Sylvia Friedman

Here are more numbers from some of the races that are still being counted at the city's Board of Elections. These numbers do not include paper ballots, which are still being counted.

In Manhattan's 74th Assembly District on the Lower East Side

5,075: Brian Kavanagh 4,687: Sylvia Friedman 993: Esther Yang 792: Juan Pagan

A Kavanagh aide offers different numbers, which include 357 paper ballots that were counted:

5213 (43.8%) Kavanagh 4856 (40.8%) Friedman 1022 (8.6%) Yang 807 (6.8%) Pagan

And in Manhattan's Civil Court District 2., Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's preferred candidate, David Cohen, is still trailing...

5,192: Margaret Chan 5,038: David Cohen 2,304: Andrea Masley

-- Azi Paybarah

Out in Brooklyn, Tracy Boyland's campaign has Al Sharpton making robo calls into the 18th Senatorial District on her behalf, in opposition to incumbent Velmanette Montgomery.

Turnout was sparse at 8:30am at PS 9 in 11th district turf, where at least one of the voting machines was already reported broken. The campaigns of Bill Batson, Hakeem Jeffries and Carl Andrews were out there with campaign lit, while David Yassky's supporters donning "Yes for Yassky" t-shirts just a few blocks away at the nearby subway station. South of Flatbush Avenue, Yassky and Owens seem to be the most visible campaigns in Park Slope today.

Geoffrey Owens, best known as the Cosby Show's Elvin Tibideaux and the real life brother of Chris, has recorded a radio endorsement spot for his brother that begins, "Hi, this is Geoffrey Owens of the Cosby Show" urging voters to choose for Chris for Congress.

Hakeem Jeffries will watch election results beginning at 8:30pm at the JRG Fashion Cafe on Flatbush Avenue at 5th Avenue.

In Manhattan, the campaigns of Mark Green, Sylvia Friedman and Brian Kavanagh are peppering Renwick Gardens on East 29th Street with literature, and again, a campaigner reports a sparse turnout. Friedman will have her election night party at Shades of Green on Irving Place.

Rosie Mendez was spotted near PS 34 in Manhattan, tearing down Brian Kavanagh posters in the 74th Assembly district. Kavanagh is running against her ally, Assemblywoman Sylvia Friedman.

Got any more tips? Send them in!

—Nicole Brydson

Tis the season for ballot challenges, and so, we bring you another. Harvey Clarke, a Long Island University professor, is running against incumbent Alan Maisel in Brooklyn's 59th Assembly district and was recently removed from the primary ballot on a petition challenge. Maisel, formerly the chief of staff to his predecessor Frank Seddio, was elected in a special election this year.

Clarke contends via press release that "310 legitimate signatures were disqualified because of technical tricks which were used in the Brooklyn courts, but were overturned in the Manhattan courts." He compares the challenge to that of Juan Pagan, a candidate in a similar race in Manhattan's 74th district, who was succesful in overturning his removal from the ballot. The incumbent in that race, Sylvia Friedman, was also elected in a special election this year.

Clarke believes the Brooklyn court should have ruled in the same manner as the Manhattan court and reinstated him to the ballot. (TKTK info about why petitions were thrown out)

In Pagan's case, the judge found that "These signatures were invalidated due to a common alleged defect." That defect being the petitioner failed to mark the county he resides in, in addition to the town.

—Nicole Brydson

State Assembly member Sylvia Friedman, speaking before Community Board 6 last night, said that she would fight any attempt by the Parks Department to open a cafe in Stuyvesant Square, between 15th and 17th streets on Second Avenue.

Ms. Friedman has unique power to stop the Parks Department in its plans, as the Assembly must approve any alienation of parkland for private uses, and the Assembly member in whose district the park sits gets final approval. (Alienation is the first step in order to lease out public parkland.)

The Parks Department prefers to refer to its agreements with private venders as "concessions," rather than "leases." According to Ms. Friedman, this is a dodge resulting in unchecked privatization of public space. She noted that the "concession" in Union Square Park--Luna Park--has operated for nine years.

"We will never give up an inch of Community Board 6's park space," she told the assembled board. Later, she told The Real Estate that she is prepared to go to court to stop the new restaurant planned for Union Square Park when the northern quadrant is finally renovated.

Community Board 6 has been tusslng with the Parks Department recently over Stuyvesant Square. Currently, Parks has issued a R.F.P. for a cafe in the park.

-Matthew Grace

Brian Kavanagh, the second-place finisher in a crowded East Side City Council race last year, didn't contest the special election to the State Assembly by Sylvia Friedman yesterday in an essentially uncontested race.

But a recent call to Knickerbocker SKD, Kavanagh's consultants (who also worked for Mike, Scott Stringer, and new West Side assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal) found that their voicemail now has an option for "Kavanagh for Assembly."

This could produce one of the year's harder-fought primaries. Among other factors, Friedman didn't have to raise much money for her insider-driven Assembly win; Kavanagh broke $100,000 for his Council race, and a source says he's already brought in $60,000 for this fall.

The complex, weighted County Committee members' vote on who will get the Democratic nomination to succeed two departing members of the State Assembly is by definition an inside process, but yesterday's results suggest that it isn't quite as under control as, say, the bygone institution of judicial conventions. (Nostalgia sets in fast around here!)

Scott Stringer's choice to take his West Side seat, Linda Rosenthal, won a first round victory, albeit over a real challenge; but on the East Side, Sylvia Friedman Freedman beat Steve Sanders's preferred candidate for his seat.