Snow Much For That Theory . . .

December’s snow bungling probably didn’t have that much to do with Stephen Goldsmith’s recent resignation:

A powerful aide to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg resigned from City Hall because he was arrested in Washington for his role in a heated altercation with his wife, according to a person familiar with the account.

Stephen Goldsmith, who oversaw the city’s most visible agencies as Mr. Bloomberg’s deputy mayor for operations, was arrested in his town house on July 30 and spent two days in a Washington jail — a series of events that Mr. Goldsmith reported to City Hall almost immediately.

But when the Bloomberg Administration announced Mr. Goldsmith’s resignation five days later, the mayor’s office said that the deputy mayor was leaving the administration “to pursue private-sector opportunities in infrastructure finance.”

Thankfully, there was a hurricane this month . . .

Irene: Tree Assassin

Three is, of course, a trend: The “controversial” Mansion Elm in Brooklyn Heights, a “symbol of survival” against development in the East Village, and even a “vagina tree” in McCarren Park all fall to the tree assassin that was Irene, the last of which evoking some cringe-inducing imagery in the Brooklyn Paper:

The sexy neighborhood curiosity near Bedford Avenue and the McCarren Park tennis courts has attracted a Foursquare page and even hosts its own Twitter feed, @TheVaginaTree.

But Irene’s furiously swirling winds licked the tree forcefully enough to snap it just above its waist on Sunday. All that remains is a spent stump.

The Foursquare’s account is now “closed.” On Monday night, the tree Tweeted what might be its last message: “I am the stump formerly known as Vagina Tree.”

Then there are those who quietly celebrated Irene’s ruthless instinct:

The fear of god kept an observant Jewish family from chopping down a despised fruit tree, so it took an act of god — Hurricane Irene’s winds of fury — to answer the prayers of neighbors on a small Midwood block.

On Saturday, Irene huffed and puffed and blew down a giant mulberry tree on E. 27th Street between Avenue I and Campus Road that for years had dropped sticky fruit on neighbors’ cars and littered the sidewalk with a tacky, dark-purple paste that made residents walk in the street to avoid stepping in the mess.

“Everybody hated that tree,” said [a 73-year-old neighbor].

Including the people who owned it, who for years refused to take the ax to the behemoth out of fear that god would smite them.

The Vermont Of The Five Boroughs

While Anderson Cooper and everyone else were waiting down in Lower Manhattan for the financial capital of the world to be wiped away, the real story may have been in Staten Island, where the City’s hurricane disaster plan seems to have fallen short:

Firefighters in inflatable rafts saved 61 adults and three babies from the floodwaters, leading Mayor Bloomberg to praise the rescue effort.

But locals were fuming over what they found when they returned: flooded living rooms, destroyed cars and water animals in the streets.

They said they would have moved their valuables to higher ground and driven their cars out of the area if they thought they could be in danger.

“Somebody dropped the ball,” said [a 26-year-old resident] of Bulls Head, S.I., whose car and basement was damaged by flash flooding.

“[The water] was 5 feet right there. And this was the safe zone.”

Quinn Pro Quo

The only satisfying thing about this quid pro quo is the idea that he might be more toxic than 2000-era Clinton or 2008-era Bush:

It is the worst-kept secret in City Hall. Michael R. Bloomberg has told almost everyone who asks — but only privately, so far — that he hopes the City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, will succeed him as mayor in 2013.

. . .

Jamie McShane, a spokesman for Ms. Quinn, said, “She has never asked for nor has he offered his support.”

. . .

[. . .] Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, said Mr. Bloomberg’s imprimatur might not be that desirable for Democrats. “Personally, I have great respect for the mayor,” Mr. Stringer said. “But ‘Bloomberg 3’ has run its course.”

You Better Hope Those Hurricanes Really Do Only Come Every Ten Or 20 Years Because Do You Really Think These Same People Are Going To Buy This Much Tuna Fish Ever Again?

No one knows, or is saying, exactly when the administration understood that Irene was going to weaken, and despite what many are calling “universal praise” for the actions undertaken to Save Lives!, the overreaction seems to have worked (“He wanted to go from bozo of the blizzard to hero of the hurricane”) — at least until the next big storm, when people will probably not pay as much attention to the words of caution.

“Bloomberg, he did O.K., but he made people crazy and spend a lot of money,” said [. . .] a building superintendent on 44th Drive in Long Island City, Queens, just outside the Zone A low-lying evacuation area. He said he had spent $200 on supplies on Friday and $67 on a fill-up.

“Water, batteries, tuna fish, other food in a can,” he said. “For what? Believe me, people spent a lot of money on this. The tuna fish and the other food, O.K., we’re going to eat it. I don’t need all this water and batteries, though.”