Chances are, you'll be seeing one or more of the candidates vying to represent the First City Council District on your street corner in the next several days. The Democratic Primary is a week away. City Councilmember Alan Gerson faces four challengers: Pete Gleason, Arthur Gregory, Margaret Chin and PJ Kim. Here's the latest on the campaign:

The NYC Campaign Finance Board is out with its video voter guide. You can see it here. 

Today the Village Voice takes a look at the First District race, noting Gerson's 76-percent attendance record at Council meetings (7th worst) and, of course, his vote to support Mayor Bloomberg's successful fight to extend term limits. The article goes on to question the experience of PJ Kim, who won the New York Times' endorsement Saturday:

But what's he done? He served on CB1 for two years, worked at McKinsey,
and ran a couple of non-profits. And as head of the Undergraduate
Student Government at Princeton, the Daily Princetonian
reports, Kim "sat on the search committee that chose Shirley Tilghman
as the U.'s 19th president." We might call him the Hope and Change
candidate (get a load of his web site's color scheme). Kim also has the
backing of the large DC37 union.

In a recent letter to supporters, Kim said:

Traditionally, Labor Day is when most voters begin to pay attention to political races. The other candidates have already spent most of their money. The incumbent’s campaign is in debt. We have a full war chest to unleash our direct mail and paid canvassing operation on an almost daily basis for the next 8 days until election day on September 15. We are positioned to win.

Meanwhile, Margaret Chin rallied her supporters in Chinatown over the holiday weekend. A news release from her campaign highlighted the importance of strong turnout from Chinese voters:

Speakers called on Chinatown and District 1 voters to unite behind Margaret as the only Chinese-American candidate on the ballot, and to come out in large numbers next Tuesday. Some also spoke emotionally about the possibility of Chinatown, and district 1, having its first Chinese-American representative in Margaret Chin.  It is important for Chinatown’s population to turn out, so that the area gets appropriate government resources and attention.

Pete Gleason's campaign is out with a press release of its own this afternoon. Drawing attention to a story on Channel 7, the release says Gleason "exposed a major asbestos scandal in New York schools last week.  Representing a Dept. of Education whistleblower, Gleason shot video proving real danger to New York schoolchildren – and a cover-up on behalf of the DoE." You can see the WABC video here.

The final debate before the election is Thursday, 7pm at Trinity Church. More details later.

Tonight a Community Board 3 committee will discuss the possible closing of the Pitt Station Post Office on Clinton Street. As we have reported, the office is on a preliminary list of locations the US Postal Service may close later this year. The meeting of CB3's human services committee takes place at 630pm at the Rutgers Community Center, 200 Madison Street. Other committee meetings of note this week:

• Tomorrow the transportation committee will talk about the ongoing Allen Street Mall project. During the summer, the full community board was briefed by the Parks Dept. While there were some concerns about traffic flow and bike lanes, the plan received mostly positive feedback from board members and residents who spoke. The board urged the cityto keep them involved in the process as planning proceeds. The transportation committee will also hear a request from the Fung Wah Bus Company to add a bus stop at either 49-47 Chrystie  or 85 Chrystie. The meeting takes place at 630pm at the BRC Senior Services Center, 30 Delancey Street.
• On Thursday night, the economic development/zoning/planning committee takes up SPURA once again. According to the agenda, they will discuss the "development process" for the site formerly known as the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area. City Planning officials will make a presentation on "urban design and planning options." The committee will also take up a zoning variance for 180 Ludlow.
  

One other note on the campaign to save the Pitt Station Post Office. As we have reported in the past, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney and State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver circulated petitions several weeks ago and wrote a joint letter to the USPS, in support of keeping the post office open. In addition, the presidents of the four large Co-op buildings on Grand Street, are urging the Post Master General to remove the Pitt Station from the closure list.  The representatives from the Seward Park, Amalgamated, East River and Hillman Co-ops said closing the Clinton Street office would hit the large senior population in their buildings very hard. They also indicated that many local businesses would switch to private companies, such as Federal Express, if the Pitt Station closed.