Bensonhurst

Before the Italian-American exodus from Bensonhurst, only Italian food vendors participated in the annual 10-day Feast of Santa Rosalia--Brooklyn's version of Little Italy's San Gennaro Festival--in honor of the patron saint of Palermo, Sicily. But lately "The Feast," as it is dubbed by locals, has become less a nod to what was once Bensonhurst's most populous demographic group than a multi-ethnic smorgasbord.

At this year's Santa Rosalia, which ended Sunday, Middle-Eastern shawarma vendors and Mexican arepas booths were sprinkled among dozens of Italian sausage stands lining the neighborhood's main commercial artery of 18th Avenue. The seven-block strip from 67th to 75th streets was festooned with red, green and white flags, but a gyro stand demarcated the fair's boundaries.  read more »

The Bloomberg money has apparently begun to flow in earnest, and among the first beneficiaries seems to be Ed Gorman, a retired police captain from Brooklyn who was clever enough to purchase the URLs bloomberg05.com, bloomberg05.net, and bloomberg05.org back in 2003.

Just this week, Gorman told us, he received an anonymous offer of $5,000 for the domains, which he happily accepted. Not a bad return on an investment of less than $100. And in case you're in a speculating mood, welovemike.com, bloombergrules.com, votemikein2005, and mikekicksbutt.com are all available.

Gorman, a registered Republican who lives in Bensonhurst, told us he's "generally supportive," of the Mayor. But, like any wise investor, he hedged a bit. Now he's hoping some interested Democrat will take dumpbloomberg.com off his hands.

Meanwhile, a candidate with somewhat shallower pockets, C. Virginia Fields, has a cybersquatter problem of her own. Fields2005.com is currently occupied by an anonymous, and extremely vitriolic, enemy.  read more »

UPDATE: It's been pointed out to us that Virginia's critics are less anonymous than we'd thought, though no less vitriolic. The site is registered to the hard-to-please folks over at TenantNet.