When The Health Inspector Is Away, The Cats Will . . .

But take away that cat and the subject of a well-worn axiom will take its place:

Across the city, delis and bodegas are a familiar and vital part of the streetscape, modest places where customers can pick up necessities, a container of milk, a can of soup, a loaf of bread.

Amid the goods found in the stores, there is one thing that many owners and employees say they cannot do without: their cats. And it goes beyond cuddly companionship. These cats are workers, tireless and enthusiastic hunters of unwanted vermin, and they typically do a far better job than exterminators and poisons.

When a bodega cat is on the prowl, workers say, rats and mice vanish.

. . .

But as efficient as the cats may be, their presence in stores can lead to legal trouble. The city’s health code and state law forbid animals in places where food or beverages are sold for human consumption. Fines range from $300 for a first offense to $2,000 or higher for subsequent offenses.

. . .

Still, many store owners keep cats despite the law, mainly because other options have failed and the fine for rodent feces is also $300. “It’s hard for bodega owners because they’re not supposed to have a cat, but they’re also not supposed to have rats,” said José Fernández, the president of the Bodega Association of the United States.

Luis Martinez, 42, has managed his brother’s grocery in East New York, Brooklyn, for two years. At first, despite weekly visits from an exterminator, the store’s inventory was ravaged constantly by nibbling vermin.

“Every night I had to put the bread in the freezer,” he said, pointing at shelves filled with bread and hamburger buns. “I was losing too much inventory. The chips and the Lipton soups all had holes in them.”

Then, last winter, a friend brought Mr. Martinez a marmalade kitten in need of a home. Mr. Martinez, who was skeptical of how one slinky kitten could fend off an army of hungry rats, set up a litter box in the back of the store, put down an old fleece jacket and named the kitten Junior.

Within two weeks, Mr. Martinez said, “a miracle.”

“Before you’d see giant rats running in off the streets into the store, but since Junior, no more,” he said.

Zip Codes As The New Status Symbol

Glendale, Queens 90210:

Residents of the western Queens neighborhood, which shares the 11385 zip code with nearby Ridgewood, have been longing for five digits to call their own. But postal officials insist the move would be too costly and confusing.

The U.S. Postal Service district manager, who approves new Queens zips, said ina statement that adding more codes canadversely affect mail service and addconsiderable administrative and operational costs.

The official, Lily Jung Burton, also shot down the Glendale code because the Postal Service assigns zips only when there would be an improvement in service and not solely to provide community identity.

Still, Glendale activists vow to continue their push. They argue that the area, which has its own library and community groups, merits unique numbers on letters and packages, too.

Every other area has its own zip code, said Dorie Figliola, a longtime resident who belongs to the Glendale Civic Association. “It’s very unfair. . . . We’re asking for what should be rightly ours,” Figliola said.

Earlier on the subject of zip code envy: Sound Smart And Start Talking Up Right Now The “Rising Political Influence Of 10065”.

Location Scout: Glendale.

How Tame Is The West Village These Days?

The West Village is so tame that arborcide qualifies as a major story:

With its cozy bakeries and candlelit restaurants, tree-lined Bedford St. is a picture-perfect piece of the West Village. But upon second glance, there is something missing. In front of 12 Bedford St. sits an empty tree pit. Home to a male gingko for nearly 20 years, all that remains is a dirt-covered stump and a yellow, laminated sign that reads:

R.I.P. Gingko Biloba 1985-2007

Shade Giver, Oxygen Provider, Friend to Humans and Even Dogs, A Good Tree

Died November 15, 2007

Victim of NYC Parks Department Arborcide

. . .

On Nov. 15, Stu Waldman and Livvie Mann were on their way out to an event at the Javits Center when Waldman noticed through their front window two people pruning their beloved tree. He and his wife had paid for it to be planted when they first moved to Bedford St. Having received no call ahead of time from the Parks Department, Waldman and Mann rushed out to find out who the pruners were and what exactly they were up to. Waldman said there was no indication on their uniforms that the man and woman worked for the Parks Department. But the pair of pruners said they were hired by the city to cut down the tree because it was cracked and posed a danger to local residents.

After a few minutes of arguing, the couple — hoping they had convinced the pruners to consult with their supervisor before going through with the job — left for their evening event. When they returned later that night, the tree was gone.

As they retold the story recently, they sat perched on their side-by-side sofa chairs, finishing each other’s sentences. When they came to the moment when they found the tree gone, they gazed wistfully out at the empty space where it once stood.

“We were upset, felt violated and lied to,” Mann said. “Everything about that tree represented years of work. It’s not easy to keep up a tree around here.”

. . .

The pair plan to take the issue to Community Board 2 or the City Council if they don’t get a response from 311 soon. Bob Gormley, C.B. 2 district manager, said the board is working on a number of initiatives to plant trees in empty tree pits in the neighborhood, but he was surprised to hear about this particular case.

Manhattan’s Sue-detenland

The geographic quirkiness of Marble Hill has its advantages:

Vitalina Montesano lives in Manhattan, even though her Marble Hill neighborhood lies on the land mass everyone calls The Bronx.

But when she toppled down the stairs of her housing project in 2005, her lawyer decided to challenge that jurisdictional anomaly by filing her suit against the city Housing Authority in The Bronx — where juries are notoriously more sympathetic to plaintiffs and prone to award big settlements.

The Housing Authority then filed for a change-of-venue motion, saying that the case should be heard in Manhattan with its stingier jury pool.

Her lawyer argued that since Montesano has a 718 area code, a Bronx ZIP code and her children went to public schools in The Bronx, her place of residence is — for all intents and purposes — The Bronx.

“If you send a letter to my client, it goes to Bronx, NY. If you call her, it is a 718 number,” lawyer Ben Robinson told The Post. “It’s a very unique situation.”

Originally, Marble Hill was part of the island of Manhattan — cut off from The Bronx by the Spuyten Duyvil Creek.

But in 1895, the city dredged out marshland to the south of the neighborhood to connect the Harlem River with the Hudson. Later, the creek was filled in, and Marble Hill was made contiguous with The Bronx. When a lower court decided to allow the case to be heard in The Bronx, the Housing Authority appealed. On Tuesday, the state Appellate Division apologetically overturned the decision.

Location Scout: Marble Hill.

Meet Your New Absentee Landlord; Try Not To Call In The Middle Of The Night

Real estate brokers love the weak dollar:

The sidewalks of Manhattan are crammed this month with European tourists on shopping sprees, picking up gifts that cost far less in the United States than they do at home because of the weak dollar. But they are not just crowding into boutiques and department stores. Some are also shopping for condominiums.

“There’s bargains to be had,” said Kerry Miller, a public relations executive who with her husband, Marty, a disc jockey, was working through her Christmas gift list by buying sweaters at Abercrombie & Fitch and makeup at MAC, as well as touring 32 apartments. The Millers, from Malahide, Ireland, a suburb of Dublin, searched for a one-bedroom condo. They made an offer for $700,000 on one apartment in the meatpacking district and are waiting to hear back from the seller.

While natives remain wary about real estate and worry about bonuses and the economic climate, foreign tourists are keeping brokers busy with their eagerness to buy up Manhattan apartments, which many see as investments.

“The exchange rate is like a gift from God for Europeans,” said Danielle Grossenbacher, the broker for Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy who showed the Millers around. “Everybody is feeling they have an opportunity to purchase a piece of Manhattan.”

These buyers are transforming a traditionally slow month for Manhattan real estate brokers at a time when brokers nationwide are struggling to sell homes. This year, Manhattan brokers are waking before dawn to talk by phone with European buyers about amenities and closing costs and working late advising foreign buyers in town on the best places to shop for gadgets and clothes.

. . .

Jonathan Fletcher, who works in information technology, and Aine Marshall, a dentist, came to Manhattan from London to buy a $1 million investment property. Mr. Fletcher, who is considering buying in the financial district, where he believes there is opportunity for appreciation, plans to put down his deposit money first and wait for the dollar to weaken more before paying for the entire apartment. Even if he does not buy an apartment, the savings from shopping in the United States covered the cost of the trip, he said. They spent a total of $8,000 on clothes, a camera and a $5,000 drum set that would have cost about double back home.