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Poached Eggs and Rye Toast with Scott Stringer
Manhattan’s BP says no to potatoes but yes to exporting West Side political reforms and a possible political future

By Charlotte Eichna

Last year, longtime West Side Assembly Member Scott Stringer pulled ahead in a crowded field of candidates to become Manhattan’s next borough president. During his first months in office, Stringer has implemented an ambitious community board reform plan; issued several reports, including one about disabled access to subway stations; and introduced himself to other parts of the borough through town hall meetings and a busy public schedule. One recent morning, Stringer sat down in his favorite West Side diner, Utopia, on Amsterdam Avenue between 72nd and 73rd streets, to chat about community organizing and his parrot, Otis, among other issues.

City Hall: What’s good? Do you have any recommendations?
Scott Stringer: I’m having two poached eggs. The eggs are good. They have good eggs, good tomato juice, good rye toast—the rye toast is very good.

[Waiter comes]

SS: I’ll have two poached eggs, please. With rye toast. No potatoes.

Waiter: Tomato juice?

SS: Yeah, the medium size. And some more coffee. Thank you.

CH: So no potatoes? Are you trying to balance the carbs?
SS: If you say no to something in the morning, you’re already ahead of the game. And then you can say yes to something later on because you said no in the morning.

CH: Do you cook at home at all? Or are you more of an eat-on-the-run guy?
SS: I’m considered one of the premier order-in guys. I can order in very well.

CH: What are your standbys?
SS: Don’t tell them here, but every morning I start off with a Lenny’s coffee. Excellent coffee. I’m not a Starbucks guy.

CH: Too strong?
 SS: It’s heart attack coffee.

CH: Are you a big breakfast guy?
 SS: I mix it up. If I’m having a breakfast meeting, then I’ll have breakfast. But it’s not something that I have to have first thing in the morning. Two poached eggs, or maybe just a roll.

CH: In a recent issue of City Hall, some of the other borough presidents expressed skepticism about your community board reforms and thought the proposed changes were more appropriate for Manhattan. What did you think about that?
SS: These are all borough presidents who are veterans—they’re in their second terms, I’m in my first term. They all have great reputations for not just long-term policy thinking, but also really connecting to the neighborhoods in their boroughs. Each one of them, I think, really has an understanding of what’s unique to their borough. I respect their view of how they run their community boards. They’ve obviously been doing it well for a long time.

Having said that, we needed fundamental change in Manhattan. And not because things were inherently bad, but that I wanted to make them even better. It wasn’t just about community board reform—it was about community board reform and community board empowerment. So look what’s happened: we changed the appointment process, an independent screening panel, interviews in the office, community board outreach bringing in a record number of new people who applied. We raised these issues, we talked about conflict of interest, and we reformed the appointment process and how board members conduct themselves.

Part two is the really exciting part, because that’s the empowerment part. The Borough President’s office created a professionalized land-use and building unit, we’ve brought in urban planners, we’ve then said to the community boards, “We’re going to assist in terms of your ability to evaluate development projects.”

We’re kicking off the first of its kind graduate student internship program with Hunter College and other universities…We’re going to take young, smart students and put them into community board districts working with district managers on land-use and zoning issues, giving the communities the tools they need to do a better job. I got Amanda Burden’s—the City Planning Commissioner—great book, “Zoning 101.” I bought 600 of them. We want the community board members to be as smart as the lawyers who represent development. All through the summer, we did all kinds of training on land-use and zoning issues. And it’s having an impact. The best compliment I got so far was a woman at a community board came up to me and said, “Scott, that Zoning 101 book, it’s so complicated. All the training, it’s so complicated. It’s so much work. I had no idea.” So I said, “Well, do you like it?” [She said] “I love it. It’s the greatest thing I’ve ever done. I love being on the community board.”

CH: You said that Manhattan’s community boards weren’t in bad shape; they just needed to be empowered. Are the outer borough boards in good shape but maybe in need of some empowerment?
SS: Part of what elected officials do is look at what works in one area and what does in another area and you kind of always look at what your colleagues are doing. I did that in the Assembly. You want to know, whether it’s how does a colleague reach out to a community, what a colleague puts in a newsletter. So I think we’re all kind of going to look over a period of time and see what all of us do.

When I got elected Borough President, my staff went out and met with [Brooklyn Borough President] Marty’s [Markowitz] staff. I met with [Bronx Borough President] Adolfo [Carrion]. I wanted to know how they set up their offices during my transition. And Adolfo’s office has talked to us and asked about some of the things we’re doing in Manhattan. I don’t think that the issue of community board appointments is me versus the other borough presidents. It’s more, this is what we’re doing. If you look at the accomplishments of some of the other borough presidents, there are things that Marty does, for example, in terms of promoting the borough, that I don’t think necessarily fits for Manhattan. Does that make me at odds with him? No, we’re different personalities and we have different agendas.

CH: What do you take in your coffee?
 SS: One Sweet ’N Low and milk.

CH: The MTA is pretty notorious for bureaucratic gridlock. What’s been your experience with the disabled access issue? Can you give me some concrete steps that they appear to be taking since the release of your report detailing shortcomings in various subway stations?
SS: Not yet. It’s too early. It was just released over the summer.

CH: You ran a restaurant at one point.
SS: Not really.

CH: So was that a fluke? You have such a strong political background in your family—was that a deferred career?
SS: Nah, that was not a real thing.

CH: Was it in the neighborhood?
SS: Further north.

CH: What kind of place was it?
SS: It was like a hole in the wall.

CH: You don’t like talking about it. Was it a dark chapter of Scott Stringer’s history?
SS: No, not a dark chapter.

CH: You got tomato juice, but no vodka. Is it not cool for politicians to drink in public anymore?
SS: It’s 9:30 in the morning (laughs). I think it’s a little early.

CH: What issues have you seen come up in other Manhattan neighborhoods that were not a problem on the West Side?
 SS: Actually, there’s more that the neighborhoods have in common than they don’t. People on the West Side obviously feel that it’s difficult to support our infrastructure given the fact that new people are coming in here. There’s been a lot of development over the years. The West Side that I’ve represented for 13 years in the Assembly is concerned about making sure that people can afford to stay in the community. Those are the same concerns that people in Harlem have, people on the Lower East Side have. What I’ve tried to do, by going out and having town hall meetings in every community, is to use the community boards as a way for people to come together around the borough to talk about these issues and offer proposals. Recognizing that the skyline of the borough is going to change—and it should—but at the same time being sure that people have a say in what is going to be in their neighborhoods. And through that, we’ve come up with rational planning. And that is what I find is a common denominator in every community.

CH: Are there things the West Side does particularly well that you’d like to export to other parts of the borough?
SS: This is a community that knows how to organize. The stadium battle was a perfect example of the people in Hell’s Kitchen and the lower and the West Side who organized. During the campaign, community organizations in other parts of the borough would say, “Tell us about the stadium battle. How was that won?” People ask about it because they wanted that to be a model for organizing on other issues.

CH: You got a nice, big pay raise as borough president from your previous salary. Have you bought a yacht yet? Are you going to buy an apartment now that the market’s softening up?
SS: The market’s not softening.

CH: A new wardrobe? What are you doing with the extra cash?
SS: Did you ask Marty this question?

CH: No, I asked him other personal questions. We talked about his weight.
SS: Lifestyle hasn’t changed.

CH: You live with a parrot, right?
SS: I do.

CH: How is he as a roommate? Does he talk at night? Leave feathers around?
SS: He wakes me up in the morning.

CH: Do you need an alarm clock?
 SS: No.

CH: Didn’t you train him to say, “Vote for Scott?”
SS: Well, I didn’t train him to say, “Vote for Scott,” but he picked it up during the campaign. And he says, “I love you.”

CH: I guess not a lot of roommates say that.
SS: No. But I try to shield him from public view because Otis is still too young to deal with the public.

CH: How old is he?
SS: He’s going to be 3 in October. But I’ve asked the press to respect Otis’ privacy until he’s old enough to deal with the scrutiny. Tough to be First Bird of the Borough.

CH: West Side politicians seem to be consolidating a power base: you, Rep. Jerry Nadler, Council Speaker Christine Quinn, State Sen. Eric Schneiderman, State Sen. David Paterson. Is there a consolidated power base and what does that mean for West Side constituents?
SS: What’s a consolidated power base?

 CH: A group of well-positioned elected officials that work together.
SS: I don’t understand the question.

CH: Do you think that at this point in time, a lot of elected officials that represent the West Side are in good positions within their elected bodies? Christine Quinn is Council Speaker, David Paterson presumably will be lieutenant governor. Will that reach a critical mass and what does that mean for the people who live here?
SS: It’s good when your council member happens to be the speaker of the City Council. And in Christine’s case, someone who started as an advocate and an activist who got elected to the council now heads that body and it’s a great thing. It’s good to be respected because the more you’re respected the more you can get things done.

It’s good that our Congressman is now in his 14th year and if we take back the House, that’s going to be good for New York City. Charlie Rangel is [the ranking member on the Committee on] Ways and Means—good for New York City. As borough president, there are things I can do in terms of land use and zoning and the work that I’ve outlined that can raise issues—that’s a good thing, too.

So I don’t know if it’s a consolidation of power, but you’ve had elected officials who have done well, who have worked hard, who have really raised issues and have been smart about policy and that’s natural. You want smart elected officials to go to higher office and make even more of a difference.

CH: But you guys work together, too. Is that unique to this section of town?
SS: No. To me, as borough president, I’ve spent just as much time working with [Council Member] Dan Garodnick and [Assembly Member] Jonathan Bing and [Rep.] Carolyn Maloney on the East Side, worked very well in the Harlem community—[Council Member] Inez Dickens, [State Sen.] David Paterson, [Assembly Member] Keith Wright. So no, I don’t think it’s particular to our community. I think it makes sense that we all work together, even if we disagree on who we’re supporting for different candidates, that we do have this period of governing. I served in the State Assembly for 13 years and the lack of cooperation between the Republicans and Democrats, between [Gov. George] Pataki and us Democrats, really hurt this state. It was all gridlocked—all politics, all the time. Sometimes when elections are done, you need a period to govern. You need a period when people, whatever their political philosophical disagreements, that we all try to build a record. And that to me was something that I did not see in Albany at all and that we do see here on local issues.

CH: I guess you don’t have the political spectrum here.
SS: Right. Part of it is we have the same ideology. But I like the cooperative effort…During the Stuyvesant Town proposal—Dan Garodnick’s proposal—of course we get called to see if we can help. That is just good for the people who we represent.

CH: The city’s bid to buy Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village to keep it affordable housing was a fairly groundbreaking proposition. Is the government getting into things that the private sector should be doing?
SS: Stuyvesant Town was subsidized through eminent domain way back when, so there’s always been some relationship to the government. The government has always subsidized affordable housing—we still do it today. The question is, how to we create private and public partnerships to maintain the level of affordable housing? Developers who build luxury housing, will tell you that they’re concerned about losing the affordable housing stock in the city.

CH: Developers are concerned about that?
 SS: Absolutely. I talk to developers all the time and there’s got to be a real strategy here.

CH: Why do they care?
SS: Because the businesses that will move into commercial real estate need to have affordable housing for their workers. I think when you talk to people, developers and others, business leaders—you know, bankers and other finance people—they are concerned about affordable housing stock. So we have to grapple with this. This is going to be the biggest challenge we face in the city…We should use any strategy we can to maintain affordable housing for the workers in the city. That’s just good government. Now sometimes you can’t get there only through government intervention. You need the private sector, you need not-for-profit developers, so there has to be a partnership...

CH: What did you think of Mayor Bloomberg’s response to the Mount Sinai study of 9/11 responders’ illnesses? He questioned whether there was a clear connection.
SS: The mayor’s a smart man and as he learns more about this I think he will agree that this is an international disgrace that’s being allowed to happen. The fact that you had children in Stuyvesant High School that were minors on 9/11 and were ordered back into classrooms, and now these kids are 20 years old and they’re concerned about their own insurance, they’re concerned about themselves being monitored and wondering what their health is going to look like at the age of 30. This is an absolute disgrace, just an unbelievable disgrace. I mean here you have the Governor, back from New Hampshire, and now he’s going to understand the plight of the workers who were there, the first responders, the people in and around Ground Zero? Nobody, 20, 30, 40 years from now, as they study this aspect of the 9/11 tragedy—and they will—will look at the government’s response in terms of health—whether it’s Christie Whitman and the EPA, the state response after 9/11—and will shake their heads and be bewildered as to what the politicians were thinking at that time in history.

CH: Some people have ex’s that they don’t want to be in the same room with, let alone the same city. But you have an ex that is a colleague now (Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal). How is that working with an ex-love interest? Is that difficult? Is it cordial?
SS: That was 20-something-odd years ago. I would just say, don’t blame her for making a mistake at a young age.

CH: So it’s not awkward?
 SS: Oh, we’re great friends. And she’s doing a great job. Obviously, we deal with Linda in the same way we deal with [Council Member] Gale Brewer or anybody else. It is great to see a woman who has worked so hard behind the scenes on issues relating to Ground Zero and housing issues, to see her step up in her own right.

CH: Your mom served in the City Council for a while. Do you ever take advice from her?
SS: Take advice? It’s not that I take it, I get it. All the time. Every day.

CH: So she gives it, you may not take it.
SS: I’m not saying that. I’m not starting a war with my mother. Let’s just say that I get advice.

CH: Would you take the Second Avenue subway from Gracie Mansion to City Hall, or would you take a car?
 SS: You mean after I met with the mayor in the morning?

CH: No, from your home at Gracie Mansion. Or perhaps you would stay in this neighborhood and take the 2/3 downtown?
[Orders a third coffee to go]

SS: By the time I get to Gracie Mansion, you may have a Third Avenue subway. Depends on the day.

CH: Would you consider running for mayor?
 SS: I’m already a president. What am I going to be a mayor for?

CH: Because then you get to be president of the whole city, not just the borough of Manhattan.
SS: But then you wouldn’t be called president anymore.

CH: I guess not. So you like the title “president”?
SS: We’ve got so much to do—it’s only been eight months.

CH: These are things that you have to start planning ahead for.
SS: I think the best way to deal with the future is do the job at hand and do it really well. In fact, be a great borough president. That is what I think about as a personal agenda. You go to our Web site and you look at “promises made”—we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ve done a lot of work in eight months in dealing with a lot of those promises. We’ve got a whole other agenda to go before we think about 2009 or 2013.

CH: You have a transportation forum coming up on Oct. 12 featuring the former Mayor of Bogota, Colombia.
SS: He’s the transportation rock star.

CH: What is going on in Colombia that New York should be paying attention to?
SS: He’s going to tell us. The number one quality of life issue that we Manhattanites and New Yorkers are going to face in the next few years is grappling with our transportation infrastructure with gridlock, with congestion, with pollution, Second Avenue subway—from Gracie Mansion to City Hall, or staying on the West Side—and we’ve put together what I think is an innovative, exciting conference for people in New York City, people in Manhattan to figure out transportation priorities and a transportation agenda for this borough and this city. It’s going to be an exciting, compelling conference.