Former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly last year with Paul Goldstein.
Silver fallout
Paul Goldstein, director of Assemblymember Shelly Silver’s district office, has just retired but he continues to work part time at the same job.
Goldstein, 60, did not refer directly to Silver’s federal indictment on corruption charges Wednesday, but he did tell UnderCover the change is good for him and for Silver, who has a reduced payroll now that he is no longer Assembly speaker.
“I still do the work I love,” he said. “I believe in this kind of work. I believe in this community. I love working for Shelly.”
Goldstein, a Southbridge Towers resident, has worked for Silver for over eight years, and before that he was district manager of Community Board 1 for 23.
He said he will continue working on getting more schools built and trying to solve other community problems in the half-time position. He will get his regular pension and said he did not get any incentives to retire early.
The move also gives him more time to take care of his ailing father, who lives in Brooklyn.
He said when the news first broke in January, there was a lot of uncertainly, but things have gotten back to normal. He also said Silver’s spirits are “generally good.”
At first, “we weren’t sure what was going on — it was a surprise to a lot of people.”
But one longtime Silver supporter, John Quinn, a local Democratic leader, said he worries that worthy Downtown non-profits will have budgets cuts with Silver’s loss of power. He’s also heard things are far from normal internally.
“Their office is virtually in lockdown understandably,” he said. “People are looking for other jobs.”
Tall Tales?
In February, developer of the proposed tower at 111 Murray St. in Tribeca said it was 740 feet. In March, it quickly grew over a hundred feet to 857, according to zoning diagrams filed with the city Dept. of Buildings.
What gives, we wondered, and spent a few weeks getting no answers from the P.R. team.
At Community Board 1’s Tribeca Committee meeting on Feb. 11, the project executive for the developer, Fisher Brothers, Alex Adams, said the plan was to build 740 feet despite reports to the contrary from the real estate blogosphere. Renderings are still not available for the as-of-right building, although there are some drawings floating around the web. At least it is not the rendering that terrified people with its multi-shaped top that looked like a platform for the aliens, for when they finally decide to invade.
Michael Levine, zoning guru, C.B. 1 consulting planner and former City Planning Dept. vet, cautioned against making too much of the height discrepancy, saying it was standard practice for developers to file for structures larger than they may end up building.
Hillary Fever
Democratic District Leader Jenifer Rajkumar tells us the last “Ready for Hillary” event before the expected presidential campaign announcement of Hillary Clinton likely will be in Battery Park City Sat., April 11, at SouthWest NY.
The Big Lady herself can’t and won’t be showing up, Rajkumar said, because she is not allowed to coordinate with the “Ready” political action committee, but honored guests include U.S. Reps. Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney, as well as Gale Brewer, Manhattan’s beep.
Rajkumar, the co-chairperson of the PAC’s National Millennial Council, said others with the PAC have started to join the campaign-to-be, but she has “no current plans to do so.”
