One If By Land, Screw DEP

One if by Land, Two if by Sea . . . water bill deadbeats:

Mayor Bloomberg is threatening to force foreclosure sales of more than 24,000 city properties to collect nearly $470 million the city is owed in unpaid property taxes and water bills.

The owners of 24,593 properties will receive warning letters from the city notifying them that a lien will be sold on their property if they do not pay off their debts, which range from $1,000 to millions of dollars, within 90 days. If the debts are not paid, a private collector hired by the city can begin foreclosure proceedings.

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The list of properties that owe the city money are in all five boroughs. They include a historic restaurant on Barrow Street in Manhattan’s West Village, One if by Land, Two if by Sea, and an Upper East Side property worth more than $10 million that is owned by Michael Melnitzky, a pro se litigator who was profiled in yesterday’s New York Times. All properties on the city’s list to receive a warning letter were published in a 92-page advertisement placed by the city in yesterday’s Daily News.