Erin go E.R.! The prime minister of Ireland, Enda Kenny, also known as the taoiseach, recently visited the Lenox Hill HealthPlex, Manhattan’s first freestanding emergency center, in Greenwich Village. Kenny met with Michael Dowling, the president and C.E.O. of North Shore-LIJ, and received a comprehensive tour from the HealthPlex’s executive director, Alex Hellinger. The HealthPlex, part of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, integrates health and wellness services with access to 24-hour emergency care and a full range of medical specialists.
Le moving on: Jeffrey LeFrancois has moved on from his position as Councilmember Corey Johnson’s chief of staff. In our dealings with LeFrancois, we definitely found him to be all the “community rock star” he was cracked up to be, in terms of his expertise and knowledge on local issues. He formerly was a staffer for Assemblymember Richard Gottfried.
Heckuva Hillary event: District Leader Jenifer Rajkumar is co-chairperson of the Finance Committee for the Ready for Hillary Clinton PAC. So, on the evening of Thurs, Nov. 20, Rajkumar, who ran for City Council against Margaret Chin last year, will be throwing the “New York City is Ready for Hillary” event at Le Souk on LaGuardia Place. It’s the official grassroots New York City event for Ready for Hillary, Rajkumar noted. Members of the host committee include some familiar local names, including Sylvia Rackow, Jeanne Wilcke, Sean Sweeney and Susan Wittenberg.
CHARAS charrrrge! On Monday, Councilmember Rosie Mendez and about 60 concerned East Villagers gathered to strategize ways to restore the CHARAS/El Bohio Cultural and Community Center to its former home in the increasingly decrepit former P.S. 64 school building at 605 E. Ninth St. The event felt more like a class reunion than a “town hall meeting,” drawing many key veterans of the now nearly 17-year-long struggle to “save” CHARAS, including Chino Garcia, Susan Howard, former Councilmember Margarita Lopez, Val Orselli of Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association, Crystal Field of Theater for the New City, Jan Hanvick of the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center, and members of the East Village Community Coalition, as well as Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh and state Senator Brad Hoylman. Mendez said she hoped to capitalize on the Department of Buildings’ recent decision to rescind permits for owner Gregg Singer’s latest dorm scheme for the site. While the dorm project isn’t dead (it could still proceed if Singer answers the objections raised by D.O.B.’s audit), Mendez and her allies are hoping to use this setback as a springboard for a new public campaign calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio to “return” the building to CHARAS and other neighborhood groups for “community use.” They are planning a petition and holiday card campaign, culminating on Jan. 6, Three Kings Day — a traditional day of gifting. Left maddeningly unclear was just how they expect de Blasio to “give back” the building, which Singer purchased at auction in 1998. Would they urge eminent domain or, yet another legal battle, or make a case that Singer has forfeited his rights to the now-landmarked school after 13 years of hostile neglect? Mendez previously told The Villager that the building’s fair-market value was appraised at $30 million to $40 million a few years ago, though Singer originally bought it for only $3.15 million. Stay tuned….
Correction: In the obituary on Jerry Tallmer in last week’s issue, his son, Matthew Tallmer, was incorrectly identified as a senior staffer for Congressmember Darrell Issa. However, Tallmer, of Alexandria, Virginia, is a senior investigator in D.C. for the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which is chaired by Issa.
