July 15, 1988

LEAD: Despite an impassioned speech by its Foreign Minister, Iran failed to win Security Council support today for a resolution condemning the United States for the downing of an Iranian airliner. Diplomats said Teheran would have to settle for a less harshly worded statement.

LEAD: LESS than one nautical mile from the glistening office towers and apartment buildings of Manhattan's East Side, a patchwork of gritty industrial buildings, power plants and empty, overgrown lots seems to define the Brooklyn and Queens side of the East River. But behind this facade, the long stretch of urban riverbank extending from the edge of Brooklyn Heights northeast to Long Island City, Queens, embraces a largely hidden network of avant-garde arts institutions, outdoor sculptures, historic buildings, fashionable waterfront restaurants and abundantly spectacular views of the

LEAD: TONIGHT, the ninth annual New Music Seminar sets up camp in town. Devoted to alternative music, it is bringing with it four days' worth of music-related seminars and more than 350 acts, which will perform at 29 venues.

LEAD: Even though senior executives throughout the United States give the New York metropolitan region poor grades as a place to live and work, they plan to locate more new offices in the region than in any other urban area in the nation, according to a survey released yesterday.

LEAD: Mary Anne Gallagher, assistant director of nursing at the Beth Israel Medical Center, with sixth-grade students from Public School 17 in Brooklyn. The youngsters visited the maternity ward as part of the school's ''I Have a Dream'' class. The career program enabled students with an interest in health care to tour the hospital and meet the staff.