(And) Whatever It Costs, That’s What We’re Going To Have To Pay

The costs of operating the Staten Island Ferry have doubled since 2002 and the newspapers do the math:

The cost of the “free” Staten Island ferry has doubled in the past five years to a projected $83.8 million this year, a budget watchdog reported yesterday.

Every time a ferry leaves the gangplank, it costs the city $2,515 per one-way trip.

By comparison, the city’s Independent Budget Office (IBO) said the ferry service cost $40.2 million to operate in 2002.

The IBO blamed much of the higher costs on improvements and changes made after the 9/11 terror attacks and the ferry crash on Oct. 15, 2003, that killed 11 passengers.

Mayor Bloomberg cited some of the same cost factors as the IBO in defending the ferry service — which dropped its 50-cent fare in 1997.

“Whatever it costs, that’s what we’re going to have to pay,” he commented yesterday. “There’s nothing free that we have.”

You might wonder whether The Staten Island Advance covers it any differently:

The report estimates it currently costs the city about $3.75 per passenger for a ride across the harbor. But city Department of Transportation officials say Staten Islanders will continue to get the free ride they’ve enjoyed since the 50-cent fare was axed in 1997.

“If you’re going to provide more service in this day and age, it costs more money,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who chalked up the rising costs as necessary expenditures.

“We’ll continue to make sure that the Staten Island Ferry provides good service,” Bloomberg said. “And whatever it costs, that’s what we’re going to have to pay.”

Bar Owner Pools Out Of The Action

The owner of a Staten Island bar known for its massive NCAA March Madness pool ended speculation and confirmed that the seven-figure pool is dead this year:

In a matter of seconds, Jody Haggerty yesterday ended months of speculation about the future of the legendary NCAA Basketball “March Madness” pool at his pub, Jody’s Club Forest in West Brighton.

“Definitely no pool. There’s no question about it,” Haggerty said while hosting a Democratic party before the annual Staten Island St. Patrick’s Parade. Haggerty refused to discuss the issue further, politely stating, “I can’t say anything.”

The bracket pool started with a modest 88 entries in 1977 and expanded exponentially to draw participants from around the country for a whopping $1.5 million prize last year.

But the lawyers, writers, politicians, cops and firefighters weren’t the only ones interested in this year’s pool. The tournament tips off March 13 with its play-in game.

The IRS supposedly expressed an interest in the mega-jackpot, triggering questions about the pool, which had become something of an institution on the Island.

Haggerty’s three words signaled the end of an era and invited disappointment from potential players and politicians alike.

“There was too much notoriety,” one man said, recalling lines stretching down Forest Avenue, countless newspaper, and press photographers balancing on neighbors’ fences to capture the perfect shot of the crowd.

A Friend In Need Is An Easy Mark For A Purse Snatching

And now the man has the largest stock of pocket-sized tissue packages of anyone I know:

A wake-crasher who waits for mourners to leave their valuables unattended has snatched at least five purses from three funeral homes on Staten Island over the past several days, police sources said.

“He’s actually sitting in the room with the mourners. He waits for somebody to leave, and he takes the purse,” said one police source, characterizing the thief as “somebody desperate who found a niche and who’s looking for cash.”

Police recovered two of the purses yesterday morning — emptied of cash and dumped outside the Staten Island Motor Lodge in Rosebank, according to Vienna Profeta, a 2002 Advance Woman of Achievement.

Ms. Profeta is a longtime friend of the purses’ owners, the sister and widow of schoolboy sports legend George Baumann. Their purses were lifted during his wake at the Hanley Funeral Home in New Dorp Tuesday night, as reported on the front page of yesterday’s Advance.

And it turns out they weren’t the shameless crook’s first victims. On Saturday, a Westerleigh woman found her purse pilfered as she mourned her aunt at Matthew Funeral Home in Willowbrook.

Later that night, the thief dropped in on the Harmon Home for Funerals in West Brighton to grab another purse, police said, then returned Sunday afternoon to strike again.

While there’s no consensus description of the heartless criminal, Claire Henderson, Mr. Baumann’s sister, recollected that a hard-looking man in his late 40s or early 50s elbowed past family at the wake and left quickly with his head down. Another Baumann relative noticed a bottle blonde, a thin woman in her 30s, who seemed to act suspiciously.

Somewhere Diedrich Knickerbocker Rolls In His Grave

And they try to act like Staten Island is the forgotten borough:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg tripped yesterday over the old chestnut about how Staten Island became a part of New York City, instead of New Jersey.

Speaking at a news conference in Brooklyn, Hizzoner — originally from Massachusetts — mixed in a little mythology with his New York history.

Trailing off on a tangent about the origins of the Island, Bloomberg told the crowd that in the late 1600s, a governor used a boat race to settle a dispute over whether Staten Island should be part of New York or New Jersey.

“He set up a race — I forget whether it was rowing or sailing — around Staten Island, and New York won,” Bloomberg said. “And so we’ve got the great borough of Staten Island as part of New York rather than part of New Jersey.”

But the story is purely apocryphal.

“It is absolutely a myth,” said Carlotta DeFillo, librarian at the Staten Island Historical Society. “It is a lovely, persistent myth, but it is a myth.” Ms. DeFillo said the origin of the oft-repeated legend is unclear, but it has been traced as far back as The New York Evening Post in 1873 and has popped up in other written histories since then.

It Was Bare And Bright, And Smelled Like A Stable

A dream wedding — on Valentine’s Day, no less:

An Island couple was married yesterday aboard the 4 o’clock boat. It was Valentine’s Day, and the most romantic day yet shared by bride and groom Leonora Ramirez and John Gonzalez of St. George, who are both in their late 40s.

“The ferry represents crossing over to a better life,” said Ms. Ramirez. “It always makes me smile to be on the boat and to see the harbor, and John loves it too, the way I do.”

They boarded the ferryboat John J. Marchi with eight friends and relatives, for a ceremony that was intimate and spontaneous.

“We are gathered here today in a very unique place,” began the Rev. Ben Bortin, pastor emeritus of the Unitarian Church of Staten Island, New Brighton, “on the Staten Island Ferry, this icon . . . for a very happy purpose.”

The entourage huddled at the back of the ferryboat, snowflakes floating among them, the engine whirring. A few ferry riders pressed their foreheads to the back-door windows and looked on; one was moved to tears. Seagulls followed over the boat’s gray-green wake.

During the ceremony, the couple read aloud the lyrics of the “Phantom of the Opera” duet, “All I Ask of You.” Then their eyes welled with tears, drawn by the raw power of their vows.

Halfway to Manhattan, the light changed just as Rev. Bortin pronounced the couple man and wife: The sun had pierced the fog.

. . .

Before docking, a message blared over the boat’s public announcement system:

“To the newlyweds, on behalf of the captain and crew, congratulations.”

Location Scout: Staten Island Ferry.