Ladies And Gentlemen, Due To The Actions Of Some Nitwit Who Jacked Equipment Related To The Train’s Power Supply, We Are Experiencing Unavoidable Delays

Service on the Staten Island Railway was suspended this morning after a vital piece of equipment related to the train system’s power supply was stolen:

Commuters were left stranded for hours this morning when train service on the Staten Island Railway from Tottenville to St. George was halted after equipment that helps supply power to the tracks at the Bay Terrace station was stolen.

Service was stopped around 4:30 a.m.

Two hours later, limited service began from Tottenville to Great Kills, where commuters could board a shuttle bus that would transport them to the Oakwood station, where they could catch a train to St. George.

Information about the stolen equipment was not immediately available.

The delay did not sit well with many of the 15 commuters at the Old Town station, who did not know why their train was late until an Advance reporter informed them.

Recipe For Hitting The Front Page Of The Sunday Times: Just Add Sharpton

The, er, colorful race in Brooklyn’s 11th Congressional District hits the front page of the Sunday Times:

For the last four decades, the predominantly black population of central Brooklyn has been represented in Washington by one of its own, a tradition that dates to the 1968 victory of Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress.

But now, in a district whose boundaries were drawn to strengthen black voting power, residents are locked in a wrenching, racially charged debate over a white politician’s campaign for Congress.

. . .

As the forces of immigration and gentrification have altered the demographics of these communities, ethnic and racial blocs that once promoted their own candidates have fractured, with voters now choosing among politicians of various backgrounds.

Nowhere is the phenomenon more stark than in the contest for the 11th Congressional District, where American- and Caribbean-born blacks vie for power and a steady influx of whites has heightened the worry that blacks will be displaced, from their neighborhoods and from the political hierarchy. It is a fear that Mr. Yassky’s candidacy has intensified, so much so that a group of black and Hispanic politicians are discussing ways to make sure he loses.

The Times, while tiptoeing around some of the more, er, colorful (dammit, that word again!) parts of the story*, still snags a couple beauts from so-called “nonblacks”:

As [Yassky] campaigned that same Saturday in Ditmas Park, a part of Flatbush where home values have been rapidly rising, some nonblack voters expressed qualms about his candidacy. One white couple told Mr. Yassky that they planned to vote for Chris Owens. And at a greenmarket, Joe Wong, 29, an Asian-American, said that he, too, was leaning toward Mr. Owens because he opposed the Atlantic Yards development and because he had reservations about voting for a nonblack candidate.

“I’m not totally sold on that, but it’s just the fact that it was created as a majority-minority district and the fact that blacks are underrepresented in the Congress as it stands,” Mr. Wong said, adding that he did not support efforts to push Mr. Yassky out of the race.

“I’m not saying he wouldn’t do a good job representing the district and the minorities that are in the district,” he said, “it’s just I haven’t made up my mind whether or not that’s a good enough reason for me to vote for someone or not.”

Emphasis added because, well, isn’t how well someone represents a district sort of the idea in the first place?

*What, no Charles Barron openly questioning the existence of Barack Obama?

More And More We Are Finding That People Are Getting Stupider And Stupider

Unaccountably — amazingly — the pizza chains Domino’s and Papa John’s are making inroads in pizza-rich New York City:

Domino’s and Papa John’s are trying to grab a piece of the New York pizza pie.

More national chains have been popping up in the Big Apple as they try to do to the mom-and-pop pizza parlor what Home Depot and Lowe’s have done to neighborhood hardware stores.

“In the last two years, I have seen a difference, probably 10 percent,” said Dominick Abitino, 38, whose family runs four Abitino’s pizzerias in Manhattan. “It’s mostly Domino’s that eats into it.”

He added proudly, “We make all of our stuff on premises. We use high-end products. It’s a family business. We don’t do mass production in a plant and ship it out like those chains.”

And New Yorkers’ discerning palates can certainly taste the difference between the zesty sauces made by the local pizzerias and the glop slopped on by the cookie-cutter chains.

“New Yorkers know — and demand — great pizza, and the chains simply don’t offer that,” said Adam Kuban, publisher of the cheese-and-sauce-obsessed Web site SliceNY.com. “Independent pizzerias continue to thrive here, and the number of them, in my observation, has grown faster than that of the chains.”

And while the mega-chains may offer good deals, the taste buds of New Yorkers aren’t easily swayed.

“It’s not the same. It’s almost like pre-made pizza,” said Gerard Muscianesi, of Manalapan, N.J., as he chowed down on at the famous John’s Pizza on Bleecker Street in the Village. “New York pizza is still the best.”

While the major chains have seen growth in the Big Apple, there are still only 36 Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Papa John’s and Sbarro’s franchises combined in Manhattan — compared with more than 500 independent pizzerias.

What’s next? An Einstein Bros. franchise?

Let’s Call The Calling Off Off

“Stabbing” just sounds so . . . harsh:

Alleged serial stabber Kenny Alexis said yesterday that he doesn’t like the word “stabbing.”

“I don’t call it that. I call it whacking. I whacked someone, but only in self-defense,” he said in a barely coherent interview at the Bellevue Hospital prison ward.

It was the only point during the hourlong conversation when Alexis, 20, who is charged with knifing four people in wild, 13-hour rampage throughout Manhattan, addressed why he was there.

Asked repeatedly if he was responsible for any of the attacks, Alexis responded, “Oh, I don’t know. They say anything they want.”

Now If Only Britney Had Been At The Wheel . . .

When advocacy groups get ghoulish:

Two Staten Island girls who survived a 300-foot minivan plunge that killed their mother were strapped in the vehicle — highlighting the importance of seat belts and child safety seats, officials said yesterday.

The Han sisters — Etana, 3, and Ariana, 5 — suffered minor bruises in Wednesday’s accident at Bear Mountain State Park in the Hudson Valley.

Park Police Lt. David Love said Etana was strapped into her car seat and Ariana was wearing a seat belt when their minivan rolled off a cliff.

The girls’ mother, Hejin Han, 35, was in front without her seat belt on and was killed.

“It is a sad family tragedy. However, it shows that safety seats are extremely valuable to protect children,” said Stephanie Tombrello, executive director of SafetyBeltSafe U.S.A., a child-safety advocacy group.

“The fact that these parents took the time to strap their kids in is what saved them,” Tombrello said.

The only mistake, Tombrello added (well, with the notable exception of driving off a cliff in the first place), was that the five-year-old should have been in a booster seat:

She said the 5-year-old should have been in a child booster seat, “but clearly that safety belt did its job.”

She recommended that children ride in rear-facing car seats up to age 20 months to better protect them from frontal and side crashes. She also suggested that kids up to 80 pounds ride in booster seats.