Singing candidate: At the recent candidates forum at Caring Community, First Council District candidate Peter Gleason found he had said all he had to say after three minutes. So he used his remaining two minutes to sing “Moon River” to the seniors, scoring the event’s highest applause. State Senator Tom Duane, who was speaking, even though he faces no race, joined him, Gleason said. On a more serious note, Gleason charged that State Senator Martin Connor is improperly doing pro bono election work on behalf of one of his employees, Alice Cancel, former Lower East Side Democratic district leader, by challenging ballot petitions filed by incumbent Norma Ramirez. Gleason, who is running against Councilmember Alan Gerson, worries that if Ramirez is knocked off the slate they share it will hurt him with the Lower East Side Hispanic vote. More to the point, Gleason says Connor is not allowed to do pro bono election law for candidates, but must be paid. “I’d like to see a check from Alice Cancel to Marty Connor for $20,000,” said Gleason. “Show me the cancelled check, Ms. Cancel.” But Connor said Gleason has it all wrong and that while it’s true volunteers are legally required to be compensated for their work for Council candidates who receive matching public funds under the city’s campaign finance law, district leaders can’t receive matching funds and are not covered by the law.
The persecution of Doris: We hear that at last Thursday night’s Community Board 2 executive committee meeting, Doris Diether tried to ask a question on an issue concerning a building. She was reportedly told she couldn’t because she’s no longer a member of the executive committee following her being stripped her of her vice chairpersonship of the zoning committee.
Corrections: In an article last week on the alleged lack of police response during the looting of Alife sneakers store on the Lower East Side, the name of the victim in a previous, potential precedent-setting case was incorrect. The man, who was beaten by skinheads in Washington Sq. Park in an incident over 10 years ago, was Steve Dwyers. Also, John Penley was not the only witness in that case, but he was the only witness with, as he put it, “the guts,” to actually come forward to testify for the prosecution…. Herman Gerson is 91, not 90, as reported in last week’s cover story on the blackout. “I walk up steps all the time. I took it easy,” Gerson said of how climbed 20 flights of stairs at his building at 505 LaGuardia Pl. during the power outage.
Nadler backs Dean: Representative Jerrold Nadler has endorsed former Vermont Governor Howard Dean for president of the United States. Nadler joins Duane, who was among the earliest of local elected officials in throwing his support behind Dean.
Historic meeting: Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, recounted his experience during the blackout. “Weirdly enough, I had just bumped into Landmarks Preservation Chairperson Bob Tierney,” Berman said. “We were both waiting in front of the same cafe on University Pl. for someone. When my very late lunch date arrived we parted company. I was sitting in the diner on University Pl. and 11th St. when suddenly the lights went out and the air-conditioning came to a grinding halt. I didn’t think too much of it until I looked out the window and saw the traffic lights were out too.”
Nightlife rumor: A recent item in the Village Voice said that David McWater might take over from David Rabin as president of the New York Nightlife Association and that there was friction between the two. But McWater told The Villager the report was off-base. “That’s totally a figment of Tricia Romano’s imagination,” McWater said of the Voice reporter. “There was nothing to that. There was no dispute between me and David Rabin. I’m still vice president and he’s president.” However, McWater did say the two had casually discussed the possibility of his taking over as president, but that he decided he was too busy. “I don’t know how Rabin does it,” said McWater, who coaches the Gauchos in the Felix Milan Baseball League and is also producing a film of a Richard Foreman script, starring Cynthia Hopkins (a.k.a. Gloria Deluxe). “It’s about nothing, which is typical for Richard Foreman,” McWater laughed.
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