NYPD CTU, Now More Than Ever

But the evidence is unlikely to satisfy skeptics who have been suspicious that the NYPD is trying to lay the groundwork for isolating or even attacking Iran:

The NYPD fears that Iran has targeted the Big Apple for terror attacks, a grim new report reveals.

“We’re concerned that Iranian agents were engaged in reconnaissance that might be used in an attack against New York City at some future date,” Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told Newsweek.

And We Did So Well Removing Snow This Season . . .

After studies show that New York City is the highest-taxed large city in the country, Sewell Chan asks what New Yorkers get for all that. Snow plows:

Six of the nine largest cities are in the Sunbelt, where the warmer weather means less money is needed for removing snow and repairing streets damaged by the freeze-thaw cycle.

And Apparently “Flâneur” Is Not Some Sort Of Cheap Brandy — Who Knew?

What is it that the Times doesn’t “get” about $2 nips of Georgi? Like it’s so fucking complicated:

Paretti’s Liquor Store sits opposite the Queensbridge housing project, amid the warehouses that line 21st Street in this part of northwest Queens. A red and yellow banner above the front windows proclaims a “Blow Out Sale,” and steel capital letters spell out the word “Liquor,” but the neon tubes within the letters no longer glow.

Inside, several rows of tiny airplane-type bottles of vodka, whiskey and gin, called nips, are stacked against the inch-thick bulletproof glass that separates clerks from customers.

In a city famous for extravagant and showy drinking — consider the rainbow-colored cosmopolitans of “Sex and the City” — this liquor store, in the shadow of the city’s largest public housing project, with upward of 7,000 residents, caters to a decidedly less glamorous end of the alcohol market.

. . .

A few days later, on a slow Sunday, the store was in the hands of a 26-year-old clerk named Martin Sladek, who wears his blond hair in a faux hawk and speaks with a thick Czech accent.

“Drug dealers buy Hennessy, and drug users buy Georgi,” Mr. Sladek announced at one point. “Crackheads get Georgi nips.”

. . .

The customers trickled in.

Two women who looked barely old enough to buy a legal beer peered through the bulletproof glass, mulling their options before choosing Smirnoff vodka. When they asked for glasses, Mr. Sladek handed them two green plastic cups, which they took with them when they left.

A middle-aged woman hobbled in on a cane.

“What time you closing up, Marty?” she asked. “Give me that $2 bottle of Georgi.”

But seriously — color pieces on liquor stores in shitty neighborhoods are much fresher now than they were two years ago, right?

Yes, It’s More Expensive, But It’s A Small Price To Pay For The Comfort In Not Knowing That The Other Menu Features Squirrel

It’s not news that Chinese restaurants everywhere have reserve suckier menus for gweilo. So it’s gratifying to learn that some are also charging such diners accordingly:

The price you pay for your beef with string beans depends entirely on whether or not you are Chinese — at least according to the menus at one restaurant in Chinatown, city officials say.

The city Human Rights Commission has filed a discrimination complaint against the Canal Seafood Restaurant for allegedly giving a different menu with lower prices to customers who are Chinese.

David Lopez, a visitor from Wisconsin, contacted the commission after eating at the restaurant with several friends last October.

He and his girlfriend knew something was wrong when a waiter told them that a serving of rice would cost them extra. They had noticed Asian customers munching on similar dishes served over a bed of rice.

“Being Hispanic, we both like rice,” said 46-year-old Lopez. “We saw other customers getting a different menu. We were told we could order from it if we spoke Chinese.”

The prices on that menu, written in Chinese, were an average of $1 cheaper per dish.

“It was very distressful to go to a place in one of the most diverse cities in the world and be discriminated against,” Lopez said.

Representatives for the restaurant have denied the existence of two different in-store menus.

But Lopez, who has worked as a discrimination investigator in Wisconsin, took both menus with him. He took the menus and his concerns to the Human Rights Commission.

After an investigation, the commission determined there was probable cause that discrimination had taken place, and referred the case to the office of Administrative Trials and Hearings for a trial.

Precious Metals Scavengers — I Hate Those Guys

Precious metals scavengers have delayed the computerized time-until-the-next-train thingamabobbers on the L train. How convenient:

Scavengers have ripped off copper cable from subway stations on the L line, hampering the high-tech system that broadcasts arrival and departure times, the Daily News has learned.

The contractor installing the electronic message boards reported the wiring was filched in “repeated acts of vandalism,” according to a Transit Authority report.

“A thief is a thief is a thief, no matter what the item is,” a TA official said. “If someone can make a buck, they will steal it and try to resell it.

“We’re working with our contractor to make sure they take all necessary precautions to prevent the theft and the resulting delays. We’re also making sure we take steps on our property to secure all of our assets.”

Transit officials say the thefts are partly to blame for delays in completing its ballyhooed Public Address/Customer Information Screen project.