Daily News from New York, New York • 164

DAILY NEWS; MONDAY. JULV.2,' 197 1 .1 I 5Li si I ills i2 rfi XX- OA. y. Sr i.t 3 Tom CuninvhamDalhr Nwf Lot at University In the Bronx, is filled with (phoio left). At Heath In the Kingsbridge section (right), street is spotlessly clean after sanitation truck passed.

Mow our neighborhoods go down and dirty Cleaning the city: the first steps I Love a Clean New York a nonprofit clean streets organization, is organizing a "Polish the Apple" campaign to spruce up the midtowa area. On July 11, on the steps of the main Public Library at Fifth Ave. and 42d the casts of "Grease," "Whoopee," "Eubie" and "Mummen-schanz" will join with city officials to open the campaign with a cleanup of the library steps and Bryant Park neighborhood as well as the original people did." Cecere says it is a discouragement to the sanitationmen on the street. "The sweeper goes through, and the place looks spotless, and it gives the men a feeling of pride they want to keep it clean. "But then the people begin littering.

The area's dirty an hour after the sweeper passes. It hurts the men's morale, and makes the situation difficult to supervise." Cecere, 39, was born and reared in the Bronx, and still lives in the Westchester Square area. He sweeps not only his sidewalks, but whatever sidewalks need sweeping near his home. "People don't realize how much we depend on them to keep a neighborhood clean," he said. "The well-kept areas get less of the Sanitation Department's resources.

It becomes harder for us to clean up after the people there's not enough of us." Right now, the Kingsbridge area is not really one of the city's worst the low ratings by Operation Scorecard Most think flying is safe but maintenance weak By DONALD SINGLETON Not so many years ago, the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx was the very model of a clean, well-kept city neighborhood. Winding, hilly streets lined with shade trees gave the place an almost suburban air. Property owners swept not only sidewalks, but gutters as well. A stray piece of paper was a rare sight. Today, things are changing in Kings-bridge.

While many streets retain their former spotless appearance, the signs of deterioration are clear on many blocks. Matted waste paper collects under cars. Rubbish cascades out of vacant lots. Refuse containers stand uncovered, and merchants fail to clean up the fetid messes outside their shops. Just one month ago, the Bronx West Sanitation Command fell from fourth place to 10th among the Sanitation Department's 12 commands.

Only 22.8 of the command's streets were found to be in an "acceptable" condition. In the latest rating by Operation Truckers 9 protest in Times Sq. By SHERYL MCCARTHY Their ranks dwindling, striking independent truckers brought their nationwide campaign for fuel supplies and industry deregulation to Times Square yesterday. As the blast of air horns reverberated down almost deserted side streets, the convoy of 30 tractor-trailers the re-mants of a 200-rig weekend rally in Eng-lishtown, N.J. emerged from the Lincoln Tunnel at 12:30 p.m.

and was immediately corralled by a police escort. The police, who expressed open sympathy for the truckers, closed off Broadway to auto traffic between 42d and 45th Sts. while the convoy pulled its wagons into a circle. Many trucks displayed the strikers' emblem, a bright red circle enclosing a peanut with a red line Slashed through it. Want recognition "We want uniform weight and length laws across the country.

We want fuel tQT our trucks," said trucker Jim Eaton, and other drivers told police they cBtSt frisb ta blots, traffic or create CLEAN CITY Scorecard, the mayoral agency that monitors the cleanliness of the city's streets, Sanitation District 29, which includes Kingsbridge, claimed the dubious distinction of last place 58th among 58 districts in meeting its cleanup targets. How did this change occur in such a short period of time?" "Well, I'm no social scientist, so I can't explan it," says Sanitation Superintendent Benedict Cecere, who in charge of District 29. "But it seems to me that when an area begins to change, it's just naturally harder to keep it clean." The signs of change, says Cecere, are the moving vans. "First you see the vans outside the buildings, and then you begin to see the ethnic changes in the neighborhood, and it always seems that the new people don't take care of the They won't bury the hatchet Denver (UPD Two sisters are suing a mortuary they say put the wrong body in the coffin at their father's funeral. Gloria and Sally Martinez filed suit recently in Denver District Court, claiming that they attended a funeral service for their father, Frank Gutierrez, at Trevino Mortuary in 1978.

The sisters said that when they walked to the coffin for a final view after the service, they discovered that the body was not that of their father. They sued for $10,000 damages for their humiliation and embarrassment. disorder, as they have done in other states. "We are not here to have a hassle with the police," Eaton said. "We are just going to ride around for a while and get recognition from the people of New York and New Jersey." "Backhaullng" complaint Police Officer Frank Thomas told reporters: "They can drive around all they want.

We'll give them a hand as long as they don't block traffic." Thomas' radio car also prominently displayed the "no peanut" symbol, a reference to the" strikers' dissatisfaction with President Carter. No arrests were reported by "police! who allowed the truckers to proceed' down Broadway before the convoy dispersed near the Holland Tunnel. merely reflect a failure to meet goals, not an absolute measurement of filth. But the real problem areas are moving closer, up from the south and over from the east. And Cecere feels powerless to stop it.

"All we can do is our best," he says. "But once the area starts to go, I don't know how to stop it." OPINION POLL and Westchester, Rockland. Nassau and Suffolk counties was conducted in consultation with Richard F. Link Associates Inc. The first question was: "Do you think flying is a safe way to travel compared with other forms of 72 No 21 Don't know 7 The second question was: "Have you or anyone you know ever been involved in an airplane Yes 7 No 93 The next question was: "Do you think safety checks or precedures on airplanes are too rigid, too lax or about right?" Too rigid 3 Too lax SS About right 2S Don't know 11 The last question was: "How of tea would you say you fly during a year?" Never 27 1 to 5 times 62 to 10 times 6 19 to 20 times 2 More titan 29 tiroes 1 BY THOMAS COLLINS A majority of residents in the metropolitan area think the safety checks or procedures on airplanes are too lax, according to the Daily News Opinion Poll.

Nonetheless, more than seven in 10 said that flying was a safe way to travel compared with other forms of transportation. Only 7 said they themselves or anyone they knew was ever involved in an airplane accident. The poll was taken June 11 and 12, just days after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded 138 DC-lOs operating in the United States. The FAA acted in the wake of the May 25 crash of an American Airlines DC-10 in Chicago in which 273 persons were killed. It was the worst civil aviation disaster in the nation's history.

The crash occurred after an engine mount gave way and an engine fell off shortly after takeoff. FAA investigators generally agree that the crash could have been prevented if the craft had been inspected properly. Investigators said tighter and more rigorous, inspection procedures will be instituted to prevent a recurrence of such a disaster. The Daily News poll, a random telephone survey of 401 adults in the city.