Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Christimas in Bloom(berg)
On Tuesday, the oft-neglected (by the current mayor) Gracie Mansion was the site for the mayor's delayed New York Press Holiday Party. The transit strike loomed over the original December date, so Bloomberg postponed it.
Well, even though the calendar said February 7, the mayor decided to keep the holiday theme -- so, bartenders and hors d'oeurves servers wore red Christmas-elf hats, spiked egg nogg was served and Bloomberg did his gift-giving schtick. (Egg nogg? Who knew you could even find any of that stuff after New Years Day?)
Erstwhile communications director and now recently-promoted-to-deputy-mayor Ed Sklyer made a quick reappearance to deliver a "Top 10 Reasons Why I'm Glad I'm No Longer Working With The Press."
Skyler will send no fear into the David Letterman's writers, but the line about, "No longer have to fake a terror alert to get out of a debate," was the one that got the greatest combined laughs and groans of horror (I liked it, personally).
On the other hand, Bloomberg's gratuitous slap against NY1 because of its criticism of his skipping the channel-sponsored Apollo Theatre debate, met with universal disapproval.
While a good time seemed to be had by all, I was simply happy to have cause to be in the neighborhood. After the event, a quick walk up five blocks and over three blocks brought me back to the very first New York City apartment building in which I lived.
Thirty-some years later, it remains Mt. Sinai resident housing -- as it was for my mother, the nurse, and myself. Just about everything looks the same -- up to and including the mailboxes in the front lobby.
The only difference is that there is a doorman now. I had a nice chat with Joseph (Kelly, I believe), who works the evening shift. He's been there for thirteen years. He's from Grenada, so we had some West Indian heritage to share.
Thanks for party, Mr. Mayor. It made for a nice late-Christmas gift.
