Daily News from New York, New York • 125

SIMMS i Festival from Spain on lower East Side By JOANNA OTTO More than 300 people, including some senior citizens bused in from Queens, attended a "Verbena" for the city's Hispanic senior citizens at the Smith Houses on the lower i3 -V '111 East Side yesterday. "This is the first one of its kind," said Fernando Moreno, who organized the fiesta with the city Housing Authority. "I do parties for the rich and famous and I thought that Hispanic senior citizens could use a party, too." Moreno, the maitre d' and host at the exclusive Le Club, got the idea about five weeks ago to hold a Verbena, a popular festival from Spain to celebrate St. Peter and St. Paul.

He called the city Housing Authority Recreational Programs for the Elderly, and met with Nicoleta Azure, the president of the Smith Tenants Association. "Fernando came to us with a great idea said Azure, 65, who works three days a week with the Programs for the Elderly. "I brought him to my building. He liked the people here, and decided to hold the Verbena here." "THIS IS a good opportunity to get the elderly out of the house and mix in with younger groups and to teach youth respect of the elderly," Azure said. The senior citizens from the Smith Houses got together and worked all night preparing the variety of Hispanic dishes such as arroz con gandules, pernil, and arroz con polio that were given out free.

A local pizza parlor, Pizza Pan, donated the use of its facilities to cook the food. "It was very hard work, but I like that we could get together like this," said Cata-lina Rodriguez, 58, of the Smith Houses as she watched her 4-year-old granddaughter play with other children in the grassy courtyard, under the pinatas made by the senior citizens. X. Enjoying the Verbena are senior citizens at Alfred Smith Houses. Senior citizens, as well as children, were lined up to dance salsa with Ronald McDonald to the sounds of the Tito Gomez Orchestra, which also donated its time and talents, while others ate and conversed.

"IT'S GOOD. It's getting everybody to come together," said America Torres, 66, of the Smith Houses. "It's easier to get to know one another with occasions like this." Tanefur 0 ixsf messmna Also enjoying the festivities were Robert L. Berkeley, 62, from International Tower in Jamaica, Queens, and Veerner Smith, 73, also from Jamaica, who said such events help break down race, age, culture and language barriers." "We should have more events like this," said Smith, 73. also from Jamaica, Queens.

"It would reduce crime by getting youngsters involved and stop the youth and aged separation." torn for Abagail Kimball, a fourth-floor resident with two young children. "My son and his friends, the first thing they do when they come off the elevator is run to those windows to see the atrium. It's an attractive nuisance, and a very dangerous one." But Richard Fishbein, lawyer for the building, said he plans to appeal the decision to the Appellate Division. "We are not going to put window guards on something we don't consider windows," Fishbein said. "These are balconies that have been opened up." WHEN DAVID Walentas.

the principal owner of the cooperative, turned what had been an interior air shait into an atrium in VM2. larpe pbss windows were installed in the hallways to give residents an attractive view. Among the building's more notable tenants are lawyer Louis Nizrr, jtctress Rita (Jam and author Joan Didion. But the city's Buildings Department decided the glass was a fire haaid ordered it removed to improve circulation. Walentas installed 3'Vioot hih Jrai! -v wvi-w WILLIt ANUtRSON 0 NIW MORENO SAID HE would like to hold the Verbena again next year, and wouldn't think of holding it anywhere else on the lower East Side.

"I fell in love with this area," he said. "The cooperation and energy was there. Organizations like Goya, Cafe Bustelo, McDonald's, and Pepsi donated food and beverages to help make this event a success. We didn't have a dollar when we started out They were cooperative from the start." building approved the renovation, but in 19U3 the Health Ix-part ment issued a violation saying the railing did not meet city requirements for hallway window guards. As a result, the Buildings Department revoked Alwyn Court's certificate of occupancy, further complicating matters.

Till: COOP board filed suit in an attempt to have the Health Department decision reversed The board argued that the Health Department exceeded its authority, asserting that the openings were not windows in lie con-ventional sense and that city regulations did not provide a Ji definition of "window." In his decision, Tontzini 1 noted that the Health Depart- ment ruling was "iiot based on any line logical decision between masonry opening' iiiiii winnows no such ilrtmction can he made." The said that the law empowered heilth in spec-tors to make common sense judgments when to determine Lest pro tcct children living in apart-merit bril'j'nrff A'iVil1 Court. By ALEX MICHELINI A public-relations consultant, making her first run for elective office, was endorsed yesterday by Mayor Koch for the West Side seat in the City Council held by Ruth Mess-inger, a Manhattan Democrat. Koch, labeling Messin-ger an extremist who doesn't represent all of the people in her district, gave the nod to candidate Pat Wagner, whom he called "a very able campaigner" and "a very articulate person." Koch added that it would not be an "easy" campaign for her. Messinger, seeking her third term in the 4th Council District, said that Koch is trying to "purge" the Democratic Party of "anyone who disagrees with him." She vowed, "If it's a fight he wants, a fight is what he's got" SHE ALSO characterized Wagner as a "rubber stamp" for Koch's "no-holds-barred gentrifica-tion" efforts. Wagner, who describes herself as a champion of tenants' causes, said the West Side "has the potential for becoming the best side of the citv." but changed in city services because Messinger "doesn't get along with the mayor, doesn't get along with city agencies, or with other members of the City Council." Koch, in his endorsement issued on the steps of City Hall, called Messinger's positions "extreme" rather than "mainstream," adding his view that she "doesn't reflect the broad consensus of the West Side" but rather "a very small fringe group." MESSINGER won her first race in 1977, ousting incumbent Henry Berger, who had been appointed to the Council.

In 1981, she ran unopposed in the primary and got 80 of the vote in the general election. Yesterday, she announced that she has raised $43,000 for her reelection campaign, adding that since Wagner's challenge now appears "serious," she may raise more. Messinger and Wagner had filed cross-challenges to each other's nominating petitions. The Board of Elections has certified Messinger for the ballot, and is expected to decide on Wagner's i today -r By SALVATORE ARENA The latest chapter in the long history of bitter legal wrangling between tenants and owners of Alwyn Court, the landmark West Side building, has been reduced to a squabble over the definition of a window. To the building's coopera-' tive board its an open-and-shut case.

But to the remaining renters, especially those with small children, the issue is safety. On Wednesday, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Tontzini ruled that the owners must follow the orders of the city Health Department and install window guards on the large hallway portals that overlook the 13-story building's unusual interior atrium. The openings are nearly eight feet high and vary in length. The building is located at W. 58th tmd Seventh Ave.

THE TENANTS associa lion, which fought successfully to retain their apartments despite the co-op conversion, hailed the ruling. ll thec.tQrri-' fnr; af for rhildfn eul.