Play Idea: Last Con Man In Manhattan

Alternate title: Con Err. Opening this summer at a fringe festival near you.

Don’t Pee On My Leg And Tell Me It’s Warm

Or whatever:

Mayor Bloomberg says he knows what it’s like to get booed at a parade — but insists he got “an enormously warm reception” when he was booed last weekend.

Leading Lame Duck Indicators: Fewer Pedestrian Plazas

Leading Lame Duck Indicators, the leading indicators that foretell the moment when the mayor officially — and finally — becomes a lame duck, include shelved plans for pedestrian plazas:

In an abrupt concession to community complaints, the Bloomberg administration said Wednesday that it would scrap a plan for a pedestrian plaza on 34th Street in Manhattan that would have banned automobile traffic on the block between Herald Square and the Empire State Building.

Greatest Third Term Ever!

I don’t think even the mayor’s biggest detractors assumed you’d read this just one year into a third term:

“It’s a pretty simple formula,” said a source close to the situation. “You have the governor with an 80% approval rating and a mayor with a 40% approval rating. The governor can do what he wants.”

When In Doubt, You Can Always Beat Up On High Fructose Corn Syrup

The Times notes that Cathie Black was a Coca-Cola board member, and raises the issue of that company’s troubling push to keep sugary drinks in schools:

As America awoke to a national obesity epidemic and schools tried to rid their hallways of sugary drinks, Coca-Cola emerged as the biggest and most aggressive opponent of the scientists, lawmakers and educators who tried to sound the alarm.

The company unleashed a flurry of lobbyists, donations and advertising to fight the efforts, prompting local officials to describe it as “bullying” and “unconscionable.” Even as other large food manufacturers embraced the public-health measures, Coca-Cola dug in its heels, rewarding schools that kept selling its products and threatening those that would not, officials said.

Through most of these battles, Ms. Black, the magazine executive nominated last week to lead the nation’s largest school system, was one of 14 people on the company’s board of directors, and she sat on a company committee that focused on policy issues including obesity and selling soda to children. On a board that meets six times a year, she was privy to internal debates about the company’s combative strategy, and there is no public evidence that she ever questioned it.

“I don’t think we’ve gone to a single meeting in the last two years where we haven’t discussed that issue,” said Donald McHenry, a longtime Coke board member and a professor at Georgetown University who sat on the committee with Ms. Black.

On the other hand, The Daily News’ Juan Gonzalez notes that Cathie Black was a Coca-Cola board member, and raises the issue of that company’s troubling human rights record in Latin America:

Her business résumé that Bloomberg keeps touting also deserves close scrutiny.

For most of the past 17 years, Black sat on the board of directors of Coca-Cola. Last year alone, the soft drink giant paid her $195,000 compensation in cash and stock for attending 10 board meetings.

During much of that time, Coke’s human rights record and its marketing tactics to children in Latin America have generated major controversy.

It would be satisfying — refreshing, like a sip of ice cold Coke even — to see the Mayor’s flashy campaign against soda pop bite him in the rear this way . . .