Visions Of Meryl Danced In Our Heads

The fashion industry isn’t happy about losing Bryant Park:

The landlord-tenant dispute between Bryant Park and IMG, the owner of New York Fashion Week, looks increasingly likely to end with the eviction of the event from its Midtown home. The likelihood has left the fashion business grappling with the reality of a move to smaller quarters for the fall 2007 shows in February.

Lincoln Center is one replacement that has been explored, with disappointing results: tents on opposite sides of the New York State Theater with a winding corridor between would require guests to walk the equivalent of a city block between shows.

And looking at a conceptual drawing of what the runway shows would be like at Lincoln Center, as opposed to Bryant Park, is like comparing a studio apartment with a classic six. Even on paper, the layout is cramped, weirdly shaped, lacking closet space and hardly conducive to an ambience of luxury.

“Nothing else is as good,” said Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, who said she has written to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg asking him to intervene to keep the shows in Bryant Park, at least until a viable alternative can be identified. “The fashion industry should be taken seriously. The mayor should give us the respect we deserve.”

Location Scout: Bryant Park.

No Sheet, They Even Steal Flower Pots

While it’s true that society needs hot-sheet havens to which one can spirit away prostitutes, most decent citizens agree that none of us deserves to have their outdoor planters stolen:

Can you imagine living in a neighborhood where everyday you have to walk the streets and see drug paraphernalia and condoms? Well, welcome to the lives of people who live on 68th Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard.

On Wednesday, September 13, Community Board 6 was introduced to this problem by members of the 68th Avenue Alliance, who came to the meeting to discuss how the Haven Motel, located at 68-02 Woodhaven Boulevard, has drastically changed their way of life.

“Prostitutes and hookers are out on the street at all times of the day, this is not a way of life,” said a woman who wished to remain anonymous.

A man by the name of Dennis Dicheck, a resident of the area for over 20 years, talked about his personal encounters with unruly people.

“Condoms are left in front of houses and on driveways, there’s been an increase in fighting, and you can’t leave flower pots out or someone will steal them — it happened to me,” he said. “Someone was urinating in front of the house and my wife said, ‘This is private property.’ The person responded with ‘That’s why I am doing this.’ There is no regard for someone’s property.”

. . .

If one of the neighbors happens to go to the motel to complain, they might receive the same line that Dicheck received, which was, “We can’t help you, these people come from the ghetto.”

“It’s sad that people have to put up with these situations,” added Dicheck, “and people who don’t bring positive qualities to a neighborhood.”

And Everybody Hates The Yuppies

Tom Lehrer can adjust his lyrics accordingly:

The Hasidic and Spanish communities of south Williamsburg are often rivals over the neighborhood’s housing stock, but they cooperate when it comes to keeping out a common enemy: gentrifiers.

Evidence of both the competition and the teamwork were on public display this Monday afternoon on South 8th Street between Bedford and Berry.

In the middle of that residential block, developer Michael Zazza has plans to tear down two of the oldest buildings in Williamsburg and put up a 20-story luxury condo in their place. “This is not going to be Jewish,” complained Ms. Cohen, who lives in an eight-story affordable apartment building down the block. “It’s going to be a new trend: Yuppies. They’re going to take over the neighborhood.”

Cohen was joined by over a dozen other orthodox Jews, the Four Borough Neighborhood Preservation Alliance (4BNA), Queens Councilman Tony Avella, and a few members of the local Spanish community to call on New York City to landmark 118 South 8th Street, an 1840s building which served as a social hall in the 19th century for Democrats, Republicans, Suffragettes, philosophers, healers, and teetotalers alike.

“This building represents the identity of this community,” argued retired firefighter Serafin Flores. “This is an important symbol which might be destroyed.”

When the Star asked Flores about the local rivalry between the two ethnic groups, he said, “We are competing for housing, let’s be honest. But on this, yes, we are united.”

Rabbi E. Katz quickly jumped in to agree to disagree and to just plain agree. “We have a problem,” he explained. “Everybody needs housing, but now we are united.”

Deal By December

Your semi-annual strike update:

The contract dispute between the MTA and the Transport Workers Union could be settled just in time for the first anniversary of the strike, the arbitrator hearing the case said yesterday.

Union sources say TWU boss Roger Toussaint had hoped the proceedings would be delayed until January, when a new governor — who may be more willing to cut a deal — takes office.

And, god willing, if they decide to go on strike again, it will be right around Christmas again!

Now That Was Easy

No, it really wasn’t worth noting because apparently it was never going to happen in the first place:

MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow pulled the emergency brake yesterday on proposals to raise bus and subway fares and cut back on service next year.

Predicting deficits upward of $1 billion starting in 2008, the agency said in July that a 5 percent fare hike would likely have to kick in next September, along with reductions in the number of subway trains and buses that run during midday, nights and weekends.

But yesterday, amid complaints from transit advocates and union leaders, Kalikow switched tracks.

Noting that ridership had soared to levels not seen in decades, he said straphangers deserved a little slack — and there will be no fare hikes or service cuts through 2007.

. . .

The announcement infuriated some transit officials, who contend the proposed cuts were included in the preliminary budget over their objections — and now Kalikow is making himself out to be the hero, sources said.

Though MTA sources say the cuts never really had a chance of remaining in the final November budget, transit advocates fumed that the agency would even think of hurting riders to save $20 million annually — a measly sum compared to the agency’s $10 billion budget.

And this the kind of win-win-win scenario that allows everybody to grandstand:

Balking at the proposed cuts, which could also cost hundreds of transit jobs, Transport Workers Union boss Roger Toussaint said the MTA should “cut suits instead of service.”

And that looming deficit? Take it out of LIRR’s budget!