By David Spett
George O’Dowd, better known as singer Boy George, was recently sentenced to five days of community service in District 3 for falsely reporting a burglary in his Little Italy loft.
Since few residents of Chinatown and the Lower East Side deny that their neighborhoods could use some community service, Downtown Express decided to ask a few New Yorkers to suggest ways Mr. George can help the community.
Cathy Glasson said he should have to clean the area outside Chinatown fish and food stores.
Hizzoner former Mayor Ed Koch, also a Downtown Express movie critic, said: “Well, community service can take different forms. To me, the city and its residents would gain more putting him in a situation where he can teach that skill rather than simply do indiscriminate manual work.”
To what skill of Boy George does the mayor refer? Makeup.
“He seems to know a lot about makeup,” Koch said. “He said he wants to teach it. Ask him. He proposed that he would teach makeup.”
Just in case the makeup option falls through, the mayor suggested plan B: A Boy George concert in Washington Square Park “for whatever hours [of community service] he has.”
People in the park could not be reached for comment on whether they are eager to hear Boy George hits “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” and “Time (Clock Of The Heart).”
Soho Alliance director Sean Sweeney concurred with Koch on the Washington Square Park concert.
“That would be wonderful,” Sweeney said.
He added that perhaps Boy George could also clean commercial advertisements stuck on lampposts, which are unsightly and illegal.
“Get a scraper, scrape it off and repaint the lamppost,” Sweeney said, adding that George should mix sand with the paint so that future ads are easier to remove.
Sweeney said the singer should also clean up graffiti, a problem all over Soho.
But more important than all of these proposals, Sweeney said. is cleaning up Boy George’s makeup.
“I would start with [that],” he said. “His facial makeup really needs work.”
At the last moment, Sweeney threw in one more idea: “Maybe Boy George could take some of the kids to the beach, but I don’t know if the parents would like that.”
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