Storming in
The sign for the Gov. Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge is seen leading to the bridge in Tarrytown in 2013. The legislature and governor approved legislation to call the new twin spans there the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge. Credit: Xavier Mascarenas
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Daily Point
Stormy takes LI by storm
For much of Thursday night, there were almost as many reporters as patrons at Gossip gentleman’s club in Melville.
More than 10 journalists — including from the Daily News, the New York Post, the Village Voice and even a German outlet — were there to see Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress who allegedly had an affair with President Donald Trump in 2006. Many patrons were there for the usual Thursday night.
While paying customers settled into the black bucket chairs around the high stage, reporters worked the bar and edges of the room with as much intensity as the dancers sidling up to men before Daniels’ performance.
Pictures were not allowed, and bouncers kept their eyes on reporters’ cellphones. The Point paid for the $20 entry fee, and a Corona. When Daniels came on, few at the bar bothered paying attention. A birthday party crew had come to see an earlier featured dancer. A Queens rapper stayed next to his ashtray and cocktail.
When it was over, Gossip co-owner Brian Rosenberg said he “thought this was an interesting thing to be a part of,” and maybe the event brought some attention to Gossip.
“It’s very rare that her industry is involved in the political landscape,” he said. Read more about the night here, and a response to the attention from her Twitter account.
Mark Chiusano
Pencil Point
Hypocrites
Talking Point
The name game
Stephen Franciosa signed an online petition against renaming the Gov. Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge for the late Gov. Mario M. Cuomo. When he did, there were already more than 100,000 other signatories.
A 59-year-old Hartsdale accountant, Franciosa doesn’t see himself as a tool of conservative forces behind the opposition to renaming the bridge for the father of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
It just angers Franciosa that a guy like Wilson, the governor for just over 12 months in 1973-74, could be stripped of this honor without having done anything wrong. The State Legislature and Cuomo approved the name change in June 2017.
“One governor removes another governor in favor of his father? It doesn’t look right,” Franciosa said about the current governor, who pushed hard to replace the aged Hudson crossing.
The renaming has raised hackles in Westchester County, but Cuomo has dismissed the opposition as a brainchild of conservative financier Robert Mercer and his activist political family who were critical backers of Donald Trump’s campaign.
Cuomo is not wrong. A Republican insider tells The Point that the Mercer-backed Reclaim New York and the state Conservative Party are behind the bridge-renaming opposition. All in an effort to get under the governor’s skin.
What also ticks off Franciosa is that Majority Leader John Flanagan inserted himself by sponsoring the bridge renaming in the State Senate.
“I would like to hear from Sen. Flanagan why de-memorializing Malcolm Wilson is necessary,” Franciosa, who says he is not registered with any political party, wrote in an email.
Anne Michaud
Pointing Out
Won’t cost Nassau a dime
What do you do when the state calls and dangles $1 million?
You take it.
That’s essentially what happened in Nassau when the state told officials the county was eligible to participate in a program to provide grants to homeowners to replace aging septic systems with models that more effectively remove nitrogen.
The state’s $75 million program, part of last year’s $2.5 billion Clean Water Infrastructure Act, will dole out $15 million per year for five years via a collaboration between the departments of Health and Environmental Conservation and the Environmental Facilities Corp. As expected, Suffolk got the bulk of first-year funding, more than $10 million, because of its huge number of homes with failing systems and the fact that it already has an ambitious replacement program.
Nassau, which has much more extensive sewers and no replacement plan of its own, got the second-highest amount of the 31 counties that received funds — $1 million, recognition of Long Island’s dependence on its sole-source aquifer and septic issues in parts of the North Shore.
Nassau officials say the county will act as a pass-through, accepting and evaluating applications and sending them to the state for final approval. Homeowners can receive reimbursement of up to 50 percent of the cost of a new system, as much as $10,000.
And it won’t cost Nassau a dime. Albany should call more often.
Michael Dobie
