Kolodny v. Bluth:
On Monday, the State Supreme Court reportedly agreed to keep Virginia Kolodny on the ballot in the Civil Court judge race in the Second Municipal Court District, dismissing a lawsuit by one of her three opponents, Arlene Bluth. Harking back to Bluth’s claims that she was only “upholding the law,” Jerry Skurnik, Kolodny’s consultant, said, “I guess her interpretation of what’s lawless and what isn’t is incorrect.” Skurnik had early noted that Bluth failed to file her campaign financial statement that was due July 15. On Monday, he said she finally filed it Aug. 3.
Gerson suit dies:
According to Leo Glickman, Councilmember Alan Gerson’s campaign manager, the lawsuit by Norma Ramirez challenging the validity of petitions collected for Gerson and a number of other candidates by the Lower East Side Democratic Club “has been dismissed on numerous grounds.” Glickman said the story had no validity from the start and was spun by Gerson’s opponents only to do damage. “It was a press story and that’s all it was,” he said. Ramirez charged that the name of a woman who had been dead for two years was on petitions the East Side club had collected for Gerson and the other candidates.
Name game:
Speaking of Gerson, the New York Post’s Linda Stasi seems to have picked up on an item in this column last week about the councilmember’s honorary name in the Downtown Chinese community, Gor Ar Lun. The name will be shown in bilingual voting machines in heavily Asian parts of the First City Council District. Peter Gleason, Gerson’s primary opponent, first made an issue out of Gerson’s “Asianified” name, telling the Villager that while Gerson got a name that really sounds Chinese, the transliterated version he got is little more than “Peetah Greeson.” Though she didn’t give The Villager credit, at least Stasi did a bit of digging and found out that Gerson’s not the only politico with a special honorary name that also appears on ballots; Virginia Kee, a member of the Chinese-American Planning Council, is quoted as saying, “We bestow names upon public servants who are our friends, because many in our community don’t speak English.” Kee said that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is known as “Glorious Silver” and former City Councilmember Kathryn Freed is known as “Achieving Beauty.” Gerson said he’s not sure but he thinks his Chinese moniker translates to “Wisdom.” Though he has zero political experience, Gleason — that’s “Greeson,” not Gor Ar Lun — seems to have scored with the name flap. Also, all the women in The Villager’s office seem to thinks he’s “cute.” It figures; he’s a former fireman. Stasi must think so too. She ran his head shot in her column.
Really big shooo:
The concert by Ashanti on July 24 on Pier 54 at W. 13th St. was the Hudson River Park Trust’s first paid-admission concert. “We wanted to go big time — We’re there now,” Robert Balachandran, the Trust’s president, told the Trust’s board of directors last month. Last Sunday, bluesman Robert Cray headlined the park’s free Blues and BBQ Festival on Pier 84 at W. 44th St. Balachandran, who said he enjoys introducing the acts to the crowd, is fast becoming the Don Kirshner of the waterfront. Meanwhile, the Trust’s RiverFlicks free movies series has been drawing 1,500 people on average, while the MoonDance free dancing on Sunday nights on Pier 25 in Tribeca drew 1,200 people a night, he said. The park’s free summer events are wrapping up this month.
Celebrity place:
According to an employee at a discreet loft building at the west end of Canal St., Hollywood power couple Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck may have moved into the building, where director Gus Van Sant, as far as we know, owns the penthouse — or at least did a few years ago when we attended Kathryn Freed’s public advocate campaign fundraiser there. Ben’s brother Casey Affleck has the floor below, the source tells us. Not enough celebrities for you? Well, actor Joaquin Phoenix has been seen in the building too, the woman says. The source claims she has personally seen all of the above in the building at one time or another, except J. Lo, who may understandably still be in hiding after “Gigli.”
Oops:
An item in last week’s Scoopy’s column mistakenly called Rosie Mendez, the East Side female Democratic district leader, Rosie Martinez. Now, each time we speak to her she won’t let us forget the flub, and jokingly introduces herself as “Rosie Martinez.”
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