Chairman of the boards:
Borough President Scott Stringer has released the list of Manhattan community board appointments — once again, on time. The man is a model of efficiency, and the same goes for his staffers, as far as these important appointments are concerned. On Community Board 2, which covers the area between 14th and Canal Sts., east of the Bowery/Fourth Ave. to the Hudson River, eight new members have been named. Stringer appoints half the board members, and the other half on the recommendation of the local councilmembers. Among Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s new C.B. 2 appointees are Florent Morellet (right), the legendary Meat Market restaurateur, who is also a preservationist and cycling activist; and playwright Robin Rothstein. Councilmember Margaret Chin made three new C.B. 2 appointments, of which we recognize the name of Terri Cude, whose sense of humor we’ve often appreciated while attending board meetings. On Community Board 3, which covers the East Side between E. 14th St. and the Brooklyn Bridge, there are 10 new appointees, including Mary Spink, director of the Lower East Side People’s Mutual Housing Association, who was put on the board by Stringer.
Fears trauma by trooper:
After our article last week about his campaign, Senate hopeful Randy Credico didn’t return a subsequent phone call and some e-mails we left for him, and we were wondering what was up. Listening to Fred Dicker’s talk radio show, we got the answer. Self-described “lefty-Libertarian” Credico, who is the conservative-heavy show’s “official comedian,” called in to give Dicker the report on Credico’s scathing Scoopy item in last week’s issue. The item, that is, in which Credico recalled how Governor David Paterson had boasted to him several years ago at a comedy club of his copious cocaine consumption. Credico told Dicker, “I think I’m going into hiding — because the governor is going to send out the State Police.” He doesn’t need “200 police,” breathing down his neck, he quipped, referring to the troopers’ harassment of a woman involved in a domestic violence incident with a former top Paterson aide. Also, Credico announced he’s going to break out his Chuck Schumer imitation this week, since he knows the incumbent senator will refuse to debate him. This way, Credico will be able to hold debates all by himself around the state. Asked if he thought Paterson had just been goofing when he said he’d done more blow than Credico — who admits to having been drug addicted — the comic said there’s always truth in humor. “It may have been a joke…most jokes are real,” he said. “He said it. I told some friends off the record. I don’t think it has anything to do with his ability to run the state. … I believed him. What bothers me is that he did not give clemency to people of color or even white people who are [in jail] for doing what he did. … He was Senate minority leader at the time and never thought that he would be the governor. I will take a lie-detector test. He won’t.” Also, while our Scoopy report said that Credico was angry at Paterson for not giving low-level drug offenders pardons, Tony Papa, Credico’s media point person, set us straight. “A pardon completely wipes out the criminal record,” Papa explained. “Clemency automatically speeds up the date of parole release. Traditionally, clemency is given to Rockefeller Drug Law prisoners — not a pardon.”
Mixing in action:
Most readers have probably noticed that The Villager’s Mixed Use real estate column has not run in the paper the last few weeks. That’s because the column is on hiatus, following the recent departure of Patrick Hedlund, who wrote it since its inception two years ago. Deciding he wanted to move more into online journalism, Hedlund is now editing at DNAinfo. We hope to bring back Mixed Use at some point soon and wish Hedlund well in the digital realm.
Corrections:
The Villager’s article in last week’s issue on former critics joining the Chinatown Working Group to help the Chinatown rezoning effort, contained errors and gave some false impressions. First, the Chinatown Working Group has not agreed to any new sort of “proportional representation,” other than what it has always had — that its 40-plus groups each get one vote. Also, there is no proposed study area for the rezoning yet — its boundaries remain to be determined by the working group, and will emerge from the recommendations of the working group’s four working teams. These four “preliminary action plans” (PAP’s, for short) will be presented at the Chinatown Working Group’s April 5 meeting. (The rezoning boundaries erroneously cited in The Villager’s article were from a study conducted by Hunter College.) In addition, the study area does not necessarily include the Lower East Side, as one resident claimed in the article — because, again, the rezoning boundaries have not been set yet. Also, the idea for setting up the Chinatown Working Group initially came from Community Board 3, not from the Bloomberg administration. Furthermore, the article was not clear on the fact that Community Boards 1, 2 and 3 — not the C.W.G. — will be the bodies holding public hearings on the plan in the coming months. The three boards, along with the C.W.G., would then be the co-sponsors in submitting what is known as a 197A rezoning plan to the city, hopefully by sometime this summer. … On another subject, a recent Scoopy item incorrectly said that David Handler is the new residents’ chairperson of the Bleecker Area Merchants’ and Residents’ Association, but he is the new merchants’ chairperson.
