New BID chief? Word has it that Jennifer Falk, a top spokesperson in Mayor Bloomberg’s press office, has been tapped to be executive director of the Union Square Partnership business improvement district. Falk has focused on economic development issues while at City Hall. No one from the BID is confirming that Falk is the new chief, however. A BID spokesperson said an announcement might be made at their Thursday board of directors meeting, but he declined to comment on the rumored Falk appointment.
Watch out Starsky and Hutch! On Saturday night, State Senator Martin Connor and Susan Stetzer, Community Board 3’s district manager, went on a van ride through the Seventh and Ninth Precincts with the precincts’ commanding officers — Dennis De Quatro and Frank Dwyer — and Noreen Healey, the new appointee to the State Liquor Authority and chairperson of the S.L.A.’s new task force that’s making recommendations on approval or denial of liquor licenses. “We drove around the whole area,” reports Stetzer, “particularly St. Mark’s Pl. and Avenue B that had large crowds on the street. We saw underage kids drinking on the street on St. Mark’s; the cops jumped out and checked and gave them summonses. In both precincts, people were drinking on the street — on Ludlow and Orchard in the Seventh Precinct…. The commissioner actually saw someone urinating on Ludlow St. and was upset about it and pointed him out and he got a summons. We saw some people smoking pot on the street and they got summonses.” They were driving in clearly marked police vans, first in the Ninth Precinct (East Village) from 11:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., then the Seventh (Lower East Side) from 1:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. It sounds like the van was a virtual summons-issuing machine and if used on a regular basis would really keep the bar scene under control — but Stetzer said it is was just a “one-time thing.” Stetzer spoke about the ride during her district manager’s report at C.B. 3’s full board meeting last week.
Best bars bar none: Bars owned by David McWater, chairperson of C.B. 3, romped in Citysearch’s Best of Nightlife 2006 rankings. His Nice Guy Eddie’s, at 5 Avenue A, ranked tenth in the Best Sports Bar category and seventh as Best After-Work Bar; his Doc Holliday’s, at 141 Avenue A, and The Library, at 7 Avenue A, were second and seventh, respectively, in the Best Dive Bar category, and The Library also ranked third in the Best Singles Scene category. McWater took the accolades in stride, noting that in years past, Doc Holliday’s, his first bar, has been ranked best dive bar in America.
Pulpit maneuvers: We hear that St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery will not be renewing the contract of Father Julio Torres at month’s end. No one has any problem with what Torres has been preaching, but the church wants better oversight of its finances and to grow the congregation. Father Frank Morales, one of the church’s two unpaid associate pastors, confirmed Torres’s contract isn’t being renewed. The church definitely needs a financial injection, he said, noting, “I was painting and scraping the church this afternoon.” Morales stressed Torres’s release has nothing to do with the fact that young protesters were boogieing on the church graveyard’s historic vault covers during the Republican National Convention two years ago. “There’s one or two people that complained about that,” Morales said. “Clayton [Patterson] is obsessed about that. He had nothing to say about the thousands of kids that were being fed there by Seeds for Peace.”
Surprise Scott: Borough President Scott Stringer made a surprise visit to Casa Italiana last week, where the W. 12th St. Block Association, recently revitalized, was having its annual meeting. He spoke mostly about community board activity, stating that he wanted board members to have greater knowledge and control over land use and zoning issues in their respective communities. He also stated that he would continue the serious screening process he used in appointing board members this year and promised that more community-active and independent people would be appointed to community boards in the future.
Scoopy bits: The proposed co-naming of the block of Hudson St. across from Abingdon Square in honor of the late activist and urban planner Jane Jacobs, who lived there, has passed the committee level in the City Council…. Jessica Delfino says her controversial music video, after being yanked by YouTube, is now back on YouTube…. Marty’s junk shop on Lafayette St. north of Spring St. — always a great place to jam on a secondhand electric guitar — has closed.
You not so dirty rat: As for the large inflatable union rat and its noisy air generator at 165 Christopher St., we’re told that this is, in fact, a protest not against any work going on at the actual building, but against JAL management company in general. Plus, a quieter generator is now being used.
Correction: In the Oct. 25 article on Dr. David Ores — a.k.a. “Dr. Dave” of Clinton St. — the woman in the photo with the doctor was incorrectly identified as his girlfriend, Claire Hillan.
