With a new city councilmember strongly committed to affordable hous- ing set to take offi ce in January, hous- ing advocates are feeling renewed hope that the long-dormant Seward Park Urban Renewal Area will be devel- oped.

About 75 housing activists — along with a half-dozen former renewal-area residents — gathered at Suffolk and Delancey Sts., hard by the Williamsburg Bridge approach ramp, last Sunday afternoon.

Against the backdrop of an orange banner that read, “2000 People Lost Their Homes November 1967,” they marked the 42nd anniversary of when blocks of low-income housing — plus dozens of mom-and-pop stores — were bulldozed under the urban renewal plan. (In fact, 1,850 households were

Although they hoped for the right of return to the redeveloped area, most of the working-class residents basically wound up permanently dis- placed. More than four decades later, a sprawling swath of land still lies barren, stretching away to either side of Suffolk St., used as nothing but a gigantic parking lot.

At the rally, shoulder-high card- board boxes painted to resemble the high-rises that could be built on the site ringed the chain-link fence around a corner of the parking lot. Small signs on colored paper were hung on the fence with names of the many commu- nity amenities the property could sup- port: “School,” “Shoe Store,” “Movie Theater”... .

der to vent their frustrations and hopes about the site, their words by turns fi ery and poignant, sometimes both at once.

Edward Rudyk, who lived in the renewal area before it was demolished, recalled halcyon days growing up in a close-knit Lower East Side community that was like a small town. His parents were born in Poland, and during World War II were enslaved in a forced-labor camp, eventually immigrating to New York after the war.

Rudyk recalled a neighborhood brim- ming with ethnic diversity — his best friend was half German, half Puerto Rican — and small shops where he worked various jobs: packing eggs at a kosher butcher, washing the window of Mr. Lee, the Chinese launderer, for $1.

The freshly remodeled Gristedes supermarket on 25 University Place has expanded its space, adding new sections for beer, hot food, a salad bar, bakery and organic products, all looking

like crowd-pleasers beneath Thanksgiving decorations strung above the aisles.

But cigarettes are no lon- ger on sale here — seeming- ly a sign of the times in this

Councilmember Alan Gerson may soon share something in common with one of his biggest political heroes, Ed Koch. Gerson, like Koch, has inspired a Downtown political club faction to splinter.

Members and critics of Downtown Independent Democrats are forming a new, as-yet-unnamed club and their first meeting will be Nov. 30. Bill Love, one of the new group’s leaders, said he expects to have at least two-dozen members to start, many of whom are D.I.D. members upset over the club’s “contentious endorse- ment meeting” last June.

The large, loud and tense meeting in June even included an unsubstantiated

assault accusation. When the dust settled, the club endorsed Pete Gleason in the City Council primary election and Gerson was weakened. The club’s infl u- ence on the primary’s result is disputed, but regardless, Gerson ended up losing his re-election bid and Democrat Margaret Chin will take his seat in January.

Aside from Gerson, the other center of the dispute is the years-long clash between D.I.D. president Sean Sweeney and Democratic District Leader David Reck, one of the new club’s driv- ing forces. The pair were once allies, but their dis- agreements have cut across Community Board 2, where

After Gerson feud,
D.I.D. dissidents
to form new club

RADICALLY
RIGHTEOUS
PREMIERE

column last week on MayorBloomberg buying City Hall apparently was taken as fact by more than a few panicked readers. Last week, we had concerned readers coming up to us at events, as well as calling and e-mailing us, asking if it was really true. One woman called to let us know that, after reading Meltzer’s talking point, she promptly called The New York Times and CBS News to see if they were covering the story, and when she was told that they didn’t know a thing about it, became “enraged.” Here is one clue as to why the piece was, in fact, a spoof: It was on our op-ed page. If it were indeed true that Mike had acquired the seat of New York City government as his own personal property, and we had the scoop on it, it would have been our lead story on Page 1 — with a banner headline, to boot. Plus, as those familiar with his columns are aware, Meltzer is known for his sardonic sense of humor. We told Meltzer about some people taking his column literally, and he likened it to the mass hys- teria prompted by Orson Welles’s “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast. “Orson Welles had a similar problem once, I seem to recall,” Meltzer shrugged. “Didn’t seem to hurt his career or the network much. Anyway, it’s a column.”

Players Foundation will present a benefit and celebration to honor the life’s work of the prolifi c and passionate arts journalist Jerry Tallmer. A longtime arts critic and columnist for The Villager, Tallmer, 88, was a founder of The Village Voice and the Obie Awards in 1956. He also worked at the New York Post under Dorothy Schiff, where he was every- thing from reporter and drama critic to occasional TV critic. Tallmer was terminated at the Post in 1993 whenRupert

years Tallmer has interviewed countless movers and shak- ers from the arts world, politics and beyond, and has also often served as an editor, as well as a writer, making sure — whatever paper he was working for at the time — that the copy was legible. Master of ceremonies for Monday evening’s event will be Austin Pendleton. Special guests will include Edward Albee, Charles Busch, Baby Jane Dexter,

and Anne Meara, KT Sullivan and others. Tickets are $100 per person; $65 of each ticket will be tax-deductible. All proceeds will be presented to the honoree. The event will be at The Players Club, 16 Gramercy Park South. Cocktails will be at 6:30 p.m.; the program begins at 7:30 p.m. For reserva- tions contact The Players at 212-475-6116 or reservations@ theplayersnyc.org . For those who can’t attend, contribu- tions can be mailed to The Players Club, 16 Gramercy Park South, NYC 10003. Make checks payable to The Players Foundation and indicate “Jerry Tallmer Celebration” in the subject line.

booklet for former Councilmember Miriam Friedlander’s commemoration at City Hall last Thursday was done by her son, Paul Friedlander, and his wife, Gloria Wyeth. It featured archival photos from Friedlander’s youth and also great shots of her on the campaign trail, such as walking arm in arm with former Congresswoman Bella Abzug, or a smiling Friedlander riding high on a supporter’s shoulders in the throng of a crowd after a victory, her arms in the air. The booklet also featured three choice quotes from The Villager’s recent obituary on Friedlander: one by L.E.S. Slacktivist

in his opinion, because “you saw her in the neighborhood”; another by her longtime campaign manager Frieda Bradlow, quoting the late Tony Dapolito, who said if there was a meet- ing of three people, Friedlander would be the fourth; and

a quote by Assemblymember Deborah Glick, saying how Glick had looked to Friedlander as a role model at a time when few women held political power.

Councilmember Kathryn Freed at Miriam Friedlander’s memorial at City Hall last week, and she had one simple answer for why Councilmember Alan Gerson was defeated in September by Margaret Chin: He never should have run candidates against Downtown Independent Democrats’ sit- ting district leaders, according to Freed. Basically, she said, before he was elected, “Gerson had no base” in Council District 1 other than D.I.D., and to cross the club ultimately proved his undoing. Freed noted, with a bit of irony, that she voted for Chin in the general election — despite having defeated her twice in the past. Freed wouldn’t reveal who she supported in the primary election. Freed also griped that Civil Court Judges — she is one — who make $125,000, haven’t had a raise in 12 years, and badly need one. As for Gerson, who was also at the Friedlander memorial, we asked what his plans are once he gets out of the Council. He said he’ll be taking a vacation, “someplace warm,” his first one in eight years. “Oh that’s nothing!” retorted Freed, when we mentioned it. “I didn’t take a vacation for 12, 10 years.”

was struck and partially run over on Nov. 5 by a Parks Department garbage truck occurred on Eighth Ave. — not Hudson St., as was incorrectly reported in last week’s issue — just north of Bleecker St. The spot is just north of where southbound Hudson St. runs into Bleecker St. and where northbound Hudson St. turns into Eighth Ave. ... An item in last week’s Villager on the newly renamed Arthur W. Strickler Triangle stated that Strickler stepped down after serving as chairperson of Community Board 2 from 1989 to 1991 to become the board’s district manager. ButCarol

that, in fact, Strickler relinquished the position because the board has a term limit of two consecutive, one-year terms for chairperson. “He did not become D.M. until 1996 whenRita

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this Chelsea “trip back in time”
purveys “hearty” Americana
in a “Waterford-and-wood-
buring-fireplace” setting; add in
“accommodating” staffers who
“pour a great Guinness” and the
“whole is definitely equal to
more than the sum of its parts.”

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Best Buy representatives presented a $5,000 donation to the Union Square Partnership at the grand opening of the 24-hour Best Buy Union Square store on Nov. 13. From left, Jennifer Falk, Union Square Partnership executive director; Amy Adoniz, Best Buy Union Square general manager, and Emily Herrara, a Best Buy associate. Members of the rock band Bon Jovi also signed autographs at the opening.

both are members, and D.I.D., where last year Sweeney survived a challenge to his leadership supported by Reck.

“This is the irony — I made David Reck district leader,” Sweeney said. “No good deed goes unpunished.” By his account, which was not disputed or confirmed by Reck, he got Reck named district leader when the unpaid party position became vacant.

Reck refused to answer most ques- tions regarding his new club, D.I.D. and Sweeney, but in a brief interview he repeatedly said, “We’re starting a club that will represent the community.”

Sweeney said the new club’s shelf life will be about two years, when he predicts that Reck and another probable charter member, District Leader Linda Belfer, will lose their re-election bids. Sweeney said he’d lay 10-to-1 odds on both losing.

Belfer and Sweeney had disputes in this last election, but she was still sur- prised that Sweeney was already announc- ing a campaign against her.

“It’s a threat, it’s nasty and there’s no reason to do it,” she said. “To say that two years in advance — that’s the stupidest thing in the world.”

She said she’s planning to join the new club but won’t make a final decision until it forms. She has decided to leave D.I.D., though.

beyond that. They are important in club politics since their membership gives a club automatic standing in the Democratic Party. Among their key responsibilities are to help turn out voters and monitor the poll sites for the party during elections.

Sweeney thinks the defections will “strengthen” D.I.D. because they will end the last two years of acrimony.

She thinks her club could still be strong since Lower Manhattan has a growing population and D.I.D. covers an unusually large area in parts of two

Assembly districts. Four district leaders in a club is unheard of, Nadel added, and D.I.D. will still have two without Reck and Belfer.

Nadel has often been on opposite sides with Reck, but nevertheless, she thinks Sweeney is wrong about the re-election chances of Reck at least, since he is an effective campaign volunteer.

“Reck goes out and does something,” Nadel said. “Beating him would be diffi- cult. He actually gets out and works.”

Love said it is important, but not crucial, that Reck and Belfer remain as district leaders.

“As long as David and Linda stay active and do the work that they’ve been doing, we’ll be fine,” he said.

Love hopes the new club is “more col- legial,” and he thinks there’s room for more club membership in the Community Board 1 neighborhoods south of Canal

St., as well as the Village and Lower East Side in Community Boards 2 and 3. He said the club’s name will be one topic discussed at the first meeting later this month and he thinks it will include “Lower Manhattan.”

A few people interviewed for this arti- cle brought up the creation of the Village Reform Democratic Club in 1983, a year after members were upset that Village Independent Democrats had backed Mario Cuomo for governor over Mayor Koch, a longtime V.I.D. member.

Adam Silvera, a Sweeney ally and D.I.D. leader, said the comparison falls short in an important way.

“Ed Koch was still a powerful sitting mayor, and Alan Gerson is a lame-duck city councilmember with growing cam- paign debt,” Silvera said. As for the new club, he said, “I do wish them luck — just not too much luck.”

Gerson did not return calls for this article and does not appear to have taken an active role in starting the new club.

Koch, who supported Gerson in this year’s campaign and previous ones, was reluctant to delve back into Downtown political wars, but did write in an e-mail to The Villager:

“I have not kept up with the club politics either at V.R.D.C. or V.I.D. and prefer not to comment other than to... wish Alan Gerson all success.”

Sean Sweeney, president of Downtown Independent Democrats, said this week he will not run for re-election next year and that it has nothing to do with the move by David Reck and Bill Love to form a rival political club.

Sweeney, who has been the club’s presi- dent about five years, said he wanted to remain D.I.D.’s leader for this year’s First City Council District endorsement and that

he promised last year not to run for re- election. He “guaranteed” he’d stick to his pledge.

Several sources said the two people most likely to run for club leader next year are Adam Silvera, who stepped down as district leader a few months ago, and Jeanne Wilcke, who ran Pete Gleason’s primary challenge against Councilmember Alan Gerson and Margaret Chin, who won the race.

‘This is the irony —
I made David Reck
district leader.’

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