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The Missing Elephant? There’s at least four very viable candidates for the Dem nomination for Mayor in 2001 scurrying around town trying to line up support and raise money for what is sure to be the most crowded primary since the 1977 Koch-Cuomo-Abzug-Sutton-Badillo slugfest. Peter Vallone, Alan Hevesi, Mark Green and Fernando Ferrer are jockeying for position in this horse race and although some early polls show Green with a lead, it’s anybody’s guess who’ll be moving into Gracie Mansion in January, 2002. So, after two terms of Republican
leadership in But of late, there seems to be a few other potential GOP nominees emerging from the woodwork. Bill Bratton, the former police commissioner who now heads a private security firm, has given some indications that he might throw his hat in the ring. Recently, his lead op-ed piece in The New York Times about the need to keep New York’s police department vigilant, indicated to many that the former top cop misses the spotlight. "I don’t think Bratton has a
chance of being Other potential GOP saviors include media mogul Michael Bloomberg, who was recently seen publicly lunching with Koch. Insiders say that Bloomberg, who has privately expressed his interest in being Mayor, feels emboldened by the impressive primary win of former investment banker Jon Corzine in New Jersey’s Dem Senate primary. Then, there’s former Dem bigwig Herman Badillo who switched parties a few years back. He’s expressed his interest in succeeding his pal Rudy Giuliani and even showed up at the Puerto Rican Day Parade with the Mayor and Rick Lazio. So, who’ll carry the GOP torch in 2001? Stay tuned. Revolving Doors The Village Voice recently lost two of their stalwarts, and both have more than landed on their feet. Longtime columnist Guy Trebay, who has covered the quirky side of things for 20 years at the venerable downtown chronicler of all things bizarre, has joined the New York Times. Political writer Bill Bastone has left to devote his energies to his website, The Smoking Gun. TSG, which Bastone does with former Voice contributor Danny Green, consists solely of legal documents. They first hit paydirt when they found and posted the protection order against TV millionaire groom Rick Rockwell. Bastone and Green were about to sell their site to APB.com before the criminal justice site went belly up a few weeks back. Rumored then in the low six figures, there are several other suitors and a deal could come soon. Among the bidders are Court TV’s website, America’s Most Wanted, and John Langley, the famed producer and creator of Cops, who just introduced crime.com. New York Stories Years ago, three of America’s most esteemed movie directors teamed up to combine a trilogy of mini-movies and call it "New York Stories." Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola and Woody Allen, each of whom are native New Yorkers, told tales of the City as only they could. Years later, the three have returned, or are about to return, to their familiar New York milieu. Scorcese is set to film "Gangsters of New York," a depiction of the origins of pre-1900 and turn-of-the-century immigrant gangsters who came to power in New York. Leonardo DiCaprio, Liam Neeson and Cameron Diaz have signed on to star. Cameras are about to start rolling, but with one catch. Scorcese could not find adequate locations to recreate the New York of old in the City. Sources say that he plans instead to film in Rome, "where the urban landscape remains unspoiled," and pass it off as New York. Coppola’s latest obsession makes the hellish travails of filming "Apocalypse Now" a picnic in Central Park’s Sheep Meadow. Actually, Coppola’s latest has been festering for over a decade. The working title of this epic is "Megalopolis." It’s set in the New York of the future and its characters and themes are to be based on Roman mythology and the similarly power-hungry titans of commerce and political bureaucracy of today. Sources tell NYConf that Coppola hopes to start filming in New York by the beginning of 2001. Meanwhile, Dreamworks Studios have helped rejuvenate Woody Allen’s commercial viability with their release of The Woodman’s latest return to slapstick comedy, "Small Time Crooks." Industry sources say that the film could bring in the highest profits in Allen’s career once it’s released to international markets and on video. "Small Time Crooks" has already grossed over $16 million. No word on his follow-up. Things are as tight-lipped as ever.
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