Residents of 128 Hester are still furious with their landlord and the city, a day after their building was declared unsafe. New York 1 was on the scene this morning when the people who lived in the six-floor walk-up were allowed to retrieve their belongings. City Councilman Alan Gerson blames the city for failing to follow up on more than 30 violations the building has received in recent years.
A State Supreme Court judge has upheld NYC's Tenant Protection Act. The law allows tenants to "sue their landlords in Housing Court for using threats or other disruptive tactics to try to force them out." As reported in the Times: "Tenant advocates said that as neighborhoods had gentrified in recent
years, landlords were being more aggressive in pushing out low-rent
tenants, often cutting off services or using threats to get their way.
The landlord group, the Rent Stabilization Association, opposed the law and disputed any claims that tenant harassment was a widespread problem in the city."
Now that our series of interviews with the District 1 City Council candidates is complete, Streetsblog.org makes an assessment of their views on transportation issues: "…Gerson has been one of the council's most vocal critics
of recent safety improvements for pedestrians and cyclists. But after
reading up on the views of his competitors, it's doubtful that dumping
Gerson in the September 15 primary… would put a more progressive voice in City Hall."
Downtown Express is the latest newspaper to rail against New York's byzantine election laws – and according to an editorial – the First District Council race provides ample evidence that reform is sorely needed. A few excerpts:
It is up to the people to decide whether (Alan) Gerson deserves four more
years, not partisan hacks or judges. Does anyone really believe that on
those many pages of 7,000 signatures, there are not at least 900
registered Democrats living in the First District who signed up to put
Gerson on the ballot? It’s hard to blame the other candidates for trying to knock people off
the ballot. They are just playing by the warped rules that they were
given… The state should look around the country to see the systems that work
well in order to reform the election laws. The rules should be simple
enough so candidates don’t have to waste time with election lawyers and
can focus on the issues.
Incidentally, the Downtown Express is hosting a candidate forum August 17th at Pace University.
NY1 ran a brief item on the groundbreaking of the Hester Street Playground (we mentioned this one early today).
National media darling, Russ & Daughters, is part of the Food Network's latest creation, Chefs vs. City, debuting tomorrow night. From R&D's Lox Populi blog: "…chefs Aaron Sanchez and Chris Cosentino run around various cities to
challenge local foodies to tasks. We can’t talk too much yet about the
Russ & Daughters challenge, so you’ll have to tune in on Friday
night to see the action yourself."
LES hot spot Allen & Delancey has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy – but the owners say there's nothing to fear: they're not closing.
City Council member Alan Gerson testified in court for a second day this morning, as a lawyer for one of his opponents fought to keep the two term incumbent off the September Primary ballot. Ray Dowd, representing candidate Pete Gleason, sought to prove that, in collecting signatures, Gerson's campaign was guilty of fraud — not just "technical errors."
The line of questioning focused on a mistake on some petitions, in which Gerson's home address was eroniously listed as 1505 Laguardia Place, instead of 505 Laguardia Place. Gerson testified he personally instructed the printer to correct the flawed petitions. But somehow, petitions with the wrong address got into the hands of signature collectors working for a couple of Democratic clubs. Those clubs organize volunteers to gather signatures on behalf of candidates they support.
Dowd called several other witnesses today, including the printer and three volunteers who were involved one way or another in handling the petitions. Jessica Loeser, president of the Truman Democratic Club, testified that she changed the address on at least one petition and instructed volunteers to do the same. Dowd argues that altering the petitions in this way is illegal and fraudulent.
During cross-examination, Gerson attorney Lawrence Mandelker, asked Loeser whether she and other volunteers made it clear voters were signing a petition in support of putting Gerson on the ballot. Her answer was "yes." After the hearing, Mandelker asserted there was no fraud because voters were clearly not deceived.
Special Referee Leslie Lowenstein will now prepare a report for State Supreme Court Judge Edward Lehner on two separate matters: Gerson's motion to overturn the Board of Elections and get back on the ballot, and Gleason's motion to keep him off. The hearing before Judge Lehner takes place next Wednesday.
Meanwhile, candidate Margaret Chin's case against rival PJ Kim will be heard tomorrow. A few more details in the Downtown Express:
Chin (is) claiming that 5,000 or about 90 percent of Kim’s
5,500 signatures are invalid. Lowenstein, the referee, is also hearing
that matter and will submit an opinion to Judge Lehner for a hearing on
Aug. 12. Unlike Gerson, Kim remains on the ballot despite the
challenge, at least for now. A. Joshua
Ehrlich, Chin’s lawyer, accused Kim of fraud, claiming the witnesses
who signed most of Kim’s petitions either forged their names or
conducted some other type of fraud. In response, Jerry Goldfeder, Kim’s
lawyer, said Ehrlich’s accusations amounted to nothing more than “a
fishing expedition.”
A final bit of First District election news: the Campaign Finance Board is paying out first installments to candidates participating in public financing today. Margaret Chin, Pete Gleason and PJ Kim raised enough money to qualify for matching funds. Apparently Alan Gerson did not. Each of the candidates will receive $84,122.
This morning city officials will break ground on the new Hester Street Playground in Sara D. Roosevelt Park. Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Avi Schick, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., and Council member Alan Gerson will be there for the ceremony, at 11am. A couple of years ago, the New York Times wrote about the efforts to engage the community in the nearly $5 million project. The public is invited to attend. The Playground is located on Hester Street, between Forsyth and Chrystie.
The rock band, Kivi, will be performing tonight at Fat Baby, 112 Rivington Street, at 9pm. The band features LES resident Cynthia Lamb, her husband and son (on bass and drums). Cynthia (and husband) also play in the Jaik Miller Band, which takes the stage at 10pm. You can find out more about the Jaik Miller Band here. By the way, we love to let our readers know about the great stuff people in the community are doing. If you're up to something creative and interesting, send us an email – we'll be happy to give you a plug!
The NYC Board of Elections ruled this morning that two volumes of City Councilman Alan Gerson's petitions are invalid. Since the Board had already kicked him off September's Primary ballot, the ruling doesn't mean very much. Tomorrow, Gerson's attorneys will return to State Supreme Court, where he's suing the Elections Board. See more about that saga here, here, here and here.
In other news related to the litigous District 1 Council race, candidate Pete Gleason failed in his bid to get candidate Arthur Gregory removed from the ballot. The effort to challenge a large number of Gregory's signature's was derailed by the fact that the complaint was not filed in time. There was also some question about whether Gregory is a registered voter in the district. He was able to prove that he is, in fact, registered.
As for Margaret Chin's lawsuit challenging PJ Kim's petitions, the Election Board will hold hearings related to that issue on Friday.
Pete Gleason's lawyer, Ray Dowd, just called with his take on what happened at the courthouse today (see the last post). It should come as no surprise he''s not buying the Gerson campaign's argument that the mistakes made on the petitions were merely technical errors. He says it has became apparent that pre-printed petitions with Alan Gerson's wrong address were passed out to campaign workers collecting signatures. Dowd contends that, since those people altered the petitions by correcting Gerson's address, the petitions are "mutilated" documents, and therefore illegal. He says this is a clear case of fraud – justifying the disqualification of Gerson from the September ballot.
Dowd said he was not able to fully cross-examine Gerson and other witnesses about the alleged alteration of the cover sheets after the Election Board alerted the Gerson campaign to the problem. He will seek to question Gerson and other campaign staffers and surrogates Thursday.
Dowd expressed frustration that media coverage of yesterday's court hearing highlighted the judge's apparent reluctance to remove a candidate from the ballot for a "cover sheet issue." Dowd thinks, once he heard the argument that issue is really the "alteration of signatures," the judge changed his tune.
We just heard from Lawrence Mandelker, the attorney representing Councilman Alan Gerson in State Supreme Court. As we reported earlier, a referee is sorting through the disputed facts in two lawsuits — one filed by Gerson against the Board of Elections, and the other a suit filed by challenger Pete Gleason against Gerson.
Mandelker argued today that Gerson fulfilled the requirements of state law and of the city's Election Board, in spite of the Board's ruling that his petition is invalid. He said the campaign made a "typographical error" on a cover sheet attached to one volume, incorrectly listing Gerson's address as 1505 Laguardia Place, rather than 505 Laguardia Place. Mandelker contends that since 1505 Laguardia is an address that does not exist – and since Gerson submitted more than 7-thousand signatures (far more than the required 900), it amounted to an inconsequential error.
He argued that since state law only calls for "substantial compliance" and is meant to prevent fraud, the Board should not have called on Gerson to file an amended cover sheet. Mandelker rejects the Gleason campaign's suggestion that the manner in which the amended cover sheet was filed, invalidated the entire petition. Gleason attorney Ray Dowd alleges that Gerson went down to the Election Board's office to correct the error himself, and in so doing, committed fraud. But testifying today, Gerson said he did not handle the issue personally.
The Gleason campaign will present its case on Thursday. Meanwhile, Mandelker will appear before the Board of Elections tomorrow morning to argue a narrow point — that rather than invalidating the entire petition, only those pages affected by the wrong address should be discounted.
We placed a call to the Gleason campaign earlier today. We'll update if we hear back this evening.
Tomorrow, NYC's Board of Elections is expected to hear an appeal from lawyers representing City Councilman Alan Gerson, who was disqualified from participating in the September Primary last week. But the Gerson campaign is not waiting for the board to reverse its ruling. Yesterday, they went before State Supreme Court Judge Edward Lehner. Gerson is suing the Elections Board to get back on the ballot. In turn, challenger Pete Gleason is suing Gerson, in hopes of keeping that from happening.
The source of the problem was a cover sheet submitted along with a bundle of petitions that listed Gerson's address incorrectly. The Board says it knocked Gerson off the ballot because his campaign's effort to correct the error was "insufficient." Ray Dowd, Gleason's attorney, contends that Gerson tried to fix the mistake himself (rather than dispatching a representative), and, in so doing, committed fraud.
Judge Lehner asked, half jokingly, "are we still doing cover sheets in this day and age?… Is that all this comes down to?" The judge said he would obviously "follow the law" but that he wasn't throwing anyone off the ballot for a cover sheet issue. A referee is now working through the factual differences between the two sides – we're told Gerson testified before that referee today. They'll be back in court a week from tomorrow to argue the legal merits of the case. Meanwhile, we'll be on hand tomorrow to see if the Board of Elections is inclined to reverse its ruling.
Gerson vs. Gleason vs. the Board of Elections is not the only legal dispute in the District 1 race. Candidate Margaret Chin is suing rival PJ Kim. The judge also sent that case to a referee. PolitickerNY.com has more on that situation.
Finally, another candidate, Arthur Gregory, is now going through his petitions, verifying addresses. This is a result of a complaint filed by Gleason with the Elections Board.
The U.S. Postal Service is considering closing 25 post offices in Manhattan this fall, including the Pitt Station location on Clinton Street. Financial troubles tied to the recession, but also less reliance on the snail mail these days, has caused the USPS to look at cutting costs nationwide. A notice on the door of the small post office, located between Grand Street and East Broadway, says residents might be forced to go to the Knickerbocker Station, about a half mile away on East Broadway.
The Postal Service has sent a list of about 700 locations that are being studied for possible closing or consolidation to the Postal Regulatory Commission. They'll be looking at factors such as customer access, service standards, cost savings,
impact on employees, environmental impact, real estate values and
long-term Postal Service needs. The closings would probably not take place until October, the beginning of a new fiscal year.
As you can see by this picture taken yesterday, the Pitt Station Post Office is heavily used. The Seward Park Co-op got early word about the possible closure, since it's the landlord of the space the Postal Service leases on Clinton Street. Frank Durant, the Co-op's general manager, sent a letter to residents, urging a phone and letter campaign to keep the post office open. The notice from the USPS says, "We value your opinions during this review process." It adds that consumers can comment about the changes by writing by Auguest 14th:
Customer Relations JAF Building Room 3023 421 8th Avenue New York, NY 10199
You can also fill out a questionnaire at the Post Office. Michael Tumminia, president of the Seward Park Housing Corporation, noted that there are many elderly residents who rely on the convenience of the Pitt Station Office. He said the Co-op is determined to make its concerns heard. The letter from the Co-op also suggested residents get in touch with elected officials, including State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. You can follow the links to their web sites.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is not very happy with Governor Paterson's ultimatum to Larry Silverstein to put up $600 million towards the construction of a second tower at Ground Zero.
Late last night we posted a video of the endorsement of City Council candidate Pete Gleason by Freddie Ferrer. City Limits says that endorsement is one more sign that the man Gleason is trying to knock off in September's primary, Alan Gerson, may have a big fight on his hands. In the article, "Term Limits Backlash: Incumbents in Truble," the newspaper analyzes the five-way District 1 race.
Mayor Bloomberg is putting several transportation proposals on the table that, no doubt, will be popular on the Lower East Side: extending the V line beyond 2nd Avenue into Brooklyn, proving express service on the F train. Two problems: there's no money to pay for these things & the mayor has little influence over the MTA. So what gives? It's an election year, of course.
The Wall Street Journal is the latest media organization drawn to the Lower East Side "Wedding Chapel."
Local girl Alexandra Catalan (21) opened a store recently called Nor.Folks. Combining her love of design and travel, the shop features all sorts of handmade items. New York Magazine says the store is "a vibrant mash-up of clothing, shoes, jewelry, vintage bags, art,
photography, and housewares from New York and around the world."
Filming alert: Bowery Boogie reports there will be another Hollywood invasion on Sunday: "Going the Distance" will be filming on Delancey.
This morning at City Hall, District 1 City Council candidate Pete Gleason picked up the endorsement of Fernando Ferrer, former Bronx Borough president and mayoral candidate. The New York Daily News calls it “another sign of trouble for embattled City Councilman Alan Gerson.” Here’s what Ferrer and Gleason had to say:
If you're a fan of "New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo", otherwise known as Flight of the Conchords (HBO), you might like TimeOutNY's FOTC WALK, featured in this week's I, New York section. The "tour" includes stops in Chinatown at Sweet Spring Restaurant(25 Catherine St at Henry St, 212-766-1777), where Bret and Jemaine nosh, Roger TV Services(10 Montgomery St between East Broadway and Henry Sts, 212-254-7710),
which is the real-life storefront of the fictional Mohumbhai &
Son’s pawn shop where Bret and Jemaine’s friend Dave works, 169 Bar, where a can of beer and a shot of well booze goes for $3, Guitar Man(147 Orchard St between Rivington and Stanton Sts; 212-475-5150, and Arlene's Grocery (95 Stanton Street between Ludlow and Orchard Sts; 212-358-1633, where you can "hone your funky
voice and dance moves at hard-rock karaoke night every Monday at 10pm". Who knew "Chinatown Heights" could be so hip (and humourous)?
This is the fifth and final installment of our interviews with the candidates running for the District 1 City Council seat. The District includes the Lower East Side, Chinatown, Soho, Wall Street
and Tribeca. We have already heard from the incumbent, Alan Gerson, as well as challengers Margaret Chin, Pete Gleason and PJ Kim.
Today, we hear from Arthur Gregory. He's a restauranteur, hospitality industry consultant and community activist, as well as a former member of Community Board 1. We met Gregory at a diner on Houston Street last week. Gregory's campaign arranged to have the interview taped for his YouTube Channel.
In these interviews, we want the candidates to be able to lay out their
positions fully. For that reason, editing was kept to a minimum. We
removed extraneous comments that were repetitious or not directly
related to the question asked, and streamlined and rephrased questions to add context. For more
information on the campaign, including our interviews with Chin,
Gleason Kim and Gerson, see below. The full interview with Arthur Gregory can be
found after
the jump.
Judge Edward Lehner of the State Supreme Court appears to have his hands full this morning dealing with various lawsuits filed by candidates running for the District 1 City Council seat (see post below). Meanwhile, candidate Pete Gleason will be endorsed by former mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer, this morning at City Hall.
Famed choreographer Paul Taylor is selling his town house on the West Side (listed for $4.75 million), and moving into the East River Houses. This will allow him to walk to the Paul Taylor Dance Company rehearsal space next door.
Five days after The Lo-Down breaks the Guss' Pickles story, the Grey Lady gets around to reminiscing about half sours.
Jeremiah talks with CB3 Manager Susan Stetzer about how you can fight back against noisy restaurants and bars.
The New Yorker chimes in on DBGB, "Daniel Boulud's adventure in slumming."
