The Buzz

THEIR FAIR SHARE This week’s Tax Day brought a new tax bill, sponsored by Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal and Chelsea’s own State Sen. Thomas Duane. But the bill likely won’t affect Chelsea Now readers, unless you picked up the paper on your way home to New Jersey: The bill would reintroduce New York’s commuter tax, which was repealed in 1999 when the state had a surplus of $2 billion. Back then, Duane said in a statement, “I was outraged when both houses and both parties of the State Legislature decided to play a political game of chicken with one another in order to win a special State Senate election in Rockland County.” Duane called the subsequent loss of the 33-year-old tax tragic, adding: “The residents of New York City lost.” Rosenthal added: “Every day, commuters reap the benefits of New York City’s services, whether it is our sanitation crews, street maintenance or transit. Commuters have equal access to these services and the protection of New York City’s finest and bravest, and yet it is the city residents who foot the bill.” Duane added in a Tuesday phone conversation that he has introduced a bill every year to restore the tax, first in partnership with Scott Stringer (now Manhattan’s borough president). This year, he said, support has been growing from city legislators, many of whom “keep seeing New York City lose out in Albany,” including the state’s recent failure to enact Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan. “People are beginning to think—we could use the million dollars a year that we used to get from that tax!” Estimating that the tax would now likely yield $4 million a year, Duane added that certainly Chelsea and Clinton could use those funds. “I could use classrooms in my district. We could use the funds for parkland. We could even put it into the MTA capital plan, since we lost out on those federal funds for congestion mitigation.” Details to come, including whether Governor David Paterson, who voted with the majority in 1999, will change his thinking, or whether his long-running amity with Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno will prevail.

PSSST! As if the jockeying for City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s Council seat wasn’t intense enough, with Greenwich Village stalwarts Andrew Berman and Brad Hoylman already gently testing the waters, rumors are swirling about an entry from Chelsea: Fulton Houses resident and Community Board 4 member Miguel Acevedo. Sources close to The Buzz say that Acevedo, director of Fulton Youth for the Future, has been cautious while waiting to be re-appointed to the community board, but is now preparing an announcement to send to community allies. This election just got a whole lot more interesting.

OLD HOTEL ROCK ’N’ ROLL? Chelsea Now has been hoping for months to score an interview with Alex Calderwood, head of the hipster hotel chain Ace Hotels, soon to emerge at the Hotel Breslin on 29th St. and Broadway. While that hasn’t happened yet, we noticed that the Ace modus operandi involves rock ’n’ roll: Fans of Stephen Malkmus (formerly of the band Pavement), going to Portland to see the rocker and his band The Jicks perform May 1 at the Wonder Ballroom, are being offered special package deals if they stay at Ace Hotel Portland, according to Ace flackman Ryan Bukstein. “Get a Basic Room package for only $175, or step it up to the Deluxe Room package—which also includes a copy of The Jicks’ newest album, ‘Real Emotional Trash,’ on vinyl—for only $200.” Both include two tickets to the show, a room at the hotel and free parking. Given the wild mass of performers pouring into Chelsea/Clinton, between the High Line Ballroom and Terminal 5, The Buzz found itself imagining a “Patti Smith Package” with a MetroCard in place of free parking—guaranteed to compete effectively with the Chelsea Hotel, now that beloved manager Stanley Bard is gone.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR MAY 17! For the 300 Block Association Stoop Sale that is. Last week, co-chair Andra Mooney called to tell us that members of the association were so excited about the sale that they’d been unclear about the date. “Meanwhile,” Mooney added, “I sent an e-mail to my entire list saying it was the 15th, until someone called me to say ‘On Thursday? Are you sure?’” The final date, therefore, is neither May 11 (the date in last week’s Buzz) or 15, but Sat., May 17—long after all the Mother’s Day flowers have been delivered and before veterans start assembling on Fifth Avenue for Memorial Day.