Newsday from New York, New York • 34

Phone Items to (21 2) 303-2850 MIDTOWN Bryant Park Unit Appoints Associate Director The Bryant Park Restoration the non- -profit organization that direct activities at the park, has chosen a former city parks official as associate director. Kate Pearson, who formerly served as director of special events for the city Department of Parks and Recreation, was recently appointed to the Bryant Park group. The announcement was made by Andrew Heiskell, the organizations chairman, and executive director Dan Biedennan. With the parks department, Pearson supervised such projects as the New York City Marathon, and concerts at the Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera Hoilse. She also has worked as an official at the Central Park Conservancy, managing fundraising programs.

Pearson will be responsible for supervising the restoration groups various activities in the park, located behind the New York Public Library' at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. The Bryant Park Restoration Corp. was founded in 1980 to replenish the park as a center for passive recreation, and to provide arts and cultural events. FOOTNOTES Tips on Care Of Decorated Street Trees Photo br Todd Levy Horsing Around Assuring his son Austin that the horse is okay to pet, Gary Alexander lifts him up so he can try. They are on Fifth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets.

The New York Street Consortium is offering a series of holiday tips to reduce the amount of damage inflicted on street trees in the course of holiday lighting. Because street trees are widely used during the holiday season for strings of festive lights, officials at the consortium are urging those who decorate trees to do the following: Do not wrap one strand of lights around several different branches. MANHATTAN CLOSEUP Landmark Battles Brewing Use only cool bulbs, placing them away from growth buds mid binding strands carefully to the branch using a soft-coated wire. The wire should not be twisted tightly, leaving some slack. Do not use nails, tacks or staples to pin ornaments or lights to the tree.

Employ a licensed electrician who will not climb in the tree. Keep lighting time to a minimum, particularly if lights are hot. They should not be left on all night. For additional information about how best to protect trees, call the New York City Consortium at (212) 265-1080 or write the consortium at 16 W. 61st seventh floor, New York, N.Y.

10023. ment rights the unused square footage above small buildings to construct adjacent smaller buildings without special city approval. But if they buy development rights from a landmark, they can get waivers from limitations on the size and shape of their buildings. The limitations, enacted in 1982 for all but landmarks, were intended to increase light and air reaching the streets below. The City Planning Commission specifically excluded buildings constructed with landmark development rights from the limitations, because it wanted to make it easier for landmark owners to raise funds to maintain their buildings.

But criticism arose after huge buildings were constructed using landmark waivers, as in the case of the 72-story Cityspire behind City Center on West 55th Street. If. developers couldnt waiver the height and setback regulations, they would be confined to a much lower building, said Martin Gallent, a former city planning commissioner, who has emerged as a critic of city planning policies. By leaving this one exception, it continues to increase the density in midtown which is already overly dense, he said. It is a good tool but it has to be used judiciously.

Patrick Ping-Tze, principal urban designer for the city Planning Department, agreed that individual cases could compromise light and air. But, he said, This allowance is established for the sake of preserving the landmark structure, which was also a very important value in our cityscape. Others associated with the landmarks commission said they get angry when attention is focused only on landmark development rights, which require public review. Sales of non-land-mark development rights do not require review unless developers seek special permits. Laurie Beckelman, of the Landmarks Conservancy, a nonprofit preservation group, said problems result when individual pacts are approved without regard for an overall neighborhood plan.

"Landmark transfers havent been that many, she said, but theyre dwarfing the rest of the city, dwarfing the landmark. By Carol Polsky Preservationists notched a victory last month when the Landmarks Preservation Commission rejected a high-rise tower above the prestigious Metropolitan Club on Fifth Avenue. But no one believes the proposal will be the last to loom over the citys low-rise landmarks. Before Christmas, the commission will review another plan to build six additional floors on top of the landmark B. Altmans department store at 34th Street and Madison Avenue.

And debate will continue, as developers seek to build on top of landmarks, over demolished landmarks and next door to landmarks using hundreds of thousands of square feet in unused development rights. Landmarks Preservation Commission chairman Gene Norman says the Metropolitan Chib decision isnt necessarily a guide to what future decisions will be. Generally, we look at these things on a case by case basis, he said. In the past, the commission has rejected some controversial plans, such as a tower atop the New York Historical Society building on Central Park West But it has accepted others, such as a high-rise behind the Towers Nursing Home, also on Central Park West at 105th Street. Some deals dont involve building above a landmark.

Developers can also buy air rights to build next door, or even across the street from a One such project involved the recent sale of development rights from City Center to permit construction of the tallest residential tower in the city, on West 56th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. Meanwhile, a U.S. District Court judge will set a spring trial date Dec. 29 on a claim by St Bartholomews Episcopal Church that landmark laws crested a financial hardship for the church and violated its constitutional right to freedom of religion. The landmarks commission rejected three proposals by the church to tear down its community house on Park Avenue to make way for an office tower.

By law, private developers can use develop NEWSDAY, WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER 9. 1907 NY-M Lighting of Christmas Trees A tree glows in Brooklyn six, to be precise and in Queens and Manhattan, too. In all, 45 sites around the city are beginning to look a lot like Christmas, courtesy of the Parks Department which will be lighting upChristmas trees. The 56-foot balsam fir tree at City Hall, lit shortly after sunset yesterday by Mayor Edwanl I.Koch, officially led the way.

Similiar ceremonies will follow, casting parts of the city in a holiday light. In Manhattan, other lighting ceremonies will take place tomorrow at Bowling Green Park, Broadway and Batteiy Place, 5:15 p.m., and at the Washington Square Arch, at the foot of Fifth Avenue, at 6 p.m. In Queens, a lighting ceremony will take place tomorrow at Borough Hall, Queens Boulevard and Union Turnpike, 4 p.m. The tree at Daniel Beard Park, Northern Boulevard and Main Street, was lit Monday. In Brooklyn, lighting ceremonies will take place: Tomorrow at Irving Square Park, Knickerbocker Avenue and Halsey Street, 2 p.m.

Saturday at Carroll Park, President and Court Streets, 5 p.m. Monday at Columbus Park, Montague and Court Streets, 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Amersfort Park, Avenue and East 38th Street, 4 p.m. Dec. 16 at the Promenade, the foot of Montague Street, 5:30 pun.

The tree at Sunset Park, Seventh Avenue and 43rd Street, was lit Tuesday..