It Really Is Like The 1980s Again

Salt? I haven’t thought about salt in . . . gosh, years:

Mayor Bloomberg is marshaling forces for his next public-health crusade: less salt. Late last month, he quietly gathered health experts and food-industry reps at Gracie Mansion to lay out his plan to cut sodium levels in processed foods by 20 percent over the next five years. At the meeting, city health czar Thomas Frieden called high blood pressure, which is linked to excessive sodium intake, “the greatest public-health threat facing the city” and pressured the industry groups to sign on by the end of November, according to a memo written by one attendee, Scott Vinson of the National Council of Chain Restaurants, and obtained by New York. There won’t be any new regulation, the memo says, but restaurateurs will be encouraged to join a “voluntary” initiative.

No Quip, No Pun, No Smirky Comment . . .

. . . instead, just where the fuck is all this money coming from? I thought there was a huge fiscal crisis:

The Bloomberg administration is in serious negotiations to buy 10.5 acres of real estate in Coney Island that once appeared unobtainable — a move that would save both Astroland Park and the mayor’s plans to revive the slumping seaside amusement district, The Post has learned.

Developer Joe Sitt is ready to give up his controversial plan to build a $1.5 billion Vegas-style entertainment complex, which the mayor wants no part of, and instead sell all of the beachfront land he’s purchased to the city.

“God willing, we will get this done soon,” said Councilman Domenic Recchia Jr., who convinced both Sitt’s company, Thor Equities, and the city to go to the bargaining table and is helping broker the deal.

While a price is still being negotiated, it is expected that the city would have to shell out $200 million to $250 million for the land, sources close to the negotiations said.

Recchia said the mayor wants the deal done quickly so the city can finally get going on Bloomberg’s 47-acre rezoning plan for Coney Island, which includes building a nine-acre amusement park.

By purchasing Sitt’s land, the city would become owner of 3.1-acre Astroland Park, which is the process of closing because Sitt failed to renew its lease.

Recchia said the mayor “is committed to bringing back Astroland,” at least for next summer.

Hit The Bottle

On the heels of plastic bags, another plan that masquerades as an environmental initiative but is really a revenue-raising instrument:

Billed as an environmental measure, efforts to require a deposit for juice and water containers never got very far. Now, it’s being put forward, somewhat controversially, as an untapped revenue stream in a tight fiscal circumstance.

One nickel at a time.

Budget officials say those nickels would add up to $25 million this year, and $118 million in the next fiscal year. An expanded bottle bill is in David Paterson’s plan — granted, in the back — to bridge a $1.5 billion end-of-year budget deficit and cut spending for the next budget cycle.

“It may be that it takes an economic crisis to get the bigger better bottle bill passed,” said Laura Haight, senior environmental associate at the New York Public Interest Research Group, which has long advocated the bottle bill’s passage. She said it would bring in even more money than the budget office projected, and would reduce litter and increase recycling by giving consumers a financial incentive not to throw away their garbage.

Here’s the money trail now: you buy a six pack of Rheingold, and pay an additional 30 cents in deposits (5 cents times 6 bottles). If you’re a responsible citizen, you enjoy the Rheingold responsibly, rinse the bottles and return them to the nearest grocery store, which gives you back your 30 cents. The grocery store keeps 12 cents (2 cents per bottle) as a handling fee, and the same distributors that brought you your Rheingold take away the bottles.

If, however, the bottles end up with the rest of the garbage, or lost, or smashed, the beer distributors keep your 30 cents, and use it to offset what it costs them to cart away the responsible citizen’s bottles.

The new proposal would send the thirty cents to the state coffers. Additionally, it would put deposits on everything from Snapple to orange juice containers, increasing the amount of things New Yorkers can return to stores.

Beverage distributors . . . I hate those guys.

The Borough President’s Office Does What Exactly?

Not a sarcastic question — I’m genuinely curious:

Mayor Bloomberg’s budget axe is taking another big chunk out of Queens Borough President Helen Marshall’s office.

As the city’s economy continues to sink, Bloomberg has ordered Marshall to cut $117,000 and a minimum of two jobs from her $4.6 million payroll by the end of this fiscal year, which ends on June 30.

That’s on top of $1.4 million City Hall lopped off Marshall’s budget at the start of the fiscal year.

Marshall called the cuts “devastating” and told the Daily News she will likely have to pink-slip seven of her 57 staffers.

“It cuts to the bone,” she said of the mid-year budget revisions, announced last week.

Bloomberg’s edict also forces Marshall to lose $186,000 from her budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

Criticized in the press recently for having a $63,000-a-year chauffeur, Marshall is reeling at the thought of swallowing the bitter budget pill.

“We can’t really take any more cuts. We’re already at rock bottom,” she said, adding that she’s unsure how to meet the minimum layoff requirement, or when it would happen.

Whatchoo Talkin’ ‘Bout, Willets?

Before the City Council agrees to Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to transform Willets Point by building housing, retail, hotels and a convention center at the site, can someone explain why anyone would want to build housing, retail, hotels and a convention center on an apparently highly polluted site in the flightpath of planes landing at LaGuardia? Because I’m really, really curious about that one:

City hall officials struck an eleventh-hour deal Wednesday to transform gritty Willets Point into what they called the city’s next great neighborhood.

The City Council is expected to ratify the agreement by today’s deadline by granting a host of zoning and other measures required under the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.

The $3 billion redevelopment plan will turn the heavily polluted 62-acre tract near Shea Stadium in Queens into a modern complex of residential, retail, entertainment and commercial uses, including a hotel and the city’s first convention center built outside Manhattan.

Mayor Bloomberg hailed the agreement with Council officials “as one of the big, important wins for New York City’s economy” at a time when it needs it the most.

He said it will create 18,000 construction jobs and 5,000 permanent jobs and will generate $25 billion in economic benefits in the next 30 years, including $1.3 billion in direct tax revenues.

The redevelopment, which will take a decade, is to include 5,500 units of housing, and the new deal calls for boosting the affordable housing component to 1,920 units, or 35% of the total. That’s up from 1,100 units, or 20%, in the original version. Some 800 of the affordable units will be targeted to families earning less than $37,000.

Location Scout: Iron Triangle.