Pro-Eminent Domain Propaganda Or Just Another Sad Story About The Mets?

Let’s say both:

A pack of junkyard dogs is roaming the sidewalks surrounding Citi Field, menacing visitors as they exit the ballpark.

“They came at me like a locomotive,” [a Citi Field patron] said, describing her encounter this month with a 70-pound pit bull and a shepherd mix “that looked like a wolf.”

Location Scout: Citi Field.

Yes, In Spite Of Everything, In Spite Of All Of It, We Are All Still Alive Today . . .

. . . and to those of you who continue to grumble and naysay, know that you are only alive because Howard Wolfson was in town to advise:

Mr. Bloomberg seemed palpably relieved on Sunday, as the storm quickly passed over the city. He acknowledged that he had barely slept on Saturday night, checking the weather outside his window at midnight, 3 a.m. and again at 6 a.m.

He was characteristically blunt and unapologetic when asked about the evacuation order and those who questioned it. “They should just look in the mirror. They are alive today, whether because of it or in spite of it,” he said. “We’re just not going to take any risk with people’s lives.”

Now We Just Have To Work On The Babies

The City Health Department has been quietly cracking down on pets in bars:

Of course, it has always been a violation of the city’s health code to allow a dog anywhere near a beer tap. But for years, this has been one of the most widely — and gleefully — violated rules in the city.

Not any more.

Since the health department adopted a letter grade system for bars and restaurants last year, bar owners say, health inspectors are allowing no wiggle room for four-legged patrons.

The stricter enforcement is apparently bringing to an end a rich tradition of dog-friendly bars in New York.

I’m Sure Everyone Feels Much, Much Better Knowing That Howard Wolfson Is Back On The Scene

And just so everyone is clear, it wasn’t so much that we needed, say, the Mayor’s press secretary around back in December more than it was that we just needed the snow plows out. I hate to say it, but he should have gone to Vegas this weekend:

In nearly every sense, it has been the antiblizzard response. Advisers studied how New Orleans had evacuated residents for Hurricane Katrina, to avoid making any of the same mistakes. They coordinated their planning with lawmakers in all five boroughs, Albany and Washington.

During the blizzard, top aides had left town. This time, they took no chances. The mayor’s press secretary, Stu Loeser, canceled a weekend trip to Las Vegas for the wedding of a childhood friend; Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson cut short a family vacation in Massachusetts.

Oh please — Katrina? Reminding people of Kanye’s worst nightmare may work to justify mass evacuations but it does little to reduce the stress levels of whoever those are who might be complying with the edict.

Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em

You can never be too casual with mandatory evacuations of large sections of the city when you have an entire Office of Emergency Management ready to roll:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg ordered a mandatory evacuation — something he said the city had never done before — of coastal areas in Brooklyn; Queens, including all of the Rockaways; and Staten Island, along with Battery Park City and the financial district in Lower Manhattan and Governor’s Island. The evacuation covered 250,000 people who, he said, should get out before the storm swept in.

Seems like an odd thing upon which to stake your mayoral legacy. Mandatory evacuations? What is this, the Outer Banks? I know there’s that whole snow storm they need to atone for, but is this really necessary?