A Priceless Addition To The Waterfront

The ProLogical end result to Staten Island’s NASCAR failure:

Concerns about race weekend traffic drove the NASCAR debate and ultimately killed a deal to build an 82,500-seat track on the edge of Bloomfield.

But those very same worries — this time over truck traffic, not eager Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans — will likely accompany a plan to build a large industrial park there.

And the entertainment value is nil.

International Speedway Corp. confirmed yesterday that it had reached a preliminary agreement to sell its land to ProLogis, the world’s largest developer of distribution warehouses — places that are also magnets for trucks.

Unlike the proposed NASCAR track, however, an industrial park is permitted under the site zoning and does not need City Council approval, something that proved elusive for NASCAR.

A spokesman for ProLogis, the publicly traded Denver-based Fortune 1000 company, said it had reached a preliminary agreement with ISC to acquire the 676-acre site in Bloomfield. The transaction is expected to close by year’s end.

. . .

The feared flood of fans on race weekends will be replaced by a steady stream of trucks to the site, minus the fun and brand-name sponsorships. Former Borough President Guy Molinari, who once worked as a lobbyist for the racetrack proposal, stopped short yesterday of saying, “I told you so.”

“You could have wound up with something very, very nice that would have endeared us to the rest of the world,” he contended of the failed NASCAR proposal. “They would have heard about us on Staten Island, and the image would have been improved by NASCAR coming to our shores.”

Molinari recalled that when ISC executives warned the community that if the track did not get built, the site would be used for industrial purposes, they were accused of strongarm tactics.

At the time, ISC officials estimated that as many as 2,200 trucks each day could traverse borough highways if the site was used for industrial purposes. An ominous ISC slide presentation showed smokestacks looming behind a line of trucks, and ISC claimed that three race weekends a year was preferable to the alternative. That prompted some lawmakers at the time to accuse the company of making threats to get support for a track.

“We didn’t aim to be threatening. We just aimed to set the facts out. I’m not surprised,” Molinari said yesterday of the ProLogis deal.

Earlier: Container Ships Are Exciting, But They Sure Don’t Go Vroom Like A NASCAR Track.

And That’s Why You Don’t Go Skiing In Nassau County

Yes, Craigslist makes it easy to solicit prostitutes. But unfortunately there’s also a flip side to that:

The eight women visited Long Island this summer along with vacationing families and other business travelers, staying in hotels and motels in commercial strips in middle-class suburbs like East Garden City, Hicksville and Woodbury. Their ages ranged from 20 to 32.

Three had come all the way from the San Francisco Bay area, one from Miami. Two lived less than 60 miles away, in Newark and Elizabeth, N.J. and two even closer, in Brooklyn.

All eight were arrested on prostitution charges here, snared in a new sting operation by the Nassau County police that focuses on Craigslist.org, the ubiquitous Web site best known for its employment and for-sale advertisements but which law enforcement officials say is increasingly also used to trade sex for money.

Nassau County has made more than 70 arrests since it began focusing on Craigslist last year, one of numerous crackdowns by vice squads from Hawaii to New Hampshire that have lately been monitoring the Web site closely, sometimes placing decoy ads to catch would-be customers.

“Craigslist has become the high-tech 42nd Street, where much of the solicitation takes place now,” said Richard McGuire, Nassau’s assistant chief of detectives. “Technology has worked its way into every profession, including the oldest.”

Augmenting traditional surveillance of street walkers, massage parlors, brothels and escort services, investigators are now hunching over computer screens to scroll through provocative cyber-ads in search of solicitors.

. . .

The police have also occasionally turned to Craigslist to trace stolen goods offered for sale or make drug arrests. In June, in Nassau, spotting code words like “snow” or “skiing” to refer to cocaine, they set up a sting with an undercover officer to arrest a man who advertised cocaine for sex.

And If The Dog’s Worth $12 Million, We Better Sort This Out Sooner Rather Than Later

The grand plan to have your pet accompany you on your journey in the afterlife is a nice idea, but the path to heaven seems to be full of dog poop:

Haughty hotelier Leona Helmsley will be denied her final wish to be buried with her unpleasant pooch — because it’s illegal for a human cemetery to entomb an animal in New York, The Post has learned.

An official with the Department of State’s Division of Cemeteries was asked if a dog can be buried in a cemetery meant for people.

“Absolutely not, there’s no question about it,” said the official, who asked not to be identified.

“A dog would not be allowed to be buried or interred in a cemetery. It’s for human beings.”

Officials at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Westchester, where the Helmsleys have a $1.4 million crypt in the mausoleum, told The Post yesterday they never had an intention of honoring the will. It specifies that when Trouble dies, her remains should be buried next to Leona and her husband Harry, who died in 1997.

“We’re not allowed to bury any pets in the cemetery,” said a Sleepy Hollow rep.

Helmsley, who died earlier this month, left $12 million to the 8-year-old Maltese.

. . .

“I was surprised to see that there was no mention of it in the media,” said Manhattan attorney Mark Borten, who had read about Leona Helmsley’s plans for the fluffy, four-legged heiress.

“Just because it’s in her will doesn’t mean it’s necessarily legit.”

Maybe The Question “Are You Very Interested, Somewhat Interested Or Merely Just Mildly Interested In Getting Something For Nothing?” Threw Them

Now that people know more, they’re wildly intrigued:

Opposition to congestion pricing has increased over the last month, and is fiercest in The Bronx, according to a poll released yesterday.

The Quinnipiac University poll reported that 57 percent of city voters now give a thumbs-down to Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to charge $8 a day to motorists to enter Manhattan below 86th Street on weekdays.

Only 36 percent support the proposal.

In a previous poll last month, the split between opponents and supporters was a closer 52-41 percent.

The only borough where the majority of residents stood with the mayor was Manhattan, 54-36 percent.

In every borough, however, congestion pricing took a heavy hit. Opposition reached 74 percent in The Bronx, 61 percent in Queens, 60 percent in Brooklyn and 56 percent on Staten Island.

Things You Don’t Really Need A Think Tank To Study Include . . .

. . . the lameness of art trolleys:

A think tank cited the Queens Culture Trolley, which was shut down in October 2005 due to poor ridership, in a recent study as an example of how the city’s cultural trolleys hold great promise but need to better address conceptual and operational issues.

. . .

The Queens trolley, which carried passengers for free on weekends around a 90-minute loop of arts and culture stops in and around Flushing Meadows Corona Park, was discontinued after it drew a mere 2,144 riders during its 17 months of existence, a study by the nonprofit Center for an Urban Future found.

The trolley, which was owned by the Parks Department, made stops at the Queens Museum of Art, New York Hall of Science, Queens Zoo, Queens Theatre in the Park, Queens Botanical Garden, Louis Armstrong House, parts of Jackson Heights and hotels near LaGuardia Airport.

“It had wonderful potential, but the practicalities were problematic,” Queens Deputy Borough President Karen Koslowitz said. “It was a great innovation, but as a practical matter you can’t do that with one trolley given the size of the park.”

The study found that when the trolley was launched in May 2004, it “debuted to high hopes and a slew of press coverage, but the sponsors realized that very few people were actually riding it and most of the institutions felt the trolley had no impact on their attendance.”

The capacity for the trolley was 40 passengers per trip, giving it the potential to transport 240 people during its six weekend trips. But the average weekend ridership was a mere 32 people, the study found.

(What’s the civil service title for “art trolley operator”?)