Buffalo Criterion, 1986-06-05

              wny's necessary minority newspaper — featuring paid legitimate circulation niagara region price only 20 c per copy serving working leading in wny inner cities since 1923 the buffalo criterion rochester vol 80 — no 23 thursday june 5-11 1986 2-yr property tax freeze proposed rutkowski seeks continuation of 1 % sales tax to cover mandated costs erie county executive edward j rutkowski tuesday called for a minimum two-year freeze on county property taxes ' thanks to our exhaus tive efforts in overhauling county finances reducing the size of county govern ment and extensive reval uation of county programs and services i am today proposing a minimum two year freeze of county prop erty « taxes county executive rutkowski said rutkowski said that county government has returned to financial health but warned tht the county's dedicated one percent sales tax would have to be continued in order to assure the property tax freeze in order to fund state mandated welfare pro grams and the nearly doubled mandated fund ing of nfta deficits as well as deal with federal funding reductions due to gramm-rudman the con tinuation of the one cent sales tax is critical to our efforts to freeze property taxes rutkowski added rutkowski pointed out that due to increasing costs of state mandates more than half the residents of new york state pay a total state and local sales tax of eight percent or more locally the county and new york state each levy a four percent sales tax the county shares its portion of the sales tax retaining about half and sending half to localities and schools to help hold down local property taxes the state retains its entir sales tax rutkowski warned that timely action is needed in both the county legislature and in all because the state legisla ture is expecting to adjourn by the first week in july if the county and state legislatures have no acted by then we fact the prospect of an unaccept able increase in property taxes and a crippling ol local services naacp's medgar evers dinner planned awards to be given •- the buffalo branch of the naacp will observe its 20th annual medgar evers civil rights dinner sunday june bth at 6:30 p.m at the buffalo convention center recipients of this year's medgar evers civil rights award will ba mr amd mrs claude clapp retir ed public school officials ouida h clapp a graduate of talladega college and wayne state university was director of english language arts in the buffalo schools for 18 years she retired in august 1985 she had served the buffalo public schools for 33 years and had taught english in seven buffalo schools prior to her administrative appoint ment mr clapp was responsible for curriculum development assignment supervision and evaluation of english teachers staff development textbook selection examination preparation and the pro gram of essay and speaking contests debates and dramatic presenta tions mrs clapp distinguish ed herself in her profes sion serving many years as a director of the national council of teach ers of english chairing important council com mittees writing for its publications speaking and leading workshops for - english teachers across the nation she is author of three widely used literature grammar and composition textbooks her activities include work with the black educators association the naacp act-so board the advisory board of the educational opportunities center the board of the housing assistance cen ter seventy-eight res toration corp and the buffalo inner city ballet mrs clapp is a life and heritage member of the naacp a member of the urban league lincoln memorial united metho dist church and alpha kappa alpha sorority claude d clapp holds graduate and undergradu ate degrees from the university of buffalo and has received honorary doctorates from allen university and medaille college a native buffa lonian he began work as a mathematics teacher in the public school system fl in 1953 ten years later after promotions to assis tant principal and princi pal of school no 28 he became director of fi nance and research for the school system by the time mr clapp retired in august 1985 he had risen to deputy super intendent of schools and had directed the division of finance personnel and research for 19 years in addition to serving as the board of education's chief fiscal officer he was its chief negotiator in contract negotiations with the unions which repre sent the board's adminis trators and its civil service employees mr clapp is an naacp life and heritage mem ber professional and civic memberships include the black educators associa tion of the niagara frontier the national as sociation of black school educators the buffalo urban league one hun dred black men of buffalo the executive committee of the united negro college fund of w n y other memberships in clude omega psi phi franternity sigma pi phi fraternity and is secre tary-treasurer of the buf falo equity foundation mr and mrs clapp have been the recipients of numerous awards and citations they are the proud parents of three daughters mrs karen graves of grand rapids michigan dr karla hoi loway of raleigh n c and dr leslie clapp ezie of buffalo two community service awards are being present ed this year one to the harriet tubman 300's and the other to atty james l magavem accepting the award for the harriet tubman 300's will be local chairperson mrs earline collier briefly put harriet tub man 300's is a group of 29 community oriented wo ment who do good work impetus for the group began in 1975 when mrs milton a williams was appointed librarian of the harriet tubman home in auburn by the ame zion church of w n y mrs williams found the home inadequate to house books and memorabilia relative to harriet tubman recognizing the need for a library building mrs williams sought assis tance from mrs collins in an effort to honor harriet tubman and black womanhood the harriet tubman memorial library was dedicated may 26 1979 the harriet tubman 300's have continued making contributions to the library and in addition have contributed to such local groups as the naacp act-so the united negro college fund black achievers the st augustine center the buffalo urban league and the e.o.c scholar ship fund the name harriet tub man 300's is derived from the biblical story of gjdeon judges 7:1-9 whose army of 10,000 was reduced to 300 who won the battle harriet tubman a remarkable person is remembered as a fearless leader of the underground railroad who personally led 300 slaves north of freedom many in this area the other community service awardee atty magavem is adjunct professor of law at the state university of new york at buffalo and is a member of the law firm of magavem and magavem his concentration is in public law state and local government finance cor porate law and business litigation since his admission to the bar in 1959 magavem had had a full schedule professionally and civicly keenly aware of injustice magavem has served as naacp attorney in its affirmative action and other cases he is given particular credit for the _„ work he did to reinstate 14 police cadets the " cadets charged they were dismissed from probationary police appointments as a result of discrimination and had been generally treated and graded unfairly and sub jected io unnecessary punishment and hostility united states district judge john t curtin ruled in favor of the cadets 12 of whom have since graduated from the police academy and be come police officers atty magavem also claude clapp mrs ouida clapp john barnes earline collier simon bailey atty james magavem celebrate anniversary the 26th anniversary celebration of rev and sis augustus smith pastor and first lady of peace missionary baptist church 145 stanton st in buffalo will be held sunday june 1 8 15 22 and 29th services begin at 3:30 p.m participating churches will be sun june 1 bethlehem baptist church rev pearson miles pastor the deacon and trustee board will be in charge sun june 8 mt olive cme church rev m d pugh pastor the sunday school and ushers will be in charge sunday june 15 mt moriah baptist church rev lawrence williams pastor the pastor's aid will be in charge sun june 22 promise land baptist church rev charles jennings pastor the senior choir and junior choir will be in charge sun june 29th is the final day of the anniver sary celebration revela tion baptist church rev joseph r christopher pastor are the guests the missionary board will be in charge the program commit tee consists of deacon royal lynch general chairman sis nervan allen chairperson sis georgie curry co-chair person sister lue eubanks deacon darrell saxon sis.vdiane lynch sis racile ridge way sis lottie phillips sis caro lyn harris deacon robert amos and bro roosevelt barlow f they invite the public to attend these services rev and mrs augustus smith new chapter of eastern stars to be organized a new chapter of the order of eastern stars will soon be set up in buffalo as auxiliary to alpha lodge 8 working under the authority of the m w omega grand lodge a f & a m fraternally inc state of new york ruffin green 33 is m iv jpand mister rthzel faulkner is most worthy grand matron of m w oriental grand chapter o e s state of new york inc vernon wooten 33 is organizing state deputy grand master historic rowhouses wait for renovation by shirley harrington and carrie brooks the emerson street rowhouses in the masten area offer a wonderful opportunity to revitalize the entire neighborhood and show the residents of the masten district that they are not forgotten in a deteriorating ghetto attempts at restoring these rowhouses began in 1982 when they were purchased by seventy eight restoration a non profit organization whose purpose is to revitalize neighborhoods in the masten area architectural preserva tionists seventy-eight restoration and now the habitat for humanity are dealing with the rehabili tation of these structures having met informally with councilman dave collins of buffalo's masten dis trict four tears ago plans to begin the rehabilitation process failed today the characteristic rounded bay windows are boarded and the connecting porches sagging despite broken windows vandalism and deterioration of wood the structures appear to be structurally sound according to bill town send an engineer with the on-site committee for habitat for humanity who recently toured the row houses along with repre sentatives from the inter ested groups these unique struc . turn built at the turn of the century are a classic example of the queen anne style of architecture . the hut of its kind in buffalo according to susan mccartney presi dent of the erie county preservation coalition the buildings have been declared eligible for the national register of his toric places and their nomination is now await ing formal approval the rowhouses are important architecturally but they are also important as a revitalization tool on the east side believes ms mccartney she indicates that buffalo needs revitalization of quality people need to have a real feeling of tradition new develop ments can't provide that at the same time because of their architec tural importance emerson place became the first buffalo project selected for financing by the national trust for historic preser vation the national trust offered 70,000 in a grant loan package to assist developers the funds have not been withdrawn yet but the agency has been concerned accord ing to jennifer blake program officer for the inner city development of the national trust the state division of housing and community renewal offered to contri bute 90,000 to the project project officials said that the city had committed 500,000 in block grant funds but this figure was later denied by james militello the then acting director of commu nity development with no agreement on the amount of the city's share toward renewal the pro ject was tabled interest in the project has been reawakened with the involvement of habitat for humanity this national group aims at providing home ownership for low income famili i using volunteer efforts for rehabilitating inner city structures this volunteer aspect called sweat equity could make a difference in the success of the project stated councilman collins sweat equity substanti ally reduces renovation costs habitat for humanity gained national recognition when amateur woodworkers and former president jimmy carter joined them in restoring a tenement in new york city habitat for humanity could be the determining factor in the future of the emerson rowhouses the discussions continue the city's role if any in this process has yet to be determined the neglect of such a large architecturally signi ficant property runs coun ter to the image that city leaders uke to project about a community that is concerned with preserving and improving its neigh borhoods the preservationists seventy-eight restoration habitat for humanity and city representatives con tinue negotiations while the emerson rowhouses wait for renovation and the east side residents wait for neighborhood improve ments naacp see page 7