The Bitch Just Get Richer? Perhaps Not Anymore . . .

New signs that the economy may be on track to correct itself in 2008:

The Dog Run, the city’s only water therapy for old and infirm canines will be closing next week to stave off a 50 percent rent hike, even though a dozen or so devoted human companions of the dogs staged an impromptu rally over the weekend.

“You can call us crazy dog owners but all the dogs have benefited so much from this place,” said Mona Mansour, a freelance copyeditor, who organized the protest and has been taking her dog to the pool for more three years for physical therapy. “We hoped it would be like the Grinch and the landlord would have a change of heart and see what he’s taking away.”

The Dog Run has been at its Chelsea location for four years providing an innovative form of “hydrotherapy” and massage for dogs and holding “open swims” for neighborhood dogs in its 12-by-15 foot pool.

Bloomberg Returns; “Lamppost In New York” Axiom Questioned

For a would-be Presidential candidate, coming home can be a drag:

Fresh from a trip to China and Indonesia, Mayor Bloomberg is turning his attention away from issues of international importance and toward one that is decidedly local: potholes.

At his first public event since returning to New York from his week-long travels abroad, Mr. Bloomberg kicked off the start of pothole season by urging New Yorkers to call the city’s help hotline, 311, to report any craters in the road.

The city fills the equivalent of 22 potholes every hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In the past five months, more than 70,000 potholes have been filled. Mr. Bloomberg said that since 2002, the city has filled 1.25 million potholes.

Although potholes may not be the most glamorous item on Mr. Bloomberg’s to-do list, he tried to draw a connection yesterday between filling holes in the ground and the essence of government. He said the city’s efforts to keep streets in good repair is making a vital difference when it comes to traffic fatalities, which are down more than 20% since 2001.

Because It’s Not Like There Aren’t About A Million Yahoos Walking Around In Yankees Gear In This Town Or Anything . . .

It’s kind of like looking for “a white van” — there are thousands of white vans out on the roads:

While other New Yorkers have been holding their heads in their hands over the steroid scandal enveloping past and present Bronx Bombers, [Benjamin] Soto wrongly spent a week in prison on Rikers Island — just for proudly wearing a Yankee jacket.

. . .

The Staten Island man’s odyssey began Nov. 10, when cops approached him with guns drawn as he walked home from his girlfriend’s house in Port Richmond.

“They were screaming, ‘Where’s the weapon? Where’s the stuff you stole? Where are the credit cards?'” he said.

“They threw me up against a fence, and I was asking, ‘What’s going on? What did I do? I don’t know what you’re talking about.'”

Turns out Soto, 35, loosely matched the description of one of three young men who had robbed a teen at knifepoint nearby. The victim told cops one of the men was wearing a Yankee jacket.

Two other men, Terence Ascensio, 17, Andre Glover, 18, were arrested separately.

Before Soto knew what was going on, he was handcuffed in front of his neighbors, hauled off to jail, arraigned on robbery charges and held in lieu of $25,000 bail — which as a YMCA custodian, he could not raise.

I’m Guessing Yvette Clarke’s iPod Probably Doesn’t Have One Of Bob Hope’s Renditions Of “Silver Bells” On It . . .

Representative Yvette Clarke sure knows how to pick her battles:

Rep. Yvette Clarke voted against Christmas!

The first-term Park Slope Democrat was one of just nine members of Congress who last week voted against House resolution 847, a symbolic bill that, among other things, acknowledged “the international religious and historical importance of Christmas and the Christian faith.”

The resolution also “recognizes the Christian faith as one of the great religions of the world.”

The bill — one of dozens of purely symbolic resolutions that recognize everything from the James River as “America’s founding river” to the passing of Gerald Ford — passed last Tuesday by a vote of 372–9.

But the landslide vote masked the bill’s divisive language, including a pointed reminder that “there are approximately 225,000,000 Christians in the United States, making Christianity the religion of over three-fourths of the American population.”

“In this season of giving, love, peace and joy, I am mindful not to allow Christmas to be narrowly defined by an act of Congress or to consent to the pronouncements of others that are not reflective of my Christian experience,” she said in a statement. “I firmly believe that it is the spirit of the holiday season . . . has taught me to accept the values expressed by a diverse civil society. It is the love for our collective humanity; the desire to live in a world filled with peace and joy that truly defines and unites us as Americans.”

. . .

It’s not the first time Clarke has taken an unpopular stand against her congressional colleagues. Earlier this year, she was the only “no” vote on a proposal to name the library on Ellis Island after the British-born comedian Bob Hope. The bill was approved 420–1.

A Christmas gift idea for the representative?

Because Those Signs Are Really For Collecting Vast Amounts Of Money To Balance The Budget At The End Of The Year

All for the public good:

Moshe Zenwirth has been waiting since June for a bus that hasn’t come — and likely never will.

The Borough Park yeshiva administrator was slapped with a $115 ticket after he parked at a “bus stop” on 51st St. – even though the closest bus route is one block north.

Since the June 13 fine was issued, Zenwirth, 34, has appealed the decision, but has been stymied by two city administrative law judges, most recently in October.

“It upset me more the unfairness, the negligence, the stupidity than the money itself,” said Zenwirth.

“How did it go through two separate judges and nobody even bothered to look to see that there wasn’t even a bus that went by.”