Council Cliffhanger

By Jarrett Murphy Wed., Sep. 14 2005 at 3:55 PM

The mayoral primary wasn't the only race that went down to the wire yesterday: A mere 16 votes separate the top two finishers in the fight for City Council District 8, which covers East Harlem. Melissa Mark Viverito has 3,626 votes (25.41 percent) to Felipe Luciano's 3,610 (25.3 percent). Absentee ballots are being tallied tomorrow and the machines will be canvassed on Friday.

Viverito, an SEIU 1199 staffer, ran with backing from the Working Families Party. While the WFP was still awaiting word of her fate, it was celebrating the victories of Scott Stringer in the Manhattan borough presidency race, and Darlene Mealy in her Bed-Stuy/Brownsville city council race against the Boyland clan. In other contested council races, Inez Dickens will succeed Bill Perkins in the District 9 Harlem/Upper West Side seat. Incumbent Oliver Koppell trounced challenger Ari Hoffnung in the Northwest Bronx, and James Vacca defeated former city councilmember and assemblyman Steve Kaufman in the East Bronx. Rosie Mendez recorded a commanding win in the Gramercy Park/East Village/Lower East Side district 2, scoring 36 percent of the vote despite facing six opponents. Dan Garodnick romped over Jack Lester in the East Side seat being vacated by Eva Moskowitz.

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