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City Councilman Stephen Levin had an important message for Mayor Bloomberg.
So he elbowed his way to the front of the crowd at a park opening this summer. Face to face with Hizzoner, Levin handed his cellphone over and asked Bloomberg to call Brooklyn Democratic Party boss Vito Lopez and wish him a happy birthday.
Before being elected to the council in 2009, Levin, 30, was chief of staff to Assemblyman Lopez, and his critics — pointing to this and other episodes — say the freshman lawmaker is still Lopez’s lap dog.
“Steve is more beholden to Vito than to his district,” said a source who was once close to Levin. “The guy makes no decision without consulting Vito.”
Levin, a Brooklyn Democrat, generously allocates taxpayer money to the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, a nonprofit organization where Levin once worked which is at the core of Lopez’s Bushwick-based political machine.
The group, located outside Levin’s waterfront district, gets a larger share of his discretionary funds than any group within his district, which extends from Greenpoint to Brooklyn Heights and includes part of Park Slope.
“He gave the lion’s share of his money to Ridgewood Bushwick,” local district leader Jo Anne Simon said. “That’s because Vito got him elected.”
Ridgewood Bushwick is under investigation for the unusually high salaries it pays to Lopez’s girlfriend and campaign treasurer — the group’s two top officials.
Of the $64,000 Levin personally earmarked for the group in the June budget, $12,000 is reserved for its annual picnic in Long Island, which critics say has turned into a partisan event that Lopez controls.
“It’s disappointing,” said Judy Stanton of the Brooklyn Heights Association. “I would have assumed the discretionary money stayed within the district.”
Levin also co-sponsored council measures to send an extra $275,000 to Ridgewood Bushwick, an earmark other council mem bers signed onto.
Levin also singlehandedly allo cated $800,000 in capital funds this year toward building a pro posed Ridgewood Bushwick low- income housing develop ment on Willoughby Avenue — about a dozen blocks outside his district, The Post has learned.
Levin relies heavily on Lopez’s advice when making decisions and calls the party boss to update him after meetings, sources say. Levin has explained to his staffers that “before I make a decision, I like to get Vito’s take on it,” one source said.
When Levin got to make an appointment to the board of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corp., he chose from Lopez’s inner circle, selecting Lopez’s current chief of staff, Debra Feinberg, who had also managed Levin’s campaign.
Levin denies that he is Lopez’s lackey.
“I’m in no way taking cues from Vito Lopez,” Levin said. “I do consider him a friend. He is my mentor. But I do not leave meetings to call him.”
Levin said the money he allocated to Ridgewood Bushwick will benefit his constituents even if the organization isn’t in the neighborhood. The $12,000 for the picnic covered the cost for seniors in his district to attend, Levin said. The remaining $52,000 that he allocated to the group will fund emergency housing for families suffering from lead poisoning — a service that constituents in his district use, he said.
When Levin was a Ridgewood Bushwick employee, he worked on finding safe housing for families suffering from lead poisoning.
Levin is, like Lopez, an advocate for low-income housing, and he made a name for himself fighting for more affordable housing on the Williamsburg waterfront earlier this year.