If This Passes, Michael A. Cardozo* Needs To Start Preparing, Like, Now

If New Yorkers sometimes seem like they have a libertarian streak, it’s only because their government is often trying to do stupid shit like making food illegal:

But while more and more restaurants are already moving to rid their kitchens of trans fats, which are squarely tied to the increased risk of heart disease, New Yorkers’ reaction to the city’s proposal, approved unanimously on Tuesday by the health board, typically went something like, “Right, but on the other hand . . .”

Alan Rosen, one of the owners of Junior’s, said, “I don’t want to be told what to eat.” And Robert S. Bookman, a lawyer for the New York State Restaurant Association, said city health officials might be treading on a legal landmine. “I would be shocked if some national company does not sue,” Mr. Bookman said.

The plan would set a limit of a half-gram of artificial trans fats per serving of any menu item, and restaurants would have until 2008 to comply.

No one disputed the health risks of artificial trans fats, the chemically modified ingredients commonly found in fried foods, bread, doughnuts, salad dressings and other prepared foods, but most were ambivalent, if not upset, about the prospect of government intervention into their businesses, and their diets.

“Let me tell you, it is healthier, the product does taste better,” said Sanford Levine, 64, who owns the Carnegie Deli and has found alternatives to almost all its cooking oils and shortenings that contained high amounts of artificial trans fats. “Nobody has complained so far,” he said.

But there is also a matter of principle, Mr. Levine added.

“They shouldn’t tell a businessman how to run a business,” he said. “They can make suggestions, but I don’t think it should be the law.”

And if slippery slope arguments and principles don’t make you think this is a ridiculous idea, think about the prospect of a protracted legal challenge that may have constitutional issues — and while city attorneys argue the case, all the money that could have been spent for, say, educating children about trans fats:

Opponents said they could make a strong legal case against the proposed limit.

Mr. Bookman said he expected the limit to be particularly disruptive to some of the nation’s largest restaurant chains, like McDonald’s, which use trans fats in highly standardized recipes that could not easily be changed for New York City.

He said a legal challenge might be made on the grounds that the local restriction violates federal rules on interstate commerce, since some of the chains prepare their French fries and other menu items in other states, using trans fats in the process, before freezing them and shipping them to restaurants in New York.

“I don’t believe New York City has the authority” to interfere with the interstate food chain, Mr. Bookman said.

In an interview yesterday, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the city’s health commissioner, said he and his staff had considered potential legal challenges to the proposal.

“New York City has the ethical responsibility, and we think we have the legal jurisdiction to do it,” Dr. Frieden said. “If somebody brings suit, we will look at it.”

*Don’t know who he is? You will when he gets slapped down by the Supreme Court . . .

Sir, Your Housing Slump Is Ready . . .

The Eagle Electric Company Factory on 21st Street in Astoria — which after a residential conversion now sort of resembles a beachfront condo on, say, the Gulf Coast (see here for more reaction) — is ready to take applications:

Gutted and completely rebuilt, the former Eagle Electric Company factory on 21st Street will soon officially become Riverview Apartments. Although an opening date has not yet been announced, the $30 million coop development has been given the green light by the state attorney general’s office.

“We have been approved [to sell] and will begin to market at the end of this month,” said Joseph Pistilli, chief operating officer for Pistilli Realty Group, developers of the project, at the September meeting of the United Community Civic Association (UCCA).

“We are very excited about this project for many reasons,” said Vincent Reilly, sales and marketing director for Riverview Apartments. “These are very large apartments,” he said of the 188 units at Riverview.

One-bedroom apartments will range in size from 650 square feet to 865 square feet, at purchase prices from $254,000 to $328,000 (median price $305,000). An average two-bedroom apartment is 1,400 square feet at $556,000, while an average three-bedroom apartment is 1,750 square feet at $750,000. Some three-bedroom units have lofts and mezzanines.

The name “Riverview” seems odd, since a tree-filled Astoria Park stands in the way of the river. And that’s just one side of the project — many of the units seem to only have a view of 21st Street. The developer explains:

Bordered by 19th and 21st Streets and 24th Avenue and 23rd Terrace, the units in Riverview Apartments on the 19th Street side will have views of Astoria Park, the East River and the Triborough Bridge.

“There are river views, but actually, all three sides of the building have really nice views,” [Pistilli Realty Group chief operating officer Joseph] Pistilli said.

Then — unless I’m mistaken here — there seems to be some fuzzy math:

“Typically, topend new construction in Long Island City goes for $800 a square foot,” Reilly said. “Riverview is between $500 and $600 per square feet.”

In addition, Reilly said maintenance charges, typically set at $1.50 to $2.00 per square foot are between $1.06 and $1.22 at Riverview. For example, an apartment of 700 square feet would have a monthly maintenance charge of about $700, he said.

Between $1.06 and $1.22 per square foot for maintenance adds up to $742 to $854, which is a little more than “about $700” . . . plus, is high-end real estate in Long Island City really $800? Because that’s not what I’ve been hearing.

But that’s not all — the land is actually being leased right now with the expectation that it would be bought within ten years — with co-op owners on the hook:

Pistilli Realty does not own the land at Riverview, instead leases it from Eagle Electric with an agreement to purchase in no later than 10 years. Therefore, Riverview Apartments can only be offered at this time for sale as a cooperative development and not as a condominium.

The plan is to refinance Riverview eventually. “When the [cooperative] board takes over there is an opportunity to convert from co-op to condo,” said Pistilli. The Riverview plan approved by the attorney general’s office includes a provision making it mandatory that co-op apartment buyers participate in the purchase of the building and land.

Huh.

What Allen Funt Hath Wrought

It’s been over 50 years since Candid Camera first aired and we’re still dealing with the ramifications:

A Queens man who apparently wanted to become the next “Jackass” is now facing up a year in jail after posting a video on YouTube showing him and some pals posing as cops and randomly searching people on the street.

Gazi Abura, 21, of Astoria, and two other camera-toting pranksters allegedly accosted a 31-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy in July 2005 by donning fake badges and pulling phony “stop-and-frisk”-style police searches. They recorded the encounters and then put the video on the popular YouTube site under the name “Crack DVD . . . The Re-Up//Crack Cops.”

“Amigo, you’re getting thugged right now,” one of the video police fakers told their first victim, Alexis Montoya, 31, of Elmhurst, after stopping him on a sidewalk and “scanning” his driver’s license by putting it into to their car’s CD player.

. . .

The prank video went up on the Web site in mid-August. One of Trivino’s classmates saw it and told him. The teen went to authorities, who later charged Abura with second-degree criminal impersonation, second-degree coercion and second-degree unlawful imprisonment. The charges could get Abura up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

He was ordered held on $3,500 bail at his arraignment last night.

Who Would Have Thought That Manhattan Prefers To Watch Documentaries About Itself?

The Post analyzes top Netflix choices by borough and finds it says much about who we are:

Manhattan’s top choice is a documentary about itself, followed by “Barbarians at the Gate,” a film about money and excess, the foreign flick “Divorce, Italian Style,” and the patriotic musical “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”

Brooklyn’s top picks are about Hasidic Jews and graffiti, and local hero Spike Lee’s “Crooklyn.”

Queens’ list reveals its mixed personality — with Spike Lee’s “25th Hour” taking the top spot, followed by the counter-terror hit “24,” and the kvetching of “Seinfeld” creator Larry David on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Rounding it out is a film about suicide bombers in Israel and “The Chorus,” a French film about a singing troupe.

In The Bronx, the hip-hop crime drama “Killa Season” is No. 1, followed by documentaries about Puerto Ricans in America and the Latin Kings, and the Paul Newman police flick, “Fort Apache, the Bronx.”

And Staten Island is all over the map, starting with the original version of the horror film “The Omen,” followed by the gang-war classic “The Warriors,” a show about plastic surgery, the straight-to-video action film “Covert One: The Hades Factor,” and “Dumbo.”

“Everyone Can Hold Their Chin Up”

City Councilman Eric Gioia gets results:

The storage company that riled straphangers with its ads mocking the city’s boroughs outside Manhattan has agreed to pull its posters, though company officials insist they didn’t mean to offend anyone.

“If anything, our posters are meant to poke fun at the excessive prices of self-storage in Manhattan, and certainly not as a cultural critique of the outer boroughs,” an executive at Public Storage wrote in response to a stern letter from City Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Queens) last week calling for the ads to be removed.

. . .

“We will take care to develop future advertising themes that are consistent with our commitment to the diversity of New York City,” [Public Storage senior vice president Mark Bilfield] said.

Gioia, who repeated his invitation to the company’s chief executive to tour the city with him, called it “a victory for everyone who’s proud to live in the five boroughs.”

“I’m very happy to see them taking down their ads,” Gioia said. “Everyone can hold their chin up. We stood up for ourselves and we won.”

Backstory: No Offense Taken . . .