Giuliani may be gone, but his attitude remains

Real estate developer Richard Cohen has certainly taken up where Giuliani left off. This week, he evicted Pale Male and Lola, one of New York's most beloved couples, from their home of 11 years, atop the apartment building at 927 Fifth Avenue. So far, the only reasons I have heard are that the pair of red-tailed hawks sometimes dropped food from the top of the co-op, and that they jammed twigs between the bricks.

Watching Pale Male and his nesting activities has been a serious activity for hundreds of New Yorkers, and the hawk is the subject of a documentary film. There is a protest in progress which includes one of the building's residents, animal rights activist Mary Tyler Moore. Pale Male and Lola--at first obviously dismayed to find their nest gone--have been spotted building a new one at the same location, but there is also talk that they are considering building at the Carlyle Hotel on Madison Avenue.

Aside from the obvious stupidity of removing one of the city's most beloved creatures from his home, the co-op board's action was mean-spirited. A nearby resident put it best: "These people should all drop dead except Mary Tyler Moore."