Senate sniping: When we asked state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and his gubernatorial running mate, State Sen. David Patterson, to handicap the prospects of same sex marriage passing the state Legislature, Spitzer deflected the question, but later, Patterson took us aside before the LGBT Pride March and said, “I’ll handicap the state Senate for you: The state Senate is handicapped.” Patterson is legally blind and apparently didn’t mind our choice of words, although less surprisingly, he is not wild for the Republican-controlled body he hopes to leave to become lieutenant governor.
Singer Deadline: Developer Gregg Singer told us Tuesday that Councilmember Rosie Mendez has another “day or two” to agree to meet with him about possibly preserving the façade at the old P.S. 64 building on E. Ninth St. before he proceeds with his plan to strip the front of the building and build a space for a temporary housing center. Last week, the city landmarked the building but Singer argues that he already has permits to do the work. He put scaffolding up Friday and said if he doesn’t hear from Mendez, he will begin work by the end of the week or early next week. “We will sit down and work with her if she wants,” he said. His long-term plan is to build a tower dormitory but he has to win a few lawsuits before that can happen.
Top dog: Miss Lilly Jimenez-Masters, a 1 1/2 year-old miniature Schnauzer, was awarded the Rubyfruit Pet Pride Pageant on Sunday by Liza Minnelli. Lilly’s owners are none other than Troy Masters, associate publisher of Gay City News, sister publication of The Villager, and his partner Arturo Jimenez. Minnelli may have been swayed by her late schnauzer who coincidentally or not was named Lilly. Masters’s pooch won $150, a spa treatment and a trip to Minnelli’s pad for a New York Dog magazine photo shoot. “Lilly has a habit of stealing the show,” said Masters. “She steals all the treats; she steals all the love. She demands all the affection.”Miss Lilly was already a prize winning pooch, taking home first prize as the Pet in Costume 2005 at her social club.
High Line Living: All was friendly at the Friends of the High Line’s benefit bash at Cipriani’s 55 Wall Street last week. Chowing down on game hen and pilaf beneath the domed dining hall, 850 developers, pols and celebrities rubbed elbows and talked High Line. Kevin Bacon and Diane von Furstenberg partied. Governor wannabe Eliot Spitzer MC’d – “I have powers of subpoena and if you don’t quiet down I’ll cite you.” Guest of honor and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn gave a nod to her predecessor, Gifford Miller, for jumping on the High Line train early on. Giff, the Princeton classmate and friend of Friends co-founder Robert Hammond, sat at the table, but the former speaker was never asked to, well, speak. Villager scribe Al Amateau, whose High Line articles over the past six years were reprinted in the event’s souvenir newspaper, took a bow for his reporting.
Square Art: Petrosino Square won’t be getting trailer trash, but it will be getting Kim Holleman’s “Trailer Park,” one of three art exhibits that will be on display from June 28 – to Aug. 5. Her work inside an 18-foot trailer shows a park. Linda Ganjian’s work depicts utopian cities and Marie Sauvaitre’s landscape photographs of Bedouin life and architecture will also be at Kenmare St. near Lafayette St. The exhibit is organized by Storefront for Art and Architecture.
