Mayor Ed Lee Blows Off Supermodel Niki Taylor

Not good enough for Mayor Ed Lee?

​Who does Mayor Ed Lee think he is?

A couple months ago, Mayor Lee was a no-name city administrator known by few outside of San Francisco politics. And for someone with no clout among American celebs, we'd expect he'd be a little more excited to be seen with a supermodel like Niki Taylor.

But alas, we were wrong. Lee is standing up Taylor who is dropping by San Francisco tomorrow morning to deliver a $1,000 check to the mayor.

Okay, Mr. I'm-too-busy-for-supermodels.

Too hot for Niki.

​Taylor, who, by-the-way, was named one of America's 50 most beautiful people, is scheduled to present money to the city on the behalf of the Reader Digest's "We Hear You America" tour -- the magazine's initiative to hand out $5 million to cities that have been hurting badly since the recession in 2007.

So for those who would gladly make time to get a glimpse at this high-profile model, the ceremony is at 10:30 a.m. at Justin Hermann Plaza.

According to the press release, Amy Cohen, director of the Mayor's Neighborhood Business Development Department, will accept the check "on behalf of the mayor's office."

But when we called her, she told SF Weekly she, too, cannot squeeze Taylor into her busy schedule on Tuesday.

"Something else came up for me," Cohen said.

Will someone go pick up the friggin' check from Niki Taylor? Please. It's not much, but San Francisco could really use the cash.

Cohen assured us that someone will be there to claim the check and wish Taylor well. She told SF Weekly that she is sending her colleague to the event, Crezia Tano, a project director on the mayor's staff.

"She has better shoes to stand next to a supermodel," Cohen said of Tano.

The money will help fund a "pocket park" off San Bruno Avenue in the Portola District.

Right now, Cohen said, Burrows Street dead-ends into Highway 101 which draws a lot of littering and illegal dumping. But the city plans to convert that sidewalk and some adjoining parking spaces into a mini-park to create more green space and bring pedestrians to the area.
And hopefully, a cafe will move into a nearby commercial space, she said.

This park was brought to you by Reader's Digest. Or at least 1/50th of it was.

​

To give us a better idea as to why Lee isn't bothering to pick up the check himself, Cohen tells us that this tiny park will cost as much as $50,000 to develop. So apparently, $1,000 isn't worth the trip to the Embarcadero tomorrow. 

"Nothing is $1,000," Cohen said. "I guess that's why the mayor's not going."

And being the loyal employee to the mayor that she is, Cohen tried to put a positive spin on Lee's absence, telling us that he is a man who cares about substance, not supermodels.

"He's not as star-struck as maybe ... uh, anyways," Cohen said.

So it's been proven once and for all: A beautiful, successful woman truly can't get a date in San Francisco.

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