‘09’s bold mentionables
Politically speaking, 2009 was not a good year for Councilmember Alan Gerson: After eight years in office, he lost his seat to Margaret Chin. But Gerson did win another (albeit smaller) contest this year, and he did so easily: Gerson garnered 30 bold mentions in UnderCover this year, more than anyone else.
Mayor Mike Bloomberg came in next with 25 mentions, and then there was a three-way tie for third place (at 18) between Chin, Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver and Pete Gleason, who also ran for Gerson’s seat but came in fourth.
These UnderCover tallies clearly cannot be used as predictors of political success, in elections or otherwise. Chin beat Gerson in the Democratic primary though she received many fewer UnderCover mentions, and PJ Kim, who came in third place, had only three UC mentions, while Arthur Gregory, who came in last in the primary, received eight.
So, we’re guessing we can’t use 2009’s UnderCover standings to predict who will replace Julie Menin as Community Board 1 chairperson in 2010 (incidentally, she weighed in at only 11 mentions this year, while scoring the top place with 27 mentions last year). But if the UC mentions do mean something, then chairperson candidate Catherine McVay Hughes (who received four this year) might be worried that possible opponent Paul Hovitz clocked in at nine.
Gerson Vaca?
Speaking of Alan Gerson, don’t be surprised if you see him partying it up with spring breakers in Cancun. As far as we can tell, he has not yet decided on a locale for his long-awaited vacation, but last week when a reporter for another publication joked about trekking with him to Cancun, he said it was a place that already was under serious consideration.
“Cancun is definitely very high on the list,” he said. Gerson told us he could not remember the last time he left the country, pointing out he never went off on any Council “junkets.”
Dubious honor
For the non-purists the decade ends this week (technically, the decade started in ’01 and ends in a year), and Curbed recently came out with the ‘00s “Top 10 Crazy Things That Didn’t Get Built.” Lower Manhattan dominated with four selections on the real estate blog’s list. Number 1 was Santiago Calatrava’s stacked cube condo idea for 80 South St., No. 4 was the “Jenga building” at 56 Leonard St. by Herzog & de Meuron, No. 7 was Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum on the East River near Wall St. and No. 8 was Kohn Pedersen Fox’s cantilevered trading floor for JPMorgan Chase at the World Trade Center’s Tower 5 site. Curbed pointed out that not all of the projects are officially dead, but said they had either been significantly changed or were seriously in doubt.
As for what to call this decade? UnderCover can’t figure out what the fuss is all about since the “Oh’s” is the best, shortest and most logical choice.
Free rides
If someone offers you a free Metro or debit card New Year’s Eve to get home, don’t assume you’ve had one too many. The rapper formerly known as Puff Daddy, Sean Combs (yes, we date ourselves), has teamed up with the city Taxi & Limousine Commission, Citron vodka and the E! channel to offer $15 debit cards for a cab ride or a MetroCard to get home anytime on Jan. 1.
The distribution is supposed to be all over the city. We’d love to give you exact locations so you could get in line behind us, but that hasn’t been released. If Puffy is looking for a spot to send a distributor, we suggest Trinity Church on Wall St., which once again will be literally ringing in the New Year with its change ringing bells.
