Delegate situation
Hillary Clinton just can’t catch any breaks lately, it seems. Following last week’s New York primary election, Barack Obama and Clinton each will get three in Representative Jerrold Nadler’s Eighth Congressional District, which includes Lower Manhattan.
Clinton won the district’s popular vote, with 49,586 votes to Obama’s 37,442, or 57 percent to 43 percent, but it makes no difference in terms of delegates.
“There are 6 delegates. You would think that it would be 4 to 2,” said longtime Chelsea politico Bob Trentlyon. “It worked out to 3.42 for Clinton, and you can’t round up.”
Trentlyon, incidentally, is backing Obama, though his club, Chelsea Reform Democratic Club, went for Clinton. “I wouldn’t say I’m persona non grata, but they’re disappointed in me,” he said.
The delegates are selected based on who got the most votes, as well as alternating between males and females.
On the Clinton side, the Eighth District’s delegates are State Senator Tom Duane, Assemblymember Deborah Glick and Borough President Scott Stringer.
Nadler is one of those much talked about super delegates and is also backing Clinton.
Obama’s delegates are State Committeeman Arthur Schwartz, Monica Lion and Molly Lombardi. Howard Hemsley, who headed Obama’s East Village and Lower East Side operation, didn’t make the cut, but has been assured he’ll go to the convention as an at-large delegate. Hemsley has vowed to push for gay marriage.
“One of the things I want to do at the convention is to be part of a floor fight for a minority report from the platform committee which would call for gay marriage,” Hemsley told us. “After much hullabaloo and press coverage, we will lose. In losing, we will establish domestic partnership as not some radical idea, but a safe, comfortable, middle road. Then, next time, we take the next step.”
Hit the road
A & M Roadhouse’s triumphant return lasted only two months. As we reported in December, former owner Arthur Gregory told us he was taking back the old name at his new bar at 9 Murray St. because his ex-partner, Mark Gordon, who bounced Gregory in a bitter fight, had sold the nearby bar and the new owner had given up the name.
Gordon got wind of Gregory’s action and his attorney sent a cease and desist letter last week. It wasn’t the UnderCover item that ratted him out. Gregory says the letter came the day after Gregory did a few television interviews related to the Giants’ Canyon of Heroes parade.
Gregory spent $400 taking “A & M” off the new awning and the new name for the bar is now Roadhouse — a disappointment since “I am the ‘A’ in ‘A & M.’”
His biggest disappointment though is he doesn’t have the many firefighter patches donated to the bar after 9/11. “Ten thousand firemen came through my doors,” Gregory said of the months after the attack ‘It was like a therapy group. I had 53 customers who were killed.”
But with the passage of time and a new light name Gregory promises to keep the Roadhouse “fun and young.”
Becks & Danny
David Beckham we get, but Daniel Libeskind? A photo of the World Trade Center site plan architect is posted among shots of the famed British footballer in a barber’s stall at Astor Place Hair Designers. Apparently Libeskind, with his flattop haircut and chic, geometric eyeglasses, is a fashion icon, too. “They like the cut,” the barber shrugged.
Noise takes turns
The problems of sleep-deprived residents who live next to the World Trade Center continue. Pre-dawn jackhammering made an early Saturday morning appearance recently ago and lasted four hours.
This time, though, the culprit wasn’t the Port Authority — at least not directly. Con Edison was responsible for the noise, said Chris Olert, a Con Ed spokesperson. The utility did maintenance on a steam pipe at Liberty and Greenwich Sts. between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.
Pat Moore, a 125 Cedar St. resident and tireless advocate (well maybe a little tired by now) for a quiet night’s sleep, was irate. She called 311 three times, and finally went outside to confront the workers, but they didn’t give her any information. After the Con Ed jackhammering finished, Moore was ready to fall back asleep, but was immediately jolted awake. It was 5:20 a.m. and the Port Authority was starting its own jackhammering.
Moore thought it was a coincidence or a case of poor timing. But, as it turns out, the schedule was actually coordinated that way on purpose.
“We’re limited in the times we can get in there,” Olert said of Downtown’s construction-clogged streets, so Con Ed has to work during the few hours Port Authority sleeps.
Stirring the pot
Mario Batali wasn’t the only celebrity restaurateur parent at the rally to save Pier 40 a few weeks ago. Danny Meyer was also there with his young, sports-playing son.
Green taxis
What’s green, has four wheels, and won’t kill the environment?
A car from Go Green Ride, of course. The high-end taxi service, featuring hybrid cars painted a bright, shining green, hopes to sweep New York City by summer 2008.
The owner is keeping quiet on the details, but the company presented a proposal several months ago to Community Board 1 for a vehicle base at 288 Pearl St.
The board approved the plan, and John Fratta, chairperson of the Seaport Committee, thought these cars were a good alternative to standard cabs or black cars, unless they cause more congestion by clogging the streets. The board was concerned that businessmen would be hesitant to pick the bright cabs over the ubiquitous black cars, but a Go Green Ride rep assured them that the company already has contracts with several businesses.
