Alan Gerson

Perhaps legislators all received new gavels for the holidays, as there seems to be a whole bunch of hearings in the next few days relevant to economic development.

A list for those that like sitting in the uncomfortable chairs of City Hall and elsewhere:  read more »

Here's City Councilman Alan Gerson, borrowing some talking points from a protester during a rally on the City Hall steps this afternoon about improving legal resources for senior citizens.

Councilman Alan Gerson of Lower Manhattan was among a handful of lawmakers absent when the City Council voted on whether to co-name four blocks of Gates Avenue after the black nationalist activist Sonny Carson.

I called Gerson's office to ask how he would have voted.

No, according to an aide. And to explain why, they sent over a lengthy statement from Gerson, in which he says, "I could not explain to the Asian-American community I represent how we could co-name a street for an individual who personally led the campaign of boycott against Korean-owned delis with signs that read, 'Don’t Shop With People Who Don’t Look Like Us.' "

The full statement is after the jump.  read more »

Earlier today, Christine Quinn delivered her response to Mike Bloomberg's proposed budget. Quinn's proposal is predictably generous in ways that will please her 50-member constituency on the council -- $261 million for renter rebates, for example, and $15 million for library funding -- but is, in other ways, deliberately restrained.

In all, Quinn's budget proposal had $61 million more in spending than Bloomberg's.

She singled out $12 million being spent on the mayor-appointed Panel for Educational Priorities that could go instead "to programs in the classroom."

Quinn also identified $6.2 million in "potential cuts to Council-funded initiatives," including $70,000 to the Conflicts of Interest Board, $1 million to the Buildings Department, $50,000 to the Community Mayors, Inc., $400,000 to the NYC Council Nursing Scholarship Initiative, $2,225,000 to the Asian American Hepatitis B Project, $908,000 to the New York Junior Tennis League and other programs.

Councilman Alan Gerson, in whose district Quinn was when she made the budget proposal, sounded somewhat uneasy about the rebates. "They're fiscally responsible," he told me, "but the question is are they strategically responsible, or are they strategically the best route to go in order to meet critical needs."

The mayor, reacting later in the day, seemed enthusiastic about at least some elements of Quinn's budget. "One of the things that I was pleased to see in her budget was she did have some money-saving ideas," he said.

-- Azi Paybarah

New York University announced on Wednesday that it will pursue construction of a new $110 million co-generation power plant under Mercer Street, between West 3rd and 4th streets. The construction will last around two years.

"The decision comes after months of conversation and negotiations between NYU and members of the local community, including Councilman Alan Gerson [and] Community Board 2," NYU administrators said in a release.

While the decision is sure to please most of the larger Village community--no construction under Gould Plaza means that the classrooms below will largely remain intact and the some 600 students who use the rooms weekly will not be sent scattering around the area--the businesses and residents along that particular block of Mercer Street will surely be a little agitated: Namely, the residents of 250 Mercer (the Mercer Street Block Association) and the owner of Think Coffee, Jason Scherr. As The Observer reported earlier this month, they have been extremely vocal in their opposition to the proposed "Mercer Street Option."

Full release after the jump.  read more »

- David Foxley

In the paper this week, I wrote about anunusual, private memo from a lobbyist that details the way to build a racial coalition on the CIty Counil around a single, contentious issue. Richard Lipsky, a lobbyist for the Neighborhood Retail Alliance, is trying to organize a "diverse umbrella coalition" of Council members to support a crackdown on street vendors without appearing anti-immigrant, according to an email he wrote.

Here, from the memo, is a list of the officials that can help him do that, and of what they do -- and don't -- bring to the table :

Dan Garodnick: extremely proactive in support of reclaiming the streets of his district;

Alan Gerson: Active on the lower east side and in Chinatown and looking to put together comprehensive peddler legislation. Gerson will also be able to bring a number of Chinese merchant groups into the expanding coalition;

Hiram Monseratte: A key player for us since his support for our position will go a long way towards reducing the anti-immigrant chants of the street vendor cohort. Monseratte is also looking to actively recruit Hispanic store owners in the Roosevelt Avenue corridor, another helpful contribution towards the creation of a multi-ethnic coalition;

Jessica Lappin: Has shown some interest in the issue but more so out of a concern to placate her East Side community/block associations. It remains to be seen just how active she will be on the entire question;

Joe Addabbo: Solid, pro-business legislator who will help us recruit a multi-ethnic merchant contingent in the Ozone Park community;

David Yassky: Chair of the council's small business committee, he will be an articulate spokesperson for controlling vendor proliferation. His staff will also be helpful at reaching out to the city's small business groups;

Leroy Comrie: Chair of the Consumer Affairs Committee, he is someone who may play a key role in the legislative process. Not necessarily a forceful leader but, if he is given enough cover by his colleagues, can be instrumental in carrying legislation forward;

John Liu: Chair of the Transportation Committee he has staked out some strong positions on street safety. His advocacy on the peddlers/street safety issue, given his constituency, would be very valuable (also has ties to key Chinese business groups);

Vinnie Gentile: Bay Ridge lawmaker who is extremely supportive local business interests;

Jimmy Vacca: District Manger of a local community board for over twenty five years, Vacca is a strong supporter of local businesses and street safety. He has ties to about five or six local merchant groups in the East Bronx;

Miguel Martinez: Important potential ally who has ties to the Bodega Association as well as to the National Supermarket Association (independent Dominican supermarket owners).

The memo, which was passed on to me by email, goes on to say:

This is just a brief overview. It would be my suggestion that we look to create a diverse umbrella coalition that has the financial support of the major real estate organizations. In this way we will be able to generate strong public support for beleaguered (and often minority) shopkeepers while at the same time generating enough resources from larger behind-the-scenes business interests.

In a brief interview, Lipsky confirmed that he wrote it, and explained what he described as the necessity of demonstrating diverse backing for the measure. "There's been a sense from certain elements in the council that if we're to be successful, we have to demonstrate the depth of support we have," he said.

As for how the crackdown on largely immigrant peddlers could possibly be presented as pro-immigrant, he said, "There are 9,000 food vendor licenses. There are only 4,000 food cart licenses, which means in all likelihood, there is a pool of contract labor that is manning the car for people who own the carts."

The whole email is after the jump.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

In the random-but-noteworthy category, this, from Choire Sicha.

In this week's New Yorker, Alan Gerson—SoHo, Tribeca, Wall Street, Chinatown, et al—gave Ben McGrath a tour of the street vendors of downtown Manhattan. At one point in the story, Gerson took a business card from an artist and made the following comment about the phone number printed on it: "Six-three-one is a Long Island area code. It actually includes the Hamptons. So these are people who are clearly coming in from far and wide and using our streets. You're not a struggling immigrant peasant if you live in the 631 area."

Nassau County, carved out in 1899 and later given the area code 516, is the sixth richest county in the United States, according to the 2000 census. But Suffolk County, with its chic 631 area code, is only the sixth richest in New York State, ranking below Rockland and Putnam—and Manhattan, where the per capita income is more than $16,000 greater than Suffolk's.

As for the Hamptons: According to an AP story last month on class friction in the Hamptons, the Hispanic population in East Hampton's public schools has grown from 1% in 1990 to 35% now. The article also related how protesters show up outside a 7-11 in Southampton to voice their anger about the struggling immigrant peasants who arrive each morning, looking for day labor.

-- Josh Benson

In this week's Villager (article not posted online till tomorrow), Lincoln Anderson reports that that City Council member Alan Gerson is threatening to withhold $6 million from the Parks Department for the long-delayed and -debated renovation of Washington Square Park. It seems that Parks reneged on a promise it made to Mr. Gerson and Council Speaker Christine Quinn last fall to not reduce the size of the park's central plaza by more than 10 percent; the park's revised redesign would reduce it by 23 percent.

Debates have been waged for over a year about the future of Washington Square Park, with Community Board 2 the epicenter of the battle. Two lawsuits are currently being pursued to stop the renovation, which is budgeted at $16 million.  read more »

-Matthew Grace Update: Here's your link.

In an effort to reassure the public that new buildings at the World Trade Center site will meet gove  read more »

Alan J. Gerson is feeling positively folksy these days.  read more »