So I Guess Those Property Tax Rebates Were His Way Of Being Flashy Beyond His Means

Hey Magic 8 Ball, are the mayor and his staff preparing for an economic slowdown? Outlook not so good:

In a surprising pullback, Mayor Bloomberg has asked agency heads to draw up plans to scale back spending on announced construction projects, The Post has learned.

One source said the cut could amount to as much as 25 percent of the four-year, $36.5 billion capital budget adopted in June. But Stu Loeser, the mayor’s spokesman, said that no such figure has been discussed and that, in any case, “no decisions have been made.”

He said agency heads received letters on Oct. 12 asking: “If what you had to do in the next four years was spread over five years, what would your priorities be?”

Just five months ago, Bloomberg and the City Council approved record expense and capital budgets and an ambitious list of projects throughout the five boroughs.

Over $10 billion was set aside for school construction and expansion and $2.6 billion allocated for rehabbing the four East River bridges and 68 other bridge structures.

The city was so flush that the mayor even found $2 billion for a new Retiree Health Benefits Trust Fund to help defray the future cost of city workers’ health benefits.

He also spent $200 million a year for each of the next four years to pay down debt service on bonds sold to fund the capital budget. Debt service is expected to cost taxpayers $4.8 billion this year and $6.1 billion in 2010.

We Are All Orange Now

MTV’s “True Life: I’m A Staten Island Girl” continues to have repercussions on the island:

MTV’s recent “True Life” documentary, “I’m a Staten Island Girl,” hit a nerve when it portrayed the borough’s youth as catty, road-raging, privileged and Gottiesque. Then the show cut deeper and compounded that unflattering list of stereotypes by portraying Islanders as — cringe — tanning-salon-orange.

. . .

After the episode first aired on national television on Oct. 18, viewers posted more than 230 comments to the entertainment forum on the local Web site silive.com.

Bloggers ranted.

Some recorded the episode to watch again. Others couldn’t bear to watch.

Islanders wrote in to the Advance calling the episode “embarrassing,” “horrible,” “hilarious” and “emotionally disturbing.”

“We are not orange,” was their cry.

. . .

Said Ms. [Danielle] DiPietro [one of the show’s three subjects]: “I know a lot of people are really p.o.’d about the show and they have a right to be. But they should have been at the auditions for the show.”

Both aspiring actresses and publicists, these two “Staten Island girls” have no regrets. They also thought the show was pretty accurate.

“Not everybody has spiky hair. Not everybody has an orange tint to them. Not everyone does, but the majority of Staten Island does,” said Ms. [Lauren] Laner [another of the show’s subjects].

Not Clear Whether This Includes The Duane Reade In Forest Hills But We Can Only Hope

This is precisely why they hate our freedom:

New York’s most ubiquitous drugstore quietly got sexy two weeks ago by stocking erotic toys and passion oils, according to Crain’s New York Business magazine.

Among the items for sale from the upscale Kama Sutra line of sex aids are feather ticklers, edible honey dust, vibrators and flavored condoms.

A Kama Sutra executive said selling through Duane Reade was an easy choice, and predicted New Yorkers won’t blink at seeing “pleasure” products next to the pharmacy. “We figured the Manhattan customer was sophisticated enough for our products,” said Beverly Pollington Sirjani, senior VP of California-based Kama Sutra.

Why Stop There?

Wouldn’t you also love to know how many calories are in that Foie Gras Stuffed Scottish Grouse at Daniel? I would:

Without a doubt not all diners who order a Burger King Whopper or a Domino’s pepperoni pizza or a Taco Bell chalupa really want to know exactly how many calories they are consuming. Whatever the amount, it is probably more than they should be eating.

But the New York City Board of Health, the city’s powerful arbiter of public health rules, is considering a plan to make it much harder to avoid the cold, hard numbers by requiring some of New York’s 20,000 restaurants, including outlets of the nation’s fast-food chains, to list calories on menus and on clearly displayed menu boards.

The idea is to give diners a dose of reality along with their fries.

The proposal was lost amid the other much splashier recommendation the board is considering to prohibit the city’s restaurants from serving food containing more than a tiny amount of trans fats, the chemically modified ingredients considered by doctors and nutritionists to increase the risk of heart disease.

But the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is also intent on creating the nation’s most rigorous system of calorie disclosure in restaurants. It is intended to combat what is widely regarded as an epidemic of obesity, aggravated for the city’s 8 million residents by their reliance on restaurant meals and take-out food.

“Presenting nutrition information on restaurant menus empowers consumers and influences food choices,” the department says in a description of the proposal on its Web site at NYC.gov/health.

A public hearing on both proposals is scheduled for today before the Board of Health.

The two initiatives have thrust New York City to the forefront of a national debate over the extent to which public policy should be used to improve people’s diets. While health advocates say the proposal for menu labeling is overdue, restaurant executives call it unfair and impractical, and some civil libertarians argue that it intrudes into the rights of free speech and private enterprise.

The rules would apply only to restaurants with highly standardized menu items and portions that already make their caloric content available on the Internet, in brochures or in some other format.

Health officials say that only about 10 percent of the city’s restaurants would be affected. But those include many popular chains, like McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Dunkin’ Donuts, that have mechanized American fast food, designing systems ensuring that each component of every serving is the same.

It’s That Time Of Year Again

October is high season for tourists and . . . drag queens:

At a busy wigmaking studio in Hell’s Kitchen on Tuesday, half a dozen craftspeople could be found hunched over synthetic mesh scalps, tying individual human hairs into them as fast as they could. Hair was everywhere: draped across tabletops in horsetail lengths, clinging to the fabric of chairs, scattered across the floor in unruly clumps.

The artisans had seen and even built wigs of all descriptions, from flowing brown manes for classical operas to buoyant white up-dos for fantastical Broadway musicals. But even the veterans looked up from their needles when Maurice Neuhaus, a 28-year-old German-born wigmaker, actor and sometime drag queen, pulled out a neon-blue extravaganza that looked at first glance like an otherworldly wild animal being released from its cage.

. . .

During Halloween season, the demand for professional drag performers rises, so Mr. Neuhaus has been busy doing performances booked by a talent agency called Screaming Queens Entertainment. Yesterday, Mr. Neuhaus expected to wear a black, Asian-style wig with bangs while entertaining guests at a bar mitzvah reception in Midtown. On Friday, he planned to wear his over-the-top blue wig for a Halloween gig at a game arcade in Englewood, N.J.

For all its high camp and artifice, his wig possesses an exceptional degree of realism — when he wears it, it looks as if “real” blue hair is growing from his head.

Such artistry is much admired by those in the know.

“Only certain very meticulous and experienced drag performers have custom-made wigs,” said Alex Heimberg, chief executive officer of Screaming Queens, who performs as Miss Understood, a character for whom Mr. Neuhaus built oversize wigs in both bright pink and bright green. “You have to reach the point where you know you’re serious about what you’re doing.”

Who has a drag queen at a bar mitzvah?