Newsday from New York, New York • 5

Late Fees Illegal T-shirts like thb will be used to publicize the city's campaign against car traffic City to Commuters: Forget Your Ross Sandler this an said beginning" la "The mayor New York Consolidated multi-million-dollar collection of late-payment charges on gas bills was ruled illegal yesterday in State Supreme Court An appeal of the decision was expected Law-i familiar with the case said that if the decision Justice Bernard Nadel is upheld it could outlaw chaiges for late payments of gas bills throughout the state It would force refunds of millions of dollars to individual and corporate users of natural gas Hie current late-payment charge is 15 per cent pei month The ruling would not apply to electricity users The decision came in a suit by Con Edison against Yeshiva University with the utility seeking to recover $13702799 in unpaid late-payment charges on gas supplied to the university- Nadel said that an earlier court decision had held that late-payment charges by utilities were not a penalty and therefore were permitted as a general rule Francis Rivett a spokesman for the Public Service Commission said the PSC had approved the charges for nonresidential customers "on the theory they were the equivalent to interest charges on a credit But the judge apparently interpreted a state law that forbids service charges for gas as applying to the late-payment charges Rivett said There are late-payment charges for electricity but the courts have previously upheld the right to charge them Rivett said He said the downstate utilities have no late payment charges for residential use of gas or electricity primarily because of bookkeeping costa Long bland Lighting Co spokeswoman June Bruce said that her company started billing late-payment charges for businesses foi both electricity and gas in October 1977 "We had to go out and borrow the money to pay our bilb before that" Ms Bruce said "It seemed very unfair to have the customers who paid on time have to pick up the inetrest cost on money we have to borrow because we have customers who pay late" But Ms Bruce disagreed with conclusion not a service charge the cost of money" she said Nadel said that natural gas deliveries were not covered by the earlier decision because the law makes specific provisions for utilities selling natural gas Con Edison alone reportedly has collected $17 million in late charges on both electricity and gas since 1974 when the late charge was inaugurated following public hearings The largest utility Con Edison has 11 million gas customers in New York City and Westchester County If upheld the decision also would eliminate future late payment penalties for gas customers By Dennis Duggan Newsday New York Bureau Chief New Take a bus! Ride the subway! Pedal your bike! Jump on a train! Even walk! But forget your car! Leave it at home! That's the message which New Yorkers will be getting from a new television and radio advertising rampmgn that will cost the city $200000 The theme is: "New Doing It" Mayor Edward Koch who unveiled the campaign yesterday at a City Hall press conference said that it was aimed at getting people in the city and on Long Island and in other suburbs to leave their cars at home Koch admitted that he himselfhad driven to work from Grade Mansion in a city-owned car yesterday but he defended Ids use of an auto by dting the nature of his job He added: "I try very hard to keep in touch with mass transit at least once every 10 The advertising campaign designed by Bozell Jacobs Inc will include 80 second TV fea- basketball i turing such celebrities as Knicks urban Sandler and City Corporation Counsel Allen Schwartz signed a stipulation that will be filed with U8 District Court in the next few The city also has agreed to provide more bus lanes and pedestrian areas in central business districts and to start an emission-measurement program for dty buses In addition the city will widen crosswalks pn Fifth Avenue between 42nd and 59th Streets and add to its brown-uniformed civilian traffic-enforcement force That force now totaling 1000 has all but replaced traffic policemen releasing them for anti-crime work All the actions were approved by the court Automobiles are blamed for much of the foul air in New York and fin: almost all of its noise A spokesman for the Department of Transportation said that a recent count showed more than 715000 cars and trucks coming into the city from all directions each day Manhattan gets 85000 cars each day from Queens Manhattan also gets 19000 ears a day from Nassau and 6600 from Suffolk "I think silly for people to use cars in the said Bess Myerson "I use the underground every single day Irs the best and fastest way to get Haywood Rangers hockey star Pat Hickey and singer Melba Moore be shown riding buses subways and bikes and even w-a-l-k-i-n-g But never in a car eral laws Town Hall Given Landmark Status By Bill Kauftnan New The New York City Ijmdmarka Prwiervatinn Cornmisainn has granted landmark status to Town Hall the historic concert facility on West 43rd Street The commission must now approve any changes to be made in the building which leaves undear the status of a plan to convert the hall into a two-theater complex Patricia Rich a spokeswoman for the commission said that the Tuesday ruling applies to both the interior and exterior of the building Any changes other than routine maintenance must be unanimously approved by ha wimmiiriiiw aha said Producer Craig Anderson has acquired a base on Town Hall He first announced that he was going to create two separate 500 seat theaters in the building But Anderson the producing director of the Hudson Guild Theater later revised his plans after who did not want the 57-year-old building altered and the acoustics destroyed He subsequently said that he wanted' to build a 500-aeat theater on the roof and to leave the main auditorium largely untouched Anderson said yesterday that he welcomed the ruling because "now at least I have some territory to travel Anderson said he will have his designers submit their plans to the commission "but I still have specific requirements that I need in order to operate a viable theater Well work with the commission to come up with the best plan But certain changes must be made I cannot work with Town Hall the way it now Anderson said that he needs his proposal approved within a month in order to proceed Vith his fund-raisihg efforts "So for everything has been sitting up in the air Anderson said cost me $100000 in Continued on Pane 25 City taw? 'fagenountered opposition fr those.