Tony and Marty: Who’s the beep?Photo: Brooklyn-USA.org
Now that Woody Allen has found his way to London, why shouldn’t Marty Markowitz head over, too? Brooklyn’s indefatigable borough president is off to Britain tonight on a peculiar mission: He will try to persuade British tour companies to include his beloved borough in their travel packages. (Side note: Do all these transatlantic jaunts suggest that Brooklyn actually is expanding?)
Markowitz is generally admired on these shores for his adorably quixotic conviction borough presidents actually do anything. But it remains to be seen if his energy will translate well into the British boardrooms. Among other things, he’s slated to have tea with London’s Lord Mayor Janet Hopton, which we, unfairly perhaps, are already painting in our heads as a kind of Candide outtake laced with Benny Hill. (Remember, this is the man who delivered his last State of the Borough address dressed as a ship.) The rest of Marty’s London itinerary is a little odd: He’s seeing Evita (what, there’s no theater in New York?) and tasting New York State wines (what, there are no New York wines in New York?). Which then raises another question: Are your Brooklynite tax dollars are paying for long-distance oenophilia? Nope. Someone else — in this case, Marriott Hotels — is picking up the tab. Which is about the only way quixotic convictions can remain adorable.
