A Start: We Can Make Up 0.1 Percent Of That Projected $2.3 Billion Budget Deficit Right There!

And incidentally, a darn good way to make people forget about all those advertisements for councilmembers that are currently found on trashcans across the city:

As the city struggles to close a growing budget gap, lawmakers are proposing selling advertising rights to garbage bins, scaffolding, and even city park facilities, efforts they say could bring millions of dollars a year to city coffers.

Council Member David Yassky of Brooklyn is calling for the city to begin allowing advertising on municipal trash cans and suggested that such a move, which he estimated could bring $2.5 million in revenue, would help during difficult economic times.

“We need to be as creative as we can about finding sources of revenues to ease the burden on taxpayers,” Mr. Yassky said yesterday. “We sold advertising on newsstands and bus shelters and other so-called street furniture. There’s just no reason not to extend that to trash cans.”

This Is Just Not The Yankees’ Decade

No wonder they haven’t won since 2000:

MLB is introducing a limited-edition version of the popular Crocs plastic shoe emblazoned with the New York Yankees logo.

It’s a tribute to the closing this season of the House that Ruth Built, which has played host to more World Series games than any other stadium.

The “final season” footwear is being offered only at Modell’s stores and went on sale yesterday, at $34.99 for adults and $29.99 for kids.

Each navy-blue Croc has a silver Yankee signature logo and a strap featuring the official club lettering and a Yankee Stadium patch.

“If you can’t take a piece of the stadium, why not grab a pair of collectible Crocs shoes,” company spokeswoman Stephanie Koon said.

Who do I look like, Mario freakin’ Batali?

Operation Bubba Gump

The U.S. Army is preparing for its full-on Toys ‘R Us Times Square experience:

In August, the military plans to open its first Army Experience Center, a combination recruiting center/video arcade/retail store to promote serving your country.

Rumored to becoming to Times Square, it’ll be like the Disney Store, except with guns and camouflage.

The 14,500-square-foot center will be a multimedia extravaganza with high-tech gadgetry, including flight simulators and life-size soldier video games.

That person greeting you at the door? That’s an actual Army officer.

While the Army will sell a small amount of merchandise at the venue, the focus is on building “brand experi ences” that give poten tial recruits a taste of military service.

If It Looks Like A Niketown, Sells Like A Niketown And Acts Like A Niketown, Then It Probably Is A Niketown

One of Coney Island’s own, who had once backed the ambitious master plan, has rescinded his support:

Dick Zigun, the so-called mayor of Coney Island plans to resign from the group charged with redeveloping the amusement mecca, the Daily News has learned.

Zigun said he would bow out of the 13-member Coney Island Development Corp. to protest a revised city development plan he charged could include a shopping mall near the center of the 47acre plan.

“This spring, without the CIDC ever having a discussion or ever taking a vote, the strategic plan that I had been a major cheerleader for was totally changed and compromised in a way that no amusement park lover could possibly be happy with,” said Zigun, founder of Coney Island USA, which runs a world-famous sideshow.

In a blistering attack, Zigun said that the revised city plan would also mean a significantly smaller amusement park if passed by the City Council next year.

The shopping mall, which would usher in retailers such as a Toys “R” Us with its looming Ferris wheel or an FAO Schwarz with its giant floor keyboard, is a concession to developer Thor Equities, Zigun and other critics contend.

“The CIDC plan promised a world-class tourist attraction with an entertainment core — lots of rides complemented by year-round nightclubs and enclosed water parks,” said Zigun in a letter to Mayor Bloomberg.

“Instead the core will now be rezoned for a shopping mall full of Niketowns, Toys ‘R’ Us and four 30-story hotels.”

. . .

CIDC President Lynn Kelly balked at Zigun’s complaints, insisting the role of CIDC members was to create a development plan for the area, not vote on its merits — a job that will be left up to the City Council.

Kelly defended the revised zoning plan and a shopping mall, but said the use of so-called entertainment retail across 15 acres of Coney Island was still being debated.

“We’re still writing the zoning text, but if there is going to be any type of entertainment retail, the driving force is the entertainment,” said Kelly, who used as an example a rock climbing wall at a Niketown store or a Sony electronics store that provides video game demonstrations.

“It’s really about the interactivity with the item,” Kelly added. “We’re carefully considering how you define entertainment retail because that’s really key.”

Bathroom? The “Call-A-Head Comfort Station At Bethesda Terrace” Is Your Best Bet . . .

The Parks Department plans to sell naming rights:

Officials have not said which particular locations are ready to be sold yet, but almost any major attraction in the city’s parks and recreation system could be up for grabs.

That group includes the zoos that draw in thousands of visitors annually, the amphitheaters that pack in summer revelers, the gigantic swimming pools or scores of tennis-court clusters.

. . .

Under this program — which would raise an estimated $3 million a year — entire parks wouldn’t be renamed, so Central and Prospect parks would keep their monikers but attractions within them could be renamed for a price.

How about the Mark Ecko Graffiti Hall of Fame?