Unlike the uncertain Democratic mayoral primary, the other races were more decisive. In three big races, the incumbents prevailed, with Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau (top left), Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum (top middle), and Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes (top right) winning their respective Democratic primaries. Morgenthau had his first real challenger in years with Judge Leslie Crocker Snyder, but managed to hold her off. Gotbaum won very decisively against challengers like the Norman Siegel and Andrew Raisiej. Hynes' race was much closer, with State Senator earning 37% of the vote to Hynes' 41%. All three are expected to win the general election this fall. And since C. Virginia Fields has to leave the Manhattan Borough Presidency because of term limits, the Manhattan Borough President's race was a hotbed of candidates, with Upper West Side state Assemblyman Scott Stringer (right) winning with 26% of the vote in a race that does not have a 40% rule for runoff; most people also expect Stringer to win the general election. The NY Times has a good article about the Manhattan BEEP's role "largely ceremonial" but can wield power with real estate developers in land deals. more ›

The NY Post reports that the MTA is removing a LED advertising screen from the R/W subway entrance at Cortlandt Street, after Assemblyman Scott Stringer said it would be disrespectful to have a screen so close to Ground Zero. Stringer said, "We can now ensure the anniversary of 9/11 can be commemorated with dignity." Gothamist believes in commemorating September 11 with dignity and it's great that the screen at Cortlandt was removed, but how is that different from the other advertisements in the area - including the other LED screens in the nearby blocks? Stringer, who represents the Upper West Side, has been railing against these screens since last year. He has even formed a website to inform his constituents of the stop-the-LED-screens campaign, Stop MTA, and gotten the screen at 86th and Broadway removed. Stringer, we're looking to you to battle the MTA and Clear Channel's outdoor division to get the screen taken out one by one - except the ones that give error messages, because those are kind of cool in this post-apocalyptic, overloaded-technoloical society way. more ›

Assemblyman Scott Stringer (on the Upper West Side) is trying jumpstart legislation that will ban cameraphones in health clubs. He said in a press conference at a YMCA where cameraphones are already banned, "This technology has the potential to really infringe on the privacy of New Yorkers." Dude, the potential is proven, but whatever, it's true, it doesn't belong in gym locker rooms. Usually Gothamist is so freaked out by people who like to be naked for so long, prancing around, that we avert the eyes and would never even think of using a cameraphone, but we're weird like that. more ›

The Times reports that UWS residents have gotten rid of the LED signs at subway entrances on Broadway and West 79th and Broadway and 86th. Concerned residents rallied against the MTA for putting the 30" by 60" signs (developing a website, of course, stopmta, the newest critical tool in complaining) because they felt, as Assemblyman Scott Stringer said, "this was advertising pollution at its highest level." Of course, some residents didn't even notice them, while others vehemently hate them, as they signal as "Times Square" –ification of the Upper West Side (god forbid the UWS get a movie theater with stadium seating). The signs will be put somewhere else in the city, as they are part of a $15 million city contract with Clear Channel Entertainment, which includes 800 backlit ads; the new screens were recently rolled out, with 46 currently and 34 more to come. more ›