Joe Lhota

WINNERS

Eric Adams — Okay, we admit it, this could really go to anyone left standing in the Brooklyn Borough President’s race, after heir apparent Carlo Scissura announced he was dropping out of the race to pursue a position as president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. Other bandied about candidates include Sen. Kevin Parker and even City Councilman Domenic Recchia, Jr., who’s also been mentioned as a possible comptroller candidate. Regardless, the race is wide open at this point. And for Senate Democrats like Adams, who are basically powerless as newborn kittens in the current Legislature, any position is better than the one they hold now.

Tony Avella – Some critics blasted his hydrofracking forum – not a hearing, mind you – as a media stunt, but it achieved his goal of keeping the contentious issue in the spotlight. On top of that, two potential and potentially strong challengers made it clear they wouldn’t run against him: fellow Democratic Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky, who was redrawn into his district, and Republican Frank Padavan, whom Avella ousted two years ago.

Greg Ball — Republican Sen. Greg Ball lost a primary challenger yesterday in the form of Steve Katz, the veterinarian Assemblyman who once faced criminal charges over illegally dumping a dog and separate charges over possible mistreatment of a vicious chihuahua. Ball’s only other primary candidate at this point is a man who shares the same surname with a woman at the heart of a massive Manhattan prostitution ring, which leaves Greg Ball, once thought to be the Senate’s biggest liability, looking like the safe choice for Republicans in his district’s primary.

Simcha Felder — In Hebrew, Simcha translates directly into “joy.” And Simcha Felder certainly had a lot of that during his first week as a Senate candidate, landing the endorsements of the Brooklyn Orthodox communities two most prominent current pols, Councilman David Greenfield and Assemblyman Dov Hikind. That could well box other big-name candidates out of the race, like ex-Councilman Noach Dear, and could convince everyone to simply get behind Felder. Maybe that’s why Felder can be so coy with which party he’ll causus with in Albany, and can play it sort of cute by keeping his city job while he runs.

John Sexton — For months, Mayor Bloomberg teased about the possibility of a second applied sciences campus to help spur the city’s developing tech sector. And this week, in a remarkably well managed roll out, he announced that New York University would join Cornell and Technion in the building their own city-supported engineering school. NYU President John Sexton, who was withstood a wave of discontent over the school’s expansion plans, now gets the chance to be on the winning side of the equation. Excelsior!

LOSERS

Courtney Burke – The problems at the state’s embattled Office for People with Developmental Disabilities were around long before Burke took over, but that isn’t shielding her from criticism lately – especially when word got out the Cuomo administration tried to get a critical OPWDD employee kicked off a legislative hearing she was set to speak at. Both eventually did show up, along with a gaggle of reporters, but Burke would only attribute the matter to a “breakdown in communications.”

Dan Cantor — The Working Families Party must of thought it was in the clear after a judge ordered the disbandment of its for profit campaign arm Data & Field Services. But amid the gear up for the 2012 elections and the attempted revival of Occupy Wall Street comes the news that a special prosector was reopening the case, which means more legal fees and more headaches for Executive Director Dan Cantor. He may want to occupy a therapists couch after this one … Or a bar stool.

Joe Lhota – Whether the governor is a car guy or not, the fact that he hasn’t ridden a subway since taking office won’t persuade anyone he cares much about the MTA. And that’s yet another challenge for the MTA chief, who has to keep the trains running and the stations from falling further into disrepair. He did help pave the way for another applied sciences center in New York City, but  the TWU raised hell about the sale, and tarnished the good deed.

To read the full list at City & State and to vote for the ultimate winner and loser of the week click here.

Last Friday, police shut down the restaurant, which has been the subject of many neighborhood complaints for hosting loud, boisterous crowds late into the night in a largely residential area, for selling alcohol to minors. But the manager of Papasito and employees of other restaurants rallied at police headquarters to proclaim against the methods and timing of that shutdown, which they called unnecessary, unfair and excessive.
Fernando Mateo, a spokesperson for the Northern Manhattan Restaurant and Lounge Association who has defended Papasito at community board meetings, was the event’s main speaker.
“We want to save our businesses from the monster here behind me,” he said, shouting into a megaphone that nearby officers warily allowed him to use and indicating the offices of Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. “‘Padlock Kelly’ has made sure that our businesses get padlocked and that all of you are unemployed, simply because there’s very little communication.”
Manuel Melchor, a manager at Papasito who was working when the cops closed the restaurant down on Friday, said he wants the NYPD to inform him when one of his staff members illegally serves alcohol to a minor, issuing a violation on the spot so he can properly deal with the infraction instead of waiting for a surprise raid.
Melchor said that he has capitulated to local demands like cutting down on music and closing at 2 a.m. instead of 4 a.m.  “Last week, the police come in, like 15 people—15 officers in uniforms and jackets.”
The police ordered the kitchen closed in the middle of the dinner service, escorted everyone out of the restaurant and closed it down. Melchor said that since it happened on a Friday and they could not get to court until Monday, the restaurant lost a weekend’s worth of revenue and staff lost valuable shifts. The NYPD did not respond to questions for this article.
State Sen. Eric Adams, who represents a district in Brooklyn, also spoke at the rally, emphasizing what he says are the differences in how businesses are treated in different parts of the city. He claimed the NYPD would never padlock a downtown hotspot.
“If you don’t do it on Park Avenue, you shouldn’t do it on Park Avenue in the Bronx. If you don’t do it in Midtown, you shouldn’t do it in Washington Heights,” Adams said.
The State Liquor Authority (SLA) confirmed that they are currently considering how to handle three separate violations of the Alcoholic Beverage Control law that occurred at Papasito late last year, and that they warned the establishment in January of this year about maintaining a “disorderly premises” and being a “focal point for police.” Last year, Papasito paid $2,500 in civil penalties to the SLA for unlicensed use of their sidewalk space and improper naming conventions, but spokesperson William Crowley said that those are relatively minor offenses.
Crowley said that the infractions involving serving alcohol to minors will be looked at on a case-by-case basis, and that while that type of violation could be enough to warrant a suspension or revocation of a liquor license, the SLA will consider all the circumstances before making that decision.
“There’s a difference between going to a place where it’s 50 percent minors,” and those that regularly check ID and may have been tricked by particularly good fakes or by kids using an older sibling’s real ID, Crowley said.
Community Board 7 will hold a public hearing on Papasito’s liquor license renewal application March 14.