Staten Island

Over the last few years, something like conventional wisdom cohered around northern Staten Island: New development and new arrivals would make it the New Williamsburg.

Art galleries, bars and cafés opened near the ferry to Manhattan. The first annual Rock the Harbor music festival took place last June. A graffiti artist scrawled "Williamsburg II" on construction fences. The New York Times a year ago dubbed the North Shore "Bohemia by the Bay." Condominium towers with city views sprouted along Bay Street Landing, luring Wall Streeters across the water. Creative types and Brooklyn refugees trickled in.

But in this market, can the gentrification continue? Although home sales are up annually by close to 30 percent in St.  read more »

In the spring of 1976, Joni Mitchell trekked out to the North Shore of Staten Island to the Mandolin Brothers, a vintage American guitar dealership that had opened five years earlier and had already become a well-trodden pit stop for musicians, guitar buffs, and fretted-instrument collectors.

Ms. Mitchell bought a 1915 Gibson Mandocello and a Martin herringbone guitar, Mandolin Brothers President Stan Jay recalled on a recent Friday afternoon. On the ferry back to Manhattan, she penned “Song for Sharon,” beginning with the lyrics: “I went to Staten Island, Sharon, to buy myself a mandolin.”

“Something must have set off an autobiographical memory for her so she wrote this highly personal song… which is the story of her life and the story of her friend Sharon’s life, who she knew in Canada,” Mr.  read more »

Back in 2004, Howard Stern’s sidekick Robin Quivers pledged to leave the U.S.A. if George W. Bush was re-elected. Last November the shock-jock’s wing woman did sell her Staten Island home for $1.2 million, but it appears Ms. Quivers only intended to flee the borough, not the country.

She has paid $2.4 million for a 1,486-square-foot condo at the new, Costas Kondylis-designed building, 200 West End Avenue, city records show. Ms. Quivers took out a $1.9 million mortgage on her two-bedroom, 22nd-floor, Upper West Side apartment.  read more »

At first glance, the potential (likely?) demise of Vito Fossella's political career makes for a timely boost for Democrats, who are now in prime position to claim the 13th District congressional seat he has held since 1997.

But it may be more trouble than it's worth.

The district certainly is winnable for Democrats, especially if Fossella opts to seek re-election despite the scandals exploding around him. But even if he doesn't – and there is word this afternoon that his resignation is now imminent – either of the Democrats now running, Steve Harrison and Domenic Recchia, would probably have a better-than-even chance against the Republican-to-be-named-later in the fall.

The 13th District is easily the most conservative in New York City and traditionally sends a Republican to Congress, but Democrats actually enjoy a slight partisan advantage. Largely because of 9/11, George W. Bush carried it by 10 points in 2004, but a more accurate expression of the district's leanings can be found in the 2000 election, when Al Gore won it by eight points over Bush. Moreover, the political climate strongly favors Democrats in 2008 (just look at the party's string of special election wins in GOP bastions this year), which figures to boost the Democratic nominee in the 13th by a few potentially pivotal points.  read more »

Two days ago I mentioned that the Outerbridge Crossing connecting Staten Island and New Jersey was named after Island native Mary Ewing Outerbridge. But a reader commented that the bridge was actually named for Eugenius H. Outerbridge. He was, according to the Port Authority's Web site (PDF):

... the Port Authority’s first Chairman and one of the signers of the compact between New York and New Jersey that created the Port Authority.  read more »

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Since I got a copy a month ago of the essay collection New York Calling: From Blackout to Bloomberg, I've found about one piece of New York trivia per hour of reading. Here's one that sounds unbelievable but a Google search proved its truth: The Outerbridge Crossing connecting Staten Island to New Jersey was not named thusly because, well, it's an outer-bridge crossing. It was named for Mary Ewing Outerbridge. The Staten Island native brought lawn tennis to the city after a winter trip to Bermuda.  read more »

For two months in 2007, the city that has everything did not have a roller rink. Beginning in 2006, the trio of iconic rinks that had managed to survive as nostalgic throwbacks to an era when roller-skating was cool finally succumbed to the national trend and folded.

Weekday roller rink-cum-gay weekend playground the Roxy closed last March to make room for luxury condominiums. The birthplace of roller disco, the Empire Roller Skating Center, in Crown Heights, hosted its final skate last April after 73 years in business. Despite demonstrations to preserve it, the building is now a storage facility. A year earlier Skate Key in the Bronx shut its doors.

Just as roller rink enthusiasts began packing up their grungy, old-school quad skates, Roller Jam USA opened in July on Staten Island at 236 Richmond Valley Road. Perhaps it’s fitting that one of the first new rinks in New York City since the roller disco craze peaked in the early 1980’s would be in Staten Island, the most unabashedly untrendy, family-centric of the five boroughs.Even more fitting that the DJ of Roller Jam’s weekly adult night on Saturday is a Roxy veteran.  read more »

Wow. Staten Island is farther south than parts of West Virginia.

I read that nifty little nugget in the new essay collection from Reaktion Books entitled New York Calling: From Blackout to Bloomberg.

The subprime mortgage crisis continues to send shockwaves through New York City and now the consequences have spread beyond the economy. The rising tide of foreclosures is making the city uglier (gasp!). Councilman Michael McMahon believes “the proliferation of extra-large for sale signs is having a negative aesthetic impact on residential neighborhoods in New York City.”  read more »

The Daily News on Wednesday lays out a convincing argument that the foreclosure wave sweeping parts of the United States may drench the outer-boroughs as well. The argument uses numbers from a study by the nonprofit Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project--and the numbers are sobering:

In some areas of South Jamaica and Bedford-Stuyvesant, as many as 10 homes per block faced foreclosure last year... Mortgage lenders have filed 3,116 new motions to foreclose against delinquent homeowners since Jan. 1... Our city is now on track to surpass 15,000 filings this year, more than double the total two years ago, according to the study, which examines one- to four-family homes.

The News, like many, blames the predatory practices of some subprime-mortgage lenders, those who feasted on the aspirations of people craving homeownership during the housing boom, people who probably shouldn't have had large sums of money loaned to them.

The dearth of such mortgages in Manhattan, however, ensures that at least one borough will likely escape the wave washing ashore from Staten Island through the Bronx.

- Tom Acitelli

The Republicans in the State Senate are down to a three-seat majority, and most indications are that  read more »

The Republicans in the State Senate are down to a three-seat majority, and most indications are that  read more »

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The Best Cheap Beer in New York!    read more »

The Best Cheap Beer in New York!    read more »

According to Councilman Michael McMahon, the fact that the Democratic Party on Staten Island has never nominated a candidate of color isn't a sign of bias.

That was the implication yesterday from the campaign manager of an African-American Assembly candidate, Kelvin Alexander, who lost the Democratic nomination and is now running against the party-backed candidate, Matthew Titone.

"I am one of those who firmly believes that when the time is at hand, a person of color be nominated and endorsed by the Democratic Party of Staten Island," McMahon said. "The issue then becomes working with the community and finding elections that they can be successful in. Because whatever the election, whether it's the Assembly, state Senate or City Council a person of color has to be able to get votes from all the people in the district just like I, not being a person of color, have to get votes from people of color as well.

"My point is, the issue is not whether there should be a candidate of color but how best to accomplish that."

He went on to say, "They'll point to the fact that the Republicans Party has supported candidates of color, but it's in races when they have no chances of winning."

-- Azi Paybarah

Is 'Family First' an offensive name for a political party?

According to one Democratic Assembly candidate on Staten Island, it is.

From the Staten Island Advance:

Democrat Matthew Titone, who is gay, has said that the name of opponent Kelvin Alexander's newly formed political party, Family First, is offensive because the word "family" is used as "anti-gay code."

The "X First" wording certainly wouldn't be the first time an anti- group has used this formulation to express a negative message.

Is Titone right?

-- Azi Paybarah

In a few minutes, Mike Bloomberg will testify to Congress, from City Hall, about financial issues.

On marginally related note -- Bloomberg as national figure? -- here's a guy who was yelling about "Bloomberg for President" at this weekend's St. Patrick's Day parade on Staten Island, and who was kind enough to elaborate on the theme when I asked.

His name is Jim Davis and he's an NYPD detective.

-- Azi Paybarah

Unofficial election results from the city's Board of Elections have Dr. Matthieu Eugene and Vincent Ignizio as winners in the City Council races in Brooklyn and Staten Island.

Which proves Republicans can still win on Staten Island, and 1199 (which backed Eugene) can still get things done in Brooklyn.

Here are the unofficial results.

Staten Island With 100 percent of the precincts reporting Vincent Ignizio 72.09 percent 3,902 votes

Emanuele Innamorato 27.9 percent 1,511 votes

368 paper ballots to count.

Brooklyn

With 96.77 reporting

Matthieu Eugene 34.21 percent 1,935 votes

Jennifer James 15.15 percent 857 votes

Wellington Sharpe 11.74 percent 664 votes

Harry Schiffman 7.78 percent 440 ballots

Moe Razvi 7.32 percent 414 votes

Jesse Hamilton 7.25 percent 410 votes

Zenobia McNally 6.22 percent 352 votes

Richie Tulloch 4.93 percent 279 votes

Joel Toney 4.30 percent 243 votes

Karlene Gordon 1.11 percent 63 votes

-- Azi Paybarah

6 a.m. Polls open for the two special elections for City Council seats in Brooklyn's 40th District, and Staten Island's 51st District.

11 a.m. Community Service Society releases a report on the school "drop out epidemic" on the steps of City Hall.

11:30 a.m. Brooklyn advocates protests plans to omit International Studies High School from a Bensonhurst campus at the Tweed Courthouse.

1 p.m. Corporate leaders discuss a plan to fight climate change at Columbia University.

2:30 p.m. Cab Watch donates 3,500 "911 only" cell phones to Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes at the DA's office on Jay Street.

6 p.m. Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy delivers his State of the City speech at P.S. 4 on Bright Street.

8 p.m. "Questioning the White House Press Corps" forum, with Bob Schieffer of CBS and White House Spokesman Tony Snow, airs on C-SPAN.

9 p.m. Polls close in today's elections.

And Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg host a fund-raiser for Barack Obama in Los Angeles.

-- Azi Paybarah

It looks like there will be at least for two more special elections this year, both for the state Assembly.

The two vacancies were created by the passing of Staten Island Assemblyman John Lavelle last night, and this morning's nomination of Manhattan Assemblyman Pete Grannis as commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation. (Grannis interviewed for the comptroller position, so, in theory, that vacancy had also been possible for a couple of days.)

Dates for those elections haven't been announced yet.

Grannis' committee is the only one registered in his district with the state Board of Elections [link fixed]. There are two old committees, along with Lavelle's, registered in his district.

Anyone know anything about who's going to be running?

-- Azi Paybarah

Here are some fund-raising numbers from the city's Campaign Finance Board for people running in the Staten Island and Brooklyn special council elections:

Staten Island (51)

Vincent Ignizio -- $58,327 Emanuele Innamorato -- $17,360

Brooklyn (40)

Mathieu Eugene -- $38,445 Joel Toney -- $29,094 Jennifer James -- $27,528

More campaign figures for both races are here.

-- Azi Paybarah

Bravo, real estate, said the Mayor on Wednesday during his State of the City address:

And all across New York from the Freedom Tower rising in Lower Manhattan to the new Yankees and Mets stadiums in the Bronx and Queens, to the new rail link at Howland Hook on Staten Island to right here in Brooklyn, where from East New York to the East River, new homes are going up and new businesses are opening. The evidence is all around us. This is a great time for New York an encouraging, optimistic time.

The full text of the address can be found here.

- Tom Acitelli

At 9:30 a.m., on the City Hall steps, Bill de Blasio marks the anniversary of the Nixmary Brown's death by announcing recommendations for improving child welfare.

At 10 a.m., the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Committee discusses the EPA's cleanup at Ground Zero.

At 11 a.m., the Queens West Development Corporation meets at 633 Third Ave.

At noon, Hiram Monserrate and veterans groups call for the mayor to spend $5 million to create Veterans Resource Centers.

Also at noon, anti-war and human rights groups protest Iraq troop escalation and Guantanamo Bay detentions at both Thomas Paine Park and Lafayette and Centre streets.

At 12:30 p.m.Gloria Steinem, John Liu and others ask the state to pass anti-human trafficking laws, at state Supreme Court.

At 4 p.m., there will be a demonstration of proposed voting systems, at Fordham University.

At 5:30 p.m., the City Council hosts a Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King celebration in the Council Chambers

At 6 p.m., the December 12th Movement and Black Men's Movement discuss police brutality at the Calvary Baptist Church in Queens.

Also at 6 p.m. the Staten Island peace marks the fifth anniversary of people held at at Guantanamo Bay with a protest at the Staten Island Borough Hall

And at 6 p.m., there will be a reception for the exhibition of Eliot Spizter's campaign photos, called "Making of a Governor," at Grand Central Terminal.

-- Azi Paybarah

• Permits for fresh building plunge in Staten Island.
[NY Times]
• Gaze ahead toward New York real estate in '07.
[NY Post]
• Jay-Z moving out of Time Warner Center?
[NY Post]
• Workers find more human bones at Ground Zero.
[Daily News]
• Fed frets national housing slump.
[Daily News]
• Residents oppose Park Avenue median plan.
[NY Sun]
• Amsterdam Billiard finds new home in Union Square.
[NY Sun]
• 2nd Avenue Deli may reopen farther uptown.
[NY Sun]
• Office rents rise nationally in 2006.
[Journal]

Did we miss any New York City real estate news this morning? Please send along tips and links.

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No Republicans met with Eliot Spitzer in DC today.

No Republicans have been asked to help Andrew Cuomo.

Joe Bruno gave $500,000 to a firm under investigation for giving him free air travel.

There's an easy-to-search spreadsheet of Assembly pork. (A couple of small, fun examples: $3,000 to publish a newsletter from the Department of Criminal Justice [line 603] and $55,000 to publish The Bushwick Observer [line 465].)

Al Gore has a well-timed book coming out. Hillary tops a Gallup poll of Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. (Note the absence of George Pataki and Mike Bloomberg from the list). Karol wonders why some people seem doubtful about the propect of the 2008 front-runners actually winning. Daily Gotham wonders if the Atlantic Yards Project raises terrorism concerns.

There may be an interesting City Council race in Staten Island.

And above is a picture of City Hall in bloom.

-- Azi Paybarah

• Businesses sweat Second Avenue subway work.
[amNY]
• State property tax breaks favor affluent areas.
[NY Times]
• City shifts aims in battle against rats.
[NY Times]
• Firm scraps plans for Staten Island NASCAR stadium.
[NY Times]
• Workers sue Manhattan restaurant Daniel.
[NY Times]
• Reckson rebuffs Icahn's bid - again.
[NY Times]
• Mayor gives tepid support to congestion pricing.
[NY Post]
• Aby Rosen calls in favors on 980 Madison.
[NY Post]
• Court tosses out GM Building suit against Macklowe. [lower]
[NY Post]
• West 57th timeshare a boon to Metropolitan Tower.
[NY Post]
• Italians mull buying control of Cushman & Wakefield.
[NY Post]
• Council members: Make 421-a all about affordability.
[Daily News]
• City property tax system favors homeowners over landlords.
[NY Sun]

Did we miss any New York City real estate news this morning? Please send along tips and links.

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The Center for New York City Affairs and the NYC Independent Budget Office hold a panel discussion on the City's property tax system at the New School.

Council Member Mike McMahon announces funding for City Harvest to provide produce to residents at the Stapleton Houses in Staten Island.

The New York City Board of Health meets to discuss the trans fat ban proposal and dog leash rules in parks.

Eliot Spitzer meets with Andrew Cuomo to discuss transitioning at the Attorney General's Office.

Colin Powell and the CEO of New York Life discuss contributing towards the expansion of the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies at City College at the City College of New York.

A coalition of business, government, transportation, labor and community groups oppose congestion pricing schemes at a press conference on the steps of City Hall.

Global Witness and Amnesty International hold a press briefing on blood diamonds at the Open Society Institute.

—Nicole Brydson

It's official.

The Berger Commission has just recommended that nine New york hospitals be closed.

At least one of the named hospitals, Victory Memorial in Brooklyn, had tried rather strenuously to avoid making the list. Here's a contract the hospital signed with the Staten Island-based lobbying firm, the Molinari Group, home of the former borough president.

Altogether, the hospital paid about $100,000 to the firm to lobby the state Department of Health, and specifically to raise the subject of a "possible hospital merger."

So much for that.

It's now up to Albany lawmakers to accept or reject the commission's recommendations.

-- Azi Paybarah

With pressure from Eliot Spitzer and George Pataki for Alan Hevesi to resign, it's worth noting that even relatively supportive editorial boards, like that of the Staten Island Advance, are urging him to go.

Citing an audit by Hevesi which uncovered Medicaid payments made on behalf of dead patients, the editors wrote:

"It's just another example of the excellent job Mr. Hevesi has been doing on behalf of state taxpayers for the last four years as the state's top financial watchdog. His administration has been the most proactive and aggressive of any comptroller's in recent memory and it has gotten positive results time after time.

"This kind of superb work makes it all the more unfortunate that Mr. Hevesi will ultimately have to leave office, even though he was re-elected handily last week."

Skip

"Gov.-elect Spitzer says he wants to allow the process to proceed, but that sets the stage for Mr. Hevesi to begin a new term and then face messy impeachment proceedings. Mr. Spitzer and the state, focused on reform, don't need that. Neither, at this point, does Mr. Hevesi. He should resign and clear the decks for a new comptroller to be appointed by the legislature. And he should do that soon."

-- Azi Paybarah

The city's two indicted elected officials had a great night at the ballot. State Senator Efrain Gonzalez of the Bronx and Assemblywoman Diane Gordon of Brooklyn both won landslide re-elections with 93% of the vote.

Democrat Janele Heyer-Spencer won the Brooklyn/Staten Island seat of retiring Republican Assemblyman Matthew Mirones 51% to 48%.

As for Rep. Vito Fossella, the worst may be over.

His challenger, Steve Harrison, got 43.29% of the vote, better than any Democrat has ever done against Fossella, the only Republican in the city's congressional delegation. But Fossella's next election is in a presidential year. In the last presidential election, the district went for George Bush by about 10%, and Fossella's Democratic opponent only ran percent ahead of the Democratic ticket there.

And in Queens, the Republican County chairman, Serph Maltese, won re-election by about 800 votes against Democrat Albert Baldeo, who earned some notoriety when he got arrested for allegedly waving a gun at his opponent's wife when he ran for the City Council.

-- Azi Paybarah

Here's a rather reserved 30-second robo-call Hillary Clinton recorded for Steve Harrison, the Democrat running against Rep. Vito Fossella in New York's 13th congressional district in Brooklyn and Staten Island.

"I'm proud to be supporting Steve Harrison, a long-time community activist and leader. New York needs congressmen like Steve to take on the challenges we face in health care and education and to ensure that New York gets its fair share from Washington."

She's doing her part for Harrison, certainly, although she doesn't sound particularly anxious to attack a Republican incumbent she obviously gets along with .

-- Azi Paybarah

Here's a video of Vito Fossella's speech from his fund-raiser from this Sunday on Staten Island [courtesy of Urban Elephants]. Fossella's focus is on Sept. 11, and more specifically, the changes that need to happen because of that day.

Some people, he said, want to "jump through hoops" to give suspected terrorists "more rights. I say send them back to where ever they came from." (Around 2:50 into the video.)

During that speech, I was sitting in the back of the room surrounded by tables full of Indian, Patakistani and other Asian supporters. While the mostly white crowd at the front of the room seemed to like the tough talk about terrorism suspects well enough, none of the people around me were applauding.

-- Azi Paybarah

Here's Vito Fossella's latest television ad, making neat use of split-screen technology. In portion, there's an African-American man wearing an easy-to-read NYPD hat, looking straight into the camera. In another, there's a shot of Fossella walking with Mike Bloomberg.

On Saturday, remember, Congressional Quarterly had mixed news for Fossella.

"Conservative-leaning Staten Island and the lack of financial resources for Democratic lawyer Steve Harrison makes Fossella a solid favorite for a fifth term. But Fossella's own strategy, including a heavily negative campaign, suggests that New York City's only House Republican doesn't feel totally safe."

In contrast with the happy split-screen, this ad may or may not be part of that "heavily negative campaign," but my guess is that anybody who speaks Russian will think so.

-- Azi Paybarah

The Transportation Committee holds a hearing on the MTA's takeover of the City's private bus lines at 250 Broadway.

The New School hosts a panel on the shortage of affordable English language classes while New York's immigrant population grows.

Opponents of the Atlantic Yards proposal in Brooklyn will file a lawsuit against the abuse of eminent domain.

The Vice President of the New York State United Teachers testifies at an Assembly Committee on Education public hearing at 250 Broadway.

Postal workers and community leaders protest plans to shut down a Bronx postal facility at East 149th Street and Grand Concourse.

Steve Harrison discusses the 'inappropriate development' of Staten Island's neighborhoods at the intersection of Van Duzer and Broad streets.

The Stay Strong Foundation and David Paterson sponsors a real estate seminar featuring motivational speaker Kenny Rushing at the Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building.

Tom Vilsack speaks on U.S.-Asia relations at the Asia Society.

Steve Israel announces $112,000 in back payments for service-connected injures to Bay Shore WWII veteran at his offices in Hauppauge.

Bill Clinton will attend a campaign rally for Kirsten Gillibrand and GOTV rallies in Syracuse and Farmingdale.

The Sierra Club endorses John Hall for congress at Croton Point Park.

Andrea Stewart-Cousins receives the endorsement of the People for the American Way and Citizen Action at the Hastings-on-Hudson Municipal Building.

The New York Young Republican Club hosts a "Back to the 80's Capitalist Ball" at the Culture Club to "Harken back to one of the greatest eras in American culture, otherwise known as the 'Reagan Years' or the 'Decade of Greed' by those who just didn't get it."

Joel Rivera hosts a birthday fundraiser at the Sea Shore restaurant on City Island.

Andrew Cuomo hosts a fundraiser at Villa Pazzo on Bleecker Street.

—Nicole Brydson

The much-anticipated interview with the city's only Republican congressman, Rep. Vito Fossella of Staten Island and Brooklyn, will be taking place in about a half hour.

Starting Monday, Fossella will be debating his Democratic opponent, Stephen Harrison five times before the Nov. 7 elections. A complete list of debates is here.

So, this is your last chance to tell me what should I ask Fossella.

-- Azi Paybarah

The state's Independence Party has had enough distractions and internal fighting this year to make them look more like a circus and less like the New York's largest minor party.

They might be hard to take seriously at all -- if it weren't for term limits. It's an issue where their procedure-orientated agenda dovetails neatly with voter pessimism, giving them a weird relevance even as their other issues - internal fights, alleged anti-Semitism -- turn people away.

Yesterday, the IP chairman of Staten Island, Frank Morano, sent Christine Quinn a lengthy letter asking her not to yield to the growing pressure from her constituents on the city council by changing term limits.

"It's been such a disappointment to scores of New Yorkers all over the city that you seem to be entertaining the idea of tinkering with our city's Term Limits law. I'd like to urge you not to do so."

It's only an early shot across the bow, and nothing compared to what billionaire term-limits advocate Ron Lauder (or Mike Bloomberg, for that matter) may do if and when Quinn tries to pass new legislation on the matter or put it on the ballot. But still, it's worth marking an occasion where the Independence Party may be more in tune with average voters than the elected council.

-- Azi Paybarah

As community opposition continues to keep Wal-Mart out of the Big Apple, local retail broker extraordinaire Robert K. Futterman has come up with a brilliant solution to the big-box debacle: Kick the naysayers out of the approval process.

"If they keep going in front of [the City Planning Commission] and community boards, they're gonna have a problem," Futterman said in an interview with The Real Deal, available via podcast. "The ideal situation would be a location, whether it be New York or any of the other boroughs, where they can go in and operate without having to go get, you know, any approvals outside of the zoning."  read more »

The Council on Foreign Relations hosts a symposium on the security of New York City post 9/11 at their headquarters.

Pace University holds a conference titled "Aftershock: Rethinking the Future Since September 11, 2001" at Pace University's Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts.

Jonathan Tasini goes on a five borough "cost of war" tour beginning at Manhattan's VA Hospital and visiting a Post Office on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, the Queensbridge Housing Project, Brooklyn College, and Bayley Seton Hospital in Staten Island.

Eliot Spitzer visits the Shinnecock Fishing Village in Hampton Bays and later speaks at a NYC Meet-up at Luna Park in Union Square.

A town hall meeting with the Democratic candidates for the 11th congressional district will take place at the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn at 7pm.

—Nicole Brydson

And speaking of polls... StreetsBlog points to a survey of 800 city residents by the Tri-State Transportation Campaign to claim that "New Yorkers believe that traffic congestion is a major problem plaguing New York City and that Mayor Michael Bloomberg is dong an inadequate job in addressing it."

59 percent of respondents said that the mayor is doing a "fair" or "poor" job in cutting down on traffic. (On Staten Island, where residents tend to be more reliant on their cars, "fair" and "poor" scored a combined 82 percent.)

In the same poll, the mayor did considerably better with assessments of the job he's done keeping parks clean, reducing crime and increasing access to public transportation.

-- Josh Benson

The number of Con Ed customers experiencing power outages is now up to 3,500. Here, according to Con Ed spokesman Alfonso Quiroz, is the latest breakdown:

Manhattan - 406 customers Brooklyn - 272 customers Queens - 963 customers Staten Island - 6 customers Westchester - 1431 customers Bronx - 425 customers

Again, "customer" can mean family home or big building -- it doesn't refer to individual people affected.

Mayor Bloomberg has addressed the situation, so far, by making an appeal at a pre-scheduled press conference in the Office of Emergency Management headquarters for people to conserve energy.

And about those subway rumors , here's what Quiroz said:

"The rumors are not based on fact. I plan on riding the subways home to Queens tonight."

No word on when the power's going to come back on.

--Jason Horowitz

Based on this morning's news, you might think that after a brief, dark scare in Staten Island, the city's power grid is back to normal.

But just as we were preparing to start talking about this week's blackouts in the past tense, Mike Gianaris tells us that there are still "isolated pockets" of powerlessness in the western reaches of Queens.

This morning he is set to visit blacked-out butcher shops and fishmongers on 30th avenue who are still struggling to refrigerate their stores.

"A lot of the businesses are literally in danger of going out of business," said Gianaris, who added that all the areas exposed wires and shredded concrete gave it the look of a "war zone."

Next week Gianaris, and Councilmembers Eric Gioia and Peter Vallone Jr will announce a proposal calling on Con Ed to refund more than the $350 they have promised to affected residents. In addition, the lawmakers want three months of free electricity for everyone in the affected area.

Meanwhile, there is concern throughout the borough that the mini-heat wave expected in the coming days might wreak havoc on Con Ed's jury-rigged wiring.

The mayor's aides, we're guessing, are glued to the weather channel.

- Jason Horowitz

Jeanine Pirro, the Republican candidate for New York State Attorney General, had just gotten through  read more »

For anyone who hasn't seen it yet, Sheelah Kolhatkar has a piece in this week's Observer about Jeanine Pirro's strangely low-profile campaign, her child molester-tick, her popularity on Staten Island and the Plague of Al. -- Josh Benson

Tuesday's night informational meeting brought some fresh faces to the Atlantic Yards debate: instead of the overwhelmingly white neighbors who have objected on any number of grounds to the 22-acre housing complex and basketball arena, a striking number of individuals in the largely black crowd who showed up at the Brooklyn Marriott were disappointed to find that "affordable housing" was not that affordable, or accessible.

"If a two-bedroom is over $2,000, I don't see why this is even better than what we have now?" one audience member asked. "My second point is, Why is all of this in Brooklyn? What about the rest of the boroughs? I'm from Staten Island. I'm not a police officer. I don't see myself getting on the list."  read more »

She got a lot of applause, and the moderators, Bertha Lewis of ACORN and Jim Stuckey of Forest City Ratner, the developer, were a little hard pressed to respond. After all, what do you say when someone complains that housing in New York, even subsidized housing, is expensive? If you don't like it, there are plenty of people in line behind you.

The Times reports on Hillary Clinton's political calculation in the Connecticut Senate race.

Republicans on Staten Island battle out two primaries, Republican and Independence, before they compete with the Democratic candidate.

Mike Bloomberg endorsed Joe Lieberman without prompting yesterday, the Post reports.

The Sun reports Mr. Bloomberg testified during a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on immigration, saying: "It's as if we expect border control agents to do what a century of communism could not: defeat the natural forces of supply and demand and defeat the natural desire for freedom and opportunity."

—Nicole Brydson