Wayne

Mom 'n' pop shops aren't the only ones losing retail space to banks these days in New York City--even banks are losing space to banks.

On Feb. 23, Wayne, N.J.-based Valley National Bank will be moving out of its corner space at 145 Fifth Avenue.

And London-based global banking giant HSBC will be moving in.

A customer-service representative at the doomed Valley National branch suggested that the turnover in financial tenants might have something to do with the building going condo. (A bank spokesperson did not immediately return phone calls.)

Despite its loss, Valley National isn't going far, however. Jersey's so-called "super-community bank" has found a replacement space just one block away, on Broadway.

A sign outside the new location indicates that job opportunities are available, should any prospective tellers be willing to slum it with a mere regional bank.

- Chris Shott

• CNN continues its glum year, reporting that American home prices have fallen around the country. On the downside, they're down the most in the Northeast (falling 4.8 percent from a year earlier). On the plus side, the glorious "New York-Wayne-White Plains" triangle enjoyed a pretty little 4.7 percent boost. Hurrah for Wayne, NJ! [CNN/Money]
• National price-cut of the week: Out in Beverly Hills, a Saudi businessman listed his incomplete 30,000-square-foot compound for $65 million -- then slashed it to $33m. The WSJ doesn't know much about this wily seller, except that he was "executive producer of the 1988 children's film The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking." [WSJ]
• In continuing The Observer's endless fascination with the Manhattan commute, we present two maps that will answer every question anyone ever had about electrified New York rail transport. [Streetsblog]
• If you like hanging out with "1200 executives, decision makers, opinion leaders, entrepreneurs, top brokers, mega-agents, trendsetters, press, analysts and investors," mark your January calendars for some serious Manhattan networking. Jonathan Miller says Connect NYC 2007 is a "must attend," although his objectivity is self-admittedly questionable. [Matrix]
• The Harlem revival continues, and the northern half of Riverside Park may be turned into an "enchanted forest." Gardens and skate parks would be a serious improvemenet over metal sheds and scrap metal piles. [City Limits]
- Max Abelson
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The Voice's Wayne Barrett has what, if Anthony is still around tomorrow, will be next week's story everywhere: That many of the candidate's vaunted policy proposals are impossibly vague or seriously flawed.

From the start, the "man of ideas" thing was more strategy than content. There was a long, serious drumroll of "policy speeches" and a torrent of "ideas." But somehow, the quotation marks never quite departed. Many of the central ideas are paper thin.

In our pox-on-all-your-houses piece a few weeks ago, Lizzy Ratner and I wrote that "it's hard to escape the feeling that Mr. Weiner is little more than Mr. Schumer's skinny Mini Me, a flyweight mimic of the muscular old bruiser. His tax plan, for instance, is a back of the envelope calculation lopping 10 percent off the top of the city's tax rates. At one recent presser an announcement of Mr. Weiner's plans for 'real fiscal responsibility' the would be Mayor made the classic, technical but telling mistake of confusing the capital budget for the expense budget."

Today, Wayne takes a look at Weiner's proposed cuts, and notices that they seem likely all to come out of child welfare and other social services -- a fact that won't thrill many Democratic voters.  read more »

Now, thick policy papers can be over-rated. Mike, for example, had the money to buy top experts to do his policy work in 2001. But he hardly memorized them at the time, and was free to ignore major planks -- from school uniforms to the Cross-Harbor tunnel -- later. The "white papers" were a gesture, not a commitment.

Still, Anthony's going to need to add some substance to his "substance" if he makes it past today, either in the form of one big, clear idea or some explanations to accompany his little ones.

We know Mike's communications director's ears must have perked up when the legendary longhaired muckraker at the Village Voice, Wayne Barrett, gushed about Mike during Tuesday's panel discussion at the New School on "The Mayor and the Media."

(Yes, we know, a three-day lead time is a bit long for a blog. Blame Ben.)

Barrett said Mike should get credit for "extraordinary fiscal management of this city. I think that's the measure of any mayor." Wayne didn't stop there. "I love the mayor for the way in which he deals with municipal labor. This may sound strange coming from a liberal Democratic columnist at a liberal newspaper."

Strange indeed.

Barrett also lamented that City Hall reporters have become the Boys on the Bus.

"The New York Times coverage is led by the City Hall bureau. That's a mistake because City Hall reporters need to keep a different relationship."  read more »

(NOTE: An earlier version of this item misattributed that last quote to Joyce Purnick. Nope. That was Wayne. The Times columnist called Mike a great innovator, but poor communicator.)

Errol Louis argues in the Daily News that the Sharpton sex scandal is the best thing that could have happened to the Rev:

"Sharpton is doing a McGreevey. The New Jersey ex-governor used the shock value of his coming out as a 'gay American' to divert attention from a boatload of ethics abuses plaguing his administration.  read more »

"Sharpton, a far more gifted pol, knows the adultery focus of the Voice story conveniently overshadows questions about his organization and presidential campaign. Federal filings show Sharpton's campaign remains hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt."

It'll be ironic if the Wayne's prurient sex story ends up overshadowing Sharpton's questionable finances, since Wayne broke that story too.

I had high hopes that De-Lovely would relieve the tedium of a summer plagued by spider men, Stepford  read more »