Who’s up and who’s down this week

For much of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s first four years in office, the crime rate went down, down, down, and homelessness went up, up, up. Not even Steve Banks, a longtime and widely respected advocate, was able to contain the rise in homeless in his role as Human Resources Administration commissioner. But now there’s evidence that the city has turned a corner, with the number of people living in shelters holding steady at 60,000 last year. It’s still at a record high, and it’s not coming down just yet, but it’s a step in the right direction for Banks.

Carvalho’s keeping his talents in South Beach. The smooth-talking “Mr. Armani” brought the media capital of the world to a standstill Thursday as we all watched a Miami school board meeting where Carvalho publicly turn down de Blasio’s offer to lead the biggest (dare we say best?) school district in the country. Sure, sour grapes New Yorkers will question his public flip-flop, but noted congressional-seat-seeker Carvalho is now bigger in Miami than Pitbull.

The anonymous 17-year-old Long Islander seems to be the poster child for overzealous detainment to fight the violent MS-13 gang. But the NYCLU took his case and got LVM his freedom after seven months in federal custody for allegedly looking like a gang member. Are tattoos and gang signs enough to lock someone up? What about when the tattoos never existed and the supposed gang sign was just a raised middle finger?

Sometimes an art collection worth hundreds of billions of dollars just isn’t enough. Starting March 1, the Metropolitan Museum of Art president began raking in more revenue from non-New Yorkers, soaking the summer hordes for $25 a pop in order to establish a reliable, annual revenue stream after some balked at the “suggested” admission. Empire state residents are safe (for now), but don’t forget ID!

He’s not exactly a traditional winner since he died several years ago. But his estate just won a sexual orientation discrimination suit that started when Zarda sued the skydiving company he worked for, claiming they fired him for being gay. The judge in this case is now the second to find that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act does in fact cover sexual orientation. Although Zarda didn’t live to see the outcome, his sister said he would have been very excited about the news.

How about a Darcel Daiquiri? In a classic case of Law & Borderline behavior, an unhappy worker brought forward allegations that the Bronx district attorney’s office held wild margarita parties and played host of adulterous sexual escapades, even sending drunken prosecutors to court. Now Clark’s job security is being targeted, with the  Sergeants Benevolent Association demanding she resign. Whatever happens, Clark may be the Bronx’s least-strict attorney.

Usually, such a humiliation for the mayor comes from Gov. Andrew Cuomo. De Blasio thought he had a perfect new schools chancellor in Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. He would have come with a successful track record and lots of experience. But Carvalho decided to turn down the offer at the very last minute … on live TV, informing the mayor of his change of heart in the middle of a live broadcast. Separately, a victory in the mayor’s long-running with Cuomo over the MTA proved to be short-lived.

The U.S. Senate candidate shot her shot, saying she deserves some time on TV like her opponent Kirsten Gillibrand. But the problem is that many viewers actually *want* to watch Gillibrand, and couldn’t care less about the longshot Republican. CBS told her as much, denying her “equal time” request by saying that Gillibrand’s cozy couch convo with Colbert was real news. Maybe Chiavacci will have better luck with Hannity?

The former Erie County executive was never a frontrunner in the race for the GOP nomination for governor. State Republicans offered tepid support at best, and Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long once deemed Giambra’s chances of becoming the nominee as “far-fetched.” However, it’s one thing to have no confidence from party leaders on your chances, it’s quite another to have no confidence in yourself. Giambra is ending his GOP campaign and running an independent bid. If he can’t convince people in his own party that he’s a winner, he may have some serious trouble with general election voters.

If you’re a foreign national looking to sway American foreign policy, you went to Jared. It’s been a rough week for the president’s son-in-law and senior advisor. He lost his top-secret security clearance and a key aide, and it was reported that foreign officials sought to manipulate Kushner. To top off the week of leaks and bad press, it was also reported that two companies gave loans to Kushner’s family business after meetings with him. Looks like solving the crisis in the Middle East and managing relationships with China and Mexico just got a bit trickier.