A Day To Drink

Great moments in cross-cultural understanding:

In Staten Island and across the U.S., Cinco de Mayo often represents an opportunity for heavy-duty partying.

. . .

For the thousands of 20-somethings who fraternized under the enormous blow-up ornament of a Coors beer can in the New Dorp parking lot of Chevy’s Fresh Mex restaurant last night, Mexican heritage was summed up in two words: Tequila and cerveza.

“No one here cares that much what it is. It’s a holiday to drink,” said Sharon Conway, a Brooklyn resident and graduate of Port Richmond High School, who attended what was hailed as the “biggest party extravaganza in the tri-state area” with her brother Mike, of Bay Terrace. “It’s got to be something Mexican like Independence Day. I’m sure it’s a big deal there.”

She lifted her beer cup in a mock toast to the crowds of revelers in jeans and T-shirts, clingy tops and strappy sandals.

“It’s a little weird that I’m working and they’re celebrating,” said Jose Valencia of Port Richmond, as he flipped burgers at a food stand.

Valencia, who arrived from Mexico in his early teens and graduated from high school here, said he agreed to return for the night to his former job at Chevy’s, when the manager called looking for extra help to staff the celebration.

“They don’t really know what it means,” he said wiping his hands on his apron. “They’ll be coming up to you asking what Cinco de Mayo is all about.”

Harley David Son Of A Bitch

Qu’est c’que tu fais sur ma Harley!:

Diego Servetti may know what to do when in Rome — but the Italian tourist had to learn the hard way what every New Yorker knows: when in the East Village, keep your hands off the Hells Angels’ motorcycles.

Servetti, 29, was walking with a pal past the Angels’ clubhouse on East Third Street Sunday morning when he was so taken with the shiny Harleys parked outside that he decided to sit on one.

Seconds later, two men came running out of the club, he told cops.

One of them, believed to be the owner of the bike Servetti admired, had blood in his eye — and an ax handle in his hands.

The biker, described as white-haired with a gray beard, knocked Servetti to the ground and broke his arm.

No Respect For The Lord

The Post reports that several Times Square-area businesses closed temporarily on Easter Sunday to observe Gang Initiation Day:

Police, unable to contain a Times Square street-gang invasion, advised several restaurants to close down early “for safety reasons” on Easter Sunday, The Post has learned.

A 24-hour McDonald’s on Seventh Avenue between 46th and 47th streets closed “from 8 o’clock at night to 1 o’clock in the morning,” manager Alex Donato told The Post.

“They [police] said, for security reasons, to close it down — cause there were too many gang members.”

A complement of 88 cops — including five on horseback — along with eight sergeants, three lieutenants, a captain and a deputy chief had been deployed to Times Square on April 16 to police an influx of approximately 40,000 pedestrians, including an Easter Parade of gang members, mostly from the notorious Bloods.

But despite the heightened police presence, cops warned at least three restaurants to close as hundreds of crimson-hued hoods swaggered by, police sources said.

. . .

At another Mickey D’s, on 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues, management hired six private security guards for the Sunday-night shenanigans.

“We were much better prepared than last year” when the McDonald’s closed “all night,” said one employee.

They only shut down for 45 minutes this year at the cops’ suggestion, he said.

“Easter is gang-initiation day. I don’t know why — no respect for the lord, I guess,” the employee added.

“Easily over 200” gang members were strutting up and down Seventh Avenue and Broadway between West 42nd and West 50th streets until about 3 a.m., one police source said.

Those Are People Who Died!

The Times breaks down the 1,662 murders in New York City from 2003 to 2005:

The oldest killer was 88; he murdered his wife. The youngest was 9; she stabbed her friend. The women were more than twice as likely as men to murder a current spouse or lover. But once the romance was over, only the men killed their exes. The deadliest day was on July 10, 2004, when eight people died in separate homicides.

Five people eliminated a boss; 10 others murdered co-workers. Males who killed favored firearms, while women and girls chose knives as often as guns. More homicides occurred in Brooklyn than in any other borough. More happened on Saturday. And roughly a third are unsolved.

. . .

Among all the city’s victims, the oldest was 91; she died during a robbery. Whites and Asians, who seldom murdered, were also infrequently killed: Together, they represented 75 or fewer victims each year. Most homicides occurred outdoors. The deadliest hour was 1 to 2 a.m

(See what Jim Carroll has been up to.)

Enforce The Pass-Through And We Can Mainstream That

New Jersey might actually get rid of mandatory full-serve:

There are certain truths about New Jersey that have always seemed to be immutable: It is the most densely populated state. It has the highest property taxes in the country. And it is one of the few places left where you cannot pump your own gasoline.

But if Gov. Jon S. Corzine has his way, drivers may soon be in for a cultural about-face.

Mr. Corzine proposed Thursday that the state lift its self-serve ban as part of a package of transportation proposals on carpooling, mass transit and enforcement, intended to cushion residents from rising gasoline prices. And while he cautioned that his proposal was just a pilot program that would be limited to perhaps three months, he said that self-serve gasoline could save drivers about 5 or 6 cents a gallon, if properly handled.

“We think it’s a responsible thing to do,” he said. “If we can enforce the pass-through and we can mainstream that over a period of time, then it would be permanent and broadly applied throughout the state.”

What exactly does it mean to “enforce the pass-through” and subsequently “mainstreaming” it? No matter — but check out this fool idiot:

The idea does require legislative approval, however, and early reaction was mixed. Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski, a Democrat from Middlesex County who is chairman of the transportation committee, said in a statement, “Telling a motorist that self-serve will save them money at the pump is like telling someone that they could save money on a new home by building it themselves.”

Um, there’s that little issue of paying all of the little men who pump the gas . . . Jackass . . .