Piling On

Unwilling to let go of the Ferrer Fib, the New York Post interviews current Cardinal Spellman students about the candidate’s apparent lack of school spirit:

Fernando Ferrer’s school pride — or lack of it — was the talk of his alma mater yesterday, as students at Cardinal Spellman HS debated whether the mayoral candidate had dissed them by denying his roots.

“He’s grimy. He’s a shysty man,” said Madelene Sagun, 16. “He should say he went to Spellman. It’s a good school.”

But other students said Ferrer’s claim on his Web site’s blog that he went mainly to public schools was no big deal.

“I think it was a mistake,” said junior Rafael Bonilla, 16. “I made a mistake today. I forgot what class I was going to.”

Samantha Crespo, 17, said Ferrer’s fib was brought up by a student in her social-studies class. “It’s not a big deal to us,” she said.

But William Cantine, 16, wanted to make sure, so he looked up Ferrer’s photo in a yearbook.

“I wanted to see if it was true,” he said. “How could he deny Spellman? I love this school. I’m so pissed. It’s really not cool of him.”

Meanwhile, the Times covers Ferrer’s visit to a high school, which may have violated laws prohibiting campaigning in public schools:

For the second day in a row, Fernando Ferrer was on the defensive yesterday about his honesty in the mayoral contest, this time over whether he had campaigned at a public school in violation of Education Department rules.

Just a day after a dust-up with his opponent, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, over whether Mr. Ferrer had falsified his school history in a log entry on his Web site, Mr. Ferrer found himself in another school-related controversy at a time when he is increasingly trying to deflate the mayor’s record on education.

. . .

Mr. Ferrer’s latest difficulties began after he accepted an invitation from Martha Cruz, a social-studies teacher at Flushing High School in Queens, to speak to 12th graders about avoiding political apathy. The invitation came over the summer, but Mr. Ferrer spoke at the school yesterday, a violation of Education Department rules that bar candidates from visiting schools within 60 days of an election. (Public officials who are running for office are allowed to hold or attend events, but only as part of their official duties, the regulations say.)

The plans for Mr. Ferrer’s speech appeared on his public campaign schedule, although the news media were barred from attending because, Ferrer aides said, the principal did not want television cameras in the school. Asked afterward by reporters what he thought of the rule prohibiting campaigning in schools, Mr. Ferrer said, “I didn’t campaign, and I made it a point to talk to these kids about civic participation and my own experiences in it at a young age.” He added, “I talked about some of the things that inspired me.”

But according to students who attended the meeting, Mr. Ferrer also talked about what he would do if elected.

“He was talking about how he was going to get better jobs and stuff out to the Latino community, how he was going to just do much better with the public school system, and that’s basically it,” said Mishelle Severe, 17. She added that he had also talked about lowering the cost of housing, and that she felt he was looking for votes. “But in a good way,” she said, adding, “but then again it’s politics.”

Kids — they say the darnedest things!

Time Was . . .

Neighborhood groups on the West Village’s Christopher Street are tired of gay teens from the outside causing trouble. They argue that in this day and age, society basically accepts them, so they should feel free to take it somewhere else — “Gay youth gone wild: Something has got to change”:

What have been the Village’s greatest assets — its acceptance and diversity — have become its greatest liabilities. Villagers have witnessed and tolerated questionable behaviors by disruptive youths on their streets. Over time, questionable behaviors escalated to unacceptable behaviors; unacceptable behaviors spiraled out of control to dangerous behaviors, leaving residents scared and appalled. Our tolerance has been abused and taken for granted; our community has been taken advantage of.

. . .

Meanwhile, these youths continue to frequent the streets 24/7 with an “anything goes” behavior that has escalated to dangerous proportions. The recent incident at Malatesta restaurant on Christopher Street is a good example of what these groups of disruptive youths can and will do. In this case, they started fighting in front of Malatesta restaurant and ended up picking up anything and everything from the outside tables while diners were eating. With the knives and forks and smashed bottles of wine and oil, etc., they picked up from the tables, these youths continued their fight while terrified patrons ran inside, covered in food and wine, and watched in disbelief. How long will such behaviors be ignored by our public officials? These unruly youths must be made accountable for their actions. Neither they nor anyone else should be above the law. Being a minority or gay cannot be used as an excuse for an “anything goes” behavior. This attitude of “let them be” by our public officials is the ultimate prejudice, for life on the street 24/7 is a dead-end life.

Verna Eggleston, New York City commissioner of Human Resources, publicly stated that the Christopher Street Pier is the only place where these youths can feel safe. According to Tim Gay’s article, “Goodbye gay ghetto; We’re everywhere in the city” (The Villager, June 15, 2005), Christopher Street and the West Village are not the only places where gay youth can feel safe. “Unlike the ’70s and ’80s, there doesn’t seem to be a few insular neighborhoods (i.e., the West Village) with a predominately gay influence . . . . If anything, in New York City, gays and lesbians can live in a number of neighborhoods safely and securely.” Staten Island’s L.G.B.T. community recently had its first gay pride parade. “Times,” Gay states “have changed, and we don’t need the ghetto anymore.”

You Know Who I Am, Don’t You?

Late last Friday night, someone resembling Mick Jagger (yeesh!) scored a free bottle of Grey Goose (yow!) at a Chelsea nightclub, partied for an hour and a half (yeehaw!) and pulled it off without anyone the wiser:

A randy Mick Jagger impersonator got plenty of satisfaction at a Chelsea nightclub when the hoodwinked hot spot lavished him with VIP treatment — including free liquor, a personal security guard and lots of female attention.

The freeloading phony turned up at Spirit in the wee hours of Saturday morning with a lovely young lass at his side, and was quickly ushered into the VIP room by the doorman.

The faux Mick enjoyed a complimentary bottle of Grey Goose vodka, and beckoned over a bevy of beauties with the help of a bodyguard provided by the club.

In an impeccable British accent, he informed his awestruck admirers that he had just flown in by private jet from Columbus, Ohio, where the Rolling Stones had performed earlier that night.

“After about an hour and a half of partying with what became a large crowd, the fake Mick told the security guard that he was becoming overwhelmed by the crowd and the cameras . . . and needed to leave,” Spirit spokeswoman Claire O’Connor said.

“The security guard called for additional backup, and the clone was whisked, with three girls, down a back staircase. He asked to stop at the ladies’ room on the way out, and spent 10 minutes in the ladies’ room with the three girls.” When they came out, the impish imposter and his date bid farewell to the groupies and hailed a taxi outside.

Club officials realized they had been conned after examining a photograph of the phony Mick — who was, in fact, younger and heavier than the real Jagger.

When In Doubt, Fib

The Post takes much pleasure in reporting that mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer seems to have fibbed again regarding his personal experience with the city’s public school system — this after fibbing about it in a debate during the primary:

Fernando Ferrer yesterday got caught red-handed falsely claiming in a first-person account on his campaign Web site that he attended mostly city public schools.

“I was born in the South Bronx and educated in pubic schools for most of my education,” Ferrer wrote in a Sept. 6 personal blog entry posted on www.ferrer2005.com.

But the Democratic nominee for mayor was forced to remove the posting yesterday less than an hour Mayor Bloomberg’s re-election campaign blew the whistle on the tall tale — flunking Ferrer for rewriting his childhood history into fiction.

The statement to reporters from the Bloomberg campaign highlighted Ferrer’s public-school claim on his Web site — then listed the Catholic schools that he had attended beginning in the first grade and ending with his graduation from Cardinal Spellman HS in 1968.

. . .

Some observers speculated that Ferrer may be trying to downplay his parochial schooling to court the city’s teachers union or to bolster his assertion that he understands the struggles of working-class New Yorkers.

Uh, you think?

Jane Jacobs Be Damned!

After rock-star restauranteur Charlie Trotter abandoned plans to open in the Time Warner Center, the Times looks at how the development is going. And despite raised eyebrows, New Yorkers don’t seem to mind that it’s one big mall:

It began as a concept with, at best, a checkered history: a mall in the city. This one was to look different, with quartz and granite and an irregular shape, and be different, with very expensive restaurants instead of a food court.

A year and a half later, the public pullout of the big-name chef who was to fill one of the few remaining vacancies has some people wondering about the Time Warner Center, the silver-skinned complex at 10 Columbus Circle. It brought together the restaurants, a hotel, a condominium and stores, along with the workings of Time Warner – from offices for its magazines to studios for CNN – and Jazz at Lincoln Center.

For Manhattan, it was something of a gamble. Malls in Manhattan have not had the best track record. Malls, almost by definition, are about cars and huge parking lots. Also, while Manhattan may not have room for big-box stores, the vast majority of its stores are boxes: discrete squares or rectangles, each with its own door facing a street, not an indoor corridor.

The problem is, except for Charlie Trotter, the Time Warner Center appears to be very successful, leading some to wonder whether New York City is rapidly on its way to full red-state status.

But don’t let that fool you — the Times assures us that malls will never — never! — survive here:

Manhattan has never fervently embraced the mall concept. While Trump Tower’s 22-year-old shopping atrium on Fifth Avenue draws some tourists (thanks to its supporting role in “The Apprentice”), Herald Center, the 10-story mall inside the former Gimbel’s department store on Herald Square, has had a troubled history. Originally bankrolled by Ferdinand E. Marcos, the Philippine dictator, it opened in 1985 with tenants that included Ann Taylor, Brookstone and Caswell-Massey. After a mortgage default and an auction, it was reinvented as a discount mall, with stores like Payless Shoes.

That’s OK — I very much like the idea of a Payless Shoes at the Time Warner Center!