Dog run P.B. panic: Fears were raised at the Leroy St. Dog Run after a dog owner last Thursday morning reported to a Park Enforcement Police officer in Hudson River Park that he saw “several large dabs of peanut butter slathered on the legs of many of the bench legs at the run.” The PEP went with Michael Adams, owner of Pym, and promptly checked out the situation, and they found a total of four of the peculiar P.B. patches. Dog run leader Stephen DiMenna was soon on the scene and helped them remove all traces of the suspect Skippy. Kemraj Mangroo, the park’s assistant director of maintenance, then re-inspected the run with DiMenna, and assured that he would have his crew promptly do a thorough cleaning of the run. The run was deemed “safe for dogs” once again. DiMenna took a sample of the suspicious spread to Dr. Sane at Greenwich Village Animal Hospital, who sent it to a lab for testing. An e-mail “safety alert” was also blasted out to the run’s many users. “It was clear the dabs of peanut butter were deliberately placed on the benches,” DiMenna noted in the blast, adding, “This summer we received reports from two local vets in August of three cases of dog poisoning at the Washington Square dog run and piles of Milk-Bone treats were found in several locations in the Hudson River Park along the promenade.” In short, DiMenna wrote, if you see something, say something — meaning any “suspicious items,” food, etc., left in the dog run. Dispose of this dubious stuff and report it to the park police and follow up with him, he said. As for the iffy Jif found in the run, DiMenna said, unfortunately the sample proved too small to test, but that since last Thursday’s smear fears, there haven’t been any other dubious food sightings. The PEPs will be patrolling the run more regularly, he said. As for the Washington Square dog run, Eileen Shulock, a board member there, said the talk this past summer was that poison was allegedly found along the sidewalks of Washington Square Village — not in the park — though she was never able to confirm this with any vets in the area. “No dogs have been poisoned in Washington Square Park dog run!” she stressed to us.
Hopes for better buses: We here from state Senator Daniel Squadron’s office that his big summer town hall is paying dividends in an important area, in that the M.T.A. heard the cries for better bus service on the M5 and M21 lines. The transportation agency is looking into ways to address the problems that were raised at the town hall, such as, notably, bunching of buses. Specifically, NYC Transit is assessing the M21 to determine if the volume of ridership warrants increased service. The route runs every 15 minutes in the mornings compared to every 12 minutes before 2010. Afternoon and evening intervals remained the same, Carmen Bianco, NYC Transit president, told Squadron in an Oct. 2 letter.
Throws penalty flag: State Senator Brad Hoylman announced at Community Board 2’s recent full-board meeting that he thinks it’s about time to tackle a big issue. Namely, Hoylman said, the National Football League is a $10 billion business, but incredibly is designated a nonprofit, so is tax-exempt. “The N.F.L. commissioner makes $40 million a year,” the state senator noted incredulously. In short, he said, the league must pay up! Apparently, the league’s nonprofit status dates back from the A.F.L.-N.F.L. merger and was done to avoid antitrust issues. But Major League Baseball has surrendered its tax-exempt status and the National Basketball Association never even had it. Under Hoylman’s proposal, the N.F.L. would pay a 7.1 percent base franchise tax. Assemblymember Deborah Glick — known for her passionate play-by-play tweeting about Sunday football games — will reportedly be a co-sponsor of Hoylman’s bill. If the league is taxed, it would mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for New York, which, frankly, we think we are owed, given the Jets’ and Giants’ dismal seasons so far.
Read all about it! Astor Place newsstand booster Marty Tessler reports that Jerry Delakas will be paying off his fine to the city this month with his final $3,000 payment. Overturning a ruling by the Bloomberg administration, Mayor Bill de Blasio earlier this year allowed the longtime vendor to keep his newsstand. However, as part of the deal, the Department of Consumer Affairs made Delakas pay a $9,000 fine in several installments for having operated the kiosk without technically having a valid operating license to do so.
Bowled over: We hear from Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Histioric Preservation, that several local elected officials recently met with Billy Macklowe about the developer’s planned tower at the Bowlmor site on University Place, but unfortunately what they heard was not good. The pols at the project powwow included Councilmember Rosie Mendez and Assemblymember Deborah Glick. Basically, Berman reported, Macklowe intends to move ahead with his planned 300-foot-tall building, which will take the form of a short base with retail uses, topped by a very tall, narrow residential tower. “At approximately 308 feet in height, this will be one of the tallest — if not the tallest — buildings in the Village,” Berman said. “Apparently, Mr. Macklowe has told elected officials that the building will be limestone rather than glass or steel. This is extremely disappointing news, and sadly reflects the lack of landmark protections for much of the University Place corridor, and the current zoning, which allows towers of this size if a developer assembles a large enough site, as has been done in this case.” Demolition permits have already been filed. In response, G.V.S.H.P. recently met with local leaders and politicians to discuss formulating proposals for zoning changes and landmark designations that would help protect this corridor’s character, preserve historic buildings and prevent out-of-scale development.
