Daily News from New York, New York • 139

DAILY NEWS Friday. July 17. 1987 I iWilTfiWiTil rv QVf f-'ih' rl ,1,1 rrti j.rS -IpT A 3 ti 11 1 -l Hi" i -y1- uJVi II II 1 1 1 III 1 r1 'T-l if if. I i I li i L.I.. I 3 ir 4 "-'1 MCX MKTM 1U.V Kn CITY'S CHANCES of keeping Museum of American Indian allegedly are slipping.

for the museum, told the Moynihan hearing yesterday that "mixed signals" from the city "have left the museum in doubt as to precisely what the position of the city is." He noted that the city at one time urged that the museum merge with the American Museum of Natural History. That proposal has won the endorsement of Sen. Alfonse Gospel musical Starting today, Gordon Nelson's gospel musical, "The Legacy," is playing at the National Black Theater, 2033 Fifth Ave. at 125th St, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and on Sundays at 3 p.m.

until Aug. 3. The musical shows the relationship of African music to American black gospel. Admission is $12. For reservations, call 427-5615.

The musical is directed by Elmo Terry-Morgan. The pianist is James Johnson. Soupstone bill Soupstone Project, which produces original plays, is presenting "Soupstone Project Number Six," at St Clement's Church, 423 W. 46th St, through Aug. 1.

Plays to be put on are "Come Again -Another Day," by Cary Pepper, about a man and a collection agency, and "The Way It Works," by Jerry Sander, a show about a Broadway producer and a cable-television show host Performances tonight and tomorrow will be at 8 p.m. All shows are free to the'public. For complete schedule and reservations, call 245-2708. MOMA concerts Two concerts will be put on this weekend in the garden at the Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53d St Music by Erik Satie and Olivier Messiaen will be played by graduates of the Juilliard School.

The garden opens at 6 p.m. Concerts tonight and tomorrow will begin at 7:30 p.m. Light refreshments, including beer, wine and soda, will be available. The concerts are free to the public. Jazz saxophone This weekend, jazz legend James Moody brings his saxophone and other instruments to Sweet Basil, 88 Seventh Ave.

Jazz brunches this weekend will feature the Eddie Chamblee Quartet tomorrow from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Doc Cheatham from 3 to 7 p.m. on Sunday. For reservations: 242-1785.

Kickoff The football season will begin early on Monday at Cafe Americano, 105 Hudson St, with a party for NFL stars Joe Morris, Wesley Walker and Freeman McNeil. The party will start at 6 p.m. No cover or minimum. For reservations, call 219-8802. CUdDEinielliBss sMta D'Amato, who has not endorsed the Moynihan bill that would move the Indian artifacts into the Custom House.

Costikyan said the move to the Custom House would require a $20 to $30 million fund-raising effort by the museum, in addition to the state and city funds. "Four months ago, I felt we could do it" he will find another site, which his agency would operate. The shelter drew strong complaints from community residents before the Salvation Army took over running the facility. Neighbors charged that crime had risen and that women from the shelters engaged in sex on the street with their boy friends. Local council "The first thing we did was persuade the neighborhood to come in and look at the shelter." Kelly recalled.

"We also formed a local council to help us with problems as the neighborhood perceived them. Generally, the neighborhood has had a good reaction." Kelly said women at the shelter were participating in a program to get high school equivalency diplomas and find jobs. "Our goal is to eliminate the need for shelters," he said. "We know that's not going to happen right away, but that's what we're working for." The Aug. 19 auction of the building will be the second by the city in four years.

In 1983 the city sold the four-story Romanesque structure for $12.3 million. But the buy By ROBERT CARROLL Daily News Staff Writer Sen. Patrick Moynihan warned yesterday that the city's chance of keeping the Museum of the American Indian here is "slipping away" and urged support for his proposal to move the of Indian artifacts into the federal Custom House in lower Manhattan. Moynihan, who has a bill pending that would transfer ownership of the Custom House to the museum, said the Smithsonian Institution "wishes to abscond" to Washington with the Indian treasure house. "If they do," he told a hearing of the Senate subcommittee on Water Resources, Transportation and Infrastructure, which he chairs, "we will have only ourselves to blame." Answering Moynihan's crit-icism that the city has "fudged" in its support for the museum, acting city Cultural Affairs Commissioner Diane Coffey said a study to determine the feasibility of relocating the museum from upper Manhattan to the Custom House "will begin within a very short time.

"We want the museum to stay here," Coffey told a hearing at the U.S. Court of International Trade. "I bejieve that will occur." The Indian museum at 155th St and Broadway has been looking for a new home for more than a decade. The city and the state have pledged a total of $26 million to keep the museum in New York, but planning for a new home has lagged. Meanwhile, the Smithsonian has come forward with an offer to house the collection of books, objects and works of art in a new building that would be erected on a mall near the foot of Capitol Hill inWashington.

Edward Costikyan, attorney said yesterday. "Today, I don't know." He said he is pessimistic because the city has been slow in supporting a move to the Custom House. Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins told yesterday's hearing that he "strongly supports a move by the Indian museum to the Custom House. to dose er defaulted and the city took back possession of the property. 'Gorgeous building Built in 1892 to house Public School 35, the building was later home to the United Nations School.

In 1983 the city opened a shelter there. At that time the developer had planned to convert the structure into a condominium, but agreed to let the city use the buildinj in the interim to house homeless women. "It's a gorgeous building," Brenda Levin, chairman of the Coalition to Save 931 said yesterday of the building the city once planned to tear down. The coalition has fought since 1980 to save the building, which is believed to have been patterned after the Dakota building on Central Park West The city has placed restrictions on the sale of the property, requiring the new owner to retain and restore the building facade, but permitting some expansion of floor space. Suzanne Trazoff, a spokesman for HRA, said no details on a new site would be made public at this time.

Salvation Army's current contract expires next June, By JOYCE YOUNG Daily News Staff Writer An East Side public school which has been used to house 200 homeless women by the Salvation Army, will be auctioned by the city next month, leaving sponsors to search for a new facility. Last March the Salvation Army received approval from the Board of Estimate to take over the city-run shelter at 931 First Ave. at 51st St, under a $2.3 million contract awarded by the Human Resources Administration. The venture marked the first time the operation of a shelter had been awarded to a private organization. It also marked the first shelter operated by the Salvation Army in the metropolitan area.

April 1988 deadline Lt CoL Paul Kelly, commander of the Greater New York divison of the Salvation Army, said yesterday that the non-profit organization has until April 1988 to remain at the 51st St site. "There has to be a women's shelter in Manhattan," said Kelly. Kelly said that the auction of the building will not mean the end of their commitments to the homeless, adding that he is confident that the HRA.