Wils future and past
When Carl Weisbrod announced two weeks ago that he was leaving the presidency of the Downtown Alliance to take a job heading Trinity Real Estate, many thought Madelyn Wils was a likely successor, but she told UnderCover that the possibility hasn’t even crossed her mind.
“I haven’t put any thought into it,” said Wils, former chairperson of Community Board 1. She and Weisbrod have worked closely together on the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. board and on Alliance-C.B. 1 projects. According to one source, Wils is very happy running the Tribeca Film Institute for Robert DeNiro and is not interested in taking over Downtown’s business improvement district when Weisbrod leaves June 30.
Wils of course was removed as leader of Board 1 when Borough President Virginia Fields decided not to reappoint her to the board last month. Both have been tight-lipped about the decision since. Fields did tell UnderCover she’d be “more than happy” to meet with board members about it if they ask her, but not with us. “Enough has been said, quite frankly, through the papers — people’s own opinions about it, so I’m not going to add to it.”
Bouley Foray
Tribeca’s superstar chef, David Bouley, at last has opened his newest creation, Bouley Bakery and Market at 130 W. Broadway. The main floor is open and bright complete with a wood burning oven and breads and pastries on display. The basement level has a market selling local fish, meats and cheeses. The top level is part sushi bar and part cooking classroom where customers can pay to learn the finer points of gourmet cooking. Bouley’s minions were none too happy to get any free publicity from UnderCover on a recent visit and most of the would-be customers were mostly window-salivating instead of buying. The prices may be too steep even for Tribeca. Éclairs are about $4, breads range from $4- $6 a loaf, cheesecake is about $5 a slice and chocolate Viennese is $4.75.
Donald Ducks Tower Promo
The day before Donald Trump told Kendra Todd “you’re hired” at the end of the finale of “The Apprentice” last Thursday, he said that the winner might end up working on his favored plan for the World Trade Center site – rebuilding better and safer Twin Towers. As it turned out, Trump did not use the design by Kenneth Gardner and Herbert Belton in the show. Could it be The Donald decided it might be in poor taste to use the aftermath of a terrorist attack to pump up ratings? Or maybe he didn’t want to embarrass his buddy Gov. George Pataki on primetime. Pataki, who is sticking with the Freedom Tower, appeared in the next-to-last episode of “The Apprentice.” In fact, one of the reasons Tana Goertz lost to Kendra is that she didn’t have an American flag for the governor during an Olympic pep rally.
Jerry Says Good Night Gracie
A source in Jerry Nadler’s Congressional office confirmed a New York Times report that he had thoughts of taking on Mayor Mike Bloomberg and moving the family cross-town to Gracie Mansion. “People urge him from time to time, and he considered it,” the source tells us. Nadler, whose district includes Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, has now ruled out a run.
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