Only In East New York, Kids, Only In East New York

They act as if this is somehow strange:

Brooklyn’s housing market is so through the roof that families are forking over $625,000 to live next door to one of the city’s most dangerous housing projects, The Post has learned.

A new community called Spring Creek Estates, which will feature 40 two-family luxury homes, is in the process of being built along weed-strewn lots in East New York near the infamous, crime-laden Louis H. Pink Houses.

The first five houses are already up on Pine Street and recently sold for between $479,000 and $579,000, brokers said. And with marketing for the next 10 homes under way, two families have already signed contracts to pay $625,000 without a shovel hitting the dirt.

“Everybody knows about the reputation of the Pink Houses, but we’ve had no problem marketing the new development,” said Cecilia Calcagnile, a Centruy 21 broker arranging the sales. “We’ve had phone calls off the hook and are selling houses right off the blueprints before we even break ground.”

The 4-acre Spring Creek Estates is expected to be complete by 2008. It will run along parts of Stanley, Worthman and Euclid avenues and Crescent and Pine streets in one of the city’s highest crime areas.

Despite seeing a 57 percent drop in crime the past decade, the 75th Precinct last year led all police precincts in the number of murders (29) and ranked third out of 76 in the number of reported crimes (3,479).

Pay To Campaign!

The 11th Congressional District is just a big ball of laffs:

Days after standing on the steps of City Hall and endorsing City Council Member David Yassky in his bid for Congress, the mother and brother of a slain council member, James Davis, returned to those steps to withdraw that endorsement and to call on Mr. Yassky to drop out of the race.

Thelma Davis and her other son, Geoffrey, said Mr. Yassky left about 200 senior citizens stranded in the rain July 21, when he failed to get enough buses to transport them to City Hall for a memorial service in honor of her son, James, who was killed by a gunman in the council chambers July 23, 2003.

“This is not only a horrible act against the seniors, but against society,” Ms. Davis said yesterday, holding a picture of her late son. Ms. Davis said she wants Mr. Yassky to apologize publicly and pay $20,000 to four senior centers left without transportation that day.

By that time, campaign fliers touting the endorsement — showing Ms. Davis solemnly looking at a sepia-colored photograph of her slain son — had already been mailed to voters.

But it doesn’t end there:

In response to the withdrawn endorsement, an invoice Geoffrey Davis submitted to Mr. Yassky’s campaign — showing Mr. Davis hoped to be paid $50,000 for campaign work — was released to reporters.

Mr. Davis said he has been helping the campaign since last July, with the expectation of getting paid at some point.

“When he reneged with the bus company, and made my mother that upset, I sat with him,” Mr. Davis said, recalling a meeting he and an associate had with Mr. Yassky and his campaign manager at a famed Brooklyn eatery, Junior’s. The meeting took place the Monday after the memorial service, he said.

“From this point on, it is totally, strictly business,” Mr. Davis said.

Mr. Davis, who is unemployed, said he discussed the year’s worth of campaign work he did, and the field operation he planned to do in the crucial final weeks of the campaign.

“I said, ‘You got an hour to think about it,'” Mr. Davis told The New York Sun.

The following day, Mr. Davis submitted his invoice, which included $10,000 in administrative charges that Mr. Davis told the Sun he said was “my fee.” An additional $2,000 for a campaign office and petty cash were also listed.

And revealing all this is supposed to make you look better how?

At The End Of Port Richmond Avenue Among The Decaying Docks And Chicken Guts

A Staten Island woman is the latest example of how squatters have rights:

The lot at the dead end of Port Richmond Avenue — a dilapidated industrial area with gutted buildings, decaying docks and the aroma of chicken carcasses wafting from a nearby poultry slaughterhouse — seems like no place for anyone to live.

But squatter Patricia Walsh is fighting to stay there.

For five years, Ms. Walsh has called home an abandoned office trailer, with her seven dogs, dozen cats and cartloads of recyclable cans and bottles.

The 53-year-old calls herself a community activist, an animal lover, a proud citizen of Port Richmond for the past 22 years.

The owners of the 1.2-acre property overlooking the Kill van Kull call her a pain in the butt.

Since October, brothers Robert and Rudolph Rando of Long Island have tried just about everything to get her off their land so they can sell it to an Island development company.

They’ve offered her $10,000 — she refused it.

“I don’t trust them,” she said, standing in the cluttered yard last week.

They’ve promised to foot all of her moving expenses, to pack her belongings in a truck and bring her anywhere she wanted.

“They’re rich. They have nice homes to go to. Where else can I go?” she replied.

. . .

John Z. Marangos, a Staten Island landlord attorney representing the Randos, called it the toughest eviction case he’s handled. Even serving legal notice to Ms. Walsh has been a challenge. Her trailer home is guarded by an angry Chow Chow named Mary, and Buster, a massive pit bull with a knack for sniffing out lawyers carrying notices of eviction.

Meanwhile, his client has been losing “thousands of dollars every month” — not including legal fees — while he fights Ms. Walsh in court, Marangos said.

Just What I Needed

The 2nd Avenue Deli will become a bank branch:

The East Village building where the famed Second Avenue Deli served matzo ball soup and pastrami for five decades is becoming a bank branch, according to a broker involved in the deal finalized Wednesday.

Chase signed a lease for the corner property on East 10th Street and Second Avenue, as well as a newsstand next door, said Jonathan Krieger, a broker for Robert K. Futterman and Associates.

Backstory: How Much Corned Beef Do You Have To Sell To Make Rent?

We Need More Cowbell

The Daily News profiles cowbell man, the latest in the storied history of long-suffering Mets superfans:

The New York Mets were down seven runs by the seventh-inning stretch to the worst team in the National League one recent night, and it seemed the only thing keeping fans inside steamy-hot Shea Stadium was the promise of post-game pyrotechnics.

But even a pummeling at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates couldn’t stop scoreboard-blind superfan Edwin (Cowbell Man) Boison, who continued to roam the stadium, pounding out the beat to the battlecry of Shea: Lets Go Mets!

“I think it’s awesome that there is a guy who is this dedicated to the game and the Mets — it’s exciting,” said Rich Laconi, 24, of Astoria, who had asked Boison to pose for a picture.

Not to be left out of the photo shoot was Laconi’s friend, Aileen Tlamsa, 24, also of Astoria. “I want to thank you. I have a picture of you in my cell phone from last year’s Fireworks Night,” she told Boison.

“It’s always my pleasure to take pictures with fans,” the affable Boison remarked after taking off his signature “Cowbell-Man” Mets jersey so Tlamsa could model it for the picture. “I want them to feel like they’re having a good time at the ballpark and have something to talk about when they leave — even if the Mets don’t win.”

For the last 11 seasons, regardless of the standings, the score, the opponent or the weather, Boison, 48, has pounded beats all over Shea, logging more miles each game than Mr. Met, the team’s official mascot.

“I’ve always been a people person,” he said, when asked to explain his high-profile hobby. “I go in there as ‘Cowbell Man’ to represent the team and the fans. I consider myself a superfan.”

. . .

Yet while his crowd-roving percussion act has pushed him to the brink of icon status at Shea, Boison has learned that there is a downside to being a superfan. Because of complaints from a few season-ticket holding fans on the loge level, section 5, Boison is forced to bypass this section entirely during his stadium wanderings. As one Shea stadium employee put it, the detour is the result of “an uneasy truce” brokered between the two sides.

“He’s an arrogant pain in the a–,” said Bill Brownsell, 53, an anti-Boison Mets season-ticket holder in section 5.

“He’s more interested in promoting himself,” chimed in section-mate Eric Michalak, 47, who flies up from his home in Cape Coral, Fla., to attend Mets games. “There are a lot of people who would rather not have him here.”