Urbanite

As we remain on Day 7 of the Fossella death-watch, it is worth taking a look at who is lining up to replace Vito, should he decide to go.

Steve Harrison, a Brooklyn lawyer gave Fossella something of a race in 2006, garnishing 43% of the vote, and has become something of a hero among the Netroots, who love his down-the line progressive instincts.

Dominic Recchia, meanwhile, a congressman from Coney Island, had also indicated he wanted the seat, and had much of the party establishment behind him and a big edge in fundraising.

The district is still pretty conservative, especially for New York, but with Democrats winning seats in deep-red Northern Mississippi heaven help the state party if they can't take this one away from the GOP.

A couple of problems though. The district is 2/3rds in Staten Island, and both Recchia and Harrison live in Brooklyn. And in the Yugoslavia that is NY politics, Staten Islanders have about as much an inclination to vote for someone across the river to represent them in D.C. as Conservative party members do to vote Maoist.

The party meanwhile is scrambling for a local Islander to move in on this thing...We'll keep you posted...

----David Freedlander

Video via Azi

Mayor Bloomberg, never one to miss a chance to get snippy with reporters, unloaded on our Newsday colleague Michael Frazier at today’s Q and A.

Frazier asked the mayor, “Mayor, you maintain that you kept a dialogue open with the Sean Bell demonstration–”

And Bloomberg cut him off, ‘Maintain’ is a word I don’t think is appropriate, sir. Next time you have a question, you want to insinuate that I lie, just talk to the press secretary. I don’t think we have a question for you.”

Frazier tried to jump in, but the mayor cut him off again, “We’ve finished it. ‘Maintain’ is a word that has an implication,” and was then heard muttering under his breath, “Got some nerve,” as he called on another reporter.

We checked in with Frazier about what he intended to ask the mayor, and he said that his question was, “You have maintained that you kept an open dialog with Bell supporters. Do you intend on speaking at a Bell public forum held by a house judiciary committee or sending Ray Kelly or someone from the police department?”

He said he wasn’t sure what set the mayor off, but that he had been waiting for days for an answer from the press office.

“It’s really bizarre,” Frazier said

--David Freedlander

Interesting side note regarding the timing of buildings' commish Lancaster's resignation

On Thursday, Lancaster was scheduled to appear before the Assembly's Cities Committee, chaired by mega-Lancaster hater Assemblyman Jim Brennan.

Obviously, this was something Lancaster hated doing. The last time she appeared before the committee, last year, she did so only after the threat of subpoena, and then showed up only briefly, even though members of the state legislature tell me that she was the whole focus of the hearing.

For what's it worth, the timing of the announcement today--and Hizzoner's public ditching yesterday do seem curious, since most of the damage - -to our city, its citizens, and their sense of well-being, had already been done.

---David Freedlander

Photo from DMI via Flickr

The pieces are still falling from slush-fund gate but the person who may benefit the most from this is borough president Scott Stringer.

Before all of this went down, good money would have gone to council Speaker Christine Quinn becoming the next mayor. But fairly or not, the fallout from all of this has taken away the primary reason for a Quinn candidacy--that she was a reformer, especially around budget matters.

But Manhattan pols will not be dissuaded so easily, which brings us to Stringer. Unlike every other major elected official in the city, Stringer won't be termed out in '09. He will however, be termed out in 2013, when all the other plum spots--mayor, comptroller, public advocate--will be held by an incumbent. Thus, even though he is in a safe seat, he's itching to get out of it so he doesn't have to get a real job in 2013.

For a while, speculation had focused around a race for public advocate

But with Quinn's prospects diminishing by the day, Stringer is looking more and more like someone who has set his sights a little higher:

As per The Daily Politics:

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer sounded awfully like a candidate for citywide office while chatting with WNBC's Jay DeDapper in this Sunday's News Forum interview and refused to rule out any options for 2009 - including the mayor's race...

Stringer explained his early support of congestion pricing by saying the city is facing a "transportation crisis" and "health issue" that spans all five boroughs...

Stringer, one of the few electeds in the city not facing term-limts in 2009, has been speculated to be considering a run for public advocate. But he told DeDapper that "we're keeping all our options open," adding that he hopes the next round of city elections focus on "specific issues."

"And we have to have a big and bold initiative and that's up to elected officials to realize that they may not satisfy their constituency today, but they're building a legacy and a New York for tomorrow and that is how I'm going to judge what I do and what other people should do in 2009."

---David Freedlander

Photo from NY Social Diary

No, not that one.

Apparently the young lady on the right is weighing in, and not on the Clinton/Obama deathwatch, but on our own humble public advocate race.

According to his chief of staff, Ms Schiff and PA-aspirant Eric Gioia got to know each other during the elder Gore's presidential run, with Gioia serving as a campaign staffer and Schiff serving as a daughter.

Now, she's repaying the favor, introducing him at a birthday fundraiser at the Time Hotel. Full details after the jump

---David Freedlander

Photo: NY Mag

Why is this man smiling?

Probably because he is the lone man in the room. After over a year of build-up, the fate of the mayor's plan to charge drivers to come into (most of) Manhattan rested on the hunched shoulders of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

And he gave a big 'ol no:

"The conference has decided that they are not prepared to do congestion pricing," he intoned in his famous old baritone. "I think you can speak to the members of the conference who have made that determination.Many of them just don't believe in the concept. Many of them think this bill is flawed. So an overwhelming majority of the conference that opposes congestion pricing, and for that reason, the congestion pricing bill did not have anywhere near a majority of the Democratic conference, and will not be on the floor of the Assembly."

Dude has been in kind of a spot here. Probably no part of the city would be more helped by congestion pricing than Shelly's Lower East Side/Chinatown neighborhood, which is tangled mess of double-parked cars and dirty exhaust. But Silver has always had two constituencies: the voters in his district and the 105 members of the majority party in the lower house in Albany. He's survived for speaker for so long not by keeping an iron grip on power (like his colleague in the upper chamber, Joe Bruno) but by getting members of caucus what they need, and, for the folks back home, he's been a master at wrangling concessions for his district.

So what do those members need now? Apparently to be able to get into Manhattan without having to fork over 8 bucks.

This one was close, with Albany sources telling us, both Senate leader Joe Bruno and Gov. David Paterson hoping to deliver this one for Mayor Bloomberg, which Hizzoner desperately wanted for his legacy.

But alas, what Shelly wants, Shelly gets. Which you've probably noticed every time you've gone to check out a game at the West Side stadium.

Interestingly, for the first time in a while, Silver's getting a vigorous primary challenge from a couple of young bucks who want to shake the status quo upstate.

Obviously, they got a tall task ahead of them, but Messrs Newell and Henry may finally have something of the break they were looking for

--David Freedlander

We may never leave our desks again.

Our friends over at the Gotham Gazette put up this week a handy Web primer on the 2009 elections.

"2009!?!" you say in a mixture of agony and disgust. "Isn't the never-ending election of 2008 enough?!?"

No, it is not.

Two-thirds of the local 51, otherwise known as the City Council, are going to be termed out of their seats in '09, as are the mayor, the public advocate, the comptroller, and 4/5ths of the borough presidents.

And that 1 beep not out of a job next year is thinking about running for public advocate just to keep up with everybody else!

This creates an odd bit of Kabuki theater among all pols, both in the city and those stationed up in Albany, as everybody is lying in wait watching to see what everybody else does.

How to keep up?

We give you "Who's Running for What," a handy contraption that allows you to keep up with all the latest by just punching your favorite politico's name into a box and finding out where the punditocracy says they'll end up.

-- avid Freedlander

The plans to drastically reshape the cultural and economic heart of Harlem took another step forward today in crowded and intense hearings before the city council.

The “River-to-River” rezoning would add density to the corridor, permit a high-rise office tower at Park Avenue, and would lead, according to some estimates, the displacement of dozens of local businesses.

“The 125th Street rezoning is the first comprehensive plan for Harlem’s main street in over 40 years,” said planning commissioner Amanda Burden, whose agency approved the plan lat month.

“The plan has been carefully crafted to strengthen this regional business district and bolster its historic role as an arts, entertainment and retail center.”

Harlem has been roiled in recent years by massive changes in the last few years that several long-time residents fear will forever change the make-up of the neighborhood. The average sale price of an apartment in the neighborhood in the last quarter of 2007 was 93% higher than the average sale price of an apartment in the last quarter of the previous year.

The question before the zoning committee today was whether or not the city’s plan would exacerbate the current trends or solve them.

“We can no longer afford this kind of Jim-Crowism in our housing policy,” said councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn.) ‘There should be some kind of commercial rent control to protect the businesses that are there and that have been there for 25 years.

Proponents of the plan argued that there are no current zoning protections in the neighborhood now, and that the mayor’s proposal would add height protections, protect existing brownstones along the corridor, eliminate frontage space for banks, and crucially add the city’s first incentives for developers to create performance and practice space for existing cultural institutions.

The plan will next go the full zoning committee, and then the full council for a vote. The council typically follows the lead of the member whose district will be most effected, which for the 125th Street rezone is Inez Dickens (D-Manhattan.)

Dickens appeared to approve of the proposal during the hearings, but refused to comment publicly.

---David Freedlander

One way you know you are a local is when you start hating your hometown's nickname. In SF, for example, residents bristle at the stupid beatnik handle, "Frisco."

In the big city, we got lots to hate. Surely, no self-respecting New Yorker refers to their hometown as "The Big Apple" or "Gotham" in mixed company.

Well, Queens city councilman Hiram Monserrate is taking the law into his own hands, as he tries to push the city council to officially designate our home base "Gotham City."

The reason for this new appellation? The summer release of the newest Batman feature, "Batman: The Dark Night."

He tells the Village Voice's blog:

I see that as a marketing tool, ‘Come visit the real Gotham City,’ taking advantage of this movie which will be one of those gate-breaking, record-selling movies like it always is.

When we talk about Gotham we also talk about the rich architecture that our City enjoys. A lot of Gothic architecture exists in New York City. So Gotham’s also obviously related to Gothic and Gothic architecture which is a form of art, so it’s very important for our art community to strengthen its reconnection to being a Gotham City

We actually kind of like the way Gotham looks on the silver screen--all canyons and towers of skyscrapers, everything sharp and art deco.

But The City Council hawking naming rights to The City of Fear, The City that Never Sleeps, The Capital of the World?

That we're just so-so on.

Councilman Goes to Bat for Gotham City: VV

---David Freedlander

Photo courtesy of NY Times

During today's marathon (as in 2 cups of coffee, a pack of No-doz and a bottle of Jolt) congestion pricing hearing, we were surprised to find this woman, rabble rousing head of the Taxi Worker's Alliance, Bhairavi Desai, sitting demurely in the gallery, and even more surprised to find out that she was there to testify against the plan to relieve Manhattan of cars. After all, less cars=more room for taxis, right? And, don't less cars=more potential fares?

Ahh, but the fine print tells another story. All fares heading to or originating in the congestion zone will come with an automatic $1 surcharge, which Desai says will diminish hacks' tips.

"It's money coming out of driver's pockets," she told amNY. "After gas prices skyrocketed after Katrina, we were fighting for a 50-cent fuel surcharge and they denied it. Who has ever heard of increasing a tax on an service at the expense of workers? It's completely lost on us."

--- David Freedlander

Quick! Which of these is the seat of the government of the state of New York and which is the world capital and center of culture?

We know, it's getting mighty hard to tell the difference these days, what with the near daily developments that lusty Albany is such a den of sin.

In fact, our friends at the NY Sun have been wondering the same thing

Fortunately for those of us who find politics dull when it's just limited to zoning variances and affordable housing schemes, this story doesn't seem to be going away. Today, our newest luv gov had a press conference with the Mayor at City Hall and was asked, by Inside Edition, no less, how his marriage had survived all the hanky-panky and what advice he would have for other couples.

Needless to say, the gov and hizzoner demurred.

---David Freedlander

We've spent the better part of the day here trying to figure out why everybody is referring to David Paterson as the 55th governor of New York. The Green Book, the bible for all city reporters, lists 56 governors ahead of him in its chronological listing from George Clinton (1777-1795) to Eliot Spitzer (2007-2008.)

The reason for the discrepancy, it turns out, is this guy, DeWitt Clinton.

And Al Smith. And Horatio Seymour.

Each of them served non-consecutive terms thus inflating the number. So while there are 55 governors of New York state, there have been, as of tomorrow, 57 inaugurations.

Yes. Our head hurts too.

--David Freedlander

There has been a lot of speculation in the last day or so that Spitzer's downfall opens up room for Mayor Bloomberg to pursue an Albany run in '10.
Indeed a new poll showed him with a stratospheric 70% approval rating and 73% say he would make a good governor.

But we here at Urbanite don't really see it.

For one thing, like, um, have you ever been to Albany?

No offense to civic boosters, but it's hardly a place fitting for a billionaire. Would you give up an Upper East Side townhouse?

And glamor aside for a moment, Bloomberg would likely get a far different reception in Albany than he got around City Hall. City Hall is filled with bright, ambitious politicians, who, like Bloomberg will be termed out of office in 2010. The statehouse though is filled with a bunch of old dinosaurs who never get serious challenges for re-election, and so basically just have to show up for work a few times a week. And, the rules up there basically mean that unless you head one of the houses of government,you don't really have all that much to do.

Finally, Bloomberg started out as a Democrat, then switched to the GOP to run for mayor, before eschewing party labels all together in preparation for a run for governor. Too many New York state voters vote along strictly party lines for a Independent to have a serious chance, which means Mayor Mike would have to switch parties again, which would make him look fickle at best, and opportunistic at worst.

But we'll see.

--David Freedlander

Today there was a mad scrum of reporters at the New York Public Library, and it wasn't to see this guy, Stephen Schwarzman, even though he gave $100 million smackeroos to the stately old bookhouse

No, we were there along with everyone else to see if Hizzoner would say anything, anything at all really, regarding what seems to be The Biggest Story of All Time.

As we waited with baited breath, the mayor said, "I did talk to Governor Spitzer this morning, and I told him my thoughts are with him, and wished him all the best, and said if he ever wanted to talk, wanted my advice, I'd be happy to give it to him."

So not exactly earth-shattering stuff.

And if it's any consolation, the main branch of the public library will be renamed after Schwarzman, which means someday soon we will all be able to say things like., "Man I need to find some peace and quiet. I'm going to the Schwarzman."

--- David Freedlander