Gerson’s fury: Councilmember Alan Gerson is steaming mad over “slushgate.” We caught up with the Lower Manhattan councilmember at City Hall last Friday after the U.S. District Attorney announced indictments of two Council staffers for skimming from the “slush fund” of money allocated to phony organizations that ballooned in recent years under Council Speaker Christine Quinn. “I was angry. I was furious,” Gerson told us. “We’re given a list of thousands of organizations for the budget. We can’t check them all.” As Gerson spoke, a woman came up to him reminding him of their earlier conversation. A lobbyist for an arthritis group, she was nudging him about earmarking $20,000 in funds for exercise classes for senior centers in his district. “I’m fighting to get funding for legitimate purposes,” Gerson noted, referring to the woman’s cause. The councilmember noted he was particularly galled by the revelation of hidden funds since he’s a former member of the Committee on Open Government in New York State. “I put a premium on transparency,” he stressed. “There’s no excuse. Now, who’s responsible for this will be the subject of investigation. It’s not too early to say that the practice was absolutely wrong.” Asked if the phony appropriations would hurt Quinn’s standing in the Council and her chances of becoming mayor, Gerson said diplomatically, “It doesn’t help anyone.”
Big blue burrito: Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was spotted having lunch at Benny’s Burritos on Avenue A on Monday as a flock of black S.U.V.’s was parked nearby. The P.C., it appears, likes hanging out in the East Village. A source tells us that last month he saw Kelly standing in front of Nativity Church on E. Second St. while pointing intently at something.
Time’s up again: It was just a few months ago that Time’s Up!, the environmental/bicycling group that promotes Critical Mass, had to leave its E. Houston St. storefront space after Steve Stollman announced he was selling the building. Time’s Up! thought they had found a new home at The Hub, a former garage at 73 Morton St. at Hudson St., where George Bliss operates a bicycle-taxi repair shop. But now, Bliss tells us, he’s being forced to double his rent to $14,000 a month and can no longer afford to share the 2,300-square-foot space with Time’s Up!, which has been paying him a nominal rent as a subtenant. Instead, he’s bringing in what he called a “bicycle FedEx” service, and has given Time’s Up! 30 days notice. But to provide the group a fitting sendoff — and some cash to help them move and find yet another new space — The Hub is throwing a benefit party this Friday from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. The event will feature a bicycle fashion show — in which all are invited to participate — the Rude Mechanical Orchestra, Traffic Jam Tap Dancers, Boom Boom Brooks Trio, good food and drink — and a trampoline. The benefit will also fund the Pedicab Workers Association’s lawsuit against the city’s new restrictions on pedicabs.
Love Jam: God’s Love We Deliver wasn’t getting much love after asking for an exemption under the city’s now-dead congestion pricing plan. The local nonprofit organization, which daily feeds about 3,000 people with AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses in New York City and parts of New Jersey, didn’t outright oppose the “user fee.” But it asked to be excused from what it estimated would be more than $30,000 in costs, arguing that good deeds (and tax-exempt status) trump traffic rules. Westchester Assemblymember Richard Brodsky used G.L.W.D.’s pleas to politicians to back his harsher anti-fee stance. Posting excerpts from the organization’s original letter along with Brodsky’s arguments, Streetsblog.org started a flurry of comments that mostly maligned the do-gooder group. Snarky writers argued G.L.W.D. could handle the costs since it spends so much on fundraising. They recommended the group move from its current Sixth Ave. Soho base or reverse its position to support less traffic and therefore faster deliveries. They questioned how many clients the $30,000 could actually feed. And they told G.L.W.D. to shut up and pay up, viewing the fee as part of “the cost of doing good work and business, just like gas, tolls, telephone, payroll taxes.” Now that the State Assembly has squashed the plan, G.L.W.D. won’t have to worry about driving its 16 vans between boroughs. Whether it’ll start feeling the love again remains to be seen.
