The Mayor’s Plan To Jumpstart The Economy

Close the streets:

Retail businesses on the Williamsburg block have been struggling this summer more than last year due to customers altering their spending habits during the economic recession. But several owners believe another factor has depressed foot-traffic along the neighborhood’s commercial corridor.

For four weeks earlier this summer, nine blocks of Bedford Avenue were shut down to vehicular traffic as part of the city’s Summer Streets initiative, Williamsburg Walks. Thousands of residents and visitors streamed through the streets to play games, see artwork, and buy crafts and trinkets from street vendors. According to several owners, few visited local businesses on Grand Street during that time.

The Man Who Banned Smoking In Bars But Not The City’s First Black Mayor?

Interesting choices for the Museum of the City of New York’s updated list of the 400 most important people to ever live in New York.

The End Of Summer Can’t Come Quickly Enough

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Newcomers to the city’s food-cart wars say that when they stake a claim to a busy corner, they frequently get threatened by a loose-knit band of gyro-cooking thugs they call the “Halal Mafia.”

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A city firefighter was fighting for his life last night after being repeatedly hit in the head by two men and a woman early yesterday in the Staten Island Ferry’s Whitehall Terminal, authorities said.

. . .

“They said, ‘Shut the f- – – up before we beat you up!’ ”

The three then jumped Dugan, pummeling him about the face and head before running away.

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Three peed-off perps brutally beat a man for taking too long in the bathroom at a Greenwich Village bagel shop, police said yesterday.

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As The Post reported yesterday, the luxury suites at Citi Field are leaky and moldy, tiles have been falling apart, electrical systems are shorting out throughout the building, and concrete panels have fallen off the walls, according to sources who’ve seen the damage.

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Grant told cops that he was walking home from Amersfort Park at East 39th Street and Avenue J in East Flatbush around 1:30 a.m., when the gun began to fall into his pants, sources said.

When Grant grabbed for it, he accidentally pulled the trigger, firing a bullet right through his penis.

Location Scout: Whitehall Ferry Terminal, Citi Field.

In Other News, City In Talks To Replace Janitorial Staffs With Roombas

The mayor just loves his gadgets:

The Husqvarna Automower 230 ACX — a foot-high battery-powered lawn-mowing robot that steers itself around the lawn, then returns to its charger when it needs more juice — just joined the City Hall staff as a groundskeeper.

. . .

A spokeswoman for District Council 37, the city’s largest union, did not respond to request for comment last night.

Staycations Are For Chumps. And Suckers.

Hahahahahaha. See ya, I wouldn’t want to be ya:

If you can’t get to the mountains or the shore on this last big weekend of the summer, a Central Park getaway can provide city habitués with nearly everything they might want for a weekend away at a fraction of the cost.