As For All Those Union Jobs . . .

. . . they were (pre-)fabricated:

And this week, Forest City Ratner confirmed that it was considering erecting a 34-story prefabricated, or modular, tower, as a way of cutting its construction costs and fulfilling its obligation to start building housing.

The construction unions that Mr. Ratner had lauded last year for sticking with him were stunned by the suggestion that much of the work might take place in a factory, where wages are much lower than on-site. Forest City has put off the start date for the tower, the first of 16, until the end of the year.

Location Scout: Atlantic Yards.

When In Doubt, Blame The Speechwriter

Sure, it’s always the speechwriter:

“Frank,” he called out to his speechwriter, Frank Barry. “I hope this speech goes better than the one you wrote for me at the Irish Historical Society. I mean really, what were you thinking?”

The throng of Irish leaders who had gathered to start off the St. Patrick’s Day celebration laughed. The mayor appeared to have tamed the mini-tempest that threatened to hang over the day: the bad joke he made last month about seeing “totally inebriated” Irish people hanging out a window at past parades.

But even on an unusually lovely afternoon, lingering touchiness over the gibe followed Mr. Bloomberg along the Fifth Avenue parade route like a stubborn storm cloud, showing itself in occasional comments from the stands, lusty boos shouted from windows and a handmade sign held up a block from St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

“Bloomberg … You’re a Drunk!” it read.

Those Who Can’t Lead Preach

And those who can’t lead also go for low-hanging fruit and crap on sad-sack towns like Buffalo:

“There’s an awful lot of free space up in Buffalo, New York, if you want to go there,” Hizzoner told a housing conference on Wednesday. “I don’t think you do.”

Bloomberg’s poke in Buffalo’s eye prompted a furious reaction from Byron Brown, the Democratic mayor of that cold but proud metropolis.

“When I heard those comments I was p—-ed,” Brown said. “It was a cheap shot. And thinking about those comments, listening to them two hours later, I’m still p—-ed off.”

Defining Heinousness And Egregiousness Upward/No Hyperbole Left Behind

No doubt, this was a terrible thing for budding sociopaths to do:

The three suspects range in age from 11 to 13.

And while some of their fellow students inside Dreyfus Intermediate School were getting after-school help with their studies yesterday afternoon, the trio and two accomplices allegedly robbed a delivery man of pizza pies and soda in the school parking lot.

Teachers had ordered the snacks for kids studying after school.

But the problem with calling it both heinous and egregious is that it leaves little room for that which is really both heinous and egregious:

“This is a heinous and egregious act and this type of act is commonplace, and the students behave this way because they know there’s little or no consequences for their actions,” said a source at the Stapleton school.

Truer Words Never Spoken

“In the end, anything is a urinal when you want it to be.”