New York’s Phantom Taxes

The cash-starved city is socking New Yorkers with a massive ticket blitz in a bid to pump an extra $80 million into its depleted coffers, records show.

Reluctant to raise taxes publicly, the Bloomberg administration is pursuing a “stealth tax” — launching an unprecedented squeeze on Big Apple residents and businesses, cracking down on parking, health, safety and quality-of-life infractions with a vengeance, the data shows.

The ongoing blitz has worked so well that City Hall bean counters expect to rake in a record $884 million in fines by the end of this fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010.

Retired Officers Raise Questions on Crime Data

More than a hundred retired New York Police Department captains and higher-ranking officers said in a survey that the intense pressure to produce annual crime reductions led some supervisors and precinct commanders to manipulate crime statistics, according to two criminologists studying the department.

Mayor Bloomberg Says NYC Faces Radiological Threat

NEW YORK [MYFOXNY] — On the same day Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano discussed terrorism concerns, the federal building in Lower Manhattan had a brief security scare.

Markowitz Sworn In For Third Term; Touts Progress

BROOKLYN, NY [NY1] — After being sworn in for a third term Wednesday night by Mayor Bloomberg, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz outlined his commitment to several high profile projects.

During his state of the borough address, Markowitz discussed his desire to transform the armories in Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant into recreational community centers.

81st Precinct Probed for Fudging Statistics

Brooklyn’s 81st Precinct probed by NYPD for fudging stats; felonies allegedly marked as misdemeanors

BROOKLYN — A Brooklyn precinct is under investigation for manipulating statistics to make its cops look like better crimefighters, the Daily News has learned.

Two probes are centered around whether Bedford-Stuyvesant’s 81st Precinct recorded felonies as misdemeanors and refused to take complaints from victims – all in an effort to drive down the crime rate, sources said.

Cop Leaves Patrol Car Running, Thief Steals it

A brazen car thief stole an NYPD highway patrol vehicle with a loaded shotgun inside this morning — and drove it all the way to La Guardia Airport — after a cop left it idling and unmanned while he got breakfast at a Bronx diner, authorities said.

Con Ed Wallet Shock

Eskimos, hula dancers and lobstermen are about the only Americans who pay more for electricity than Con Ed customers.

Con Ed again charged the highest residential rates of any major utility in the 48 contiguous states in 2008, federal numbers released yesterday show. Only folks in Alaska, Hawaii, Fishers Island, NY, Block Island, RI, and some tiny islands off Maine paid more.

Another Sick Call to ‘KILL JEWS’

BROOKLYN, NY — In a stunning display of intolerance, Sixth Avenue in Park Slope was littered with strips of papers reading “KILL JEWS” in capital letters from Fourth to Ninth streets on Wednesday.

Nearly two dozen of the strips were picked up by Karen Guilbert, who had just finished walking her daughter to school.

NYPD Cracking Down on Drivers on Cell Phones

NEW YORK — The NYPD has announced its first 2010 citywide crackdown on drivers using hand-held devices.

The initiative is aimed at promoting safe driving. In a statement, the NYPD said “texting or talking on a cell phone is dangerous and endangers both drivers and pedestrians.”

Power Line Accident Prompts Evacuation and Subway Halt

Workers installing a gas line into a Brooklyn building accidentally struck a power line that feeds the subway on Monday, sparking electrical explosions that blew manhole covers into the air, disrupted subway service and rattled nerves in a pocket of Brooklyn Heights.

Crew, Passengers Reunite on Anniversary of Splash Landing

Passengers and crew members from US Airways Flight 1549, including Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, reunited today on the anniversary of the splash landing on the Hudson River.

FDNY Axe’s Vollie Ambulances

The Fire Department has booted the city’s volunteer ambulance companies from its emergency 911 system, The Post has learned.

The volunteer ambulances “are no longer required,” a high-ranking EMS chief told dispatchers in an e-mail last month.

Deluge of Pests Enrages 2 Brooklyn Nabes

These Brooklyn nabes are where the wild things are.

Half of Brownsville’s buildings are infested with mice or rats, and more than half of South Crown Heights households have roaches, according to a new city Health Department Web site.

From Around the Globe, Serving New York

NEW YORK — The New York Police Department has sent its officers to 11 cities around the globe — even once dispatching a husband and wife to Abu Dhabi. But the return from the world has been far greater.

Of the 5,593 officers hired since July 2006, when the department began tracking the nationalities of police officers, 1,042 of them were foreign-born — hailing from 88 countries, according to department records.

New York City Publishes Drugs Guide Book

NEW YORK — Here’s the latest smack on taxpayers.

The city spent $32,000 on 70,000 fliers that tell you how to shoot heroin, complete with detailed tips on prepping the dope and injecting it into your arm.

The Health Department handout has outraged New York’s top drug prosecutors and abuse experts.

Meter Moron Issues Tickets to String of Manhattan Cars on New Year’s

Stupidity didn’t take a holiday on E. 38th St.

A traffic agent inexplicably hit at least 10 cars parked along a block in Murray Hill with $115 tickets Friday, even though rules were suspended for New Year’s Day.

When confronted by angry drivers, the meterman refused to back down. Instead, he insisted he was following the orders of a supervisor.