‘THE GREAT HETERO HOPE?’ The District 3 City Council race is shaping up to be more than just “Corey vs. Yetta.” As The Villager first reported last week, Alexander Meadows, a relatively new member of Community Board 2, has tossed his hat into the ring and filed the necessary papers with the Board of Elections. We’ve only spoken to Meadows briefly so far about his campaign, but we know he works in the “estate” field and is interested in health issues. We’ll be writing more about him soon. Like Yetta Kurland and Corey Johnson, he’s openly gay. Meanwhile, a — hold onto your hats! — heterosexual — yes, a heterosexual! — is on the verge of announcing that he’s running for the seat, which is currently held by Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who will have to step down at the end of next year due to term limits and, anyway, is running for mayor. The Third District, which stretches from the Lower West Side up to Hell’s Kitchen, is known as the Council’s “gay seat.” But demographics are changing, so — who knows? — a hetero just might be able to give it a go. We had a sit-down with the male mystery candidate last week and he said he thinks there could well be an opening in the field for, as he put it, a “pragmatic person” who can get things done. Since gun ownership, or the lack thereof, has become an issue in the race, the subject came up during the sit-down. “I’ve never had a gun,” he told us, adding, “I’ve never even shot clay pigeons.” Kurland last week told us she has given up her firearm, which she said she previously needed as part of the post-9/11 security plan at her Hello World Language Center English-as-a-Second-Language school. Johnson said he never has had a gun or a gun license and never will. Meadows did not appear to be packing heat at last week’s C.B. 2 meeting when we spoke to him, but we’ll have to grill him on this, too. As for heterosexuals running in District 3, there has been one notable recent candidate, Maria Passannante-Derr, a former chairperson of C.B. 2, who finished third to Quinn and Kurland in the Democratic primary three years ago.
CHAD NOW ‘HANGING’ AT C.B. 3: Speaking of community boards and political types, Chad Marlow, a former member of C.B. 2 and a former president of the Village Independent Democrats club, has been appointed by Borough President Scott Stringer to fill a vacancy on the East Side’s C.B. 3, effective Jan. 1. Marlow used to live in the Christopher St. area in the West Village but has since moved around a bit, first to Brooklyn and more recently to the East Village, where he’s been active around issues concerning the Tompkins Square Park playground.
BUKOWSKI BLOWOUT: What would Charles Bukowski think about the fiscal cliff? How would the “Post Office” author feel about the demise of the U.S. Postal Service? Would Buk have a Twitter account? And, if so, what would he tweet? These questions and more may be answered, or maybe not, at the Sixth Annual Charles Bukowski Memorial Reading, on Fri., Jan. 4, at 6 p.m., at the Cornelia St. Cafe, 29 Cornelia St., between W. Fourth and Bleecker Sts. Doors open at 5:45 p.m. and admission is $12, which includes (naturally) a free drink. Participants who arrive early can sign up to be on the reading list. There will be readings of Bukowski poems by Mike Daisey, Richard Vetere, Peter Carlaftes, Kat Georges, Michael Puzzo, Nicca Ray, Angelo Verga, Puma Perl, George Wallace and Thomas Fucaloro, plus rare videos and prizes (Buk books, CDs, DVDs and more). For more information and reservations, e-mail info@threeroomspress.com .
