One astute, politically-inclined tipster sent Bwog a list of all the candidates for New York's City Council, pointing out that one of which is former University Senator Marcus Johnson, CC '07 and table-dancer extraordinaire. Johnson is running for a City Council seat in District 12, which is located in the North Bronx. The seat's open, as current City Councilman Larry Seabrook is on his second term and ineligible for re-election.

Johnson is up against Andy King, the developer of Uptown Developer's Corporation and Cheryl Simmons Oliver, the District Director for Jose Serrano, a council member congressman from the Bronx's 16th district.

Best of luck Marcus! (We love you, but you might want to update your website).

At City Hall, the room is only about half-full for the first 20 minutes of the committee votes on the proposed expansion into Manhattanville. It could be because the temperature in the Council Room is a modest two hundred and fifty degrees, even with all the curtains shut. The more likely reason, though, is that this event is calendared, helpfully, as "Stated Council Meeting," without any further explanation. "Can I get into the meeting?" I asked a security guard when I arrived — "No," he said, "but you can probably take photos of everybody leaving." I walk upstairs, where the chamber doors are wide open, and take one of dozens of available seats.

Of course, all this confusion hasn't stopped Nick Sprayregen from rounding up the usual suspects, who can be seen circulating angry flyers and putting their bags through the metal detector in order to be allowed to shout slogans to a couple of straggler reporters on the steps. When they try to enter Council fifteen minuets later, a few security guards round up everyone with a sign, a "No Eminent Domain Abuse" button, or blond dreadlocks, and shunt them up to the secluded upstairs balcony. Sprayregen manages to evade them and makes it to a chair, where he reads the New York Times through the whole hearing.

After that, though, we're off. In subcommittee, the measure is fairly quickly referred to the full Land Use committee vote. That's when the show begins.

Remember Manhattanville? The Renzo Piano campus Columbia is planning to drop onto a 17 acre swath of West Harlem? Well, the City Council vote, the final step in the relay race that is the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, (which will only decide the fate of the entire project) is rumored to be later today. The timing was a little sneaky -- the City Council technically has until January 15 to make its decision -- but the Community Benefits Agreement listing what Harlem gets out of the deal, is well on its way even if not everyone is agreeing. Traditionally CBAs are finalized just hours before the final vote. (Also see the Observer's speculations about some of the back room dealing.)

Even if you think today's a foregone conclusion (or that it won't actually happen), protest (or counter protest) on the steps of City Hall at 1:00 pm.

The affordable housing octopus, wherever it is, is probably a happy one right now. Today, the City Planning Commission (CPC) approved Columbia's Manhattanville expansion plan by a vote of 10 to 1, with one abstention. And to make matters more interesting, it also approved Community Board 9's plan. According to Amanda Burden, the Chair of the City Planning Commission, the commission has modified both plans to make them more alike. Read her statement here.

Although this Times article was very polite, you can be sure that the Coalition to Preserve Community and other groups that oppose Columbia's plan caused quite a ruckus today—they're fantastically irritating hissers and booers. And they certainly had time to rally the troops—there wasn't a soul in the city who didn't see this coming. After the CPC's November 13^th public review session, Burden's minions issued a statement containing this amazing line:

"While the community board has prepared a highly thoughtful set of recommendations for the area covered by the heart of the Columbia proposal, the Department believes it has a fundamental failing:
It limits the extent and manner in which Columbia can grow."

Yes Amanda...that was kind of the point of the plan.

Because of all the deaths and illnesses attributable to our library's rat-infested coffee shop, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (Division of Environmental Health) has seen fit to the uphold the public good and shut down the Butler denizen's only source of sustenance, Blue Java.

Of course Blue Java hasn't killed anybody and isn't infested by rats. Or is it? This notice from the NYCDoHaMH (DoEH), apparently posted at around 11 AM this morning, leaves much to the imagination. But given the recent spate of arbitrary restaurant closings, it's likely that Blue's violations were pretty mild.

To confirm this, Bwog called the Health Department's media desk, where we were brusquely informed that inquiries "take a long while" to process, and we were referred to an e-mail address where we could make a formal request for information (smarkt@health.nyc.gov, for the interested). Since we're not down with bureaucratic red tape, Bwog dialed the media desk again. Much to our relief we were answered by a different receptionist, who said she would try to get to the bottom of the Blue Java mystery by the end of business hours today.

She also told us about the Health Department's nifty search engine feature. It seems that Blue Java has an impeccable inspection record, although Bwog is outraged that a dry establishment would so flagrantly endanger public health by not adequately warning customers about the dangers of "Alcohol and Pregnancy."

UPDATE, 10:21 AM EST, 6/20: There is now a sign right beneath the Health Department notice stating that the Department has required Blue Java to have a two-welled sink, and that the coffee shop will be closed until it complies. Could this be an all-too-transparent cover-up by library management? Doubtful, but for the suspicious: Bwog has been informed that Health Department violations usually hit the public domain after about a week, so if you're still interested check back next Wednesday.

-ARR