives of owner-drivers in two major taxi councils received a pledge from Queens District Attorney John Santucci yesterday to crack down on illegal cabbies and especially those who operate at Queens' airports and rip off naive out-of-towners by charging them exorbitant fares. Officials of the Independent Taxi Council and the Associated Radio Metered Taxi Owners Council told the DA that their 5,000 medallion cab drivers are often blamed for the ripoffs by disgruntled and disillusioned riders. In fact, the illegal cabbies are responsible for the fleecings and are tarnishing the image of the Big Apple as well, the seven officials claimed. Illegal cabdrivers are those who operate unregister ed yellow-painted cars as (gypsy) cabs or run unlicensed limousine services. Many Complaints AI Zeff, executive director of Independent, said illegal drivers are unscrupulous and do not carry adequate insurance coverage.

Santucci acknowledged the number and magnitude of the ripoffs of passengers from Queens airports and claimed that his office and the police have been arresting offenders instead of merely issuing a summons to them. If convicted, an illegal cabby could face up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The so-called lack of enforcement and severe penalties for operating illegal hacks has been a repeated complaint of the two councils. They allege that the fines can never curtail the illegal taxi business. A limousine operator was recently arrested for fleecing a woman from Nigeria out of more than $4,000.

DA investigators claimed at a hearing that the operator had been making about $5,000 a week working the airports. Sources also said that many cabbies place luggage in the trunks of their cabs and hold them for ransom until the outlandish fare is paid. Santucci said that tourists, who contribute to one of the city's largest revenue producing industries, are left rightfully embittered when they are "taken for a ride." The illegal drivers must be controlled, he continued, because they put "a big worm in the Big Apple He claimed that his investigators plan a crackdown on those hacks but refused to reveal the plan DA's in the other boroughs made similar pledges last week with the exception of the Staten Island DA who will meet with the councils later this week ftfl Cuifds Sound ovj Tires III -g feu i By THOMAS PUGH and NEAL HIRSCHFELD Drivers for a private protection service have refused to answer burglar alarms on the grounds that they themselves are unprotected with snow tires "Our union told us not to drive unsafe cars and the city says it is illegal to drive on snow emergency streets without chains or snow tires said one of 10 drivers for the Honeywell Protection Service who refused to take cars out yesterday from the 37 08 GeenDoint Ave. plant "I've already got some points against my license and I cannot stand to ge aov more points against me he added The drivers, who a' so function as servicemen and maintain thousands of Nws photo by Nick Sornmtino Cars without snow tires lie idle in Honeywell Corp. driveway.

0(d St. John's Hospital Expansion goal of rebuilding an excellent volun burglar alarm systems throughout the metropolitan area, sounded their own alarm last Friday after one was involved in an accident caused by ice. After calls to the city's Traffic Department, they learned that the radial tires on their vehicles did not meet the minimum safety requirements for driving in snow emergencies. More than 40 members of Local 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers then decided not to take out company Pintos and vans that are equipped only with the radials when the drivers informed the regional manager, Roy Weisgerber, they were told that the company feels the radial tires are legal on snow emergency streets and that if they weren't, not to drive on snow emergency streets Green-point in front of the plant, is a snow emergency street. A check by The News with a spokesman fo the Traffic Department said that the oUy is still on a limited snow emergency situation This means that you must have snow tires or chains on drive wheels if you are on snow emergency streets Under Section 153 of the traffic rules that snow tires are "those tires having anti-skid patterns impressed or cut into treaded surfaces to form bars, buttons or blocks, or which contain perforations, ingredients or metallic elements designed to give effective traction on snow, mud or ice." Angry drivers who offered to take mass transit on calls were told they could not work unless they took out the company cars.

They maintained that they were ready to work but that they would not take cars that they say are not legal. By JACK LEAHY The state's first authorization for the expansion of a New York City hospital in the past 18 months has been granted to St. John's Episcopal Hospital, South Shore Division, Far Rockaway, it was announced yester tary teaching hospital on the present site at 327 Beach 19th Bernstein said. Had Asked 320 Beds The foundation had originaly proposed an expansion to 320 beds last April, Bernstein explained. The approved expansion would be coupled with a plan to take over the lease of the adjacent Brookhaven Beach Nursing Home during the reconstruction work.

The plan calls for the eventual transfer of 179 patient beds to Brookhaven along with X-ray and other technical, facilities. After completion of the St. John's renovation, Brookhaven would again become a nursing home. The cost of converting and moderniz-' ing Brookhaven would come to about $7 million, including $500,000 for a bridge linking the second floors of both institu-1' tions. Funds for this phase of the project also must be raised.

day. Under the $30 million expansion and modernization plan approved by the State Health Department, St. John's would grow from its present 223-bed capacity to 300 beds, according to Gilbert Bernstein, development director for The Church Charity Foundation, the healthcare arm of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island. 90 Bed Occupancy Bernstein said the plan was approved even though the state has advocated the closing of "underutilized" institutions like Kew Gardens Hospital because the need for hospital beds in Far Rockaway is "desperate." St John's has an average daily pa tient occupancy rate of more than 90, according to a hospital spokesman. "Many of the patients come for acute care from a number of nursing homes for the elderly which are located nearby," the spokesman said.

"In addition, there are many poor people in the area, who go to the hospital's emergency room and other facilities the way an upper-income person might go to a private physician," the spokesman added. Funds must still be raised to pay for the rebuilding program before architectural studies can begin and construction can commence, Bernstein noted. "I am optimistic that The Church Charity Foundation will succeed in its U.S. Grant Will Enable Restoration Tilly Park "The pond Is overgrown with weeds and teenagers no longer Ice skate in the park," he continued. "It is hazardous, dangerous, unattractive and therefore its use has declined," he said, adding that he often went sleigh riding with his children in Tilly Park.

Among the rehabilitation plans are: the installation of water and sewer lines to restrooms and fountains; complete drainage and reconstruction of the pond; repaying of walkways 'and pruning of trees and shrubs; the rebuilding of swings and sliding ponds in the children's play area, and the construction of a central sitting area as well as a major cleanup. Efforts Backed by Community "I am particually pleased since the entire community surrounding the park took part in our efforts," said Cooperman, pointing out that various civic groups and students at Jamaica High often conducted cleanup campaigns in the park. Cooperman said that bids for contracts to do the rehabilitation work will be taken within eight or nine months. He expects work to begin about that time, with the park in improved condition by next spring. By MURRAY WEISS Work to rehabilitate the long neglected and deteriorating Captain George Tilly Park in Jamaica will begin later this year with a grant of $286,365 from the federal Office of Community Development, Assemblyman A.J Cooperman (D-Jamaica) announced yesterday.

The federal outlay will be matched by an equal amount by the city's Department of Parks and Recreation, bringing the rehabilitation project's total costs to about $573,000. Named after a Spanish-American War hero, nine-acre Tilly Park was once a pastoral and picturesque tract of Highland Ave. and 167th St Senior citizens could be seen spending quiet hours there and mothers used to stroll with baby carriages on sunny afternoons, Cooperman said. Fund Cutbacks Sped Decline All that changed in recent years, however, as a lack of maintenance and a cutback of funds and manpower at the Parks Department contributed greatly to the steady decline of Tilly Park, also known locally as Goose Pond Park. "The park always was well utilized," Cooperman said.

"But in past years, the walks have broken and stones surrounding the pond have busted and fallen onto the walks and into the pond," he went on. The park is just below Jamaica High SchooL.