The local paper for the Upper East Side
Summer Guide 2019
RUNNING FROM NEW YORK
WEEK OF MAY
23-29 2019
INSIDE
POLITICS Mayor Bill de Blasio joins the tradition of NYC politicians who have tested presidential waters Council Member Ben Kallos said any new building on the East Side should have a school. Photo: Courtesy of NYC Council photographer William Alatriste
BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
The Community Board 8 Housing Chair did not buy what a developer was selling last week. On May 14, Gary Barnett, the CEO and founder of Extell Development, one of the largest real estate developers in the city, spoke at the CB8 Housing Committee meeting, where he said he had no plans yet for two First Avenue sites, one between 79th and 80th streets and another between 85th and 86th streets. Housing Chair Anthony Hartzog said Barnett’s vagueness was familiar. “I have heard so many develop-
With his announcement last week that he would seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, Mayor Bill de Blasio followed in the footsteps of a long line of fellow New York politicos who have had designs on occupying the Oval Office over the last half century — without much success to speak of. In seeking to translate political victories in the nation’s biggest city to triumph in the Electoral College, de Blasio hopes to buck both history — no former New York City mayor has won any federal office, much less the presidency, in over 150 years, and no mayor of any city has ever ascended directly from City Hall to the White House — and the current prevailing sentiment in his hometown, where one recent poll showed he has the approval of just 42 percent of city residents. Mayor de Blasio will find little reason to be encouraged by the examples set by his forebears. John Lindsay, the only other sitting mayor to have left City Hall for the presidential campaign trail, wasn’t gone for long — he withdrew from the 1972 primary race after failing to earn more than seven percent of the vote in any of the first four contests. De Blasio, whose intermittent feuding with Gov. Andrew Cuomo has parallels to Lindsay’s rivalry
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CB8 MEMBER CLASHES WITH DEVELOPER DEVELOPMENT A CEO insisted he was not lying when he said there were no plans yet for two UES sites BY JASON COHEN
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John Lindsay, the only other sitting mayor to have left City Hall for the presidential campaign trail, wasn’t gone for long.
VITAL SIGNS Th Whitney The Wh Bienniall takes B k the temperature of a country in turmoil. P. 10
EAST SIDE VOTES FUNDING TO PARKS, TECH AND MORE Participatory Budgeting winners announced for UES council districts. P. 5
DAFFODILS AND ALLERGIES The buds may be in full bloom, but your nose shouldn’t be, P. 2
Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks at a May 13 event in Trump Tower in Manhattan, days before he announced his presidential campaign. Photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography
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Restaurant Ratings Business Real Estate 15 Minutes
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Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, May 24 – 7:56 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastrside.com.
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