“Mount SI NY!” Just Sounded A Little Strange

I think the Rubenstein people might start by encouraging you to avoid mentioning that your biggest asset is a boat:

Intent on promoting Staten Island as a “great place to visit, work and live,” a group of the Island’s movers and shakers met last night to formally announce the creation of a marketing campaign designed to boost borough pride and erase negative stereotypes.

Under the banner of “SI NY Proud of it,” backers said their goal is to trumpet the Island as the place in New York City with the best schools, most parkland, lowest crime rate, an array of cultural offerings and diverse housing stock.

. . .

Not only is the Island still regarded in some quarters as the former home of the world’s largest landfill — poised to become the biggest urban park — but it is routinely underestimated by outside media, he said.

Along those lines, public relations giant Howard Rubenstein has agreed to promote the SI NY campaign.

Rubenstein’s Pat Smith, who will shepherd the effort, said the Island needs to “project a better image [so] people want to invest here, locate here.”

“Everything in life is perception,” agreed Borough President James P. Molinaro.

Molinaro said, for example, that while the Staten Island Ferry — with its 1.5 million visitors annually — is the No. 3 tourist attraction in New York City, behind the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building, more needs to be done to lure them to local attractions like Snug Harbor Cultural Center and the Staten Island Zoo.

That’s Just Sic

David Chase has a lot to answer for:

He wrote them threatening letters, telling them to stuff a paper bag with $10,000 worth of twenties and fifties and drop it off in a secluded area of Clove Lakes Park.

If they didn’t do as he said, their jewelry stores would be damaged and their families would face the consequences, he wrote.

He signed the letters, “Cosa Nostra.”

The extortionist, police say, was not some mobster or wannabe tough guy.

Instead, they say he was a teen-ager from Sunnyside. The 15-year-old Sunnyside boy allegedly wrote extortion letters to nine jewelry stores, demanding the stores’ owners leave $10,000 in a brown paper bag in Clove Lakes Park or face the consequences, according to authorities. His name is being withheld because of his age.

One letter, sent to Buono Jewelers on Hylan Boulevard in Grasmere last Friday, instructed the owner to drop the cash behind “a rowboat half buried verticaly (sic) opposite the entrance to the lake club” at 9:30 a.m. Sunday.

“If Law Enforcement is notified or intervines (sic) with the exchange you can be sure that not just your store will be harmed but also your family,” the teen allegedly wrote. “If you wish that no damage or harm come to your store or family you will pay.”

But when he showed up at the park, the teen found a paper bag filled with nothing but paper — and the police, waiting for him, according to law enforcement sources.

“I thought it was a joke, and I just handed it to the Police Department,” said the owner of Buono, who spoke on condition of anonymity, saying that he has been robbed in the past and doesn’t want to speak publicly.

The letter arrived in the mail Friday, he said. ‘The letter came, ‘To the owner.’ It wasn’t addressed to anybody,” he said. “The wording was all misspelled.”

Man Bites Dog, Then Purchases Real Estate Using His Own Savings

Only in New York is it somehow unusual and newsworthy that someone squirrels away his or her modest income in order to buy a modest apartment:

When Janey Lee and Pablo Agüero were struggling freelance Web designers, buying an apartment in Manhattan seemed like a dream, one clouded by credit-card debt, student loans that had to be repaid and the bills for their wedding.

But now, five years later, they are about to move into a $445,000 two-bedroom condo in Hamilton Heights, in Upper Manhattan, with their 5-month-old daughter, Matilda. Their combined salaries of just over $100,000 qualified them for a mortgage, but it took a lot more for them to come up with the down payment.

In a city synonymous with luxury and spending, Ms. Lee, 30, and Mr. Agüero, 35, decided to do without.

They gave up smoking to cut costs, they stopped meeting friends after work for beers, they didn’t buy new clothes, and they stashed away tax refunds and as much of their earnings as possible. Whenever they wanted to buy drinks, gadgets or cookware, they asked each other: “Do I want an iPod or a house? Do I want a latte or a house?”

“It would be absurd for me to buy things when I wanted a place rather than a frying pan,” Ms. Lee said as she fed Matilda a post-nap bottle.

More impressive, perhaps, than their willpower was that they were able to save $90,000.

Still, Ms. Lee and Mr. Agüero are part of the shrinking pool of New Yorkers who have been able to buy apartments for less than $450,000, and the even smaller group who have done so without help from their parents or a Wall Street bonus.

“Most people that I’m working with are getting some kind of familial assistance,” said Tracie Hamersley, the Citi Habitats broker who helped Ms. Lee and Mr. Agüero find their apartment. “They were unusual in that they were doing this on their own.”

Will Pedro Feliciano and Aaron Heilman Be Called To Testify?

And this man roots for a team still (for the time being) in first place:

A Queens man who allegedly bludgeoned his mother to death with a barbell blamed the Mets for setting off his murderous rage, authorities said yesterday.

Michael Anthony, 26, was frustrated with the Mets’ 6-5 loss to the Washington Nationals in the second game of Saturday night’s doubleheader when he started arguing with his father, according to a statement he gave police.

Anthony told cops after his arrest for murdering Maria Fischman, 61, that he “was watching the Mets game and became enraged.”

“We started fighting and my mother jumped in,” he said, adding that she took a knife from the kitchen of the Fresh Meadows home. “I took the knife from her and it got stuck in her head.”

Fischman then fled to the bedroom, where Anthony said he thought she was going for a weapon in a dresser drawer. “I grabbed a weight from the top of the dresser, swung it, hit her and she fell to the floor,” Anthony said.

Those post-game cliches never sounded so bad:

And while some may heal faster than others, the Mets can only hope all their injured pieces take a cue from their catcher.

“I’m going to be out there by Tuesday,” Lo Duca said, “unless I get shot.”

The Yankees Are Killing Our Children

The Yankees have always been of the “supersize me” ilk:

Since the New York Yankees, the Baby Bombers’ parent, took full control of the minor league club last year and handed over the team’s day-to-day operation to Mandalay Baseball Properties, the turnstiles have turned at an impressive clip.

Attendance at the halfway mark of the season, a mundane 3,393 per game last year, has spiked 40 percent to an average of 4,763 per contest as of Tuesday, thanks to a stepped-up sales program, a fan-friendly approach and an innovative all-you-can eat ticket package that has customers salivating.

. . .

At each stop, they emphasized wholesome family fun and entertainment at a reasonable price. Tickets range from $5 (reserved grandstand) to $13 (reserved box), and stadium amenities include a picnic area in right field, and a Kid Zone in the left-field stands that features children’s activities. After each game, youngsters get to run the bases.

Yet for all those attractions, nothing, perhaps, has filled the seats more than the alliterative — and wildly successful — Pinstripe Plan.

For $75 — or $15 a seat — fans see five games and get all the hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, soda and water they can scarf down. They also received free admission to a special Yankees Old-Timers game at the Richmond County Bank Ballpark on July 8, plus free tickets to a New York Yankees game in the Bronx later this season that includes a meeting with the big club’s general manager, Brian Cashman.

Location Scout: Richmond County Bank Ballpark at St. George.