Campaign Board Flyers Contain Errors; UES Senior Residences Thrive; Bakery Opening/Closing

On May 22 I opened my apartment building mailbox to find the 2025 Primary Election Voter Guide sent by the New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB) for Districts 5 through 10. The guide is in English and Spanish. Glad I got it. It wasn’t addressed to me but to someone unrelated and unknown to me and who hasn’t been at the address for at least 25 years.

The guide includes the offices on the ballot, debate dates, election dates and deadline, poll sites and voting hours, voting rights, accessible voting, and details on ranked-choice voting. There are profiles of the Democratic and Republican candidates on the ballot and short statements by each. It explains ranked-choice voting and features diagrams showing how the process works.

However, the CFB’s voter guide, sent by regular mail, is not up-to-date since it still states that Eric L. Adams is a Democratic candidate for mayor in the upcoming primary. He dropped out of the Democratic primary on April 8 to run as an independent. It also doesn’t mention that Andrew Cuomo, who is running in the Dem primary for mayor, will also have an independent line on the ballot in November. My attempt to get an updated version of CFB’s voter guide was unsuccessful. A box on their website reported “ERROR for site owner: Invalid site key.” Huh? I came to find out if Eric Adams had returned to the Democratic primary after the CFB’s guide was printed. Online guide no help. Voter guide doesn’t address write-in voting.

Flares kept me out—Manhattan Democrats held their 2025 Spring Gala at The View in Battery Park in May. Great venue for galas and party times. Not so great when the area’s closed off to traffic, especially for those who can’t walk the walk. So I had the driver turn around and missed the Manhattan Dems honoring Community Leader Hazel Dukes (posthumously—she died March 1 at age 92), NAACP’s NYS chapter; Labor Leader Ai-jen Poo, National Workers Alliance and political leader; NYS Assemblyman Alex Bores, and AMs Al Taylor and Jordan Wright. Among the attendees, I was told, were District 4 City Council candidates Faith Bondy and Vanessa Aronson.

I’m also told that talk among the gala’s guests was about the four-way race for the three open Manhattan Supreme Court seats. Word is that Judges Judy Kim and Suzanne Adams will fill the two seats and that the fight for the third seat is between judges Jim Clynes and Shah Ally. We’ll find out at the August Judicial Convention.

Senior living—In recent weeks I’ve been gathering information for Our Town’s Senior Living Guide. I’ve done it each year (except during COVID) since 2019. It covers assisted- and independent-living residences in Manhattan. It was particularly heartening to learn this time around that seniors aged 99, 101, and 103, are enjoying life at Vista on 5th, Carnegie East House, and Sunrise 56th East, respectively.

No way to treat customers or run a business—One of my favorite go-to’s on the UES is Patis Bakery and cafe. They have—or had—more than a dozen locations in Manhattan. The UES location opened not long after COVID. Patis is kosher and offers a nice selection of made-to-order sandwiches, delicious pastries, and great coffee. Staff’s super-nice. Place is clean. Always busy. So what’s the problem? Why do they keep opening and closing the Lexington & 88th location? They did it earlier this year. Or was it late last year when they unexpectedly closed following the chain’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2024? They seemed to have come out of that and re-opened but are now closing two of their East Side stores again. Not that there aren’t other coffee cafes in the neighborhood—Ole & Steen, Le Pain Quotidien, Pâtisserie Vanessa, Corrado—but Patis is special. Maybe the tables. Maybe the light, airy, smallish room. Maybe the location. Please. Patis. Stay.