Landmarking Leads To Bad Sex As City Emasculates Developer

Man sues City for lost manhood:

The builder who exactly three years ago spray-painted his Tottenville house in a fit of pique says in a federal lawsuit that the mayor and other city agencies forced him to spend several days in a hospital psychiatric ward, barred him from municipal buildings and even put him off sex with his wife after his house was designated a protected landmark.

John Grossi’s lawyers seek $10 million in damages for their client and charge, among other things, that the city violated the builder’s free speech and unlawfully detained him last spring, after he told police he would protest the landmarking by staging a mock crucifixion on his front lawn.

Grossi planned to hold a sign reading: “Mayor Bloomberg and the City of New York have Crucified me to this house,” according to the civil rights suit filed in Brooklyn federal court.

A short time later, the suit alleges, Grossi was arrested and taken to Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze. The lawsuit also alleges that the city’s “continuous and systematic harassment and depravation” of Grossi’s rights affected him so adversely that he couldn’t be intimate with his wife and prevented the couple from “procreating their first child through a natural means (sexual intercourse).”

Lori Grossi, John Grossi’s wife, seeks another $2 million in damages for loss of companionship in a suit that also names the Police and Fire departments and the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

. . .

Grossi told the Advance in 2005 that he planned to build four “upscale” townhouses at the site and five in place of another 19th-century Amboy Road home, which he did demolish.

When the mayor became aware of community concern about the other home and the spray-painting incident, he sided with the community and “publicly” vowed at a town hall meeting to landmark the house — ensuring its designation at the next meeting of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, according to court papers.

Staten Island: The Land That Dr. Spock Forgot

Time was, you could rub hot peppers on your child’s genitals. That’s apparently not true anymore:

A 10-year-old boy from Charleston did not want to sit at his desk at a Staten Island elementary school last week, his teacher noticed.

She soon discovered why: His rear end was sore and bruised from a belt lashing he received from his stepfather the night before.

If this had happened 25 years ago, it may have been met with an ambivalent shrug.

But today, stricter reporting requirements, more aggressive prosecution and growing public awareness means “traditional” childhood discipline can lead to criminal charges much more frequently.

The man who allegedly doled out the corporal punishment, 30-year-old Ukraine native Alexandr Privler, was charged with a felony, assault with intent to cause physical injury with a weapon, and a misdemeanor, acting in a manner injurious to a child.

. . .

Over the past five years, arrests and convictions of cases in Staten Island in which endangering the welfare of a child — the most common charge in child-abuse cases — have gradually risen, according to the state Department of Criminal Justice statistics.

. . .

The unusual case of Clifton resident Ganganue Gonseh last April is a glaring example. A native of Liberia, Gonseh punished his then 8-year-old and 11-year-old boys by making them strip naked, then rubbing a hot yellow pepper on their faces — including their eyes — and on their genitals. The boys were brought home by police for skipping school and allegedly shoplifting video games at a Hylan Boulevard store earlier that day.

The two kids were treated at Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton for itching and skin irritation, and Gonseh was charged with third-degree assault and endangering the welfare of child.

The father argued that the disciplinary practice — called “Hot Peppering” –is common practice in many African countries and in parts of this country. He eventually pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and a disorderly conduct violation, with the provision that the endangering charges would be dropped once he completed a parenting course.

Pain In The Mass Leads Some Not To Bother

Brokers find Papal Mass to be a weak draw:

Tight security at Pope Benedict XVI’s April 20 mass at Yankee Stadium is keeping some Staten Islanders from seeking the limited number of tickets available, and providing another reminder of how life in New York City has changed since the terror attacks of 2001.

Those hoping to attend the 2:30 p.m. mass have to commit to at least a 10-hour day and arrive at their parishes before 8:30 a.m. to board buses. No private cars will be allowed into the Stadium parking lot. Even the priests who will celebrate mass with the pope and serve communion in the stands will travel by bus.

. . .

The lower-than-anticipated demand for tickets made it easier on pastors, who weren’t looking forward to disappointing their parishioners.

St. Adalbert’s Church in Elm Park planned to hold a lottery drawing last Wednesday night to distribute its 22 tickets. Each name pulled from the pot would receive two tickets. But with only 10 parishioners showing up, no one went home empty-handed.

“I was hoping it would work out this way,” said the Rev. Eugene Carella, pastor. “This way people who really, really, really wanted it were here tonight and they got them. And there were no hard feelings, so that’s good.”

. . .

Some parishes, like St. Christopher’s in Grant City, with 41 tickets, found the demand equaled the supply, and, as of Wednesday, Our Lady Star of the Sea in Huguenot still had 57 tickets available from its allotment of 143. Monsignor Jeffrey Conway, pastor of Star of the Sea, said any unclaimed tickets would be returned to the archdiocese and reapportioned to other parishes.

Older parishioners and those without the proper documentation have decided not to pursue tickets “after we explained what they’ll be getting into,” said the Rev. Michael Flynn, pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Port Richmond and Our Lady of Mount Carmel-St. Benedicta in West Brighton.

Speaking As Someone Who Makes The Most Of His Balaclava . . .

Uh, I don’t think even Peter “All-You-Can-Eat Buffet” Braunstein would do something this dumb. Still, it’s funny:

Has the Ninja Burglar branched out into fashion consulting?

Probably not, but someone calling himself the “Ninja Thief” has popped up on Amazon.com to post a product review for a ninja-style “China Silk Black Balaclava.”

“It prevents sweat and hairs from being left at the scene so the police are unlikely to get a DNA print, and makes it impossible for anyone to ID you,” the rave review reads. “The perfect accessory for the professional thief. I’ve used it on over 20 thefts and haven’t got caught yet.”

The Ninja Burglar, who has 19 notches on his black belt dating to last May, mostly in Todt Hill and Grymes Hill, has been lying low since the first week of January, when cops say he made off with $225,000 in diamonds and jewelry from a house on Melhorn Road.

But his legend is rife on the Internet.

“Maybe it’s just somebody playing a game,” said a police source about the Jan. 21 post.

Still, the cops will check it out, the source said.

Midland Beach resident Gloria Barral, who spotted the review while she was shopping for vitamins for her dog and looking at silk garments, is a little more optimistic.

“I don’t know. Sometimes they get cocky,” Mrs. Barral said. “It’s very strange. I look for the review, and then this just hits me in the eye.

“You never know,” she added. “This is how crimes get solved, when you least expect it.”

The Only Thing Cooler Than Being A 12 Year-Old Stuck In A 48 Year-Old’s Body Would Be To Only Have To Bother Buying Roses Every Four Years On Your Anniversary*

The “bemusement” they “engendered”? What, is this Tokio Hotel or something? No matter:

Happy birthday, Stapleton natives and identical twin brothers Randy and Ronnie Zavattieri, and enjoy it — the next one is four years away.

The Zavattieris are either going to be 48 years old or 12 today, depending on whether you count non-leap years. The brothers are the only twins in the country born on Feb. 29, 1960, and have been soaking up the attention as this year’s leap year approached — Randy Zavattieri got to read the seventh item on David Letterman’s “Top 10” list the last leap year, and was invited with other “leaplings” to attend Martha Stewart’s show, which will air today (1 p.m., Ch. 4).

The bemusement the young twins engendered in strangers at the Stapleton Houses seems to have subsided.

“It was different then, people didn’t pay much attention to it (leap years),” said Randy, who now lives in South Brunswick, N.J., in a phone interview this week. “People didn’t understand why me and my brother were so happy to see our birthday on the calendar, but I’m not going to see my birthday again for another four years!”

By some estimates there are 4 million leaplings in the world, about 200,000 of them in the United States. The leap year occurs to correct a drift between the astronomical start of the seasons, or equinox, and regular calendar years, called common years, by inserting an extra day into the month of February once every four years.

For most of his life, Randy Zavattieri celebrated his birthday during common years on March 1, but he changed to Feb. 28 after appearing on David Letterman’s show, when he realized that much of the country’s other leaplings celebrated on that day.

*Hey, assignment desk, run down to the City Clerk’s Office to see if this is happening today . . .