Not surprisingly, his New York City donations skew even more toward Democrats, and again, reflect a certain pragmatism more than any discernible political ideology.

Since the 1989 election cycle--which began counting in November of 1985--Trump has given $137,894 to city candidates, with all but about $11,000 going to local Democrats.

One of the smallest, but most noticeable contributions--in light of recent events--was Trump's $150 contribution to the re-election campaign of Councilman Anthony Weiner in 1997.

Perhaps the two had more in common back then.

In his 2000 campaign book, The America We Deserve, Trump endorsed a single-payer healthcare system, which has been one of Congressman Weiner's favorite issues over the last few years.

Since then, Weiner has moved on to Congress and become a champion of the fighting left, and Trump has become a reality show host and Birther Republican candidate for president--personas which now bring them into conflict.

Weiner wasn't the only liberal future member of Congress to receive Trump money. Carolyn Maloney got $1,000 for her Council re-election in 1989. And Jerrold Nadler got $500 for his unsuccessful run for city comptroller that same year.

But, as he did at the state level--where he contributed to three different attorney general candidates last year--the casino baron hedged his bets.

Former congresswoman, Liz Holtzman, received a total of $7,000 running against Nadler that year, a race she eventually won.

Trump seems to have a special place in his heart for comptrollers, giving liberally to Alan Hevesi and Bill Thompson during their years as the city's chief financial officer. Trump's largest contributions were to Harrison Goldin, the comptroller who served from 1974 to 1989.

Trump gave him a combined $20,229 on November 1, 1985--money which officially went toward Goldin's run for mayor four years later. In 1988, Trump gave Goldin another $3,000.

But he also gave to David Dinkins' mayoral campaign in 1989, to the tune of $2,250 dollars. And just in case, he gave to the Republican, Rudy Giuliani, too: a $3,000 check in April of 1989.

Of course, Dinkins won that race. Trump gave $5,500 to the mayor's re-election effort in 1993, with zero contributions to Giuliani.

But Giuliani won the re-match that fall, and by the next spring, Trump was a Giuliani backer again, donating $5,000 in April of 1994. He added another $2,700 in the succeeding years, and an extra $500 to Giuliani deputy Fran Reiter.

With Giuliani limited to two terms, and Michael Bloomberg financing his own campaign, Trump gave to a few Democrats in the 2001 mayor's race. He contributed to Hevesi's campaign back in 1999, and chipped in a couple thousand to Peter Vallone, Sr., but saved most of his money until after the Democratic primary. In the weeks leading to the run-off between Mark Green and Freddy Ferrer, Trump gave more than $6,000 to Ferrer. After the run-off, Trump gave $4,500 to Green, in late October, a few weeks before he was defeated by Michael Bloomberg.

In the years leading up to the 2005 race, he sprinkled a little money around to Council Speaker Gifford Miller and Borough President Virginia Fields, but mostly sat out the campaign's stretch run, save for a couple of $1,000 donations to Bill Thompson's comptroller campaign.

A few more Thompson contributions counted toward the comptroller's '09 mayoral campaign (though they were made in 2005 and 2006), but Trump otherwise sat out the mayoral race. His last contribution to any city candidate was $4,950 to Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz back in 2007.

A spokesperson for Trump did not return a request for comment.

Below is a spreadsheet with all of Trump's local donations. (Note that the first on the list, to Ruben Diaz Jr., is actually from Trump's son, Donald Jr.)

Trump NYC Donations

Two weeks after Ms. Rice lost the Democratic primary, Mr. Trump bet $5,000 on the Republican candidate for attorney general, Dan Donovan, a social conservative who was being advanced by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Two weeks after that donation, Mr. Trump hedged the bet and gave $12,500 to Mr. Donovan's opponent, Eric Schneiderman, who had positioned himself as the most-left-leaning candidate in a field of progressive Democrats, running on a platform of staunch support for gun control, organized labor, and a woman's right to choose. (Last week, Mr. Trump said he became pro-life "years ago.")

Mr. Schneiderman turned out to be the jackpot, winning with 55 percent of the vote.

Mr. Trump's habit of making high-roller bets in a given race isn't new, and his New York donations seem to favor gambling on the candidate with the best odds at the expense of any deep-seated political convictions. Since 1999, Mr. Trump has given nearly $400,000 to New York Democrats and a little less than $200,000 to New York Republicans--a contradiction that Mr. Trump will have to address if he actually hopes to convince Republican primary voters that he's one of them.

But in New York, some are defending Mr. Trump's pragmatic donor philosophy. "There's nothing wrong with that," said Carl Paladino, the Buffalo real estate developer and last year's Republican gubernatorial nominee, who like Mr. Trump was criticized for contributing to Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, who are generally considered anathema to most die-hard Republicans. "I have to agree with him on that. You give money to people who are going to go out there and do that job," said Mr. Paladino. "Republican, Democrat--it doesn't matter. I had them throwing that at me, too; same crap." Mr. Paladino easily won the G.O.P. nomination despite these and other controversies.

"You can accuse me of the same thing. I'm a New York businessman," said John Catsimatidis, the billionaire supermarket magnate who donated heavily to Bill and Hillary Clinton, as well as to Republicans. "I support both sides, too. So, am I a Democrat? Am I a Republican? I'm the same businessman Donald Trump is."

(Mr. Catsimatidis is also embracing Mr. Trump's other policies, including expressing skepticism over President Obama's citizenship. "I probably believe that he is a citizen," Mr. Catsimatidis said, but he speculated there is "probably something on the birth certificate he doesn't want people to know about ... Maybe the birth certificate says he's a Muslim and he doesn't want people to know about it.")

In the 2006 AG's race, Mr. Trump donated $20,000 to the coffers of Republican Jeanine Pirro, a few months before he started giving to Andrew Cuomo, who went on to win, with a little more than $20,000 in Mr. Trump's cash.

In March of 2008, with control of the State Senate suddenly up for grabs, Mr. Trump gave $50,000 to the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, which was trying desperately to retain a thin majority. But, a few months later, he also gave $55,000 to the State Democratic Committee, whose party still controlled the Assembly and the governor's mansion.

Throughout 2009, even after officially registering as a Republican, Mr. Trump kept giving to Mr. Cuomo's ostensible reelection bid, while also sprinkling money on David Paterson's gubernatorial campaign--with a $5,000 donation in January of 2010, just before the governor's prospects finally imploded. (After that, it was all Cuomo.)

A top adviser to Mr. Trump, Michael Cohen, referred questions to Mr. Trump's main office. A message left there was not returned.

One Democrat who received a donation from Mr. Trump--Democratic Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz--said he recalled facing off against the young real estate tycoon when he was managing his father's property's in southern Brooklyn.

"His father wouldn't meet with us," said Mr. Markowitz--then an organizer with the Flatbush Tenants Council. He said he met the younger Trump only a handful of times, but recalled, "He was charming and tough-assed."

But even those who share common ground with Mr. Trump question his electability, particularly when much of his public persona consists of relieving people of their employment on national television in the midst of a recession. "Anyone who has that smirk on their face when they fire people on TV," said Mr. Paladino of his fellow real estate developer-turned-Tea Party stalwart, "I think that leaves a lasting impression on people."

apaybarah@observer.com

The campaign's second ad touts his support from independent Mayor Bloomberg and Democratic former Mayor Ed Koch.

Encouraging disaffected Democrats is a necessity for any statewide Republican to overcome the party gap in liberal-leaning New York state, but this year, it also serves to put a little distance between a down-ballot candidate like Donovan and the controversial top of the ticket.

The first part restates Wilson's criticism of his opponent, incumbent Tom DiNapoli, as a product of Albany, complete with a black and white picture of the statehouse looming in the background.

It then switches to a sunny shot of Wilson in front of a (non-state) house. He calls himself a "fiscal expert" and promises a line-by-line audit of the state budget.

The context of the race is changing rather quickly today--what with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announcing that DiNapoli is not, in fact, under investigation by his office--which takes one of Wilson's prime talking points off the table. One thing that hasn't changed is Wilson's financial advantage, which should keep ads like this coming on a fairly regular basis down the stretch run.

Unlike her colleague, Chuck Schumer, whose ads don't mention his opponent, Gillibrand's new spot ad hits at the core of DioGuardi's pitch to voters--that he opposes government spending--by casting him as a lobbyist and tax cheat, who voted for his own congressional pay raise.

The spot comes as two-thirds of voters say they still don't enough about the former Westchester congressman, and one day after DioGuardi released his own introductory bio spot about restoring the American dream.

Of course, Gillibrand has her own bio spots up too--one of the advantages of having raised more than $10 million dollars.

It leads with the question "Who Is Carl Paladino?"--an obvious attempt to frame Paladino now that the bright lights are focused on the nominee, who remains fairly unknown (and who is either very close or very far away from Cuomo in the polls, depending on who you believe).

It's the first real attack from the campaign itself, which had mostly left the negative framing to the Democratic State Committee, which ran a similar swamp-themed ad before and after the primary election.

On the positive side, the campaign is also releasing an ad narrated by a cancer survivor that touts his work fighting insurance companies. The narrator is a Long Island woman, who points out that she's a registered Republican.

The new renderings are almost as space-age as the recent exterior shots, with stage lights beaming around in all directions. Aside from that, it mostly just looks like an arena, though the Post has a run-down of its bells and whistles. Notably, there's a feature designed to increase home-court advantage by aiming reflective materials back at the court, thus amplifying crowd noise.  Which might be a good idea if the team weren't 7-56 and probably prefers not to hear what their fans are screaming.

There's some new light on the outside too. As Curbed pointed out, Barclays gets its logo splashed across the top--which might be some small consolation for not having the world-class architect (read: Gehry) that the big bank was expecting when it agreed to buy the naming rights. (The other consolation: it paid only half the original agreement.) Predictably, the Atlantic Yards Report thinks the logo could violate the design guidelines; ESDC says it will make sure it doesn't.

Ground breaks Thursday. Nets minority owner Jay-Z will be there. Meanwhile, over at Freddy's Bar, they'll have three-foot bobbleheads of the villains.

In its earnings conference call Thursday, the Chicago-based company said it plans 111 market-rate apartments and nearly 10,000 square feet of retail space in the Chelsea neighborhood at the southwest corner of 10th Avenue and 23rd Street.

Last weekend, the Post reported that Mr. Zell had purchased Harry Macklowe's last three rental towers. By the Journal's count, Mr. Zell will own 26 properties with 7,320 units when the deals are done, making him a sudden force in the New York leasing landscape. 

Mr. Zell's emergence can't be encouraging for other sellers--his company admits the Chelsea development was a "distress situation"--but it's welcome news for real estate writers, who can expect some quality quotes.

"I'm your Viagra!" the colorful Mr. Zell told the L.A. Times newsroom shortly after he bought the Tribune Company, which declared bankruptcy in 2008.

UPDATE: An earlier version of this item implied the Journal had broken the news, when, in fact, it was the Post. The Observer regrets the error.

The weird thing is that Disney doesn't actually have a store there. But it will soon.

The company has finalized its plans--reported by Dana Rubinstein last month--to open one of its Apple-inspired stores at 1540 Broadway. Steve Jobs helped the company re-think their franchise last year, which explains all of this high-tech child bait, detailed by the Times back in October:

Theaters will allow children to watch film clips of their own selection, participate in karaoke contests or chat live with Disney Channel stars via satellite. Computer chips embedded in packaging will activate hidden features. Walk by a "magic mirror" while holding a Princess tiara, for instance, and Cinderella might appear and say something to you.

It's your birthday? With the push of a button, eight 13-foot-tall Lucite trees will crackle with video-projected fireworks and sound. There will be a scent component; if a clip from Disney's coming "A Christmas Carol" is playing in the theater, the whole store might suddenly be made to smell like a Christmas tree.

Being Disney, they're considering calling these "Imagination Parks," and their president said he wants the stores to be "the best 30 minutes of a child's day."

And apparently Disney is part of yet another Times Square. The president of the Times Square Alliance, Tim Tompkins, told the Real Deal:

"[Disney will be in] the very spot where Virgin made a major statement," Mr. Tompkins said. "Virgin was the beginning of the retail transformation of Times Square, which led to the Toys R Us ferris wheel and other entertainment-oriented retail."

In fairness to Goldman Sachs—in case anyone was interested in fairness to Goldman Sachs—the deal was negotiated in the wake of September 11th, when the state and the city were worried about keeping big tenants nearby, and came long before taxpayers gave the well-connected company a government loan and paid out its A.I.G. debt at a tidy 100 cents on the dollar.

But that doesn't stop Bloomberg News from using the subsidies to book-end a sprawling, 3,800-word story about the company's sweetheart year. And, as the story points out, the company that was Too Big To Fail last fall is only getting bigger. The new building has twice as much space, and it's $200 million dollars under its $2.3-billion dollar budgets. Perhaps that's why—unlike its bland predecessor—the new digs even has at least one flourish: A brightly-colored, $5-million dollar abstract painting by the Ethiopian-American artist Julie Mehretu hangs in the lobby. So this year's bonus: mostly aesthetic.

When Mr. Zimmerman met with Mr. Boymelgreen and his staff about the problems in three Brooklyn buildings, he said, the developer repeatedly argued, “What do they expect — a Manhattan building?”

Perhaps it was the spewing sewage or crumbling structures that Mr. Boymelgreen was referring to when, in 2007, he told the Brooklyn Paper that even developers don't always love their buildings.

Sometimes, I see something in my head that I think will be beautiful. But at the end of the day, it doesn't come out like I want, because of the zoning, because of the architect, because of the finishing. You're not 100 percent in control. ... Sometimes I see something that's finished, and I can't quite change it.

That was before Brooklyn started getting quite so high and mighty on Mr. Boymelgreen, back when Mr. Zimmerman had thought the developer might be "the next Robert Moses." Which sounds pretty unlikely now that he's pared his staff from 200 to 15--including laying off five of his kids--and one of his main contractors is working the register at a Subway in Midtown.

"This isn't a pretty place," said Donald Rosen, whose horse, Boxitup, finished second in the eighth race that day. "Hopefully, when they get the slots, they'll fix it up and get people to come here."

Is it more depressing than the gridlock in Albany, where they've been talking about sprucing the place up since the last economic depression? Hard to say.

"It is a mystery why this is taking so long, since it is costing over a million dollars a day not to have it open," said Jeff Gural, a minority partner in the SL Green group who owns two small racetracks upstate that have electronic slot machines. "The original decision was promised for Aug. 1."

So that's $115 million lost, if you count from the August date, or $2.9 billion if you go back eight years.

And there's still no sense of when the governor, the Assembly, and the Senate will collectively decide on a winning bid. In the meantime, Governor Paterson keeps changing the rules; he recently demanded another round of final bids, with a new clause demanding $200 million upfront. That twist prompted Steve Wynn, the famous casino magnate, to drop his bid for a Vegas-style renovation. And, in another strange twist, one of the groups recently hired hip hop pioneer Russell Simmons to act as a community relations advisor.

If the state ever decides on a winner, the decision will almost certainly prompt a whole host of lawsuits. "I have a lot of problems with the process," one attorney consulting a bidder told the Times. "Whoever is selected, I think you can argue that the decision was arbitrary and capricious."

EBay will be stocking the 5,000-square-foot pop-up with items gleaned from its millions of sellers: Michael Kors handbags, Anthropologie dresses, L.A.M.B. shoes. How will bidding on, say, a Gucci wallet be impacted by the prices of a real Gucci boutique just blocks away? It's difficult to say. Also difficult to say is how actual live eBay bidding will work. The company has said only that shoppers will have access to Internet kiosks, handheld tablets and eBay mobile phone applications. Let the bidding begin.

Apparently this is more a marketing gimmick than a serious retail endeavor, which is good, since it seems unlikely people will travel to a store in order to bid on things online. The shop will be open this Friday through next Sunday.

It's a nice haul for Mr. Sitt, who began buying up Coney Island's boardwalk in 2005 for what he hoped would become a $1.5 billion dollar Las Vegas-style development. But Mr. Sitt and the city had trouble agreeing on a deal, and the developer alienated community groups by evicting longtime amusements. As Eliot Brown summarized it:

His involvement in Coney Island has been a nauseating up-and-down ride filled with the closure of numerous attractions at Coney Island including the signature Astroland, a public relations war, the creation of a less-than-popular flea market where rides once stood, and a rare attempt by the city to remove the private landlord (not usually the course of action for the developer-friendly Bloomberg administration).

Late in the summer, the city and Mr. Sitt finally agreed to a deal, wherein the developer would keep some of his land, and sell the rest to the city. But they had yet to agree on an exact price. Now, one week after Mayor Bloomberg won a third term, the city finally budged, with a price that's well above the current rates in the slumping market.

Not everyone is excited about the deal. The community group Save Coney Island sent out a statement calling the purchase a "critical first step," but not enough. "Unless the City purchases the rest of Thor Equity's land, a large portion of the amusement area will remain subject to the whims of real estate speculation and the future of Coney Island will remain at risk," said spokesman Juan Rivero.

This isn't the first time Mr. Sitt has made money by not developing. He bought and re-sold a different stretch of Coney Island a few years ago, and turned a handsome $100 million profit on Brooklyn's Albee Mall without ever completing some promised renovations.

And now it appears to be here; transfer to a special servicer usually takes the power to restructure out of the owners' hands since, well, they're not paying the bill anyway.