Times Ledger Newspapers Come Out Against Ritalin

The new owners of the Times Ledger newspapers (ahem) should probably intervene here. A fluff piece on Scientology? Is Rupert Murdoch a Scientologist or something? I can’t even fathom what they were thinking*:

A Bayside native has been appointed to lead the Church of Scientology’s anti-drug campaign in New York, a drug education effort that the group says is the largest in the world. Meghan Fialkoff of Bayside will run the New York “Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life” campaign, part of the secular nonprofit Foundation for a Drug Free World. Although the campaign is run by Scientologists, Fialkoff said they do not promote the religion, only their anti-drug message.

“In our church basically we’re helping people go free,” she said. “It’s all about helping people live lives where they can be free, and if you’re doing drugs, you’re not. You’re a slave to whatever your buying and how you’re going to get it.”

The campaign will distribute millions of booklets about how to prevent drug use, Fialkoff said. The information covers drug use in general. There are pamphlets tailored to information about specific drugs, everything from crack to painkillers to ritalin, which the campaign calls “kiddie cocaine.”

*What a bad week for the Queens weeklies.

There’s No Zoning For Good Taste

Unless Mayor Mike suddenly moves to crack down on architectural transfat, no one will be able to legislate what many are thinking*:

Manhattan Beach residents are reacting to a new housing study currently underway this week which could impact the way new homes in the community are constructed and existing ones enlarged.

Councilmember Mike Nelson dropped the bombshell at the November meeting of the Manhattan Beach Community Group, held at P.S. 195 on Irwin Street.

For months, Manhattan Beach has been held in the grips of a bitter stalemate between homeowners seeking relief from the housing code violations preventing them from moving into their new homes, and neighbors who insist that they follow the rules and comply with existing zoning regulations.

“Obviously there’s been a problem,” said Nelson, who approached Borough President Marty Markowitz’s office for help in conducting the study, due to be released in January. “Some people want change, and others do not.”

The councilman’s office, however, stressed that the study will not contain any recommendations.

“There’s passion on both sides,” Nelson said. “Hopefully, we can clarify the situation.”

Which means what exactly?

“There are lies, damned lies and statistics,” said Nelson’s deputy chief of staff, Robert Varley. “This will probably be the greatest tool for the facts in the debate. Until the numbers are looked at, it’s tough to come in with an educated opinion.’

Neighbors are skeptical:

Some, however, are not at all happy about the existence of the study and fear it could be a prelude to more relaxed zoning regulations.

“This flies in the face of the Manhattan Beach Community Group,” member and past president Dr. Oliver Klapper said. “The Manhattan Beach Community Group is a group with 75 years of success whose 58 members met and voted unanimously not to change zoning in our neighborhood.”

*For a representative example, don’t miss the article’s photo.

See also: “Bloated On Beaumont St.”

Anna Wintour Eagerly Anticipates Opportunity To Out-Preserve Woody Allen*

Is the Landmarks Preservation Commission really swayed by a letter from Anna Wintour or Jeff Koons? God, I hope not:

Developer Aby Rosen is beseeching his rich and famous pals to write to a key city panel in support of his controversial bid to build a 30-story tower on the Upper East Side.

Vogue editor Anna Wintour was among the glitterati to respond to Rosen’s call to arms, a form letter that asked some of the wealthiest New Yorkers to show their stripes for the redevelopment of 980 Madison Ave. at 76th Street.

Rosen and architect Lord Norman Foster have pitted themselves against many of the area’s well-heeled residents, who don’t want the 355-foot elliptical glass tower to be added to the Parke-Bernet Galleries.

The residential tower would forever alter the area’s skyline by matching the height of the nearby Carlyle Hotel.

The Landmarks Preservation Council, which has the final say, received hundreds of submissions before today’s 5 p.m. deadline.

The proposal has caused so much controversy that after 150 people turned up a public meeting to testify, the deadline for submissions was extended twice.

While the majority of submissions have called for the council to ax the tower, which is much taller than most buildings in the neighborhood, Rosen has banded together a gaggle of famous supporters.

Wintour, artist Jeff Koons, Betsy Bloomingdale, businessman Ron Perelman and celebrity doctor Patricia Wexler, along with several millionaires, artists and collectors, are among those who have declared themselves in the Rosen camp.

*See, for example.

Pimp, Pimp, Pimp, Pimp Your Ass Off

One possibility for “something spectacular” at Coney Island emerges:

SpongeBob SquarePants could soon frolic along Coney Island’s boardwalk.

Cable-TV giant Nickelodeon has expressed interest in being part of developer Thor Equities’ $2 billion plan to turn the famed summer amusement area’s rundown strip into a glitzy year-round playground and public attraction, sources said.

Nickelodeon’s parent company, Viacom, is talking with Thor about the possibility of the kids network operating a theme hotel on part of the 3.1-acre Astroland amusement-park property the developer purchased last week.

. . .

Thor spokesman Lee Silberstein said companies are interested in Coney Island “now that there is a serious proposal for the area’s revival.”

Nickelodeon Senior VP Howard Smith said, “We think a Nickelodeon-themed family resort hotel would be hugely popular with New Yorkers.”

Bay Ridge Likes Its Fish* Exotic, Not Its Women

You say “erotic” and he says “exotic”:

The sign said “exotic dancers.” The only visual was a silhouette of what appeared to be a scantily clad young woman, beckoning passersby into the new Club Shadows.

No wonder, then, that Bay Ridge residents thought they were about to get a strip club. No wonder, then, that panic ensued, that the community board office was flooded with calls from people who didn’t want to see a “gentleman’s club” open in their backyard, and that the community board raced to check the zoning on the site, as well as all other relevant data.

But, it was never his intention to open a strip joint, said the club manager, Joseph Domovsky, who told this newspaper that, after learning about the community response, he had tried to eradicate the problematic phrase from the sign announcing the impending opening of the club on November 30.

“Exotic is not the same as erotic,” he asserted, in a phone interview with this newspaper, contending that what would be opening at 9013 Fourth Avenue would be no more and no less than, “An upscale bar for adults 21 and over. We will be bringing in DJs and performance artists. We are going to run a high-fashion, upscale club.”

*Or its meats.