Shh . . . Don’t Let Bill O’Reilly Hear About This

The War on Christmas continues:

Santa Claus has been bumped.

Instead of having pride of place in the center of the Staten Island Mall, the Jolly Old Elf has been relegated to the JCPenney wing — separating him from the holiday congestion near the Christmas tree and train ride.

St. Nick also is being nudged out by two new kiosks installed in center court: Vonage, the online discount telephone company, and the Piercing Pagoda, which also has a kiosk in the Macy’s wing.

It’s a question of space, Mall general manager James Easley insists.

“Center court is always so crowded with . . . [long lines waiting] for Santa and the train. Moving Santa and his chair will allow us to accommodate a lot more people by spreading things out,” he said.

. . .

“These three things — the Christmas tree, the train and Santa — should be together,” said Patricia Leahy of Greenridge, mother of 3-year-old Christopher. “There is plenty of room in center court for a tree, Santa and the trains. I can’t figure out how Mall management thinks there is more room by JCPenney.”

At least Santa will be there, said Ms. Leahy, who e-mailed the Advance last week to check on what turned out to be a false report that Santa Claus would skip his appearance at the Mall in New Springville this year.

But she was skeptical about his new spot: “I personally think it is a way of de-Christmasing Christmas.”

I Got Two Words For Ya: Die Bold!

New York’s nifty old lever-powered voting machines actually, finally, perhaps may be retired after this election:

Over the next few months, the New York City Board of Elections will have the formidable task of complying with the Help America Vote Act, which requires that updated voting machines be installed for the 2007 elections.

With many states already using varying types of the new machines in today’s election, the New York City Board of Elections, which has created an evaluation team, will no doubt be looking around the country to help determine a game plan for next year.

The board has already faced criticism for its failure to implement the voting machines for this election, but some experts say the delay could actually pay off.

“I think on one side of the coin, it’s a good thing that we’re not the guinea pigs,” the executive director of the Citizens Union and the Citizens Union Foundation, Dick Dadey, said.

New York failed to meet the deadline imposed for the Help America Vote Act, and was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice. The suit called for the New York City Board of Elections to implement a token amount of disabled voting machines for 2006 and to be fully compliant with all new voting machines for 2007.

. . .

The board is considering two types of voting machines: an optical scan device that reads a paper ballot that is filled out in a private voting booth, and a direct-reading electronic machine that functions like an automated teller machine with a push-button screen. The two technologies leave a paper trail.

In Ohio during the September primaries, the optical scan voting machines received criticisms. About 18,000 ballots were deemed unreadable by the scanners due to subtle paper variations. The optical scanners were manufactured by one of the same vendors that the city is considering, Diebold.

So I Guess Those Property Tax Rebates Were His Way Of Being Flashy Beyond His Means

Hey Magic 8 Ball, are the mayor and his staff preparing for an economic slowdown? Outlook not so good:

In a surprising pullback, Mayor Bloomberg has asked agency heads to draw up plans to scale back spending on announced construction projects, The Post has learned.

One source said the cut could amount to as much as 25 percent of the four-year, $36.5 billion capital budget adopted in June. But Stu Loeser, the mayor’s spokesman, said that no such figure has been discussed and that, in any case, “no decisions have been made.”

He said agency heads received letters on Oct. 12 asking: “If what you had to do in the next four years was spread over five years, what would your priorities be?”

Just five months ago, Bloomberg and the City Council approved record expense and capital budgets and an ambitious list of projects throughout the five boroughs.

Over $10 billion was set aside for school construction and expansion and $2.6 billion allocated for rehabbing the four East River bridges and 68 other bridge structures.

The city was so flush that the mayor even found $2 billion for a new Retiree Health Benefits Trust Fund to help defray the future cost of city workers’ health benefits.

He also spent $200 million a year for each of the next four years to pay down debt service on bonds sold to fund the capital budget. Debt service is expected to cost taxpayers $4.8 billion this year and $6.1 billion in 2010.

You Mean That Pleasant Jamaican Woman Is Not The Baby’s Mother?

1-800-HowsMyDriving for nannies:

While nanny is minding the baby, passersby now can rat out a Mary Poppins who’s less than practically perfect in every way.

Under a plan pushed by a New York City prosecutor, all they’ll have to do is take down the “license plate” on the tot’s stroller and send an e-mail to the parents.

The plates are registered to www.howsmynanny.com, a site where informants can plug in the tag’s unique number to alert parents to a nanny’s indiscretions.

Unlike the vague, gossipy “bad nanny” sightings that proliferate on mommy blogs but don’t necessarily reach a tots’ parents, “There’s no guesswork. You don’t have to say, ‘Is this my nanny?'” said Jill Starishevsky, the assistant district attorney hawking the plates.

Buyers pay $50 for a 4-inch-by-7-inch plate and private access to notes from tipsters, who can remain anonymous.

Then there’s 1-800-HowsMyParenting:

Starishevsky admitted the system isn’t perfect: Parents could find themselves in the position of receiving reports about themselves.

“So when my husband is doing pop-o-wheelies with the stroller, someone can tell me he’s doing an illegal act?” joked Jo-el Shea, who was jogging with her 14-week-old son in Central Park this week.

Smaller Guns, Plastic Keys

Rejected Post headline — “It’s Not The Size, It’s What You Do With It”:

City cops are on the alert for the SwissMiniGun — a 2.16-inch replica of a Colt Python capable of shooting bullets that are just one-third of an inch long.

The six-shot revolver — which sells for about $500 and can literally fit in the palm of a hand — is capable of causing serious damage, authorities say.

The guns cannot be imported legally, but smuggling is a concern, officials said.

Cops are also watching out for plastic handcuff keys that are approximately the size of a nickel.

The keys cannot be picked up by metal detectors and look like a pendant when worn on a chain.

The NYPD last Saturday warned the city’s 36,000 officers to “use extreme vigilance” when searching, guarding and transporting prisoners.