Fouratt or against it? With District Leader Arthur Schwartz having abandonned his primary-election challenge to Assemblymember Deborah Glick for health reasons, longtime Village gay activist Jim Fouratt, a member of the Village Independent Democrats, has been mulling whether he should jump in and give Glick a contest this September. “I have reached out to a number of essential folk, asking them to help me decide if I should run in a race for state Legislature against a 26-year incumbent, Deborah Glick,” Fouratt said in an e-mail blast to friends. “So far, the private messages have been very encouraging and the information given valuable.” Fouratt said it all hinges on whether he can rustle up enough volunteers and money, and that he will decide soon on whether to run. … In other Schwartz news, he said the trial in his spy-cams case (concerning his removal last year of the landlords’ mini-surveillance cameras outside the elderly Ruth Berk’s apartmenet at 95 Christopher St.) has now been put off until Sept. 14, due to vacation conflicts and his daughter’s bat mitvzah.
Primary landslides: Meanwhile, in recent local primaries — late June certainly seems like an odd time to hold an election! — local longtime incumbents crushed the competition. As we are a little late in reporting, Democratic Congressmembers Jerrold Nadler, Carolyn Maloney and Nydia Velazquez all romped over their lesser-known opponents. Nadler handily beat Oliver Rosenberg, who blasted him for supporting the Iran nuclear deal. Maloney topped pot activist Peter Lindner. Velazquez fended off two rivals, Youngman Lee — who sought to mobilize the district’s Asian-American voters — and Jeff Kurzon. All three congressmembers face Republican opponents in the November general election.
Doris is super-‘Human’: Two weeks ago, The Villager ran photos of Doris Diether in Washington Square Park accompanied by her new “personal pigeon,” Opal. The veteran Community Board 2 member told us that last week when she went out to the park, Brandon Stanton, the Humans of New York blogger and book writer, was there — with a camerman in tow — waiting just for her. “He said he likes the paper,” Diether said of The Villager. “They had a guy with a film camera there. Apparently, they’re making a movie.” Stanton was waiting for her on a bench — near the children’s playground, where Paul the Pigeon Man usually hangs out. “They put a microphone on me,” said Diether, who is in her 80s. “We talked about the pigeons in the park and why I come to the park. I said I come here because it’s a social thing, instead of staying in my apartment. They followed me as I walked around and said hi to people. Some of the people, I don’t even know their name. One black guy came up and kissed me on the head, and they filmed that, too! They had a movie camera. They said they were expanding their horizons or something like that.” Meanwhile, Opal was getting her close-ups on the camera, too, and was with Diether for part of the time. “She was all around — on my hand, on my arm, on my walker,” the iconic activist said. Readers will recall that Diether and marionette master Ricky Syers, creator of the “Little Doris” marionette, were profiled in last year’s best-selling “Humans of New York: Stories” book.
It was the pits: Last summer in the East Village, tragicially, was the summer of the insanely violent crusty pit bulls. Legendary punk photographer Roberta Bayley’s beloved pug Sidney died at the vet after the pint-size pooch was viciously attacked by Jax, a huge, out-of-control pit bull, on St. Mark’s Place, while the pit’s crusy traveler owner, Natas (“Satan” spelled backwards) lay zonked out on a discarded sofa in front of the $1 pizza place. In separate incidents, two East Village men were also bitten while shielding their small dogs from crusty pit bull attacks — at least one of these by Jax. One man was chomped so severely, it caused permanent nerve damage, leaving him without feeling on the top part of his forearm. This summer, though, according to Bayley — who has a new pug, Stella — thankfully, has been a lot calmer. “It’s strange, none of the crusties seem to have pit bulls anymore. It’s all smaller dogs, or cats,” she told us. “And the crusties are younger.” The crusties aren’t camping out in front of the pizza place like before, but just come and go. As for why crusties are downsizing their dogs, maybe it has to do with belt-tightening — make that, stitches-and-clothespin-tightening, in the crusties’ case — since smaller canines consume less, but can still be a good companion and “spanging” (panhandling) magnet.
St. Mark’s space sad irony: For fans of the defunct St. Mark’s Bookshop — and of bookstores, in general — it’s surely galling to see St. Mark’s second-to-last home, on Third Ave. at Stuyvesant St., still sitting empty two years after it had to vacate the space. After leaving the Third Ave. spot in June 2014, the East Village book haven relocated to E. Third St. between Avenue A and First Ave. But, even with a smaller space and a lower rent, it couldn’t make a go of it at the more low-key location, and closed for good this past March. Of course, The Cooper Union is the owner of the Third Ave. space. “You are right about the sadness and irony that the site remains unrented,” a Cooper Union spokesperson told us. “But the bookshop was clearly not viable long before it left its location near Cooper. It is time to stop blaming the school for the demise of this beloved small business.” As for the vacant storefront’s future, the school is looking to fill it — apparently not with food for minds and souls, though — but likely for stomachs. A Cooper official said, “We are still actively offering the space for lease. We have received a number of initial inquiries, mostly from retail food companies — but none have made acceptable offers or they have not followed up with offers. We are looking for a tenant that fits the needs of the neighborhood, as well as our needs of a reasonable cash flow. While the space has not had a tenant in the last two years, we have frequently used it for student art shows and student activities.”
D’Ag death watch? Villager readers are continuing to read the writing on the wall — actually on the empty shelves — at the D’Agostino supermarket at Greenwich and Bethune Sts. “Today I couldn’t even buy any butter — there was none, no brands,” Virginia Modest told us. “To not even have butter? It’s like empty shelves. It’s like being in Cuba. I couldn’t even buy grape jelly. I’ve been going over to the jelly section, and it’s been getting slimmer and slimmer. Two managers told me they’re not closing. When I ask workers, they just shrug.” Asked where she’ll do her shopping if the store closes, she said Mrs. Green’s or Trader Joe’s up at 21st St. and Sixth Ave. “They do have a lot of great products, but D’Ag has more,” she noted of Mrs. Green’s. Only certain things at the Greenwich St. D’Ag are being replenished, like bread. Last month, the Post reported that D’Agostino, one of the city’s last remaining independent, family-owned grocers, is shopping its last remaining nine Manhattan stores.
