Daily News from New York, New York • 120

acie Wlansioiij shabby realiti At Gr and plans i It 1 --s rri vr Vi MjsK? It Act Uy'f JOHN PEDIN DAILY NEWS On the tour: disappointed in the By PAUL LA ROSA Mayor Koch by a dignitary in China. What the conservancy would like to do is replace all the furniture and paintings to give the house a feeling of permanence as well as a consistent style. "The mayor feels the house belongs to the city and should be preserved," said Diane Coffey, one of his 'I Although every mayor ts entitled to a stipend to redecorate the house the way he or she wants, Koch did not use his, preferring instead to put about $1 'million of the city's money into the conservancy. Rather than let every succeeding mayor and his wife change rooms willy-nilly, he'd like to give the mansion one style that could be flexible enough to ,7 Continued on page 3 in one form or another since 1770. Anyone who has visited Gracie Mansion since it was opened to the public a year and a half ago has no doubt felt that it was a grand house but.

The but" applies to the furnishings. "It seems kind of shabby," Jones said. "It didn't seem right. I was disappointed in the furniture, but I guess it gets a lot of wear and tear." But as her friend pointed, out: "When you change a tenant every four years, jit's hard to decorate a place." -v Most of the furnishings reflect the tastes of the last seven mayors and their wives The result is a mishmash of styles. There is a graphic "Ajax Nigeria," to a model of a girl in kimono given to 0 "NETTY JONES thought the place looked "a bit shabby." Peggie Hanson felt "the mod-lJ ern paintings didn't belong," and another woman wanted to know who hung the wallpaper crooked.

All in all, the consensus of women from Mon-': mouth County, N.J., who toured Gracie Mansion yesterday is that, yes, the place needs a facelift It's nice to know they agree because some of the most influential people in New York already feel the same way. They have organized the Gracie Mansion Conservancy to raise $5.3 million for a renovation of the house that has existed at that site City to sell hbuses to handicapped, other groups By MARTIN KING uses for city-owned properties, while helpjng neighborhood organizations to continue and expand'the servkes? 'they provide to some of the neediest. areas in our Koch said. Wfrvel haJ-bun dreds. of requests from community groups for pemanehtspacl lo; house their neighborhood, He noted that the: innovative proj eel, "begins to answer their needs, at the, same time "bringing new life io of bur deteriorated lnreMr "has' been taken by? the eityi usually because the landlord failed" to pay taxes on the property.

The properties will be sold to the' 'selected groups at a price based on tion given to their intended use, a HPD spokesman said. 'i Interested groups may apply fo city assistance in financing the purchase of the buildings, but they are required to include In their proposals financing mechanisms for the necessary rehabilitation work, the spokesman said. 4 The properties must be rehabili tated within three years from the da they are bought; and will be restrict to nonprofit purposes for at' least 15 years, A booklet which describes the. properties and outlines requirements for their redevelopment is availably for $5 from: City' Spaces Program Room 8053, HPD, 100 Gold St, NeW in a the plan. It is'aimed at public-service programs 'ranging from youth senior citizen groups.

The program targeted toward such special populations as the handicapped, re- -cent immigrants, artists, and. even single-rbom-occupancy By responding to a Request f6r Proposals issued by HPD's Office of Special Housing, nonprofit organizations may propose the rehabilitation of the selected sites for U.7-hr'i-, Community meeting spaces and. housing, for4 special populations? which, might include communal di-'i ning, recreational facilities or live-in work space for the special groups is envisioned under the plan. -It is our hope that the City Spaces Paagrattvwmiaiter a.wiida rangat. I 3HE KOCH ADMINISTRATION LP has developed a plan to unload some of its unwanted, finan- cialty draining city properties while -helping the handicapped and other special groups obtain permanent.

space for their activities. Groups working on community or on social, recreational or cultural programs will be offeretl the opportunity to purchase more than 60 mostly vacant city-owned buildings in Manhattan and the other boroughs under a pilot program known as City Spaces. Gliedman, commissioner 'of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Joined isf.