THE KIDS GIVE BACK Fulton Youth to the Future, based at Fulton Houses on 17th Street, is planning to throw a party for the folks at General Theological Seminary. Last year, when GTS opened its $27 million conference center, the Desmond Tutu Educational Center, GTS agreed—along with representatives from Aramark Harrison Lodging, which has been contracted by the seminary to manage the Tutu Center’s hospitality operations—to hire kids from the group for at least 30 percent of the center’s laborer jobs. Aramark also agreed to pay any local workers GTS’s standard minimum wage, which at $10 an hour is far higher than what’s mandated by the state. And a year later, the employment results couldn’t be better, according to Community Board 4 member Miguel Acevedo, who talked to The Buzz last week. Aramark and GTS’ Maureen Brimley actually exceeded all their targets, said Acevedo, who is director of the four-year-old group. “They employed single mothers getting off public assistance, street kids, people from all over the community. This shows that a major institution can grow responsibly.” Details to follow about the party, which was the kids’ idea: “We just want to show our appreciation.”
Political moves Two more names of potential candidates to fill Christine Quinn’s City Council District 3 seat are being mentioned: Yetta Kurland and Justin Krebs. Kurland is a member of Stonewall Democrats, the gay and lesbian political club, while Krebs is tapped into Drinking Liberally, a political networking group. Meanwhile, Arthur Schwartz, Democratic state committeeman, tells us he’s forming a new political consulting company, Progressive Strategies Group. The group’s other members include Arthur Leopold, a 19-year-old Duke student who “bundled half a million dollars for Barack last year,” Schwartz noted; Ann Strahl, former community affairs chief for former Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields; Allen Roskoff, longtime Village and gay activist; and Ray Cline, a leading member of Village Reform Democratic Club. Schwartz said he’s hoping his group will be retained by one of the eventual candidates in the Third Council District race, but asked if that might be Andrew Berman, he wouldn’t say. He said he doubted Brad Hoylman would seek his services, though Schwartz noted he hopes to run for district leader if Hoylman, the current district leader, runs for City Council. Schwartz said eventually he’ll be seriously scaling back his work as a top union lawyer to focus on his new career as a political guru.
Florent’s final weeks Novac Noury, the “Arrow Keyboard Man,” who used to run the after-hours RSVP club at his Little W. 12th St. building for Studio 54 types back in the disco days, has offered to let Florent Morellet reopen his restaurant there. “I gave him a call yesterday and we may be in talks to continue his stay in my building, as I find a hedge-fund manager and investors to develop the mini-inn with several restaurants, as I disclosed to you last year, which is my ongoing plan and vision,” Noury told us. It would be a joint-venture partnership, Noury explained, “with a man who is well deserved of having a rock of the Meat Market and the Hudson River waterfront.” “He was not speaking to me, he was leaving messages,” Morellet clarified, adding that he’s not interested in opening a “Florent II” at age 55. In fact, he wants a breather to work on his memoirs perhaps and also his art — he draws maps of imaginary cities — and needs some “peace” to do both. He does fancy opening a Florent in an airport, though, which would tie in with his interest in travel. Morellet said he almost had an opportunity to do this, but was a “runner-up” for the airport space he was eyeing, the location of which he would not reveal. “I like the idea of entertaining people for a half hour — making it fun,” he said. As a result of skyrocketing rent he can no longer afford, Morellet will end his run at Florent, his eponymous Gansevoort St. restaurant, after Gay Pride on June 29. Going out with a bang, starting Memorial Day weekend, he’ll kick off the “Final Five Weeks of Florent,” representing the grieving process he’s undergone over losing his restaurant. Each week will have a theme: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and, finally, Acceptance. Monday performances will reflect that week’s theme, with 10 percent of the gross going to appropriate charities, such as a “battered wives” support organization in week one, and gay teen suicide prevention in week four, Morellet said. “You’re the first one in the media I’m telling this to,” he confided to The Buzz.
