What a Week in NYC!

This past week in New York will certainly reverberate for a while and if you had to try to describe it in one word, I think only one pronoun would suffice -- stormy.

As the saying goes, things come in twos. In this case, there were two big storms in New York last week.

Storm #1: the victory of Carl Paladino in the New York State Republican primary for governor. This man, a hardcore right-wing reactionary, is a real estate developer from upstate who shocked the GOP establishment by knocking Rick Lazio out of the race and winning the chance to face Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in this fall's governor's race. Paladino fancies himself an outsider, just an ordinary (multi-millionaire) citizen who's "mad as hell" with the dysfunction in Albany and is "not going to take it anymore." He vows to cut state spending by 20% and taxes by 10% in his first year as governor, all part of his plan to take a "baseball bat" to state government.

He's insane. And a total fraud. First of all, this supposed "outsider" actually made his fortune by getting lots of contracts with the state -- so it was government "spending" that's responsible for his current candidacy. And he's a racist and bizarre pervert, a man with a well-known habit of getting and forwarding racist and obscene emails (apparently he has the kinds of friends that like sending him jokes comparing President Obama to a monkey and of broads banging horses; and the would be governor apparently has even more friends who he believes would enjoy seeing this junk; "With friends like these ..."). And he believes that welfare recipients should be put in camps and taught hygiene. And he wants to use the power of eminent domain to stop the Islamic Cultural Center in lower Manhattan. And he fathered a love child.

This guy is certifiable, totally insane, and he's unfit to be the governor. Want proof? Former Senator Al D'amato, the old boss of the New York State GOP who engineered the victory of Governor George Pataki in 1994, has said Paladino shouldn't be governor. And the Republican candidates for State Comptroller and Attorney General are refusing to endorse him. He's that bad. Andrew Cuomo should win in a walk -- but not be afraid to fight back hard against this guy.

Think how far the New York GOP has fallen. It used to produce great senators and governors like Theodore Roosevelt, Tom Dewey, Jacob Javits, Nelson Rockefeller -- even Al D'amato and Pataki were giants of the GOP. And now what do they offer this state? Carl Paladino. How sad.

Storm #2: this time it was a literal one -- specifically a TORNADO that ripped across Brooklyn and Queens. It happened on Thursday evening, around 5:30 PM, and tore up streets and felled trees that smashed into car and houses. It was quick and scary and has caused millions of dollars in damage. Fortunately the Parks Department, the police and firefighters, and the office of Emergency Management are on the case and working methodically to assess the damage and clean it up. Yes, that's right -- those same government employees that so many like to complain about are actually out there fixing the city after an unnaturally natural event hit the city so viciously. And they're working hard without complaint and without much glory (this isn't like cleaning up Ground Zero after all -- just an act of God). One person was killed which is tragic but fortunately there weren't a lot of injuries. Let's just hope this is the last tornado NYC will see in a while.

So that's the week that was, a stormy one in the literal and political environments of New York. And let's hope the damage they inflicted won't be too long lasting.

Football NYC

Being the great city that it is, NYC is and always has been a great sports town. Baseball, football, hockey and basketball -- we got 'em all. Our teams have their ups (the Yankees) and downs (the Knicks) and they obviously don't win every championship every year but generally we have good teams who are usually competitive. The Knicks used to be great during the Pat Riley/Patrick Ewing era and many think it will be again (the turn down from LeBron James not withstanding). And even though it was sixteen years ago, the Rangers won the NHL championship in 1994 -- which I remember fondly.

That said, it's fair to say that NYC is, above all, a baseball town. Since the days of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Giants to the present of the Mets and the Yankees, New York teams has had more good teams and won more World Series than any other town. (Since 1986, the Mets and the Yankees have won six out of 23 World Series, more than quarter of them.) New Yorkers define themselves, almost to a person, as to which team they follow. NYC and baseball is a long, ongoing, passionate love affair.

NYC and football have had, it's fair to say, a more complicated relationship. Let's call it a FWB kinda deal. Every decade or so the Giants win a Superbowl and that's great but then they usually slink back into mediocrity for the next several years (the Giants aren't like a New England Patriots or the Yankees -- a team that is perennially feared). As for the Jets ... oh boy ... they're like the Cubbies of football. They last won a Superbowl in 1969 under Broadway Joe Namath and since then ... well, let's just say, it's mostly been a ongoing comi-tragedy of suckiness.

Until now. Last year the new quarterback Mark Sanchez took the Jets within a one game of the Super Bowl. And hopes are high that they'll "go all the way" this year. This extensive profile on Jets owner Woody Johnson shows the man and the mentality behind the team that is unrelenting on making it a great team again -- to basically undue forty years of failure and make the Jets NYC's best football team again. But the Giants are giving them stiff competition -- Eli Manning and the team opened the season on Sunday with a smashing 31-18 victory over the Carolina panthers. They're good ... and they're just as driven as the Jets.

So finally, after many years, it looks like football in NYC is going to be something to watch. It's way, way too early to start talking about a "Subway Super Bowl" or anything like that but, if the promise of these two teams is anything like the hype, it might become a reality after all.

Let's hope so.

2010 Primary Endorsements

Tomorrow is primary day in advance of the 2010 state and federal elections. A bunch of people are running for various offices which I previously wrote about and now here are my endorsements (or lack thereof):

US Senate: what's interesting is that both senators this year are up for re-election (Kristin Gillibrand is running to complete the rest of Hillary Clinton's term) and yet they have no serious opposition. I haven't paid any attention to the Republican candidates so I don't care who wins those primaries and endorse no one.

Governor: I heartily endorse Carl Palidino for the Republican nomination to run against Democrat Andrew Cuomo. Palidino is so extreme, so wacked out, so replellent that he will lose the general election in landslide -- so Republican voters, please vote for him.

Congressional 14: This is the only local primary that I'll be able to vote in and I will happily vote to re-nominate Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. She has represented the rather unusual district of the Upper East Side and Astoria, Queens for 18 years. She has been a leader this year in pushing for financial reform and women's pay equality and I have heard nary of bad word about her except from her rather odd opponent. So Carolyn has earned my endorsement.

New York State Attorney General: this one has left me stumped. There are so many good, credible candidates in this race on the Democratic side that it's hard to know who to vote for. I really like Assemblyman Richard Brodsky who has fought to reform and make the public authorities more transparent. State Senator Eric Schneiderman is very impressive too, he's one of the few ethical leaders in Albany. And Nassau DA Kathleen Rice is good too. I'm going to go with Rice in this race, she's been a very impressive DA, really cracked down on drunk driving and has managed to attract crosover support. I think she's the strongest Democrat in what will be a tough year for the party so I say go for her.

Ed Koch in Real Life

It's Sunday in NYC, the Christian day of rest, and a day where we New Yorkers who are blessed not to have to work are free to choose the day's agenda. For many that includes brunch with friends and family, going to museums, strolling in the park, hitting the gym, or just "vegging" on the couch at the home. It also usually means errands: shopping, cleaning, laundry, etc. to prepare for the week.

So it's interesting to read about what Ed Koch likes to do on his Sundays. Twenty-years out of the Mayor's job, at 85 years old, the ex-Mayor likes to spend his Sundays doing a lot of those types of things as well -- although he gets up much earlier than most other New Yorkers (6:30 AM!) and spends a fair amount of the day writing his columns.

Call it Ed Koch in Real (political) Life: even though he's long out of office, he still needs to use part of every day to shape the public debate and play politics. Once a politician, always a politician, I guess, even on a low-key Sunday in NYC (although he likes to go to the Met so at least that redeems him somewhat).

U.S. Open Tennis Fight - (New) - In HD!

Want Proof?

Today is the 9th anniversary of the 9/11/2001 attacks on our city and, as usual, there are commemorations and tributes to those were died on that -- and whose lives were permanently changed. All of us living in NYC then were changed by it and the city and country will never be the same again.

The popular refrain, in the days and years since, has been "The terrorists can't win." And they can't. What is it that the terrorists want to "win" exactly? They want NYC and American to change to their perverted idea of some 7th century Islamic caliphate, some kind of mystical Shangri-la that never existed and never will. This is a place where women are subjugated, modernity and progress (science, human rights, technology, music, etc.) are banned, and our way of life no longer exists. Obviously no sane American wants this and 99.9% of Muslims don't believe in this nonsense either. So they can't "win."

You only need to look around at how NYC has thrived in the years since 9/11 for proof that the terrorists "jihad" is quixotic. But when I think about how the terrorists can't win, I like to find the small examples, one that most people wouldn't even think of.

Too whit: this Monday, nine years since 9/11, the city's first Chock Full o'Nuts in 20+ years will reopen -- and there are more on the way. Chock Full o'Nuts was a city-wide chain of coffee shops that were a city icons for decades before they dissapeared in the 1980s. I remembered them as a kid in the 1980s and was sad when they went away. There was something so distinctly New York about them that it felt like a part of the city's spirit has died. But now that part of our spiriit has been re-kindled. You obviously can't compare something like that to 9/11 but the fact that they're coming back makes me smile -- and on a day like today, that's the best you can hope for ... and further proofs that the terrorists can never win.

PolitickerNY

Now that Labor Day has come and gone (along with Jerry Lewis) election season has officially begun. Here in NYC, there are really only three interesting races to watch: the Governor's race, the Attorney General's race, and the Congressional race in the 14th district.

The two senate races are foregone conclusions: Senators Schumer and Gillibrand will be easily re-elected (they have Republican opponents who have no money, no name recognition, and no business running for dogcatcher let alone the US Senate) and it's pretty fair to say that State Comptroller DiNapoli will win too (he has a slighly more serious Republican opponent but should win anyway).

The Governor's race is also fairly certain: Attorney General Andrew Cuomo should win handily but it will be interesting to see who his Republican opponent will be. It will either be former Congressman and failed Senate candidate Rick Lazio or businessman/teabagger Carl Palidino. I hope it's Pallidino as the Republican nominee because it will only be too sad to watch Lazio lose a second big race, plus Palindino is an outrageous racist and watching him lose will be fun.

The Attorney General's race is also very interesting: there are five Democratic candidates vying for the nomination (Nassau AG Kathleen Rice, State Senators Brodsky and Schneiderman, some former commissioner named Eric DiNallo and a lawyer named Sean Coffey). Schneiderman has won the backing of the Times and Al Sharpton and has racked up a lot of big endorsements. Rice is a proven vote-getter in the suburbs and is believed to be the favorite of Andrew Cuomo. So it looks like the nomination ace will come down between Rice and Schneiderman. Whoever wins will face the Republican Staten Island DA Dan Donovan who's a serious candidate and is backed by Mayor Bloomberg. This remains something of a toss-up.

And the most local race is that between Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and young upstart Reshma Saunjani. Maloney has been in Congress for 18 years and is very well-liked and Saujani is a total unknown. They are both running for the Democratic nomination for this safe seat and Maloney has the power of incumbency but Reshma has managed to raise a ton of money to maker herself competitive. Also, this has turned out to be a nasty anti-incumbent year so there's always the possibility that usually reliable Maloney voters might just go the other way -- but this would be a real, real upset and I don't think it'll happen.

This is just the lowdown on only a few races and politics of New York are always crazy. Your best resource to stay on top of all of this is the New York Observer's PolitickerNY blog where they write about, and aggregate, all of the latest political goings on. It's very up-to-the-minute and detailed and a good one stop shope for political news (and no, I wasn't payed to blog about this).

Where To Go NY--Koronet Pizza

Chris and Lidia: Food, Show Business, and Nostalgia

A couple of week ago, the always great WNYC interview Leonard Lopate had a surprise guest host -- legendary, Oscar-winning actor Christopher Walken. Walken needs no introduction: he is one of the most beloved, amazing actors of his generation. He has made many great movies (Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, True Romance, Pulp Fiction, Catch Me If You Can), has had career on stage (he recently appeared on Broadway and, did you know that he started as song and dance man in musicals?), and even music videos. He is also a frequent guest host of Saturday Night Live and crafted a couple of great characters -- "the Continental" and the music producer always screaming "More cowbell!" Imitating Christopher Walken has practically become a cottage industry -- Kevin Spacey, Jay Mohr and others have received acclaim pretending to be him -- that he will be remembered forever.

By the way, did you know Walken has been married to the same woman for 40+, casting agent Georgianne who casted The Sopranos? And that his mother recently died at age 104? Pretty amazing.

Recently, during Walken's hosting gig he interviewed a bunch of people including restaurateur/TV cooking host Lidia Bastianich. Both grew up in Queens in the 1950s and have knew each other back then (Lidia actually worked in Walken's Bakery in Astoria, owned by Chris's family). In this wonderful interview, they talk about their families and lives growing up back then and Chris talks about his family's bakery and how he used to work in the back. Lidia talks a lot about her career and her memories of Chris's family and they are joined by Lidia's adorable mama who shares her memories of Chris's dad and what a great, hard-working man he man. You don't hear a lot of interviews like this so it's something really special. Enjoy.

Ground Zero Rises

My previous post, which may have seemed a little morose, was a contemplation about where NYC is going -- economically, culturally, politically, etc. I indicated and still believe that our city is at a crossroads -- and that the path we're taking might not be the best one.

However, there is some good news: Ground Zero is finally being built. After almost a decade since 9/11, the lawsuits, contracts, government agencies, etc. seem to have gotten their collective, frustrating acts together and the building is commencing. The memorial should be ready for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 next year and the completed buildings should be ready by 2013. So, while it took a long time, New Yorkers will no longer be condemned with staring at a giant hole in the ground -- Ground Zero will rise again, a tribute to the indefatigable spirit of our city.