Glick sticks Schwartz II: Following a recent Scoopy item that had Arthur Schwartz claiming endorsements by Anthony Weiner and Bill Thompson in Schwartz’s run with Lisa Canistracci for Village state committee, Jeff Simmons, a spokesperson for Comptroller Thompson called us to say it’s not the case. “We’ve talked with Arthur and the comptroller is a friend of his,” Simmons said, but added, “The comptroller did not make an endorsement.” Schwartz says Thompson told him in March he was backing him, but that his new nemesis, Assemblymember Deborah Glick, is working against him. “Thompson got buttonholed by Glick when he was up in Albany. I don’t know what she said,” Schwartz said. Although we didn’t get a call from Representative Weiner, apparently he’s also not “endorsing” Schwartz anymore. “She saw Weiner at an event last week and she showed him The Villager,” Schwartz said of Glick. “I had a personal conversation with Weiner and next thing I know, he called me and said, ‘I can’t get involved in this.’ ” Glick admitted that after reading about it in Scoopy she called to “clarify” if Thompson and Weiner were indeed backing Schwartz. “What I was hearing from both Thompson’s office and certainly Weiner was that they’d generally said positive things about Arthur, but hadn’t made an endorsement in the race,” she said. Asked if anyone else is still backing him, Schwartz said, “At this point, I don’t want to release any names, because Deborah’s going to call them. Am I running against Deborah or Larry Moss?”
Influential Andrew: New York magazine’s new special issue, “The Influencers: The people whose ideas, power, and sheer will are changing New York,” names Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, among 200 movers and shakers, including the likes of Donald Trump, Michael Bloomberg, Jon Stewart, Anna Wintour and Randi Weingarten. Berman is the only community activist in The Influencers real estate section, the other 15 all being developers or brokers. Says New York of Berman: “He persuaded the City Council to stop a spate of ‘out of context’ buildings in their tracks. Now he’s taking on N.Y.U., determined not to let the university take over the neighborhood in its expansion.”
Watch out, Marty! Ken Diamondstone, a housing developer who is gay and lives in Brooklyn Heights, is challenging State Senator Martin Connor, former State Senate Minority leader, in the Democratic primary in the 25th District. Village politico William Stricklin is Diamondstone’s field coordinator. The district is 60 percent in Manhattan and 40 percent in Brooklyn and includes Soho, the Lower East Side, Tribeca, Chinatown, Little Italy, Battery Park City, Brooklyn Heights and parts of Park Slope and Williamsburg. “We’re running a full-court press, we’re not conceding anything,” said Stricklin.
Taxman Tom: Making good on a tip he leaked at a Community Board 2 meeting a while back, State Senator Tom Duane circulated a letter among state senators on April 16, the day before state income taxes were due, calling for the restoration of New York City’s commuter tax. He says he’s building support and that state senators are signing onto the letter.
Marshal plan: Florent Morellet, the Meat Market restaurateur/preservationist, and Council Speaker Christine Quinn will be the grand marshals at the Gay Pride March on June 25. Morellet is dubbing the duo “The Quinn and the Queen.” We told Morellet to keep an eye out for Williamson Henderson in the blue alleged Stonewall Cadillac, to which he responded, “Blue? I thought I was going to be riding in a pink Cadillac.”
Coffee, yippie! Dana Beal says the Yippie Museum, Café, etc. at 9 Bleecker St. is almost ready. “We’ve just to put some carpets down — and then start serving coffee!” he said.
Skate park, dude: A new skate park — where skateboarders can do “helicopters” — is taking shape north of the 30th St. Heliport in the Chelsea section of Hudson River Park. A bit further south, rich new earth has been dumped in, presaging the construction of the park’s Chelsea section.
Makes him sick: East Village bar watchdog John Penley was outraged at ads he recently saw for two East Village watering holes. One, in the Village Voice for the new Double Down Saloon on Avenue A, warned patrons “You puke, you clean.” “I can’t believe they put that ad in with all the complaints about people puking on the sidewalks,” Penley fumed, adding of the local bargoers, “They puke and they don’t clean.” Double Down’s motto is also emblazoned on the bar’s wall in 2-foot-high letters. Its owners are Donald Frazer and P. Moss. “I don’t know his first name, I just know him as ‘Moss,’ ” said a bartender there last week. The other ad, for Satsko, at 202 E. Seventh St., in TimeOut, offered all-you-can-drink sake for one hour for $10, with the person who drinks the most winning a T-shirt. A State Liquor Authority source told us that unlimited drinking offers are illegal, and that while places still do them, it’s something the S.L.A. regulates. The source said the S.L.A. would refer the Satsko case to is enforcement bureau, which will investigate.
N.Y.P.D. return: The Ninth Precinct is expected to move back to its rebuilt Fifth St. digs next month. The East Village precinct house — used for exterior shots for “NYPD Blue” — has been rebuilt from the ground up, while the precinct was temporarily relocated to Avenue C.
Deli to deluxe apts.: The closed deli at the corner of Mulberry and E. Houston Sts. will be replaced by an 11-story residential building, am new york reports.
Honorable pair: Supreme Court Justice Stanley Sklar, a longtime Villager, and Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau were honored last Friday by the New York County Lawyers’ Association before an audience of 500 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel Downtown. Judge Sklar received the Judge Louis J. Capozzoli Gavel Award for exceptional contributions to the system of justice and Morgenthau was given a special award for his long service to the city.
Scoopy's Notebook
