NEW YORK, MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, Ig92a%

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Nancy Slcscl/ l hc Ncw York I imcs

,Fall ls in the Air, FinallyResidents of Greer.rpoint, Brooklyn, participating irr an autumn festival in McCarren Park yesterclay as thetemperature reached 56 degrees. Toclay is to be colder, with gusty winds.showers and a high of 49 degrees.

ffiMTHffiffiORTH BROOKLYN COMMUNITY NEWS

NOvIt\{BER 1992St. Nlcholas Neighborhood prea€rvatlon Corporatlon

1 1 -29 Cath€rtne Street, Brooklyn, NY 'l 121 1 Vol. XV No. 11

by Jennifer Downey

Hundreds of Greenpoint andwilliamsburg residenrs lurned out forthe October lSth Autumnfest organizedby Indcpendent Friends of McCarrenPark. Held in McCarren Park's NultySquare, the event celebraled the two-vcar anniversary and the formaldedication of the Rainbow Carden,whrch seventeen local communitygroups came together to Planl inNovember of 1990.

Festival-goers were invited to tastcrnternational foods, plant bulbs in theRainbow garden, paint a mural andfrolic in an enticing sprawl of streamcrsand papcr laid out by Kwok, a local

Neighbors Come TogetirerFclicia Young, thc evcnr's

organizer who was deckcd out in abroad straw hat fcstooncd withgrapevines and wildflowcrs, describedthe fcstival as an opportunity forncrghbors to brcak down language andracc barriers by'interacting crealivcly.'

Many residens did jusr rhat byqorking tDgether on Autumnfcstrclated projects throughout earlyOctobcr.

Lrslie Berns, a local artist, andTim Culbcrt, an architect, @nstructeda 'Harvesr Hut" o[ dried tree trunks,

installation artist. Entertainment developmcnt gavc out information and up

Russia. a Russian choir. nelghborhood rcsidents, cxprcsscd

The Haruesr hoccssion ittcludea il PaPet machc Eanh Gddess and was iorncd bvnnny pantcipants thtough the fcsrival to Falher Popieluszko Square.

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detight at their prescncc and thc turn-oul in gcneral. 'Bcforc Rcagan.Williamsburg-Grccnpoint had an activccoalition of a hundrc<l cltlzcnorganizations. All this new cnergr istouching. I'm really proud to have abusincss hcrc. lt s a wondcrfulneighborhood,' shc sald.

Mid-afternoon. a harvcstprocqssrun lcft fronr thc RussianOrthodox Church to wcnd its wavthrouqh festival-goers and thcn oul loPopieluszko Square to offer a planringand blessing to Polish residentlgathered lherc to commemorarc Fathcr

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McCarren Autumnfestbranches and leavcs. Thc hut was arich tribute to the season, surroundcdby piles of pumpkins and squash, lrndhung with messagcs and ptcturc\painted on cardboard squarcs bv voungAutumnfesl visitors.

Muriel Horaling, a Sourhsidcresident sincc 1947, Veronica Koziol ofthe Northsidc and orhcrs from thcYoung Ar Heart Senior Clrizcn Ccntcrused brigl.lll colorcd leavcs, plajricflowers and paint to trJnsform thcirwide-brimmcd hats inl() flamingOctobcr-licked rrec-tops.Community Concerns Aircd

Citiz-en aclton groups concerncdwith ncighborhood issucs such lsrcrycling, thc planncd Brooklvn NavyYard Incincrator, and watcrfront

rff ff Ti:lH!,T ?i::,?l, l-1T ;:T"1:,'S** ;:",:l_#,i' lll'" JT C o I o r fut Clean-UpBartimcs to a performance by Vrvat Te<tOy's bar and i long-timc

Studcnrs t'ront Hatry Van A*dale High School (left ond ccnter) proudly dLsplas'tht

lrash cans rhcv and fellow srudents patntcd for the McCancn Park rcocle antl cltan

and Recyclingby llillary Homzie

Recycring may have a betrcr ,^" Jl&?::lt*,?;; fiiil#f;chance in Mccarrcn Park thanks to on Ocrobcr lgth to dozenscon@rnedkidsandresidents. Fifty-two community groups, the major's offrtrashcansreceivedcolorful make-overs ciry couniiliran'Ken Fisher and I

as parl o[ a kick-off cffort to gcl parks dcDartment. Thc rc-donc u,Mccarrcn Park to clean-up and recycle. were .lnonc the mosl colorOvcr 150 school children in artracrions it the fesrival $,h)Grccnpoint and williamsburg painted promotcd kc€ping the carrh heal(h\trash cans that witl be designated for .l rricO io abscond one for :

recycling. Northside Seniors. and local o61.",.;okcd Disrrict I park Supen,rrrqsidcnts panicipated as well. Harold Tier."llail to help the world rccJcle," Rachcl E1kind, who. organizcd .

said Danicl McLauglin, 12, wh9 efforls, set-up a painting booth at ,

thought rhat straightening up his local autumn celelrarion so fesrival co.park was a good start. 'lt clcans up thc so.16 join in the fun.ncighborhood.' @d,|g, an?4 19

---_At rhc McCancn Cardcn Fcsivat, nnny pcople gathoed lo commcmorate Fat

P'opicluszko aftet a Prccession to the squdrc in Grecnpont' namcd in his ment

DIA DE tOS MUERTOS IIIHOMELESSNESS

To commemorare all those who have died ofAIDS, starvation, exposure to the elemenrs,

as well as society's indifference tohumanity in this age of homelessness, rheAlternative Museum presenrs igs ThirdAnnual Day Of The Dead exhibicion and

candlelight procession based on rhetraditional Mexican and Central Americanfestival celebrating and honoring the dead.

Exhibition curarors,Fran Resch, Geno Rodriguez

Addirional curarorial assistanceby David Fisch

Candlelight Procession organized anddesigned by Felicia Young

Volunteer coordinator Marcia Altieri

THE ALTERNATIVE MUSEUMNEW YORK

NOVEMBER 2, 1990

DIA DE tOS MUERTOS CAIIDIEIIGHT PROCESSIOI{HOMELESSNESS

The Candlelight Procession led by Frank London and The Big Brothers Bandalong West Broadway to City Hall.Organized and designed by Felicia Young.

Photography by Ed Castro, Vince Eng, Sally Savage and Andrew Sciaulino.

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Metropolitan I\ewshe New York Times NEld/ yORK, NEW /ERSEy, CONNECTICUT/MONDAr lULy s0, 1gg0

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Marchers at a recent demonstration in Brooktyn calting for the restoration of the McCarren Park swimming pool, which closed in 19g3.

A debate overrestoration takes onracial overtones.

aldo Rivera, the television personality -and those who want it modernized and re-duced in size.

But recently the debate has taken on ra-cial overtones.

In the process the pool has become ametaphor for tl e ways in which the city'splans can be derailed bv the best intentions."This is not i.t rtory of red tape run ar.ruck,"said Jack Linn, an sssistanr rrarks clrmrnis-sioner, "but of the problcm.t inherenr in theparticipatory form of government we havechosen."

Construction on the pool is unlikely to be-

gin before 1995. But plans cannot proceeduntil the Landmarks Commission rules onwhether to confer landmark starus on theMcCarren Park pool and the l0 other gianrpools built in 1936 by Robert Moses. If itdoes, then plans for major renovation wouldrequire the approval of several governmen-tal agencies.

Haven for Drug DealersRenovation was to have begun in t984, but

was halted by the objections of residenrs liv-ing near the pool, who wanted it closed for.good. They conrended rhar the pool had be-come overrun by thousands of teen-agersand had become a haven for dr-ug dealersand prostitutes.

Afler more than a year of studv by a com-mittee drawn from a broad spcctrum of theneighborhood, the local community boardadopted a plan to turn the pool complex intoa year-round recreational center. The plan

Continuedon Page 86

A Crumbling Pool Divides a NeighborhoodBy NADINE BROzAN

Larger than a football field and gracedwith majestic architecture, the MccarrenPark swimming pool was considered a won-drous place when it opened in Brooklyn inI 936.

The pool, which is in the Greenpoint sec-tion, could accommodate 6,800 people. Fromthe day it opened, it became a resort for peo-ple who could not afford vacations and thehub of the working-class neighborhood'ssummerr tme social life.

Now ri sits crumbling, a huge and lonelybulwark against the Manhattan skyline,devastared by neglect, vandals and drug ad-dicts who regularly breach its walls sincethe pool was closed seven years ago.

But ir has not been forgotten,It is the focus of a birrer neighborhood dis-

put.e between those who \4'ant it reslored toits original splendor - including some fa-mous non-neighbors: Spike Lee, the filmmaker. Eddie Murphy, the actor, and Ger-

@hc$turr ork@tmeg,t tsr|r.arrLEi$ti.. t-i-[-hbhNBW YORK, THURSDAY, TUNB 22,

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Musicians, artists an{ others parading at Battery park yesterday tomark the summer solstice,4t 5:s3 A.M. The season's arrivit brought anend, if only a technichl one, to on'e of the wettest springs on recordl

POWERTOTHE PEOPLE

. ..' sIACY ROSENSTOCKTwenty years after Columbla Unlversifo abindoned plans to bulHfts now infamous gymnasium at the perimeter of Mofningside Park-with separate entrances for the'school and nelghbors-lhepark reverte4 partlclpants ln a parade last Saturday say, to thepeople. Thls time, lt took much magic and chanllng; lncluding rell-glous rites of varlous sects to drive the park's newest occupiers-drug dealers-from what had become one of illanhattanb mostnotorlous areas.

Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Yomoma Arts Inc. present

Citywide Arts Celebration and Morningside Park FestivalSaturday, September 3, 1988, 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.