Living with Legends

As several readers have written to express confusion over our earlier post about the firing of David Elder from his job as general manager of the Chelsea Hotel, and since we’ll have to admit to being a bit confused ourselves, we’d like to open the matter up for discussion.  How, exactly, did   he get fired?

The problem is this: the board of directors, which hires and fires the general manager, is composed of three members: Marlene Krauss, David Elder, and David Bard.  It would have taken two votes out of the three to fire Elder (as well as to replace him with Arnold Tamasar).  So does this mean that Marlene is now siding with the Bard Family? (And why would David Bard cooperate in hiring Tamasar for a job he wants himself?) Or was Elder stupid enough to vote himself out of a job?

The third possibility is that Elder hasn’t actually been fired at all, but was only tricked somehow into absenting himself from the building, in which case he could presumably return at any time.  After all, he is part owner of the Chelsea Hotel.  This would be bad news for present general manager Arnold Tamasar, who reportedly accepted the job on the condition that Elder would not interfere with his management decisions.

    We hear that Elder is puzzled by the “firing” himself, so much so that he has taken to calling certain tenants to whine, “Why doesn’t anybody want me around anymore?” — Ed Hamilton