December 7, 1986

In 1983, Bill Parcells's first year as the head coach, the Giants finished 3-12-1 and his job seemed in jeopardy. In 1984 and 1985, the Giants made the playoffs, and last Monday night, with three weeks left in the season, they clinched at least a wild-card playoff berth again. Still, their game against the Redskins Sunday afternoon (Channel 2, 1 P.M.) at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium is of monumental importance. The teams are tied at 11-2 for their division lead, and the winner will be favored to win the division title and earn a week off while the loser plays in a wild-card game.

Riding the Transport Index The Dow Jones industrial average soared to a record 1,955.57 last Tuesday, unleashing optimistic predictions that the popular index would reach 2,000 within a few months. But Gene Jay Seagle, vice president at Gruntal & Company, is basing his optimism about the stock market on the parallel rise of another index, the Dow transport average. The transportion index, made up of airlines, railroads and trucking, also broke a record last week, when it hit 858.84. ''When the two indexes confirm one another, it means the economy is in balance,'' he said. It indicates that the output of factories represented by the industrial average is being distributed by industries covered in the transportation index - which means there's the expectation of continued growth.

V.A. Bureaucracy Laid Bare Testimony in a court hearing depicts a bureaucracy in which the processing of veterans' claims is marked by abuses.

A NEW automobile agency and a shopping center will open in the next several months in Roslyn Village. Another shopping mall is planned, and office buildings and apartments may be in the offing. Roslyn Village is in the midst of a building boom that is being hailed by some residents and business people. But others fear that development could alter the appearance of the North Shore village and worsen the traffic congestion. A major point of dispute is Old Roslyn Square, the proposed mall that has gone through several stages of the official approval process. It would be situated at the center of the village on the main shopping street, Old Northern Boulevard.

Stephen Shalom cruises Queens neighborhoods looking for garden apartments, particularly those with some architectural distinction that might respond well to a restoration. In the past few years, he has bought and renovated some 2,300 rental units in Queens before converting them into co-ops.