Sonny street-name vote hits curb

Council 'no' sparks near-revolt

BY FRANK LOMBARDI

Tuesday, June 5th 2007, 8:00 PM

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Self-styled "anti-white" black activist Sonny Carson died in 2002.

Critics of the City Council have long considered it a rubber stamp,
its members going along sheepishly with whoever is the leader of the
council or whoever is the mayor.

Civic activist Henry Stern, who was a Manhattan councilman before going
on to serve as parks commissioner under both Mayors Ed Koch and Rudy
Giuliani, was fond of saying the council was less than a rubber stamp -
"because a rubber stamp leaves an impression."

Well, the rubber stamp left a dandy impression last week with its near
revolt over the effort by some council members to co-name four blocks
of Gates Ave. in honor of the late Sonny Carson, a black-power activist
best remembered for saying, "I am anti-white."

The bid to honor Carson with a street naming was defeated last Wednesday
by a vote of 25 to 15, with seven abstentions and four members absent. The
voting transpired among jeers and heckling from Carson supporters seated
in the balcony and personalized criticism of Speaker Christine Quinn
(D-Manhattan), who opposed the Carson co-naming, and Councilman Charles
Barron (D-East New York), who pushed for it. Just one white member sided
with the Carson side and only one nonwhite member sided with Quinn's side.

Before the vote, Quinn had said, "Whatever happens, we are lucky in the
City Council that we are a legislature that is not typically fraught with
division. We're lucky that we're a legislature that does not typically
break down on partisan lines. We're lucky we're a legislature that
usually is not filled with personal attacks."

Whether the divided vote causes ongoing division remains to be seen.

For the record, here's how Brooklyn council members voted (all are
Democrats, except where otherwise noted):

    * For Carson: Charles Barron, Erik Martin-Dilan, Darlene Mealy,
    Diana Reyna.

    * Against Carson: Bill de Blasio, Simcha Felder, Lewis Fidler,
    Vincent Gentile, Sarah Gonzalez, Michael Nelson, Domenic Recchia
    and David Yassky.

    * Abstained: Mathieu Eugene, Letitia James (D, WFP) and Kendall
    Stewart.