Johnson picnic party:
Corey Johnson celebrated his City Council District 3 primary win with a picnic for his supporters in Hudson River Park just north of the Chelsea Piers. In the photo above, from left, Johnson’s campaign manager RJ Jordan, volunteer Ann Gael, Johnson and volunteer Dan Cohen. In photo below, from left, volunteers Laurie Hardjowirogo, Nancy Shamban, Kate Linker and Debo Gaffney.
Hold your hauses!
Is Richard Stewart running against Corey Johnson in the November general election? That’s what many political observers want to know — because it seems that his name is being put out there. Actually, Stewart told us, his name is only being used as a “placeholder,” presumably if another candidate wants to take the spot. Stewart last week won election as the Village’s male Republican district leader, joining his female counterpart, Janet Hayes, but, he assured us, he’s not running for City Council. “The Republican Party used my name as a placeholder for District 3 — but I live in District 2,” he said. “I plan to support Corey,” he added. Stewart said he doesn’t think his name will actually appear on the ballot against Johnson, but he’s not totally sure of that, and advised us to call the Republican Party for Manhattan. “Even if I was on the ballot, it’s a moot point. I couldn’t run,” he said. Plus, in a district with 180,000 voters and only about 6,000 Republicans, his chances of winning would be ridiculously slim anyway. We called the county G.O.P. on Wednesday to ask if Stewart would or wouldn’t be on the ballot, but a woman there said she was too busy that day to get us the information. Like Johnson, Stewart, who co-chairs Community Board 2’s State Liquor Authority Committee, is gay. “Do I think Lhota has a chance? He does,” Stewart said in response to our question. “I support Lhota all the way.” … On another note, Stewart said he was disappointed that the S.L.A. Committee, in his absence and under his co-chairperson, Carter Booth, recently opted to recommend denial of a liquor license application for a new Euro house music club, to be called Haus, to replace the violence-plagued Greenhouse and W.i.P., at Varick and Vandam Sts. Under the Haus plan, the basement-level W.i.P. space would be used for storage, reducing the crowds by 300 to 400 people per night, according to Stewart. He couldn’t make the meeting because he had to attend his first Republican County Committee meeting the same night. He said he thinks Booth and the committee members are “hedging their bet,” hoping a restaurant will take over the Greenhouse space instead. We couldn’t get in touch with Booth by press time — we were playing phone-tag, but we’ll try to get the scoop from him for next week. In the meantime, while Haus may be on hold — or maybe kaput — Stewart will be putting his efforts into building up the G.O.P. Party in Downtown Manhattan. “One of my goals,” he said, “is to create a Downtown Republican club and help establish a functional club down here in the Village.” Good luck, you’ll need it!
Corrections: An article in last week’s Villager on the jumbo 9/11 American flag at Hester and Mott Sts. said the ceremony to take it down would be on Sun., Sept. 22. In fact, the flag will be taken down on Sat., Sept. 21, at sunset. … An article surveying East Villager voters’ reactions that ran in last week’s issue of The Villager, stated that an E. Sixth St. poll site was at the Lower Eastside Girls Club but it was the Boys & Girls Republic.
