Musical Trust chairs: Speculation is brewing over whom incoming Borough President Scott Stringer will appoint to the Hudson River Park Trust’s board of directors once he assumes office in January. The B.P. has three appointments to the 13-member board — which makes policy and budget decisions for the 5-mile-long Hudson River Park — and his appointees serve at his pleasure (i.e., he can remove them in a snap if he likes.) It’s a good bet that of the three current members appointed by outgoing B.P. Virginia Fields when the Trust first was created eight years ago, only Julie Nadel, a Tribeca waterfront and historic ships activist, is likely to stay. A member of Downtown Independent Democrats, Nadel was an early supporter of Stringer in Lower Manhattan, the area that helped put Stringer over the top in the election. Madelyn Wils, however, is probably going to be replaced on the board, since she supported Eva Moskowitz for Beep — as they say, “you want people you can work with,” or, put a different way, to the victor’s supporters go the spoils. Wils did not return a call for comment. Assemblymember Stringer does have a relationship with former State Senator Franz Leichter, a fellow Upper West Sider and the third Fields appointee — and co-author of the park’s governing legislation — but it’s reportedly not so strong that it would prevent Stringer from removing him and appointing someone new. We hear some of the people Stringer is considering for the two spots are “a Gansevoort Market activist” and a prominent member of Community Board 1 — sorry, we’re not at liberty to name names — and Arthur Schwartz, chairperson of the Parks and Waterfront Committee of Community Board 2. Waterfront park junkies will recall Schwartz missed out during the first round of appointments back in the late 1990s, because he supported Deborah Glick over Fields for B.P.
“Are you gonna wear my chinch?” Garrett Rosso of First Run dog run in Tompkins Square Park was outraged on Monday to see what appeared to be “creepy Lenny Kravitz modeling full-length chinchilla coats for a photo shoot.” “How lame do you have to be to dress up as a phony pimp and shill for the fur fashion industry in Tompkins Square Park?” Rosso fumed in an e-mail. Whether or not it was really Kravitz, Rosso assures that he got his dog Java to bark at him.
Last call for commish: Could it have been the angry outcry at the recent massive Lower East Side town hall on bar oversaturation? Governor George Pataki on Monday announced that Ed Kelly, after more than 10 years as chairperson of the State Liquor Authority, is stepping down. “His tenure as chairman brought important reforms, transforming the agency into a more efficient, more modern, user-friendly organization,” Pataki said in a press release. “Ed’s dedication, commitment, and accomplishments, are an example for all New Yorkers.”
Acrimony for acronym: At the Nov. 17 Community Board 2 meeting, the Solita Hotel — apparently located somewhere south of Nolita — was applying for a some typical required permit, perhaps even a liquor license. Before the board deliberated, David Reck, apparently annoyed at the constant coinage of new micro-neighborhood names, quipped, “Can we vote to ban the hotel’s name?”
Shades have it made: The giant colored translucent lampshades that are part of Marjorie Kouns’s “Well-Lit Chess Pieces” temporary public art exhibition in Washington Square Park have gotten yet another lease on life and will now be on view through April. However, the chess sculptures part of the installation will leave the park on Dec. 2, but will be on view just a few blocks away at the famed Marshall Chess Club for a special winter exhibit starting in mid-December.
Can-do Quinn: On Oct. 13, the Department of Sanitation, at Councilmember Christine Quinn’s request, inspected the Christopher St. area and added five new garbage cans. This included replacing a missing basket at the northeast corner and adding a second basket at the southwest corner of Christopher St. and Seventh Ave., replacing a missing basket at the southeast corner of Christopher and Bleecker Sts. and adding second baskets at the northeast and southwest corners of Christopher and Hudson Sts. Kate Seely-Kirk, Quinn’s legislative aide, said Quinn had been speaking with Aubrey Lees of Community Board 2, who is part of a group pushing for a new business improvement district in the area.
Coffee buzz: A recent Villager article on Galleria illy, an experimental coffee shop in Soho, stated that there would be a private reading in late November of the “Kitchen Sisters,” a National Public Radio show, produced by the Coen brothers and featuring Sofia Coppola and Francis McDormand. The correct information is that the Coen brothers presented N.P.R.’s The Kitchen Sisters at Galleria illy in late November, and the evening featured readings by Frances McDormand (her first name was misspelled in The Villager article) Oliver Platt and others.
Morrow is the man: Bruce Morrow, aka “Cousin Brucie,” formerly of WCBS FM radio, now of Sirius Satellite Radio, will be honored as Little Italy’s Man of the Year by the Little Italy Merchants Association at a Dec. 2 awards dinner at Sal Anthony’s S.P.Q.R. restaurant on Mulberry St. The event is on the opening night of the 2005 Sorrento Cheese Christmas in Little Italy holiday festival.
