Brooklyn's first facility combining housing for the homeless and day treatment for AIDS and H.I.V. patients is to open next June at 2626 Pitkin Avenue, at Fountain Avenue, in the East New York section.         The $5 million, 30,300-square-foot center is co-sponsored by Housing Works, a private group that provides apartments for homeless people with AIDS or H.I.V.,  and East New York Urban Youth Corps, a community development group.   

POSTINGS: $5 Million Building in East New York Section of Brooklyn;Care and Housing for AIDS Patients

IN five days, this city will belong to the paying fans, the runners and the jumpers, and the rowers and the swimmers, but for now, Atlanta still belongs to  the people.         They came out yesterday morning to Centennial Olympic Park downtown to celebrate the opening of the 21 acres reclaimed from a seedy slum only three years ago.   

Sports of The Times;Atlanta Sends Up The Balloons

A leading abortion rights organization, trying the militant approach more often associated with the other side of the issue, is planning a vigorous effort to defeat 15 House freshmen, hoping the representatives' voting records over the last two years will work against them.         The organization, the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights League, plans to use forums and pamphlets to highlight the lawmakers' repeated votes against abortion rights and related issues. It believes that such an education campaign  in the lawmakers' districts will turn their moderate suburban constituencies against them.   

15 G.O.P. Freshmen In Abortion Arena

INSIDE

The only thing we have to fear is everything.         That could be the message of the stock market in July 1996. First it got scared that the economy was too strong. Then it grew very fearful that the economy was too weak.   

MARKET WATCH;Market Dip Sparks Recession Talk

SPALDING GRAY has a problem. Across from his Wooster Street loft, a group of  businessmen want to create SoHo's newest nightspot, a prospect that frightens the writer and performance artist who first moved to the neighborhood 20 years ago. In the good old days, when pioneers like Mr. Gray illegally carved out homes in defunct factories, SoHo was a beloved no man's land where basic provisions were a 10-minute walk away in Greenwich Village. Today, SoHo is awash in new bars, restaurants and even hotels, the kinds of development that are driving longtime residents from their spacious, but noise-filled lofts. "The way things are going in SoHo, I'm not sure I can continue to live here with all  this bridge-and-tunnel madness," he said recently.         Several blocks east, Chen Wei Hong, 32, has a different problem. Working 12-hour shifts six days a week at a sweatshop on Grand Street, the Fujianese immigrant worries that the $220 she brings home each week isn't enough to support her two children. "Life is so hard," she complained after finishing a shift hunched over a sewing machine that spits out lapels. "I don't think things will ever get better."   

The War of Nerves Downtown

A bill aimed at providing tax abatements to owners of co-ops and condominiums in New York City was signed into law on July 2 by Gov. George E. Pataki. The law, based on a proposal sent to the State Legislature by the New York City Council last month, earmarks about $198.5 million in tax abatements to owners of co-op and condominium apartments over the next three years.         "We feel that this is the first step toward overall equalization of real estate taxes in New York," said Martin Karp, chairman of the Action Committee for Reasonable Real Estate Taxes. The organization, which spearheaded the drive  for the legislation, has long asserted that current tax laws unfairly tax co-ops and condominiums at higher rates than other single-family homes. The law provides for gradually increasing property tax abatements for individuals who own fewer than three co-op or condominium units. In 1997, $8.5 million is earmarked for such abatements. That figure rises to $70 million in 1998 and then to $120 million in 1999.   

POSTINGS: New Law Sets $198.5 Million in Abatements;City Co-ops and Condos Get 3 Years of Tax Relief

    F.Y.I.   2 Why they call it Starbuck's.   

ALSO INSIDE

WHEN many government officials peek behind bedroom doors, institute "don't ask, don't tell" policies or ask people to "come out of the closet," they are not prying into residents' sex lives -- they are just trying to exercise some control over the booming growth of home offices.         With downsizing at American corporations coinciding with the advent of easy-to-use, relatively cheap telecommunications equipment, more and more professional workers are trying out entrepreneurial skills by setting up offices in spare bedrooms and basements.   

EARNING IT;You Work at Home. Does the Town Board Care?

A RECESSION, layoffs and economic dislocations have made these punishing times in California, but the state government spends millions of dollars broadcasting a simple piece of advice for helping people deal with the stress: play the lottery.         "Just when the curtain's down on your luck, good luck could make a comeback," the state says in one ad. Another sounds a warning on the consequences of not buying lottery tickets: "Everybody gets lucky sooner or later, so don't take any chances."   

Scratch 'n' Spend;Muting the Lotteries' Perfect Pitch

The hurricane that battered North Carolina on Friday weakened to a tropical storm today as it moved up the East Coast, but still whipped areas from Virginia to New England with high winds, heavy rains and surging seas.         The storm, Bertha, did not pack the forceful winds it did when it was the hurricane that scrambled towns along its path through eastern North Carolina, causing severe damage in coastal areas. But it generated winds as high as 50 miles per hour as it pushed through New Jersey and New York, knocking out electricity temporarily in parts of Long Island.   

Losing Power, Storm Still Pummels East Coast

Do not worry about studying the American League East standings. Do not fret over the occasional loss. Save your vacation for October. If you are a Yankee fan, these tips will help you glide through the rest of the summer because the supposed divisional race might have unofficially ended tonight with Darryl Strawberry's impressive statement and the continuing collapse of the Baltimore Orioles.         When yesterday's doubleheader was over, the frazzled Orioles looked like welterweights who had stumbled into the ring with Mike Tyson. The Yankees scored two runs off David Wells in the ninth inning to swipe a 3-2 victory in the opener, and rode Strawberry's first two homers of the season and survived Dwight Gooden's wobbly arm to notch a 7-5 triumph in the second contest. The Yankees have won five straight games at Camden Yards this season, the first time they have accomplished such a streak in Baltimore in 38 years. Can you say destiny?   

BASEBALL;Strawberry Strikes Twice, And the Yanks Take Two

THE Manhattan residential rental market is roil-ing, sometimes jetting spikes in prices to previ-ously unseen heights, and the impact is beginning to be felt  in the other boroughs.         For those seeking shelter, not much is cheap in New York City's rental market these days, but the increases are most dramatic for unregulated units that make  up about 600,000 of the city's 2 million apartments.   

Market-Rate Rents In Manhattan:

When President Clinton needed a prominent representative to attend, and then  brief him on, the inauguration of Taiwan's first democratically elected president last May, his choice was Vernon E. Jordan Jr.         When the President wanted to know whether Warren Christopher intended to resign as Secretary of State, and also find out whether Gen. Colin L. Powell would agree to replace him, Mr. Jordan sounded out both men.   

THE FIRST FRIEND -- A special report.;Being Intimate With Power, Vernon Jordan Can Wield It

IT looks like a private club. Guarded door. Tea served in plush green chairs. Marble fountain. Chandelier.         Actually, it's the exclusive reserve of Citibank customers here with more than $120,000 on deposit, part of a program called Citigold that treats customers like first-class airline passengers. And it's a far cry from what such people were accustomed to at competing banks. No standing in line with the riffraff here; each customer has a personal banker, just as the super-rich do.   

The Ante Rises In East Asia

The countdown continues at Lincoln Center Festival '96, and backstage it's one eclectic check-in. A cyberopera and a trombone choir approach the gate, along with orchestral musicians from St. Petersburg, Russia, actors from Dublin, dancers from Lyons and water puppeteers from Hanoi. 

     At the center of preparations is the festival director, John Rockwell, who sits in his office on the 10th floor of the Rose Building, overlooking Lincoln Center Plaza, and talks about "Sweet Release." It is a new work by Wynton Marsalis, written for the festival. Serendipitously, the title also describes this moment in Mr. Rockwell's life. On July 22, with support from his bosses at  Lincoln Center -- Nathan Leventhal, the president, and Beverly Sills, the chairman -- Mr. Rockwell, 56, will introduce his first vast, cross-pollinating,  multi-arts festival.

Trying to Reinvent Summer in the City

Sounding more like a hawkish military commander than the man most Russians thought would finally bring an end to the war in Chechnya, Aleksandr I. Lebed, the new national security adviser to President Boris N. Yeltsin, today took a far more bellicose stance on the war there than he ever has before.         Although he said he soon plans to visit the secessionist southern republic to try to negotiate a new peace accord, Mr. Lebed's remarks today indicate that the deeply unpopular war, which has killed at least 30,000 people in the last 18 months, may still be far from over.   

YELTSIN'S TOP AIDE ASSERTS CHECHNYA IS PART OF RUSSIA

Over a year ago, officers of the White Otter Fish and Game Club in the southern Adirondacks set out to raise $150,000 for a new clubhouse where its dues-paying members could comfortably lounge, drink and swap stories after their duck hunts.         So they turned to an influential ally, a former club president who remains a  member. He also happens to be the local State Senator, William R. Sears, Republican of Woodgate, and he readily agreed to help.   

SECRET SPENDING -- A special report.;Tradition and Politics Allow Legislators' Hidden Largess

Famished and fatigued after a seven-hour pull behind the wheel on Interstate  95, Steve Benton stepped down from his white van in the parking lot of a rest area 30 miles north of Baltimore, mopped his brow and uttered a comic-strip exclamation: "Whew!"         Next, his wife, Freadricka, stepped out.   

Holiday Travelers Make Room for Grandma

Established stars like the sprinter Michael Johnson, left, as well as lesser-known champions-to-be are featured in an Atlanta Summer Olympics section. It offers a comprehensive look at the Olympic sports and the people who play them, along with a complete TV schedule.          A pullout feature inside Section 8.

SPECIAL TODAY;A Guide to the Games

ROSS PEROT'S folksy utterances may still get splashed on the front page and the evening news. His every public word is monitored by the minions of President Clinton and Bob Dole. And there remains a chance that his could single-handedly  tilt the election results on Nov. 5.         Even so, all the hubbub over Mr. Perot's declaration last week that he will seek his Reform Party's nomination to run for President obscured a crucial fact: Mr. Perot is not the political colossus he was in 1992.   

Dogged;Perot's Back. But Did Voters Ask for an Encore?

The Knicks agreed to contract terms with Allan Houston and Chris Childs yesterday, giving themselves a new starting backcourt and drastically changing their team for next season.         A high-ranking Knicks official confirmed both deals last night. If the two players pass physicals, they will sign contracts today.   

PRO BASKETBALL;A New Backcourt: Childs and Houston Join the Knicks

FOUR YEARS AGO, Michael Johnson ate spoiled ham before the Barcelona Olympics, which caused him to lose 10 pounds, a week of training and any chance  he had of winning a gold medal at 200 meters.         "I'll always be minus one medal," Johnson said.   

ATLANTA: A VIEWER'S GUIDE;Pasts to Forget, Scores to Settle, Medals to Win

MRCEDES-BENZ has put some bite into its tooth-and-claw rivalry with BMW, courtesy of the dinosaurs in the pending sequel to "Jurassic Park."         Mercedes said last week that it had entered a marketing and promotion relationship with MCA/Universal and Amblin Entertainment for the company's M-Class, a sport utility to go on sale in fall 1997. The vehicle is being "integrated" into the Steven Spielberg film, "The Lost World," presumably replacing the Jeeps and Ford Explorers of the previous epic. Mercedes also hinted at "cross-promotional and merchandising activities."   

A Fossil-Fueled Publicity Drive

TE circumstances were not quite "Some Enchanted Evening," but I was enchantee nonetheless.         Instead of crossing a crowded room at nightfall, I was strolling across a Frankfurt courtyard on a sunny day last October, during a trip to Germany for the Frankfurt Auto Show. I spotted a familiar wedge-shaped silhouette with a bubbling fountain as a backdrop. It was a silver BMW 528i.   

July 14, 1996

Headlines from July 14, 1996

POSTINGS: $5 Million Building in East New York Section of Brooklyn;Care and Housing for AIDS Patients

Sports of The Times;Atlanta Sends Up The Balloons

15 G.O.P. Freshmen In Abortion Arena

INSIDE

MARKET WATCH;Market Dip Sparks Recession Talk

Billboard 200

Load

Jagged Little Pill

The Score

Secrets

Keith Sweat

Historical Context for July 14, 1996