Abzug out Liz Abzug put fast-spreading rumors to rest this week and told UnderCover that she is not running for City Council in the First District.
Had she entered the hotly contested race for incumbent Alan Gerson’s seat, many saw Abzug as a potential victor whose candidacy would at the very least dramatically change the campaign. But Abzug said she is friendly with both Gerson and challenger Margaret Chin, which would have made a run difficult.
Abzug, daughter of the late Bella Abzug, an icon in the women’s movement and a former member of Congress, also considered running for the seat back when Gerson was first elected, in 2001. She did make a run for City Council against Tom Duane in Chelsea in the early ’90s, but lost.
Abzug, who moved to Tribeca 13 years ago, keeps busy running a consulting business and a leadership institute she founded in honor of her mother, along with teaching at Barnard College. She’s still looking for a chance to leap back into politics.
“I would love to run for Congress,” Abzug said, though she would never challenge Rep. Jerrold Nadler. She would consider running if Nadler ever stepped down, or she could possibly run out on Long Island, where she has a house in Sag Harbor.
Shelly on L.M.D.C.
Mayor Mike Bloomberg has been campaigning for nearly a year to shutter the state-city Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and transfer its functions — and money — to the city. Last week, when we asked Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver what he thought about the mayor’s proposal, we expected him to repeat his staunch defense of the L.M.D.C. and its chairperson Avi Schick, a Silver ally.
Instead, Silver said the leadership of the agency isn’t that significant.
“I don’t think, honestly, who does the job of L.M.D.C. is that relevant,” Silver told UnderCover. “I think what is important, as we see in the development of ground zero, there has to be a coordination between them, a working together. The vehicle is secondary.”
Silver added that he sees no reason to change anything.
“I would just as soon leave [the L.M.D.C.’s structure as is] because its function is running out,” Silver said. “Why change ships?”
The decision of what to do with the L.M.D.C. is ultimately up to Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson, who Silver said is also angling to control the development corporation’s budget.
Phone dustup
Councilmember Alan Gerson not only lost Downtown Independent Democrats’ endorsement last week but he also had his cell phone thrown against the wall by club member Gil Horowitz after breaking up an argument Horowitz was having with Gerson’s mother Sophie, 84. UnderCover has tried to get to the bottom of this to see what prompted Horowitz’s anger — was it an overreaction to the councilmember’s justifiable defense of his mother or was it physically aggressive behavior on Gerson’s part? We feel like we’re in a remake of Kurosawa’s “Rashomon.”
Horowitz, 72, says Gerson grabbed and held him while shoving him 20 feet. Then when Horowitz complained to Alan, the councilmember offered the cell phone in case Horowitz wanted to call the police. Horowitz was so angered that he threw the phone across the large hall in St. Anthony’s Church.
There were few witnesses to the hullabaloo at the back of the room since most attention was directed toward the speakers up front.
Allan Horland, a physician and Gerson friend who was keeping his eye on Sophie at the request of her son, agreed Gerson did grab Horowitz and move him away, but said Gerson reacted appropriately since Horowitz “was waving his finger if not his fist” in the face of an elderly woman who couldn’t easily get up and walk away. Sophie, who lives with Alan, has had two major surgeries in recent years.
Gerson said he would stand by Horland’s account, although he denies ever grabbing Horowitz. At various times over the last week, he has said he “may have ruffled” Horowitz as he stepped in, that he “gently ushered” him away from his mother and that he did what anyone would do to someone “threatening” his or her ailing mother.
Horowitz, a psychologist who is supporting Pete Gleason, says Gerson just snapped. He said he never shook his finger at Sophie, although he does regret some of the harsh things he told her about her son.
Two witnesses with strong loyalties to Gleason, who beat Gerson for the D.I.D. endorsement, said they saw Gerson take more aggressive action — one said the councilmember grabbed and shoved Horowitz about 7 feet, the other said it was more like a pushing — but neither would speak for attribution.
Another witness who is a Gleason supporter, Adam Silvera, said he was right there and although each person invaded the other’s personal space, he did not notice much if any contact. But Silvera also does not recall the phone throw, which every other witness remembers clearly.
Go figure.
Island think tank?
Councilmember Alan Gerson tells us he is working with the New York Academy of Sciences on its goal of opening a non-biotech science center somewhere near its home in Lower Manhattan, perhaps on Governors Island. Gerson says the city’s Economic Development Corp. is also on board and the center is likely to be a think tank.
Safir reflects
UnderCover caught up with former police and fire commissioner Howard Safir at a fundraiser for the New York City Police Museum, where his wife Carol Safir is president of the board.
Safir is keeping busy as C.E.O. of the security company he founded, called SafirRosetti.
“Nothing can be as stressful as being police commissioner,” said Safir, who held that job under Rudy Giuliani from 1996 to 2000 and before that was fire commissioner for two years.
Safir added that the job has gotten even tougher for current police commissioner Ray Kelly. Kelly has 5,000 fewer officers than Safir had, while Kelly also has to worry about fighting terror post-9/11.
“That makes it a lot harder to fight crime and protect the city,” Safir said.
Here to stay?
Also in attendance at the Police Museum benefit was Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, the First Precinct’s commanding officer, who received an award.
We’d been curious about how much longer Bologna was going to be leading the First Precinct, since the city has a habit of rotating commanding officers to different posts every couple of years, and Bologna’s been in Lower Manhattan since 2005.
“If you have to be someplace for four years, the First Precinct is the place to be,” Bologna said, smiling.
He said there was no way to know how long he’d stay at the First, but Police Commissioner Ray Kelly is trying to keep officers at their posts longer, Bologna said.
As for what Bologna would prefer, “You always look for new challenges,” Bologna said, “but as long as I’m here, I’m happy.”
