Winners & Losers
This week’s biggest Winners & Losers
Who’s up and who’s down this week?
A glossy white rooster and a runaway cow recently graced New York City’s streets, garnering the attention of bystanders who were quick to take on the role of pseudo animal wranglers. The cow, on the run from a slaughterhouse in Canarsie, dashed for freedom Tuesday briefly evading capture. Her efforts weren’t in vain. Word is she’ll get a second chance at life at an animal sanctuary in New Jersey. As for her feathered counterpart – the roaming rooster apparently dubbed Chad – police snatched him up in the Lower East Side after a bystander corralled him into a cardboard box. Whether PETA bestows “Chad” an honor like the organization’s planned billboard in memory of chickens killed in a recent truck fire remains to be seen.
Amanda Farías -
More like FERRY costs LESS. The Bronx Council member has been a strong advocate for offering half-price NYC Ferry rides to students, seniors and other groups that already qualify for discounted MetroCards. The Council just passed her bill to charge high school students just $1.35 for NYC Ferry rides (less than half the standard price of $4). It seems Farías’ fight for fair ferry fares is faring fairly well.
Crystal Peoples-Stokes -
More like the PEOPLE are STOKED. A check for $55 million may not be enough to get Buffalo to sing “Pete Buttigieg is coming to town,” when the U.S. transportation secretary showed up on St. Patrick’s Day, but the federal windfall was celebrated. The money will fund turning part of Route 33 into a tunnel and restore Humboldt Parkway to its original design. The project, long championed by Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, will reconnect parts of Buffalo’s East Side, long divided by the expressway.
Clyde Vanel -
More like GLIDE and WELL. The Assembly member was out practicing his piloting skills when the engine on his plane failed, and he had to make an emergency landing on a Long Island beach. Amazingly, or maybe not, given the ubiquity of phones and videos, a dog walker caught it all on camera, giving the lawmaker a viral moment on TikTok before the app is potentially banned. Everyone’s impressed by his quick thinking – and Vanel emerged with only a cut on his chin.
Graham Clifford -
Marketing is supposed to promote the positives, right? Well not when you mess with Milton Glaser’s iconic 1970s logo promoting tourism in the Empire State, complete with its own catchy jingle that proclaimed, “I love New York!” Designer and art director Graham Clifford thought he could get away with borrowing Glaser’s creativity with a version of the logo that reminds New Yorkers how much they love their city. Why? To “give it more of a modern twist.” Not many were impressed, evidenced by how much the criticism went viral. Now that’s marketing! Hands off any other New York icons, Mr. Clifford.
Zach Williams -
The constitution may guarantee freedom of the press … but that press is not free to roam the Assembly chamber. Zach Williams, president of the state’s Legislative Correspondents Association and former City & State reporter, has been valiantly trying to restore pre-pandemic press access to the chamber – even sending an open letter to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie last month. But the Democratic-led “people’s body” voted down a resolution on the matter this week.
Steven Wong -
New York City Council Member Chris Marte stood by his loyal aide Steven Wong as long as he could. But the pressure got to be too much, after Wong’s incredibly harsh, sexist rants at a journalist. The fact that Marte never made peace in the district after a couple bruising elections, and is now facing another energetic challenge in 2023, means there were a lot of folks who didn’t want to forgive and forget. So Wong said HE was the one being bullied, and resigned.
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