Daily News from New York, New York • 303

vmtrr itews, lcmT, JULY 23, IB7 For Mm, t'eGi'etiltBQii's not hn games 37, is that he has touched many lives in profound, personal ways. He has told kids not to drop out of PS 269, and four of them are teachers there now. He has taught athletes about discipline and some of those who made the pros are Doug Moe, coach of the San Antonio Spurs, Jim McMillan, formerly of the Knicks, and Mike Dunleavy of the Houston Rockets. "He's more than the guy who teaches them how to steal second base," says Irv Baroh, a union rep. "He is the father confessor to children.

If they're having any kind of problems, he's there. The problem is, Max is one of the few left." Rosenblum is one of the greatest arguments the union has for showing the need for playground and recreation personnel whose numbers have diminished because of budget cuts and attrition from 600 in the early 1960s to below 300 now. Very few of these still work in plavgrounds such as the one on Foster of which James Carosella, union local president, says: "This is this neighborhood's Central Park." The argument is that more than anything else, people such as Rosenblum preserve neighborhoods. The playground is grafitti-f ree and clean. Yet each day, Rosenblum works against formidable odds despite his efforts to get the city to make repairs and provide supplies the wading pool drain has been broken for a year, the men's room is closed, there is one basketball for 12 courts.

The list goes on. It is as if the city has forgotten about places like Foster playground and the people who use them. It is Mac Rosenblum. himself, a low-paid, but caring city employe who IS the City to this neighborhood and soon he will retire. Lionel Salaam, annthpr Fnctor nla By GEORGE JAMES The 3-year-old boy toppled from the slide in the playground at Nostrand and.

Foster Aves. in Flat-bush and hit the asphalt hard. His father embraced him. Mac Rosenblum, concern on his face, trotted over from the basketball courts. "Take him into the house," he said to the father.

Once inside the small brick equipment room, Mac checked the boy for shock and brought pressure to reduce the swelling on the boy's head. "How's that? OK son? You're fine," he says comforting both father and son. At age 64, Mac Rosenblum is still a rugged-looking man. But what they love him for in this predominantly black, Brooklyn neighborhood where he has been a recreation director for 28 years is not his ruggedness, but his kindness. Across Foster Ave.

10,000 people live in the Vanderveer Houses. When Rosenblum started working, the occupants were mostly Jewish. Today they are black. He knows most of the 1,000 to 2JXX) people of ail ages who use the park each day by name, and they know him, calling him Mac, Max, and Maxie. "Max, from the time I've been out here, has been dedicated to helping Abdul Hakeem Hasan, who is one of countless youths to take his basketball skills from this playground to college, in his case St.

Francis of Loretto. "Max helped his people when they were here and he's shown us the same kindness he showed his own kind." For 28 years he has organized daily activities and special tournaments, giving first aid for an average four injuries a day. two each month serious enough for an ambulance; has stepped in to break up fights between games when others were afraid to. But his greatest contribution, say the people of the neighborhood and officials of his union Local 299, New York City Recreation Employes, of District Council r4r I i I i I Ed Moiinwi went on to play college basketball, says, "You can't replace Max. It will be up to the people like ourselves to keep up the standards he set." Mac Rosenblum tends to bump on youngster's head at playground.

erchants would tax selves lor sanit work Corporate effort to clean the city By BRIAN KATES Sometimes the Big Apple can be polished by the stroke of single pen as well as it can be by the by the stroke of 100 brooms. There's a bill on Gov. Carey's desk which, while not intended solely as Apple-polishing legislation, could do More than 150 corporations have joined the "I Love a Clean New York" campaign so far in the effort to polish the Big Apple, according to Dr. Manny Sorge, executive director of the nonprofit group. Sorg urged other companies interested in participating In the program purchasing promotional materials, helping to hire summer cleanup workers or obtaining sanitation-type pushcarts for their own maintenance staffs to contact him at 244-6666 or to pick up the booklet "How Your Company Can Help" from "I Love a Clean New York" headquarters at 1250 Broadway.

BE AN APPLE POLISHER Fulton Mall Improvement Association created such a district two years ago and, through It, raised money for a private sanitation crew to clean their sidewalks and curbs every day, seven days a week That district like the two other special assessment districts in the city, in Queens and lower Manhattan was established by a separate act of the -Legislature. The bill now on Carey's desk would establish standardized taxation formulas, help cut through red tape and make the concept available to more groups. It wa sponsored by John Dearie (D-Bronx, chairman of the Assembly Committee on Cities. Here, basically, is how th'e system works for the Brooklyn group: The city collects from each business about 35 of its assessed valuation, whidh is placed by the city in a trust and agency fund for eventual payment to supplemental service contractors. An annual report to the Board of Estimate determines the amount of each year's levy.

For Abraham Strauss, largest firm hidden In ways they rarely see" while the special assessment money is "spent right before their eyes every single day." Under Dearie's bill. 51 of the merchants in an area would have to approve formation of the district which, after approval, would encompass all the firms in the area. With financially pressed governments claiming to be able to provide fewer services, he praised the concept as a "counter Proposition-13 measure" and pointed to "local businessman control" as its key element in the mall area and a leader in the movement to form the tax district, the levy comes to about $50,000 a year, according to Michael Strasser, association executive director. Typically, how-ever, merchants pay about $1,000 a year and some pay as little as $300, he said. Last March, the association signed a two-year, $270,000 ce firms within it, the system eliminates "free riders," those who reap benefits without paying, according to Strasser.

And, he adds merchants support the idea because the city taxes they pay "are wonders to help New York businessmen keep our city clean. All it requires is a signature. The bill which called the special assessment district bill would permit merchants throughout the state to band together so they could tax themselves. That's right, it would let them levy taxes agianst themselves to pay for supplemental services such as improved sanitation. In Brooklyn the 90 merchants of the lotto luck, fair winds keep oil slick off beaches 15 miles an hour along the northern tip of this sleepy resort island.

It was about 15 miles long, 2Vi miles wide, concentrated and thick. If it continues its current direction, it should miss the beaches. The coast guard said it was unable to raise by radio yesterday anyone aboard the Aegean Captain, which as under tow-by the tug Oceanic, headed for Tnrnidad. A fire on board had been extinguished. John Donaldson and other officials aboard on an inspection trip of the collision.

The men were rescued, wet but safe, after a two-hour lifeboat ordeal. The Empress had sailed from the Persian Gulf with 300,000 tons of napth-alene for Rojo, Mexico, while the Aegean Captain was headed for Singapore with 200,000 tons of Caribbean crude oil. Capt John Zeciskis of the Aegean Captain was reported ready to begin rounding up his crew hen the ship reaches Trinidad. On Saturday, 13 Greek survivors of the Atlantic Empress flew out of here for was still no explanation for the cause of the 7:15 p.m. crash, or which ship was responsible.

The Aegean Captain was built in Japan in 1968. the Atlantic Empress in Denmark in 1974. Despite the time and distance needed to maneuver the two massive vessels, each more than three times the length of a football field, they both are supposedly equipped with sophisticated radar enabling them to see anything in their path early enough to avoid a disaster. By ALTON SLAGLE Staff Correspondent of The News Charlottesville, Tobago An international fight to save the beaches of Trinidad and Tobago from history's worst oil spill began yesterday, but it appeared that fair winds and a good deal of luck may have done the job instead, saving this little tourist-conscious island nation off the coast of South America a crushing economic blow. With four boats and as many planes, engineers began spraying the thick oil from the ruptured supertanker Aegean Captain in an attempt to dissipate it and prevent it from spreading across the beaches here and in the Grenadines.

A spokesman for the group heading the fight expressed cautious optimism that the oil would miss land. But much of this optimism came from the current nature of tides and winds in the area. The slick from the Aegean Captain was moving slowly west at Hopes fade for crewmen The oil threat from the Atlantic Empresst the other supertanker involved in Thursday night's mysterious collision eight miles from here, was less severe. Much of its spilled cargo has burned, and what is left will be dealt with later, the spokesman said. The Atlantic Empress was still on fire and oil pouring from her holds also was flaming around the ship.

Two Dutch tugs were moved on station nearby Saturday to wait out the fire and tow the ravaged ship. Meanwhile, hopes for finding the 26 crewmen missing at sea since the collision continued to fade. However, the Trinidad and Tobago coast guard said an air-sea search was continuing. "No, we have hot given up hope, not at all." a spokesman in Trinidad told The News. The ship's only missing crewman was identified as Rommel Kumar.

31, an electrician. The other 25 missing men, all Greek, had been aboard the Empress. It was feared that many who might have survived the fire had been devoured by sharks. An empty white and orange life raft believed to be from the Empress was found several miles north of the collision site. Search by air continues Two amphibian Neptune aircraft continued searching an area of more than 500 square miles, aided by helicopters from the Skinner Drilling Company, Bristow Caribbean Helicopters and a light plane from Trinair, a local airline.

The Trinidad and Tobago coast guard had temporarily called off the air-sea search after a helicopter crashed Saturday with Minister of National Security i i-J.