One More New York Myth Punctured

The women depicted on those useful VIP passes that they helpfully hand out in Midtown are not actually dancing at the club:

A former Miss Oklahoma is suing a strip club in the Flatiron District for plastering her face and figure on “free admission” palm cards without permission.

Laci Kay Scott says in Man hattan federal court papers that she’s “easily recognizable” as the orange-gowned hottie advertising “private table dancing” and “personal rooms” on the handouts from Ten’s Gentlemens Club.

These Challenging Times Demand Independent, Honest Leadership

Like a push-poll:

He is comfortably ahead in the polls. He has the vast powers of incumbency at his disposal. He has the backing of the city’s most powerful business interests.

But that does not seem to be enough for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

As his campaign sought to overpower any candidate considering challenging him, Mr. Bloomberg commissioned a telephone poll last month that spread derogatory information about Representative Anthony D. Weiner, one of the mayor’s possible rivals in the race.

The calls came around mid-March, even as Mr. Weiner announced he was not certain he would run for mayor.

In interviews, several people who received the telephone calls said that they were told when they picked up the phone that a survey was being conducted, but were soon asked a series of questions featuring negative information about Mr. Weiner.

. . .

Asked if the Bloomberg campaign had commissioned the telephone messages, Howard Wolfson, a Bloomberg spokesman, declined to respond directly. But Mr. Wolfson denied that the campaign had engaged in any push-polling.

“Unfortunately for Congressman Weiner, the fact that he takes money from lobbyists and special interests, misses votes and has not passed any significant legislation isn’t a push poll — it’s his record,” Mr. Wolfson said.

A person familiar with the Bloomberg campaign confirmed that the poll was Mr. Bloomberg’s.

Trust Me, You Don’t Want A Bunch Of Angry Staten Islanders

Because who knows what they might do if worse comes to worst:

Staten Islanders will have to swallow a $13 cash toll on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, while drivers in the rest of the city will keep their free ride on the East and Harlem River crossings, if legislative inertia continues to propel the MTA to enact its “Doomsday” budget.

The MTA board approved a 25 to 30 percent fare and toll hike this week, with the Verrazano and other MTA bridges set to go up in July, unless the state Legislature can devise alternate revenue streams to plug a $1.2 billion budget gap. Talks involving a bailout that would entail a payroll tax and tolling the currently free bridges have stalled in the state Senate.

. . .

Meanwhile, toll booths at all four Staten Island bridges already collect more than 6 percent of the nation’s tolls, according to Dr. Jonathan Peters, a finance professor and transportation expert at the College of Staten Island, who has done extensive research on the subject. Toll collection from passenger cars alone coming from only Staten Island ZIP codes accounts for about $65 million in revenue per year at the Verrazano, Peters said.

And without movement from Albany to balance that inequity, Islanders will continue to bear a growing toll burden, despite extremely limited transit options to travel off the Island without a car.

(Then again, Shelly says not to worry . . .)

Sounds Like Heaven To Me

So not only will we have pulled-pork on brioche and $19 cheap seats but fewer little leaguers as well, an obvious plot to gentrify baseball by slowly de-yobbing it. We snobs like that:

For the past four years, Little Leagues throughout the borough have participated in a special day at Shea Stadium where they purchased 1,200 discounted tickets from the Mets and got to lead a parade on the warning track of the field prior to the game.

This year, however, the Mets have told league officials including Bayside Little League President Bob Reid, that the teams may only be able purchase 500 (or less) tickets at full price, and they can’t guarantee they will be able to have the parade on the field prior to the game.

“The Mets organization is telling me that unfortunately we have 15,000 fewer seats, and we can’t do what we have done in the past,” said Reid, who is a longtime Mets fan that recently had the opportunity to tour Citi Field and thinks it’s great. “I think they are just forgetting the little guy.”

This is the first year the Mets will play in Citi Field, which will have a capacity of approximately 42,000 compared to Shea Stadium’s roughly 57,000, so it is more challenging to accommodate large groups for different games. In addition, the club is still working on logistics of the new stadium including field access points, which would factor into the parade that the Little League has each year.

Soon — soon! — Major League Baseball will resemble the opera! Bwahahaha!

Location Scout: Citi Field.

Yanks The Shaft

Nice:

The Yankees are getting a new stadium, but some of their most loyal fans are getting the shaft.

Hundreds of full- and partial-season ticket holders got word Friday they aren’t getting the seats — or packages — they requested in the Bombers’ new digs.

. . .

“I wanted to have seats comparable to what I had before, near the first base line. They told me I was high on the list. Then they put me in these horrible seats by the foul pole line and told me I should be grateful.”

A Brooklyn fan, who asked to remain anonymous because he’s still trying to snag season tickets, said he, too, didn’t get the seats he asked for.

“These are the real Yankee fans,” he said. “They’ll bend over backward for the big corporations, but not for regular guys like me.”

Another disappointed fan — a partial-season ticket holder — said he was prepared to shell out more dough for worse seats because he loves the Yankees and he knows a new stadium means higher prices.

“I specifically requested a weekend package because that’s what I had before and that’s when I can see the games,” he said. “They offered me a weekday package and basically said take it or leave it.”