Daily News from New York, New York • 31

DAILY NEWS. SUNDAY. APRIL 30, 1978 II II The Boys of Simmer: Koch and Stein Doing A SIovj Burn in Feud By FRANK LOMBARDI Mayor Koch and Manhattan Borough President Andrew Stein wera never the best of friends politically before they assumed their respective City Hall jobs, but in the last four months they have become the best taftn1r is of enemies. A Dandy View 31- 1 Pit I i i ifcSS mm $:4 111 1 1 1 ll The 57 year-old Town Hall will Its supporters be able to save It? The feud between the officials has intensified in the past two weeks, particularly after Stein called Koch a "liar" for abandoning his opposition to the Westway project. Koch responded by suggesting that from now on Stein would be advised to bring a food taster with him to the Gracie Mansion breakfasts the mayor regularly holds with members of the Board of Estimate.

"He Gets Uptight" "He's only half kidding about that." Stein said while discussing his relationship with the mayor. "The problem is the mayor doesn't like to be criticized at all. When you criticize him, I've found, he gets extremely uptight and really looks at you as an enemy. A mayor has to get used to taking criticism." Koch, for his part, hasn't resorted to public name-calling, but he often makes Stein the butt of derisive remarks. For example, during Friday's unveiling of the convention center plan, the mayor praised the presentation given by Planning Commission Chairman Robert F.

Wagner who ran unsuccessfully last year against Stein for the borough president's post. "Wasn't that terrific?" Koch asked after Wagner's presentation. "It's a good thing he lost for borough president, I might have ended up with Andy Stein." The Joke drew laughs from the crowd of dignitaries and reporters, but, in a sense, the mayor has ended up with Stein anyway. Koch is enjoying unusual harmony with other potential critics such as Council President Carol Bellamy and Controller Harrison J. Goldin creating a criticism vacuum that didn't exist for other mayors.

John Lindsay had Controller Beame as his official critic, and Beame had Controller Goldin. Stein is becoming Koch's gadfly. A "Rubber Stamp" "I don't see that necessarily as being my role, although it seems I'm getting more and more pushed into it. I guess not too reluctantly," Stein offered. Stein agreed that both Bellamy and Goldin have been untraditionally supportive of the mayor.

"She's much more of a rubber stamp Old Town Hall Dying, Needs $-Type Blood By OWEN MORITZ Town Hall is due to close Aug. 31, an event that has been overshadowed by the travails of Radio City Music Hall, and now a major drive is beginning to save this 57-year-old Town Hall. The Ad Hoc Committee to Save Town Hall and the Times Square Committee of Manhattan's Community Board 5 announced yesterday that a hearing will be held May 11 Into ways to save the famed building on W. 43d St, just off Sixth Ave. New York University, which has owned the place since 1958, says it Is losing $100,000 a year running it and wants out by Aug.

31. Critics have complained that NYU has purposely let the debt run up, without making efforts to reduce it, so as to unload the old theater. It is a situation that parallels the furor over the fate of the Radio City Music Hall, which was saved by a tentative one-year solution in which the state agreed to pump in up to $1.8 million over the next 12 months to keep the music hall funcioning. Many Mode Debuts There Town Hall opened in January 1921 as a concert and opera house. Later, during the heyday of radio, it was the scene of the "Town Hall Meeting of the Air" series.

Among tho3 who have made debuts on the Town Hall stage are Marion Anderson, Jan Peerce, Joan Sutherland and Helen TraubeL The Hall's ac-coustics are considered comparable to Carnegie Hall. In the early 1960s, its troubles set in. Onco a centerpiece for highbrow entertainment and lectures, It lost some business to the new Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center Things havep't been helped by the deterioration of the Times Square area. In a telegram yesterday to John Sawhill, president of New York University and a member of tbo Emergency Financial Control Board, Board 5 Chairman Hal Negbuar asked the university to withhold any final decision on the place until the May 11 hearing. The hearing will be held in the community room of St.

Malathy's Church, 539 W. 49th at 6 p.m. Elizabeth Thomas enjoys yesterday's 72-degree weather and new flowers at the shoreline near her Brooklyn borne. That's also a dandy view of downtown Manhattan In the background. Forecaster says the view will be somewhat cloudy today, with temperatures barely reaching 60 degrees.

so far thsn Paul O'Dwyer) had been of Abe (Beame)," Stein remarked of Bellamy. Stein said Goldin might feel that "it makes sense politically'' not to be critical of the mayor while seeking higher office. Goldin Is expected to run for state controller this year. Koch actually had endorsed Stein over Wagner In last year's general election, but only because Stein had the Democratic nomination while Wagner ran as a Republican-Liberal. Stein an 3 Wagner, backed by powerful and lnflj-ential fathers, spent nearly SI million each In their battle over the $45,000 borough post.

Koch named Wagner to the $54,000 planning post even before taking office. Stein said he doesn't fear that his constituents will be deprived of any benefits by his problems with the mayor and his administration. "Manhattan is his base and he can't deprive the people without hurting himself," Stein commented. "I'm sure there's going to be some retaliation. I don't see it directly yet.

but there are murmurinrs. People say Ed is a vindictive guy. but I intend to do my own thing." That includes bein; orse of the few Democrats to ure opposition to Gov Carey's reelection bid. Stein calls the governor "a disaster for the people." Koch, although he initially was opposed by Carey in the mayoral ri.ee, calls the governor "the best." Stein said his aim Is to offset having Koch and Carey among his enemies by building a record of achievements fct can take directly to the public. "I know that I have a lot of enemies and that they'ra always going to ba looking ta get me," ha said.

City's Going to Bun the Yanks for 154G By ROBERT CARROLL In the wake of a city audit that found the Yankees 154,000 short on their lease payments at city-owned Yankee Stadium, a spokesman for Controller Harrison Goldin said yesterday the ball club will get a bill for failing to monitor both the maintenance and other aspects of the Yankees' lease. Rosen insisted the maintenance bills are not excessive. "All this (maintenance) is put out to bid," he said. "And I'm a watchdog of the buck." He also invited close city surveillance. "This is an open stadium," he said.

"We couldn't possibly hide anything. They had their opportunity to check." Rosen said that the Yankees could have spent "better than $300,000" this year, under terms if its lease, to repaint seats and replace dim light bulbs and deduct the cost from its rent. "But we didn't." said Rosen. "We recognize our obligation to the city as a good lessee." Sportt Editor Dick Young com' menf on thm Stadium brouhaha page tOO. for that amount this week.

"We'll get some agency to send them a bill," said Larry Friedman, a Goldin assistant. The $154,000 is largely a bill for electricity, although it includes $5,000 the Yankees apparently owe the city for chairs from the old stadium. The Yankees aren't disputing the $5,000, but there could be a legal hassle over the balance. City Pays Power Bills "Our feeling is we do not owe that money," said Yankee President Al Rosen yesterday. "I'll-have to see the bill and see what's on it.

We expect to and want to pay any bills that should be paid." According to Goldin's office, the city pays all the electric bills at Yankee Stadium and then collects from the Yankees for that portion used by the club. In his audit, Goldin said the city failed to collect "fully" from the Yankees. A more serious implication in the Goldin audit was that stadium maintenance costs, paid by the Yankees and then deducted by them from the rent they pay the city, may be out of line. Such costs run to $800,000 last year and only slightly less in 1976. Goldin, who already has begun a separate audit of the Yankees maintenance operations, has criticized the city's Office of Economic Development.