Daily News from New York, New York • 64

1 Ht4p.BiriKaJr?lPfr- Harlem still keeps crosses its fingers By MICHAEL CAARTEN The 125th St. Mart, an "indoor street" for peddlers banned from the sidewalks two years ago, was scheduled to open early this year. It has yet to be built. The decayed Apollo Theatre, long the focus of Harlem's hopes for revival, stands between two larger buildings like a stooping, shriveled old man. Last week, one prospective developer, the Apollo Theatre Investors Group, said it would withdraw from the project if the Urban Development Corp.

did not discuss a $3.5 million contribution to the project at its meeting next week. The $156 million, 44-story International Trade Complex comprising shops, a conference center, a hotel and a TV studio was announced in 1979, yet still only 43 be mmmmmmmmmmmmmi The equipment needed to bank at By R.B. PLUNKETT Consumer Affairs Editor Twenty banks, including Marine Midland in New York, announced yesterday that they have banded together to run the first nationwide test of a home banking computer system. The bankers say their primary goal is to find out, before they invest in the costly systems, whether consumers really want to do their banking from home. They also want to know what additional nonbanking services customers will use and how much they will pay for them.

"Banks are notorious for rushing into any technology," said John Fraser of the First Wisconsin National Bank in MUwaukee. "But we can't afford any false starts or mistakes. Together, we can do the comprehensive tests- and gather more information than any one bank acting alone." During the year-long test, 2,000 customers will be given home computer systems and be asked to use them for routine banking. The systems will include a variety of other services, including catalog shopping, continuous news, sports and weather re home. ports, ticket services and investment information.

IF THE TEST IS successful, the bankers say they'll work together to develop a complete system for their customers. But although they are committed to home banking, they said it will not replace traditional bank services. "The community bank branch will always be there with tellers as well as credit cards, debit cards and ATMs (automatic teller machines)," said Anthony Diina, administrative vice president of Marine Midland. "Home banking will be added for those who want it." Last fall, Chemical Bank introduced the first home banking system called Pronto which uses Atari home computers. Citibank has been testing a system for two years.

In the nationwide, test program, customers will be given a keyboard, computer unit and a telephone modem. THE TEST customers will pay a monthly fee to participate in the test. "The whole question of revenues has never been addressed," said Howard Eskin, vice president of ADP Telephone Computing Service which is running the project for the banks. (S i. i y-y road work program has been completed, the pavement is smooth.

But the adjacent sidewalks are piled with garbage and broken bottles, swept up against the bricks that fill the doorways of burned-out buildings. 1 The Uptown Chamber of Commerce says that of the approximately 186 retail stores on 125th Street from Fifth Ave. to St. Nicholas are owned by Koreans. Most of them sell fish or fruit and vegetables.

Some sell clothing. Chamber President Lloyd Williams said the Koreans began opening stores in the area about 1979. He said that of 18 shops opened from February 1982 to February 1983, 10 were Korean-owned. For some Harlem businessmen, the arrival of the Koreans has raised questions and rumors. "It shouldn't a problem, but it is," said Jack David, manager of Howard Hats, 269 W.

125th St. "They have access to funds and money. That puts us at a disadvantage." WILLIAMS ECHOED an often-heard belief: "It is very clear that the Korean government itself does support the efforts of Korean businessmen who are currently located in this country." But he could offer no evidence. The Korean businessmen consistently deny rumors that they receive money from either the Korean government or from the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church.

"You can't down a guy because he has money to set up a business," said Bill Smith of the 125th St. Business Association. "But they could put some money back into the community by hiring some people from the neighborhood." "They ask, 'Why don't they hire black people? said Sang Lee, who runs a vegetable store at 106 W. 125th St. "But we are all family.

We don't need more employes." The merchants seem split While they are protective of the black tradition of Harlem, they also realize that Koreans are helping the area. As Carl Brown, co-owner of College Sports Center, 357 W. 125th said: "They make it convenient for shoppers to come here, and they are taking up empty stores. That's good." CLARENCE DAVIS DAH.V NEWS W. 125th Merchants await a turnaround.

exists on paper, awaiting $104 million in federal assistance that becomes more unlikely as Washington budget-cutting persists. A LARGE SIGN in a parking lot between St. Nicholas Ave. and Frederick Douglass Boulevard announces a shopping mall "soon to be built," but there is no prime tenant yet let alone funds for the construction. Still, there's always hope in those who fight to improve 125th St.

the Uptown Chamber of Commerce, the Harlem Urban Development the Harlem Commonwealth Council and city and state officials. They all said that the long years of patient negotiating finally may pay off. But among Harlem residents, morale sags as one delay after another has been announced. "People are at a point where they, won't believe anything until they see it," said Deborah Hall Moore of Community Board 10. So the main concerns of 125th St.

merchants, especially west of Fifth are more immediate now. An upcoming street renovation program has many businessmen wondering whether they can survive the disruption. And they also have turned a leery eye to competition from newly arrived Koreans, EAST OF FIFTH where the first stage of the $24.9 million Monroeville, Pa. (UPI) Be it science or sham, it's probably at the Technology Invention New Product Expo, where dealers are showing everything from7 spring-loaded fly swatters to underwear they say will enhance your sex life. One of the more popular devices at the show this week was the Hedon, a cockpit-like chair in which the "pilot" can be blasted by stereo music and a light show, or just have a nice place to read.

It has a 4-inch color television and fan, and the cockpit tilts 270 degrees for maximum radio reception. "It's unique," spectator Sybil Schwartz said after a spin in the $7,900 toy, built by a suburban Pittsburgh firm. "I have teenage sons, so it's a good way to know where your kid is all the time." Also on display were Vigor Panties from Korea. The makers say the "super-underwear" can provide "fantastical functions," including enhancement of the wearer's sex life and fertility. OTHER GADGETS Flick-a-Fly, a spring-loaded fly swatter for those who always miss.

The Pony Potty adds a touch of the Old West to toUet training by making youngsters think they are going on a pony ride. For those who like microchips with their sex, there is a birth-control computer that "works when you know your wife's start-day (of her menstrual cycle), said inventor Suk Kyn Shin of Seoul. For example, if menstruation began- May 17 and was followed by a 28-day cycle, he said the device would show sexual activity could be conception-free except for May 26 through June 3. "You will have son on (May) 31 and (June) 1, 2, 3," he said through a Korean interpreter. "You will have daughter on (May) 26 through 30 if wife has acid food, like oranges, on (May) 19 through (June) 2." The inventor said he has fathered two daughters and two sons.

"We call that two strike, two ball," said the interpreter. -( 4 1.