The Buzz

Volume Number 1 Issue Number 7 | November 10 - 16, 2006

The Buzz

Voting follies: Former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton had a hard time voting on Tuesday at her polling place in — where else? — Chelsea, of course. The Daily News reported that, initially, the volunteer workers refused to let Chelsea vote at her 20th St. poll site. But it turned out they had the wrong book listing registered voters, and once they found the right one, she was promptly allowed to do her civic duty…. Not so lucky was another Chelsea woman who was refused access to the polls at Bayard Rustin High School, 351 W. 18th St., when she showed up holding her Shih Tzu under her arm. The woman told The Buzz that a poll worker had pointed to a sign on the door, stating it said, “No Dogs Allowed.” However, upon closer examination of the sign, she saw that while “No Skateboarding” was clearly listed along with several other prohibitions, there was nothing about dogs. “I was barred from voting!” she said indignantly. “It reminded me of Florida.”… A dog tale of a happier nature took place in the Village at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center on W. 13th St. Laura Morrison, State Senator Tom Duane’s chief of staff, tells us that the Center cleverly had a dog valet service at the front desk, rendering moot the question of whether dogs are allowed around the voting machines. “There was a little dachshund sitting there with the woman,” Morrison said. “She took my pit-bull mix while I went and voted.” Morrison said Duane’s office received only one other complaint from a Chelsea resident about voting: a London Terrace resident who was having a problem filling out a paper ballot. No — it wasn’t Chelsea Clinton, Morrison said…. The issue of dogs at the polls came up not too long ago at Westbeth in the West Village. At that time, the Board of Elections told The Villager, our sister newspaper, that canines at election sites are entirely legal.

Helping the team: As for State Senator Duane, he recently joined a high-powered cast of Democrats in lending a hand Upstate in Yonkers and Orange County campaigning near the polls for two Democratic candidates for State Senate: Susan Zimet, a first-time candidate who put up a good fight but lost, and Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who appears to have defeated incumbent Nick Spano. Assuming Stewart-Cousins is in fact the winner, the Dems have picked up a seat in the State Senate, though the Republicans still hold a three-seat edge. Duane and the Dems have been steadily narrowing the gap and feel that 2008 will be the year they finally wrest control of the State Senate.a

All aboard: In a follow-up to last week’s Chelsea Now report on plans for a new Moynihan Station at the James Farley General Post Office on Eighth Ave., we were told by Kimberly Miller, the Municipal Art Society’s director of planning, that “Plan B” has received favorable reviews from some major players. “Plan B” not only includes putting the new railroad station in the Farley G.P.O., which is “Plan A,” but also the more ambitious idea of rebuilding Madison Square Garden in the back of the

current post office site. According to Miller, Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer and Senators Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton have all “expressed interest” in “Plan B.”

Truck needs to chill: Morrison also gave us the update on that renegade Mister Softee truck that was driving Penn South residents bananas with its bootlegged tinkly ice cream truck tunes. Apparently the cold weather has the ice cream imposter cooling his heels and his jarring jingles — i.e. he’s nowhere to be seen, nor heard, of late. Needless to say, though, Penn Southers won’t feel completely safe until this snow cone sicko is coned…er, canned. Morrison said Duane’s office has received some grateful phone calls thanking them for their efforts in trying to track down the elusive bogus Mister Softee.