Wegmans Gets an UWS Sibling; Menin Gets a UES Competitor

A complete unknown

Hard to imagine that there would be any real surprises coming out of the local City Council District 4 and 5 races. But there was. In the District 4 race to succeed Keith Powers, the six candidates—Vanessa Aronson, Faith Bondy, Lukas Florczak, Virginia Maloney, Rachel Storch, Ben Wetzler—were amazingly collegial. No nastiness. No allegations. No petition challenges, which means that all candidates will be on the June 24 primary ballot. Ready to be ranked.

Turns out the big surprise in this primary petitioning season is in the CD 5 race for the seat held by Julie Menin, who announced at Four Freedoms Democratic Club’s annual soiree on April 23 that she had a challenger. His name is Collin Thompson. He lives on Roosevelt Island. As reported in Roosevelt Islander Online, he’s a “political newcomer challenging incumbent Julie Menin.” I’m a CD 5 voter and longtime resident of the UES. Never heard of him. Anyway, no ranking. Just incumbent Menin. Or Thompson.

Wegmans, Wegmans, everywhere

Who would have thought that mega-supermarket Wegmans would be taking over Manhattan? Surely I didn’t. Several columns ago I wrote that the sprawling Astor Place Wegmans was hardly needed with all the other offerings in Manhattan. Well, the Wegmans powers-that-be don’t see it that way. First, they’ve expanded at Astor Place and, by the time the paper’s gone to press, there will be a Wegmans Next Door restaurant, which will feature a sushi counter, and a champagne bar with a menu featuring “delicacies sourced from Tokyo’s Toyosu Fish Market, which Wegmans has partnered with for 14 years,” as reported by the NY Post.

And there’s more. Wegmans is also coming to Lincoln Square on 65th Street, at the location once occupied by Bed Bath & Beyond. According to the Market report—their slogan, “all things grocery”—“At 58,000 square feet, it’ll be one of the smaller Wegmans but one of the largest supermarkets in Manhattan.” Signage appears in the windows at street level. So far there’s no date for opening, but construction is ongoing. Welcome, Wegmans, but please tell me why we need a mega—however small—Wegmans on the UWS?

’Tis the season

Around April each year, local Democratic clubs have their annual fundraisers. Some call them a gala, some a soirée. No matter. It’s an opportunity for the electeds, candidates, club members to meet and talk politics. In recent years the West Side Dems have held their fete at Cafe Arte on West 73rd Street. And each year Senator Chuck Schumer makes sure to be there. His commitment to the club goes back to when they were the first club to endorse his candidacy for the Senate. This April night he joined Congress Member Jerry Nadler in rallying and celebrating the club’s honorees, including Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg Jr., Assembly Member Linda B. Rosenthal, NYS Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, and two community organizations, Breaking Ground (for their work at West 83rd Street Safe Haven) and Kerri Goldwyn, team director of the Goddard Riverside Manhattan Outreach Consortium.

No Dem political gala would be without current candidates for election and local electeds. Among the East Siders there—myself included, thanks to Judy Bader York, who is a member of the West Side Dems board of directors and a gala sponsor: East Side Assembly Member Alex Bores and NY County Judge Jim Clynes.

Scott Stringer, the club’s endorsed candidate for mayor, was there, in addition to Hoylman-Sigal (who is battling Keith Powers in the Manhattan borough president’s race), Attorney General Tish James, UWS Assembly Member Micah Lasher, and State Committee Member Mark Landis.

On to Primary Day. Election Day. And next year’s fundraising gala.