Whatever Happened To All This Season’s Losers Of The Year?

If this doesn’t make you finally want to leave the city, I don’t know what will:

According to a 2005 NYC Housing and Vacancy survey, 40 percent of Big Apple citizens live in one-bedrooms or studios. While there’s no breakdown of how many of those dwellings house kids, anecdotal evidence indicates that a lot of families are making do — and making whoopee — in uncomfortably close quarters.

Starvin’ To Be Alone And Independent From The Scene That I’ve Known

Will the mayoral race in New York look anything like the one in Albuquerque? Tonight’s the night:

The Thompson campaign seems to think [the term limit extension issue is salient for voters], and they’re looking at the recent mayor’s race in Albuquerque, where the mayor, Martin Chavez, was defeated after he successfully sued to throw out the law barring him from seeking another term.

. . .

Three days after Chavez’s defeat, a reporter asked Bloomberg if he was afraid the same thing would happen to him. Bloomberg, standing in his campaign headquarters with the term-limited mayor of Miami, Manny Diaz, said he wasn’t, because “the politics there are different than the politics here.”

Some differences:

In Albuquerque, there were three candidates.

In Albuquerque, the third candidate in the race was a Democrat, like the incumbent. One siphoned votes from the other while the Republican candidate, Berry, consolidated his base. Also, both Berry and the other challenger, Romero, focused their attacks on Chavez.

In Albuquerque, the election was nonpartisan.

And most notably, in Albuquerque, all the candidates participated in a public financing program that capped their spending.

That last difference — spending — explains the absurdity of Bloomberg arguing that it “costs a lot of money to get a message out” — this despite the fact that he has had eight years to craft said message, and that he has the best name recognition of any other mayor in America.

See also: Bloomberg For Mayor 2009.

Buried “Lead”

Six paragraphs into the Post story about a lawsuit filed against Steiner Sports, the entity responsible for reselling collectibles from Old Yankee Stadium, for allegedly selling seats not as advertised, this detail sticks out in particular:

Back in May, when the sale of seats was announced, Steiner and the Yankees made no secret of the fact that all the original paint would have to be stripped because of lead. A new color, resembling the faded blue, was used to simulate their original appearance.

The Yankees really do want to kill you.

Location Scout: Old Yankee Stadium.

Look No Further Than Bloomberg . . .

. . . when it comes to the shocking rise in Santeria sacrifices in the city over the past year. It seems everyone is resorting to whatever means necessary to rid the city of this tremendous curse:

An emaciated goat wandering Pelham Bay Park. A pig’s head placed on a desolate street near the Green-Wood Cemetery. A dead rooster lying near a tree in Forest Park in Queens.

These bizarre discoveries have popped up with shocking frequency this year, making Big Apple parks look like makeshift sacrificial altars and grazing grounds for livestock left over from religious rituals.

In the last few months, four goats have been found in public places in The Bronx. And a total of six were found in the city in the last year, according to Animal Care and Control. That’s on top of 19 reported incidents of animal remains found in parkland, according to the Parks Department.

See also: Bloomberg For Mayor 2009.

At Crunch Time, Everyone Suddenly Feels Embarrassed*

More do-it-yourself editorial board. The Times bemoans Bloomberg’s obscene spending:

New York City’s campaign finance system is one of the best in the country. He does everyone a disservice by not complying with the system’s limits on spending.

Elsewhere on the opinion page, Bob Herbert calls the mayor’s race baiting a sign of vulnerability:

That the mayor is now willing to lock his principles in a safe deposit box and start riding the broomstick of ethnic politics suggests that he’s worried about the outcome of his race against Mr. Thompson . . .

*Everyone except El Diario, that is. And the Amsterdam News. Good for them. Also, do you wonder why the Times chose to run this endorsement on Saturday?

See also: Bloomberg For Mayor 2009.