halls of power

Kitchens should be remodeled every 10-15 years if only to eradicate deadly bacterium cultures (Flickr, Andrew_N)

Absent the Mayor, Gracie Mansion Still Needs a New Kitchen

If Gracie Mansion were our friend, we’d lightly slap her face and tell her to snap out of it. “Put down that compact mirror, girl,” we’d chide. “You don’t need botox or permanent eyeliner tattoos. You look great as is. Don’t go changing yourself for some man.” She’d then probably start crying and wailing, “Why, oh, why doesn’t he love me?” at which point we’d start feeling awkward and might hand her a box of Kleenex to shut her up.

Because the thing is, we don’t know why Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn’t love you, Gracie. We don’t know why he refuses to live inside your beauteous walls (well, maybe we do), but the thing is, changing how you look won’t help. It won’t bring your man home. You’re wasting your time, squandering your money, and becoming a cliché. And yet, we know you won’t listen to us. We know you’ll do it anyways; we know you’ll have your kitchen remodeled.

And whatdoyouknow? We were right. Read More

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

Gracie Mansion, SpecialKRB, flickr

Mayor Bloomberg Has No Gracie, But Successors (and His Girlfriend) Are Eager to Spend the Night

There’s a battle brewing over Gracie Mansion. Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn’t live there and he doesn’t think anyone else should either.

“The mayor should not live there,” Mayor Bloomberg flatly told The Times. Mayors should sleep on their own dimes, just as he, and all other city employees do, the mayor, who has many many more dimes than most people, explained. Read More

Senators Party at Gracie Mansion

“Welcome to my house.”

That’s how the ever-affable Senator Malcolm Smith greeted some people who arrived at Gracie Mansion last night for Mayor Bloomberg’s annual party with state Senators, according to one attendee.

It was a bi-partisan affair, with guests including senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, Manhattan senators Tom Duane, Liz Kruger, Deputy Mayor Kevin Read More

Update: Bloomberg's Born to Run

So here, for the record, are the complete, unabridged lyrics to the song that “Mike Bloomsteen and the Bullpen Band” of
deputy mayors performed for mayoral staffers at their Gracie Mansion party last
night.

Born to Run

I was born a long, long time ago-and became an Eagle Scout.
And then John Read More

Born to Run

A reader who attended tonight’s holiday party for City Hall staffers at Gracie Mansion sent over the first verse of the song performed by “Mike Bloomsteen and the Bullpen Band,” sung to the tune of Born to Run (which these commenters didn’t guess).

Here it goes, and notice the not-so-suggestive hints at 2008.

I Read More

Music at Gracie

A reader sends word that Mike Bloomberg is throwing a holiday party for City Hall staffers tomorrow night at Gracie Mansion, complete with live karaoke and, I’m guessing, an open bar. (Because who does that sober?)

Extra credit for the first correct prediction of the song the mayor chooses to perform.

– Azi Paybarah

Top O’ the Morning

The Mayor hosted his annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast at Gracie Mansion this morning. There were plenty of round and ruddy faces in attendance, sipping creamy Irish coffees as waitresses passed around mini shepherd pies and Irish sausage garnished with green paisley mustard. Next to green-dyed carnations, police officers named O’Reilly smiled for cameras. City Read More

Mike, Rudy, and the Chasids

The complicated, fascinating circumcision conflict between the Health Commissioner and elements of Brooklyn’s chasidic community broke through to A1 of the Times today, 11 months after it first bubbled to the surface in the Daily News.

I’d add just one political footnote: A subtext here is that chasidic leaders are still suffering from the Read More