Simon Perchik at Hot and Crusty. Photo credit: Sarveen Abubaker

On the Upper West Side, disdain for state politics

Simon Perchik sits by himself in the busy Hot & Crusty outlet on Broadway and 88th Street, scrawling neatly on a sheet of paper. On the table is a book of poems by Vicente Aleixandre, the 1977 Nobel Prize winner for literature. There are no airs about Perchik: asked what he thinks of Albany politics, he smiles warmly and settles down to take questions.

“You want to know what I think of politicians at Albany? They are a bunch of clowns. A Senator beats his girlfriend and slashes her face, then he walks around like a king. He and his colleague switch parties to benefit themselves and none else. It’s disgusting. They need adult supervision,” he said, introducing himself as a retired lawyer and underplaying his credentials as a poet and writer.

Having taken a jab at Senator Hiram Monserrate for slashing his girlfriend and at Bronx Democrat Pedro Espada for masterminding the coup that paralyzed Albany in the summer, Perchik said he was fed up. Those in power were not doing the right thing by the people, he said. “It’s normal for politicians in power to want to stay in power and do what they want to do. But that does not coincide with what is good for the people.”

A random cross-section of people interviewed on the Upper West Side — from Riverside Drive through West End Avenue and Broadway to Amsterdam and Green Park – repeated Perchik’s point. Although few seemed to have a clear idea of or keen interest in the goings-on in Albany, those who did expressed disgust.

“The mainstream is detached from the politicians, both are not on the same page,” said architect Setu Shah, 42, at the New York Public Library on Broadway and 115th Street. “What I mean is there is a disconnect because people don’t know what the politicians are doing and the politicians don’t know what the people are doing.”

He said there was a lack of communication, even a “miscommunication,” between the two, which was the cause of so much ill-will among the people. “The people are not aware, they don’t understand what politicians are up to in Albany,” the Cal-Berkeley graduate said. “Nor do politicians know what the people want. The politicians should draw out the people and try to engage them.”

Ted Nellen, a 60-year-old English teacher at the Edward Reynolds Westside High School on Amsterdam Avenue and 102nd Street, was more scathing. “It’s all hubris; politicians think of themselves as almost having god-like power to alter things. That’s why they behave as they do, they are like a political mafia,” he said in the second-floor computer room without naming names.

Speaking of Monserrate, he said it was obvious that the Senator was guilty of slashing his girlfriend. “It’s disgusting,” he said. “These politicians are taking advantage of us, they are not doing what they should do for the state.”

Nellen said they might have good intentions but when in power they tended to lose focus. Many even compromised the values that had inspired the people to vote for them. “Money is the problem – it makes you lose your morals, lose your ethics,” he said, touching on a topic that had many people fuming.

Carpenter Levent Gulsoy, 53, was unsparing. “The entire political system is terrible,” he said, not giving names or examples. “There is a lot of money involved, there is no real representation for the common people, good people are crushed by the political money-making machine.”

Most often, ordinary people tended not to be interested in Albany because the Espada-Monserrate brand of “circus” politics did not affect their lives. “Politics is for professional politicians,” the carpenter, sitting on a bench in Riverside Park and doing the daily crossword, said. “The people are only interested once in four years when the time comes to vote. But I don’t vote any more because there is no party left to represent working people like me.”

John Melville, a market research official and part-time student at Hunter College, could not agree more. “The whole political system is a mess. It needs to be cleaned up,” the 33-year-old, who lives on Columbus and 96th Street, said.

Val Golovitser, a choreographer, living on Green Park West voiced total disinterest in Albany. He said he “hated all politicians,” was not interested in politics and had only voted once in his life – for President Barack Obama.

Amid all the disenchantment, however, was a surprise good word for Community Board 7. Nellen said the officials worked very hard, got to know the people and cared enough to make the community a better place to live in. Shah said CB7 had been very active lately but needed to reach out to other community boards. Andy Georgiou, 52, a painter from Cyprus, said more officials could be seen bonding with the people, so they were more aware of what the people wanted.

“We live in a beautiful neighborhood. So someone must be doing something right,” summed up Jimmy Johnson, a 43-year-old baker.

Penny Ryan, the district manager of CB7, said in an email: “CB7 always strives to do a good job and looks for ways to grow and improve.” But she refused to take questions on Albany and politics in general, saying “these are not topics the board considers.”

If there was one topic, however, that most people had an opinion about, it was Mayor Bloomberg and the November 3 elections. “I have seen four mayors,” Gulsoy said. “What’s so great about what Bloomberg has done? I don’t know. Prices are going up, wages are coming down. I don’t care what the mayor does, he does not do anything for me.”

Johnson voiced similar distaste for the mayor. “Most people and most of my friends hate Bloomberg,” he said in Riverside Park. “You know why? Because he banned smoking. I don’t have much of a problem but the question is whether he has the right to tell people not to smoke.”

Many others, who did not have much to say about politics in general, offered their opinions about Bloomberg. Georgiou claimed he was “buying” up the mayoral elections with his millions; a woman who refused to give her name said she was disgusted with daily e-mails from him soliciting votes; and Melville offered a rare good word saying he would win again because he had brought crime down.

Perchik was kinder. He said he liked Bloomberg because he had done a good job in a tough city, despite the term limits controversy. “If you’re rich, you don’t have to steal,” he said. “Bloomberg’s honest because he doesn’t need to steal. If he weren’t, he may have been like the rest,” he said, with a wink.