Leading Economic Indicators: Mice

If you’re going to skimp, skimp on the Rolls-Royce and not pest control:

Brace yourselves for more fun news: recessions, it turns out, while bad for humans, may be good for cockroaches and mice.

Veterans in the pest control industry said that their customers, both residential and commercial, appear to be sacrificing on regular exterminations as a cost-cutting measure. While restaurants are bound by the threats of steep fines, apartment landlords and office buildings are cutting back services, the exterminators said.

Robert Agatowski, with Control Exterminating Company on East 33rd Street in Manhattan, recalled a recent call from a general manager of a business.

“He said, ‘It’s very simple. I don’t know if we can make the rent or the payroll,'” Mr. Agatowski recalled. “‘So in other words, you’re out. We’ll step on the bugs and kick the mice.’ The exterminating almost becomes like a luxury item.”

He and other exterminators interviewed this week were careful not to name names.

A Generous Gesture That Is Bound To Look Good On Videotape*

This is because of what now? Oh, what difference does it make:

They’ve sung about a place “Where the Streets Have No Name,” but Irish rockers U2 will have a street named for them in Times Square Tuesday.

Mayor Bloomberg is expected to rename part of W.53rd St. at Broadway “U2 Way.”

The temporary street renaming coincides with the release of the band’s new CD, “No Line on the Horizon,” and the kickoff last night of their five-night gig on “Late Show With David Letterman.”

*I knew I could use this later.

Wine, Whine

In the midst of contentious state budget discussions, the important issues emerge:

Gov. Paterson’s proposal to expand wine sales in New York — and pour money into state coffers — has pitted supermarkets against liquor shops, and in some cases, it’s gotten vicious.

The liquor stores are lobbying to hold onto their near-exclusive right to sell wine, posting signs that say “Save Our Store” and urging customers to help kill Paterson’s plan to allow wine sales in grocery aisles. The proposal is estimated to bring in $150 million in franchise fees over two years.

Whole Foods fired back last week, sending e-mails to its clientele telling them to “Vote for Wine in 2009.” Included in the missive was a sample letter to send to lawmakers in support of the measure.

Whole Foods has joined with other supermarket chains, including Stop & Shop and King Kullen, and business groups to push the plan. Currently, only liquor stores, wine shops and wineries can sell wine in New York.

One supporter, upstate vineyard owner Scott Osborn, said that after he testified in favor of the proposal at a budget hearing last month, several liquor-store owners threatened to pull his wines from their shelves.

“I used to be pushing your wines, but now just looking at them makes me want to puke,” one liquor-store owner wrote in e-mail. “I’ll never sell any of your wines ever again!”

Osborn, who owns Fox Run Vineyards in the Finger Lakes, said the expanded market for his wine would help business. He asked Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to investigate what he said was a “coordinated campaign of intimidation and retaliation.”

Glad That’s Out Of The Way

For the record:

For the record, Mr. Koch, a lifelong bachelor, declines to say whether he is gay. “I do not want to add to the acceptability of asking every candidate, ‘Are you straight or gay or lesbian?’ and make it a legitimate question, so I don’t submit to that question. I don’t care if people think I’m gay because I don’t answer it. I’m flattered that at 84 people are interested in my sex life — and, it’s quite limited.”