Every Time You Start To Feel Something For Boston, The City Just Lets You Down

After getting annoyed with Giants fans, the pendulum swings back for me:

The arrogant New England team has already applied for trademarks on “19-0” and “19-0 The Perfect Season.” Three days before they beat the San Diego Chargers, and more than two weeks before Super Bowl XLII, the team egotistically filed paperwork with the US Patent and Trademark Office to cash in on sales of T-shirts, caps, posters and all kinds of Pats paraphernalia.

But the Pats have the wrong number.

The Post, ever confident that Eli Manning and company will squash the Pats on Sunday, spent $375 for its own trademark application yesterday — on “18-1.”

Our application, No. 77385477, is pending.

And Bill Belichick and his bozos better wait a minuteman before counting their royalties.

. . .

The Post had no luck contacting David Johanson, the attorney who applied for the New England trademarks on Jan. 17. The woman who answered his telephone yelled, “We can’t talk about this!” and hung up.

Several hours later, Pats spokesman Stacey James called to say the trademark filing was to protect profits, and is not a pre-emptive writing of history.

“These are defensive tactics taken so people can’t brand with our logo,” he said.

The “19-0” trademark has not yet been approved.

State Assembly Hammers Mayor’s Concessions To New Jersey Drivers

At least someone here is asking tough questions about the congestion pricing plan that is apparently designed to clear out Midtown streets for New Jersey drivers:

Just 48 hours before a state commission is expected to recommend a proposal that would charge drivers an $8 daily fee to enter the area of Manhattan below 60th Street, the panel’s chairman, Marc V. Shaw, heard Democratic members of the Assembly speak out against it on Tuesday.

. . .

“I would say that the idea of congestion pricing and the commission’s proposals got hammered, and it was in a comprehensive way,” said Rory I. Lancman, a Queens assemblyman who attended the meeting. “Every aspect of the proposals were hashed out, were analyzed and were found to be wanting.”

Mr. Shaw has been making the rounds in Albany as he tries to drum up support for a traffic-busting plan in advance of the commission’s vote.

“Marc stood there for three hours and took his beating like a man,” Mr. Lancman said.

He said more than 30 legislators expressed objections, and only one spoke in favor of the plan.

The chorus of opposition from Assembly members, most of them from the city and its suburbs, is significant because the support of the State Legislature is needed to carry out congestion pricing. The Assembly is also far less likely to pass legislation opposed by members whose districts would be directly affected.

. . .

“There was considerable opposition” said Hakeem Jeffries, an assemblyman from Brooklyn who attended part of the meeting. “Not to the notion of doing something, to dealing with congestion or even to congestion pricing. But there’s opposition to the way it has been presented and developed so far.”

Mr. Jeffries said the plan unfairly favored drivers entering Manhattan from New Jersey because it would give them a credit for tolls paid on the tunnels or bridges across the Hudson River. With tolls during rush hours on those crossings set to rise to $8, that would mean that those drivers would not make any additional payments under the congestion plan and would not have an incentive to avoid driving into the city.

. . .

Mr. Shaw said that the issue of how to treat drivers entering from New Jersey needed to be addressed but that a solution to the problem was probably not going to be in the plan that the commission will vote on.

Spitzer’s Critics: “Take A Hike!”

Poor guy just can’t catch a break:

The cost of a MetroCard swipe could rise in January for almost 85% of subway and bus riders, even though Governor Spitzer yesterday ordered the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to hold the base fare at $2 at least until 2009.

Mr. Spitzer’s proposal, which allows for a hike in ticket prices on all discounted MetroCards, is drawing fire from MTA board members and elected officials who say his plan would benefit tourists and force commuting New Yorkers to shoulder the load of the transit authority’s looming financial deficits.

“This is not good enough for me,” an MTA board member who opposes a fare hike, Mitchell Pally, said in an interview. “Why is the $2 fare so sacrosanct? The impact on the seven-day fare and the 30-day fare, those to me are more important.”

Weekly, monthly, and discounted MetroCards account for 84.9% of subway and bus ride swipes. Mr. Spitzer’s plan also allows for a fare hike aboard the commuter railroads.

Mr. Spitzer’s plan “might come at the unfortunate expense to average New York City commuters who depend on unlimited passes for their daily commute,” Council Member Simcha Felder, a Democrat of Brooklyn, said in a statement.

For further research: we need more data on exactly how many low-income riders depend on swipes — and whether there are really more tourists who will benefit . . .

Spitzer Does Things On His (One) Terms!

Get rid of one problem and take on another that will surely boost those sagging numbers:

New Yorkers going Christmas shopping online at Amazon.com will find an 8.375% surprise at the virtual cash register, courtesy of Governor Spitzer, who is moving aggressively to collect Internet sales taxes that have gone widely unenforced.

Under a new policy, major electronic retailers, such as Amazon.com, will be required to collect sales tax on all purchases from New York. The policy, based on a novel legal theory, could hasten the end of the Internet’s era as a duty-free marketplace if other states follow New York’s lead. With the policy, New York immediately took the lead among states that are seeking to tax online commerce.

“I’d say this puts us at the front,” one state tax official, who requested anonymity, told The New York Sun.

Having pledged not to raise taxes, Mr. Spitzer is increasingly scrounging for ways to close a projected $4.3 billion deficit next year. State officials estimate that this latest initiative, which goes into effect in December, will bring in about $100 million more each year, split between state and local government tax revenue. Statewide, the sales tax averages about 8%, although in New York City it is 8.375%.

. . .

When it comes to charging sales tax, e-retailers have been held to the same old standard that the U.S. Supreme Court set for mail-order vendors: The seller only needs to collect the tax on purchases in states where the vendor has a physical presence, such as a storefront or salesman. New York is saying that it has found a way around that obstacle to tax collection. Many e-retailers may have unwittingly lost their exemption because of the way they direct traffic to their Web sites, according to a tax memo recently released by the state’s tax department.

At issue is the “affiliate program” used by many e-retailers. Web site operators can provide a link to an e-retailer in return for a commission on any sale resulting from customers using the link. While the affiliate program may consist of little more than a non-descript advertisement on the computer screen, the tax consequences may be huge: New York state says it is the equivalent of having an instate salesperson.

“It’s just treating the affiliate the same way we would treat any other type of sales representative,” Mr. Spitzer’s budget director, Paul Francis, said in an interview.

The Way The Q54 Strays, Now That Atlas Park Is Down The Way . . .

Some claim that overdevelopment is threatening the cultural heritage of old Queens:

Those transit meatheads caused gushers of trouble.

Such is the sentiment in Archie Bunker’s old neighborhood — known outside of the TV world as Glendale — where residents believe a recent water main break was caused by a bus re-routing that put too much stress on the street.

“It’s absolutely the bus routes — it can’t be anything else,” said Dorie Figliola, a member of Community Board 5. “It just can’t withstand [the pressure]. Our old pipes are just going.”

The Q54 bus was re-routed in July so it could stop at the Shops at Atlas Park, a retail complex that opened last year at 80th St. and Cooper Ave.

Atlas Park management hoped the move would attract more customers, and it wants the Q23 and Q45 re-routed so that they also pass by the mall.

But the new route raised concerns about noise, pollution and traffic in a residential area that includes the Cooper Ave. home featured in the opening credits of the hit 1970s sitcom “All in the Family.”

Location Scout: Archie Bunker’s House.