Community Board 5 Unswayed By Waterston’s Lincoln-Douglas Theatrics
In a twist worthy of a “Law & Order” script, the decision on whether to name a Midtown street corner for the late actor Jerry Orbach effectively ended in a hung jury last night. Not even a cameo appearance by his longtime colleague Sam Waterston could change the outcome.
The members of Community Board 5 were evenly divided, and admittedly conflicted, about whether to relax their standard objections and approve the naming of the 53rd Street and Eighth Avenue intersection the Jerry Orbach Corner.
A few hours after a committee voted 3-2 for the renaming, the full board voted 18-17 for it, with one abstention. But that slim margin was not enough to qualify as an approval because the votes in favor were not a majority of the votes cast. The decision — or lack of one — is merely advisory; the City Council ultimately decides on street renamings.
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[Orbach’s] regular-guy appearance and lifestyle made him a sentimental favorite among the board members, who have routinely rejected applications for street renamings in the last few years. They turned down Guy Lombardo, Hal Holbrook and even St. Francis of Assisi. But many found it hard to say no to Jerry Orbach, consummate New Yorker, especially in the face of his widow, his son Tony and a living, breathing star, Mr. Waterston, who plays the prosecutor Jack McCoy on “Law & Order.” He read passages from a letter from the Detectives Endowment Association and from Mr. Orbach’s obituary in The New York Times.
It wasn’t Mr. Waterston’s presence that flustered Vikki Barbero, a board member who voted against the renaming. It was the face of Tony Orbach, 45, who bears a strong resemblance to his father.
“It’s like he’s here,” Ms. Barbero said, referring to Mr. Orbach.
“That’s why I’m here,” Tony Orbach responded.
*See, for example, quasi-Atticus Finch Forrest Bedford, white-shoe sounding stock trading pitchman and even Abraham Lincoln.
Posted: March 9th, 2007 | Filed under: Dude, That's So Weird
