Power and Passion
Gibson is back—with gun in hand
By Armond White
Back onscreen in Edge of Darkness, after a seven-year absence, Mel Gibson looks like hell. He’s certainly been through it—enduring the worst public vilification since Michael Jackson and O.J. Simpson. But he’s still quite a good actor and brings a believably gruff, on-edge solidity to his role as Irish Boston cop Thomas Craven, who is searching for his daughter’s killer. He’s more believable than Sean Penn’s flamboyant grieving father turn in Mystic River. Had Gibson played Jack Nicholson’s role in The Departed the film might have achieved the authenticity that was lost to Scorsese’s lowlife fantasizing. Gibson roots Craven in credible middle-aged fatigue as if to prove he’s a truer artist than his haters claim. Read more
No Franks at the Wright
‘Modern American’ menu meets site-specific sculpture at Guggenheim eatery
By Charlotte Eichna
The Guggenheim has long been one of the few iconic museums without a destination dining spot. They have now transformed a somewhat generic, cafeteria-style café space into The Wright (as in a certain well-known architect), offering lunch, Sunday brunch and bar options as well as dinner seatings on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. David Bouley’s protégé Rodolfo Contreras created a “modern American” menu for the restaurant based on seasonal, local and sustainable ingredients. Read more
Indie Rock Invades Bar East Ale House
By Megan Finnegan
Last year, music promoter Lee Sobel defied neighborhood stereotypes by bringing indie rock—something more associated with the downtown and Brooklyn scene—to the Upper East Side. This year, with more than triple the number of bands, Sobel will do it again at the second annual Upper East Side Music Festival, presented by Sobel’s LoFi Entertainment. More than 100 bands will play throughout February at Bar East Ale House, culminating in a final round in March and an ultimate winner, though Sobel stresses the festival atmosphere more than the competition. Each of the relatively unknown bands will take a cut of the $10-a-head ticket sales for the night they perform. Read more
Jimmy Breslin
By Charlotte Eichna
Jimmy Breslin moved about six months ago from West 68th Street and Broadway to a high rise on West 57th Street with sweeping views of the Hudson River. He’s not sure why—ask his wife, Ronnie Eldridge, a former City Council member and host of the CUNY TV show Eldridge and Co.
The pool in this new building isn’t ready yet, but Breslin says he still swims regularly at the Reebok Sports Club/NY on Columbus Avenue. Read more
‘Incubator School’ Approved for P.S. 158 Building
By Sarah Seltzer
In a victory for local parent groups, District 2’s Community Education Council unanimously approved a new plan to relieve Upper East Side school crowding at a Jan. 13 meeting. The resolution they adopted called for a new incubator school in the P.S. 158 building, on York Avenue between East 77th and 78th streets. This new school, which will give priority to students zoned for overcrowded neighborhood schools like P.S. 59, P.S. 183 and P.S. 290, is expected to open in fall 2010. Parent council members are also working to come up with new zoning lines for the neighborhood, which would probably be implemented during the 2011-2012 school year. Read more
THUMBS DOWN FOR PRIVATE DRIVEWAY
By Dan Rivoli
An Upper East Side man got a rebuke from his neighbors when Community Board 8 voted down a curb cut for a driveway in front of his home Jan. 13.
Andreas Gruson, owner of a one-family townhouse at 161 E. 94th St., between Lexington and Third avenues, wanted a private driveway. He requested a nine-foot, two-inch curb cut in front of a garage he had built in his home. Gruson requested the private driveway so that his elderly father could have better access to the townhouse.
Though the project can skirt the public review process, the City Planning Commission requested that the board take a look at the application before it makes a decision.
The board voted 34 to one against the proposal in an advisory opinion because of a garage’s impact on traffic and character of the block.
“It’ll stop traffic from flowing. It’s not the right place to have traffic backed up,” said Jaqueline Ludorf, the board’s chair.
Gruson’s lawyer, who attended the community board meeting, did not return calls for a comment.
KRUEGER FOE ENDS PRIMARY BID
The primary challenge to State Sen. Liz Krueger was a brief affair: Michael Cohen, counsel to Donald Trump, announced his bid to unseat the eight-year incumbent in December and declared he would not run Jan. 21.
Cohen released a statement citing professional and personal reasons that prevented him from mounting a successful campaign.
“Giving the people of this district anything less than a fully committed alternative to the status quo would be wrong,” he wrote in an email.
Cohen criticized Krueger for voting on a budget that increased taxes for the wealthy and for being a part of Albany’s dysfunction.
As an executive in Trump Organization, he had connections to the business community and claimed to have $400,000 in pledged contributions. He said he was also willing to partially self-finance.
Bowing out, he took a parting shot at Krueger and Albany’s notoriously dysfunctional legislature.
“The people of the 26th Senate District deserve better than what they’re currently getting,” Cohen wrote. “And part of that means they deserve a candidate who is both willing to take on the status quo and has all of the time and resources necessary to dedicate to the campaign.”
The only challenger Krueger has so far is Saul Farber, a 24-year-old Republican who ran for State Assembly in 2008.
Council Promotions
By Dan Rivoli
The East Side’s two Council members, Jessica Lappin and Dan Garodnick, got a bump in status—and pay, for Lappin—in this year’s Council class.
Both Council members will chair full committees for the first time. The position comes with a $10,000 stipend—known in political parlance as a “lulu”—on top of a $112,500 base salary for all Council members. Garodnick, however, is voluntarily forgoing his stipend. Read more
Workforce Development, Streamlined
Common sense approach would put all city programs under one coordinating agency
By Jessica Lappin
Let’s say that a New Yorker wants to enroll in a program that will help build her literacy skills so she can get a better job. She could go to the Human Resources Administration, which offers a program for that. Or to the Department of Education, which offers something similar. Or the Department of Youth and Community Development. Or the Department of Small Business Services. Or CUNY. Each of these agencies offers programs trying to achieve the same goals.
The problem is that they don’t communicate or collaborate at all. Rather than running one efficient program, the city is paying for multiple overlapping yet isolated ones. And city residents who need help wind up confused—and under-served. Read more
A Lesson from Ashley Dupre
By Lorraine Duffy Merkl
Just call me your psychic friend.
When the Eliot Spitzer scandal broke, I wrote a column called, “Here’s How It’s Gonna Happen” (March 27, 2008), where I predicted that despite Client 9’s “activities” while he represented us, he would be welcomed back somewhere. That place may be as New York state comptroller.
I also saw a future with the face and words of Ashley Dupre splashed all over it in the form of an album, memoir or made-for-TV movie. I think getting her own weekly advice column in a major daily newspaper comes pretty close. Read more
