May 17, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E 1063

worked for Chemical Bank in the foreign department. Eventually, Loretta left the bank and

went on to become secretary to the president

of Cooke International, and import/export firm

in New York. Upon leaving Cooke International, Loretta began working for Rosenthal

& Rosenthal, Inc. where she will be retiring

after 26 years.

She began her career at Rosenthal as manager of the International Operations Office in

their Foreign Department. Later she joined the

Rosenthal Group’s Law Department as an administrative manager and legal assistant and

after years of service with Rosenthal & Rosenthal was appointed an officer in the company.

She is one of the best liked and well respected members of the company, and her

fellow workers will be sorry to see her go.

Loretta’s outstanding achievement in the

business world may only be overshadowed by

her exemplary work in her community. For

over 41 years, Loretta has been an active

resident of City & Suburban’s York Avenue

Estate Landmark.

When eviction notices were sent to all tenants of her building, it looked as if Loretta and

her neighbors would be forced to leave their

homes forever. Her interest in the preservation

of historic buildings in New York City persuaded her to lead the fight to make the building a New York City landmark.

Loretta helped organize fundraisers, spoke

at hearings and met with legislators in New

York City and Washington, DC. Her persistence was rewarded when City & Suburban

was made an official New York City landmark.

Ms. Betty Cooper Wallerstein, chairperson of

Coalition to Save the City and Suburban, and

Marie Beirne, Tenants Landmark chairperson,

both agree that the landmarking of City &

Suburban’s York Avenue Estate could not

have been accomplished without Loretta.

Now the Loretta is retiring after 26 years

with Rosenthal & Rosenthal she will be able to

devote even more time to her community service. She plans to be the keeper of the massive

City & Suburban archives and intends to do

volunteer work in the field of historic preservation. Ms. Ponticello will also continue her work

with the East 79th Street Neighborhood Association, caring and working with the community

that she loves.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to honor the

heroics of Loretta Ponticello today. I hope that

my colleagues will join me in thanking Ms.

Ponticello for her ongoing generosity, and

wish her a long and happy retirement.

ONE OF NEW YORK’S BEST—EL

fOLE

HON. NYDIA M. VELAZQUEZ OF NEW YORK

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Wednesday, May 17, 1995

Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today

in honor of one of New York’s best and most

vibrant dining establishments. I am referring to

El Ole ́. It is New York’s very own bit of Spain,

and it celebrates 25 years of exemplary service this Monday, May 22.

The owners of this fabulous restaurant,

Pepe and Tony Lagares arrived in the United

States back in 1949. They came here from La

Corun ̃a, Spain, with their father, Don Jose ́.

They spent their first years in this country

working at their grandfather’s restaurant,

Greenwich Village’s El Tropezon. In 1970,

they opened El Ole ́, and for years worked at

a grovelling pace. El Ole ́’s reputation spread

by word of mouth, and it soon built up a

strong clientele. In fact, when El Ole ́ opened

its doors for the first time, it could only accommodate 28 patrons. Today, it serves many

well known guests on a regular basis, and its

exquisite dinning room accommodates 110.

Among the many distinguished patrons of El

Ole ́ are: Sylvester Stallone, Elizabeth Taylor,

Al Pacino, Emilio Estevez, Robert DeNiro,

Martin Lawrence, Jon Secada, Jane Evans,

Pedro Morales, Jose Chegui Torres, Roberto

Ledesma, and former Governor Cuomo and

his family. This impressive list comes as no

surprise. El Ole ́ has an atmosphere that lends

itself to fine dinning and pure enjoyment. But

it is much more than a restaurant, it is a refuge for people of all cultures, and its walls

have witnessed countless conversations on

everything from politics to the arts.

From the romantic sounds of Spanish guitars to the fast swing-pace of salsa, cumbia,

and merenge, El Ole ́’s superb service and vibrant setting serve as perfect complement to

this establishment’s world class menu.

I applaud the Lagares brothers for their efforts, and thank them for bringing us so much.

To El Ole ́, a happy celebration, may its tables

always bear las Delicias de la madre Espan ̃a,

and may its door always rest open for those

who share a passion for culinary pleasure and

a thirst for the joy of life. Ol

fe ́!

FINDING SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME ELIGIBLE BENEFICIARIES; INTRODUCTION OF

LEGISLATION TO PROVIDE INCENTIVES FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION OUTREACH

HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK OF CALIFORNIA

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Wednesday, May 17, 1995

Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, the Supplemental

Security Income [SSI] Program was begun to

provide a safety net for our country’s elderly,

blind, and disabled persons with limited income and resources.

Over the years I have followed the outreach

efforts of the Social Security Administration to

inform potential eligible people about the SSI

Program. In 1989 a Health and Human Services study indicated that that 35 percent of potentially eligible recipients were not participating in the SSI Program. Congress mandated

funds to the SSA in fiscal year 1990 and 1991

for outreach projects in an effort to enroll

these potential recipients.

Many outreach programs designed and carried out by local government and nonprofit organizations have been funded by these appropriated funds. Outreach programs inform the

SSA staff of the most effective means of

reaching potentially eligible recipients of the

SSI Program and assist recipients through the

complicated application process.

Alameda County in California has been very

effective in reaching Southeast Asian potential

recipients through an outreach program that

reaches into the community through mutual

assistance groups.

In Arizona third parties using a variety of

outreach techniques, including language

groups, successfully funded eligible recipients

and streamlined their application process by

completing the many necessary forms for

them.

These examples point to what maybe the

most effective way of contacting these hard to

reach people. The use of existing private nonprofit community groups. I suppose that one of

the quickest and most economical ways of

finding and signing up eligible people for the

SSI Program would be to use the staffs of

nonprofit organizations who already work with

the poor. Many of these people are very

knowledgeable about the program and have

the trust of potential recipients. Help in filing

out the forms and collection of the necessary

documentation would greatly assist the overworked SSA staff.

In return the nonprofit organizations would

receive a fixed amount of money for each person they ‘‘sign up’’ that was actually eligible

for the SSI Program.

This idea is the basis for the legislation I am

introducing today. My bill creates two demonstration projects, one in a poor urban area

and one in a poor rural area, to test this idea

of providing an award for successful outreach.

THE SERB STRANGLEHOLD ON

fSARAJEVO

HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH OF NEW JERSEY

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Wednesday, May 17, 1995

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I

rise today to condemn the latest Serbian onslaught directed against innocent civilians in

Sarajevo, an UN-designated safe-haven. The

events of the past 24 hours underscore the

fact that the besieged city of Sarajevo remains

in a virtual stranglehold by well-armed Serb

militants. UN sources confirmed that at least

1,000 shells were fired on Sarajevo. The

heavy shelling of the Bosnian capital, the

worst in over a year, resulted in a score of injuries and deaths. Sporadic shelling continues

today.

Some have had the audacity to argue that

both sides are equally to blame for the attack,

a pretext later used to deny the Bosnian Government’s urgent request for protection of Sarajevo. Attempts to equate the forces of the

sovereign Government of Bosnia-Herzegovina

with the marauding bandits led by Radovan

Karadzic, a mastermind of genocidal aggression in Bosnia, are an affront which must be

resoundingly rejected. Karadzic, along with

Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko

Mladic and former police chief Mico Stanisic,

are under active investigation by the War

Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, for

their respective roles in the war launched by

the Serbs in 1992.

For 3 years now, international negotiators

have traveled a well-worn path to Pale, the

Bosnian Serb headquarters. Nearly a year has

passed since the Contact Group presented its

peace plan on a take-it-or-leave-it-basis. The

Bosnian Government accepted the proposal

within the 2 week deadline. The plan has been

repeatedly rejected by the Bosnian Serbs with

relative impunity despite threats by the Contract Group that rejection would carry severe

consequences. Further negotiations at this

time can only be expected to bring further

concessions to meet Karadzic’s demands.