March 29, 1987

LEAD: Despite some significant progress in race relations, most New Yorkers say important divisions between blacks and whites are now as wide as they were a decade ago, or wider.

LEAD: IMAGINE commuting between New Jersey and Manhattan with breathtaking views and, on fair days, blue waters and skies. Some commuters are doing that now as ferry service, dormant since the 1960's, has begun a renaissance that is expected to continue into the next decade.

LEAD: OVER the last 16 years, the 421a real-estate tax-abatement program has cost New York City $551.1 million in tax revenues it agreed to forgo.

LEAD: TO tighten what education officials called some of the most lenient standards in the country, two state panels have proposed tough new rules for training and licensing doctors in New Jersey.

LEAD: A NEW YORK THEATERGOER stricken by an inferiority complex in London could perennially take solace in the one American beachhead along the West End - the musical. For all its classical glories, London has long been dependent on New York for that levitating synthesis of song, dance, drama and performance that is Broadway's one undisputed contribution to world theater.