Terrorists Love Transportation Infrastructure Even More Than Spalding Gray

This should be easy to monitor because it’s not like the Staten Island Ferry is one of the three top tourist attractions in New York City or anything. Yup, right:

Taking pictures aboard the Staten Island Ferry? Watch where you’re pointing that camera, bub.

The recent scare in Washington state — two men, apparently of Middle Eastern descent, were spotted photographing sensitive areas of the ferryboats that ply Puget Sound — has triggered heightened sensitivity to shutterbugs.

Photography is officially permitted onboard and in terminals here, and with so many tourists enjoying the views of New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty from the boats each day, “picture-taking is a part of the experience,” acknowledged city Department of Transportation spokeswoman Molly Gordy.

An official memo sent to ferry staff in 2005 indicated that crew members were “not to prohibit anyone from taking photographs in any areas open to the public,” while remaining vigilant and informing security and supervisors if anything seems unusual about a passenger’s photo op.

“If pictures are being taken that seem suspicious, just as if a person is acting suspicious, NYPD on board would be alerted and the parties would be questioned,” Ms. Gordy said.

Cab Gat-Away (Hi-De Hi-De That Ammo!)

Apparently the weapon was in plain view*:

A Port Richmond man who had the bad luck to be riding in a cab pulled over for a traffic violation near Journeay Street landed in some hot water of his own when he tried to ditch the gun he was carrying Tuesday night, cops allege.

Brian Burel, 21, of the 200 block of Charles Avenue, took the gun, a loaded .45 semiautomatic Ruger, out of his waistband and tried to place it on the floor of the cab, according to court papers.

Cops said they spotted Burel in the act, and charged him with second- and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and possession of pistol or revolver ammunition.

*Because otherwise, police aren’t allowed to search a passenger in a cab, right? Where are the Fourth Amendment scholars out there?

Always The Forgotten Borough

Teamwork means reaching across the aisle — or down Pennsylvania Avenue — so that you can build the coalitions needed to get things done:

Congestion pricing has been touted as a boon for the entire city, yet no one from Staten Island is included on a commission to study the controversial plan.

A search of official records indicates that the 17-member panel announced yesterday by city and state politicians has no one who either lives on the Island or represents it.

The revelation infuriated several of the borough’s elected officials, who ultimately would vote on the plan in the City Council and state Legislature.

“What that has done is made a very difficult sell to the people of Staten Island nearly impossible,” said City Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn).

Oddo contended the commission would lack a voice defending the needs of the Island, where commuters generally feel mass transportation alternatives are lacking and tolls are too expensive.

“Can you imagine Manhattan not being represented?” he asked. “Can you imagine the [former Mayor Rudolph] Giuliani administration creating a 17-member commission of whatever that didn’t include a Staten Islander?”

. . .

Oddo was not alone in his outrage.

State Sen. Diane Savino and Councilman Michael McMahon, both North Shore Democrats, also slammed the composition of the group.

“We are the most under-served and most overlooked constituency by mass transit, and again we are getting short shrift here,” Ms. Savino said.

Be Sure To Stop By Sally’s In New Haven On Your Way . . .

Islanders go to great lengths to protect the honor of their womenfolk:

A father-and-son team who resemble Ward and Beaver Cleaver more than they do a pair of thugs took a 159-mile road trip from Eltingville for the express purpose of threatening a teenager at knifepoint, authorities said yesterday.

“If you ever go near my girl friend again, I’ll slice you up,” the 16-year-old Eltingville teen told another youth in a East Windsor, Conn., supermarket parking lot Sunday night, said East Windsor Police Detective Matt J. Carl.

The teen made the trip with his father, Donald DeOrio, 48, of the 100 block of Augusta Ave., “just to threaten the guy and pull a knife on him” in response to the girl’s call that she’d had a fight with her boy friend, Carl said.

Cops reported finding six knives and a pair of black handcuffs in the car, and some clothes packed into a duffel bag.

The father and son were arrested, along with the girl.

East Windsor, a town of 10,000 in north-central Connecticut, is at least three hours by car from Staten Island. It’s about 13 miles north of Hartford, and another 13 miles south of the Massachusetts border.

The Eltingville teen met with the girl, then confronted the boy in the parking lot of Geissler’s Supermarket just before 8 p.m., Carl said.

. . .

Someone called 911, and the boy was able to give police a description of the vehicle the teens rode off in.

Cops tracked the car, with DeOrio at the wheel, on Route 140, near the border of East Windsor and Windsor Locks, Carl said.

Samad The Butcher Has A Very Sharp Boning Knife . . . And He’s Threatening To Behead Alice!

You can thank Ray Kelly for the new climate of fear in Staten Island this morning:

It is the sobering reality of post-9/11 life on Staten Island.

In New York City.

Across the country.

Terrorism is potentially lurking in every alleyway and on every street corner.

Most frightening is that the new-age terrorist does not have to wear a disguise or assimilate.

Because the person most likely to threaten our safety is made in America.

While the threat from overseas jihadist groups like al-Qaida remains real, New York City and other U.S. targets face an increasing and evolving threat from homegrown terrorists, such as those who planned to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey, according to an NYPD Intelligence Division report issued yesterday.

The report says resident terrorists are often “unremarkable” people who plan attacks on the U.S. after they are radicalized by social, economic or political “triggers.”

. . .

The radicalization process is often sparked by a personal crisis, the report says, such as the loss of a job; the experiencing of a real or perceived episode of discrimination, or the death of a close family member.

Without mentioning specific locales, the report says that “cafes, cab driver hangouts, flop houses, prisons, student associations, non-governmental organizations, hookah bars, butcher shops and bookstores” are frequently “rife with extremist rhetoric” and act as “radicalization incubators” for potential jihadists.

Once immersed in radical ideology, the jihadist often seeks to join with other like-minded individuals. Under the guidance of a “spiritual sanctioner,” such as a cleric, and an “operational leader,” groups such as these, the report says, can morph from “just being a bunch of guys” into operational terrorist cells.

The Internet is a powerful “driver” and “enabler” of jihad, according to the report, providing access to radical ideology; an anonymous, virtual meeting place for jihadists, and access to information about potential targets and weapons design.

Though not formal members of Al-Qaida, jihadists use the principles of Osama bin Laden’s terror network as “their inspiration and ideological reference point,” the report says.

They “look, act, talk and walk like everyone around them,” the study adds.