Yeah, right. What next? Telling us we can’t light up in a bar?

Oh, right.

Mayor Bloomberg’s new plan sounds either West Coast crunchy or earnestly European, something you figure the Swiss have been doing for 500 years or so.

Either way, it doesn’t sound like New York. But then again, New Yorkers of a certain age will remember when Ed Koch announced in the 1980s that henceforth all citizens of our great metropolis would be required to pick up after their dogs. Everybody thought he was crazy.

The mayor’s plan inevitably inspired a new round of criticism from those who see Mr. Bloomberg as the personification of the nanny state. The man insists that we order human-sized portions of soda, bans the time-honored custom of smoking in your friendly neighborhood gin mill and requires McDonald’s to post the number of calories in a Big Mac, medium fries and a Coke (1,150!).

And now this?

The knee-jerk criticism is misplaced. Think of food waste as a potential source of energy. Every scrap that gets turned into electricity is a scrap that isn’t taking up space in some leaching, smelly landfill.

The city hopes to recycle 100,000 tons of food scraps a year in a composting plant, which will then use the scraps to generate power. That would reduce food waste by 10 percent. The plan will be voluntary at first, but eventually it likely will become mandatory, as it is in several West Coast cities.

While it’s hard to imagine New Yorkers dutifully putting aside bits of meat or gobs of leftover potatoes for collection, there also was a time when it was hard to imagine New Yorkers picking up what their dogs left behind.

Just don’t ask us to recycle that. Please?

According to an annual NYPD report released yesterday on the state of murder in New York City, 36 percent of the 419 homicides in the city in 2012 took place in Brooklyn, making it the bloodiest of the five boroughs.

Most of the 419 murders took place in north and east Brooklyn. Three eastern Brooklyn neighborhoods—East New York, Brownsville and East Flatbush—are typically considered the most dangerous areas in Brooklyn.

The number of Brooklyn victims declined slightly as compared to 2011, a year in which the borough saw 38 percent of murders. Queens, which saw 20 percent of murders in 2012 experienced a slight increase, as did Manhattan, which had 15 percent in 2012.

While Staten Island saw just two percent of murders last year, distribution can be correlated to population size. Brooklyn has the most residents of any borough (2.5 million) compared to just 470,000 in Staten Island.

The NYPD also reported that 42 percent of murders in New York were motivated by a dispute or revenge, and 57 percent were the result of gun violence. Thirty-seven percent of homicides took places between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Race certainly played a role in the homicide rate. The NYPD notes that 60 percent of victims were black, though black New Yorkers make up 23 percent of the population. Of all victims, nearly 40 percent were black males aged 16 to 37, and 86 percent of those black males were aged 16 to 21 and were victims of gun violence.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented the NYPD’s data at a press conference yesterday.  He spoke about reforming the controversial stop-and-frisk policy in New York, and remarked that teenagers in New York City are far less likely to carry handguns than teenagers in other big cities. Mr. Bloomberg called New York the safest big city in the country.

“It really is quite remarkable, the job that the NYPD and everyone else that works with them, from the public on up, is doing,” Mr. Bloomberg said.

Brad Gair, center, in Indiana in 2005. (FEMA)

It's been a week since Hurricane Sandy hit, demolishing houses in Staten Island and the waterfront communities of Brooklyn and Queens. Tensions have been running high of late, with residents frustrated by the pace it's taking to restore power to their neighborhoods—the basic necessity of life on which all other rebuilding efforts rest.

So it should come as some relief to hear that Mayor Bloomberg and the city are looking to life beyond shelters for residents whose homes are beyond easy repair (or any repair at all). Today Mr. Bloomberg announced that he has appointed Brad Gair as the director of Housing Recovery Operations.

With anger and frustration already palpable in these communities (calling Staten Island the forgotten borough has seldom seemed so apropos), Mr. Gair is stepping into the role with challenges far beyond housing thousands of displaced New Yorkers. Although given that he has more than 20 years of emergency management experience in areas hit by natural and man-made disasters (he oversaw the federal government's recovery efforts in the aftermath of 9/11), he brings ample experience to the task.

"Solving the housing problems created by this storm is an enormous challenge, but we know that the resources exist at a variety of federal, state and local agencies. Brad Gair will help us marshal those resources and coordinate efforts so that we can get help to New Yorkers who need it as quickly and efficiently as possible," Mr. Bloomberg said in a statement.

As the director of housing recovery operations, Mr. Gair will develop an inventory of transitional and temporary housing options and oversee the relocation of displaced New Yorkers, coordinating with federal, state and local organizations including the New York City Housing Authority, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Housing Development Corporation and the Department of Homeless Services.

FEMA trailers are one of the major options being considered by the federal government at the moment. While relief workers are not yet sure how many people need housing, current estimates put the number somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 families.

The mayor also appointed community recovery directors for each borough: Nazli Parvizi in Brooklyn, Matthew Mahoney in Manhattan, Diahann Billings-Burford in Queens and Haeda Milhaltses in Staten Island.

kvelsey@observer.com

Previous plans for a Governor's Island ferris wheel. (WSJ)

Who doesn’t want a giant ferris wheel in the middle of Staten Island?

We’re assuming this is the exact inquiry Mayor Michael Bloomberg demanded of his administration after talking with an investment group interested in erecting this enormous asset.

Apparently, the giant ferris wheel, if approved, would stand 600-feet-tall, making it the tallest “observation wheel” in the world, The Journal reports.

We’re going to take a stab in the dark and say it’s probably no coincidence that it will be just large enough to mitigate London’s own revolving claim-to-fame, the London Eye–which stands 443-feet-tall.

Bravo, Mayor Bloomberg.

This move solidifies any suspicion of his slight fixation with London. After all, we’ve already attempted congestion pricing and bike sharing.

Now we’re waiting for the integration of a Big Ben-esque clock tower in the New York skyline, but with a bell toll loud enough to trump the city’s own noisy soundboard.

All jokes aside, the current investment group–Plaza Capital Group Management­–isn’t the first to bring this idea to New York. An unsuccessful attempt to implant a large wheel on Governors Island was proposed more than two years ago, The Journal reminds us in a follow-up post.

The proposed investment was around $100 million.

This idea seems to be a mainstay in the minds of investment groups with the end goal being to provide tourists, who ride the ferry from Lower Manhattan to Staten Island, with a reason to stay on the island. No more cheap booze cruises, in other words.

Maybe the problem is Jay-Z did not like his eggs?

If Gracie Mansion were our friend, we’d lightly slap her face and tell her to snap out of it. “Put down that compact mirror, girl,” we’d chide. “You don’t need botox or permanent eyeliner tattoos. You look great as is. Don’t go changing yourself for some man.” She’d then probably start crying and wailing, “Why, oh, why doesn’t he love me?” at which point we’d start feeling awkward and might hand her a box of Kleenex to shut her up.

Because the thing is, we don’t know why Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn’t love you, Gracie. We don’t know why he refuses to live inside your beauteous walls (well, maybe we do), but the thing is, changing how you look won’t help. It won’t bring your man home. You’re wasting your time, squandering your money, and becoming a cliché. And yet, we know you won’t listen to us. We know you’ll do it anyways; we know you’ll have your kitchen remodeled.

And whatdoyouknow? We were right.

For the first time in 27 years, Gracie Mansion will be getting a new kitchen, and a swanky one at that. For $1.4 million, the mazelike walls will be knocked down, refrigerators will be installed, and the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems as a whole will be improved. “It’s about time,” Mitchel London, the chef for Mayor Edward I. Koch told The Times. And he would know. He was there when the kitchen was still new.

Specific details on the new kitchen have not been released, but the renovation will be spearheaded by Studios Architecture, Petretti & Associates Construction Management, and Drake Design Associates. More importantly, the project has been funded entirely, we repeat, entirely, by the Gracie Mansion Conservancy through their fundraising events and other sponsorship opportunities, with not a cent coming from the Mayor himself.

Which begs the question, why renovate? Especially when no one lives there full-time? Well, it turns out that quite a few events are actually held at the mansion each year so having a new, modern kitchen will be quite a treat for the kitchen peons. Finally, no more running outside to the well to retrieve water.

Benepe: Looking for a new spot in the sun

Commissioners' posts, much like visits to the park, have a flexible but finite timespan. And the end of a mayor's term looming in the not-too-distant future is as good a reason to leave a nice spot as a rumble of thunder in the distance.

Adrian Benepe, lover of carousels and longtime parks commissioner is bowing out, reports The New York Times.

Mr. Benepe has accepted a senior position at the Trust for Public Land. Maybe the expansion-loving commissioner of the last decade was tired of all the budget cuts? (The Parks Department is facing a proposed one of $33.4 million this year). But most likely, Mr. Benepe is pursuing greener grass after a decade in the post and some 30 years at the Parks Department.

Mr. Benepe started at the department in 1973 as a teenage seasonal helper in East River Park on Manhattan's Lower East Side, picking up litter and mopping locker rooms, slowly rising through the ranks until taking the top post in 2002.

“When New York City leads, cities, states and nations around the world follow," Mr. Bloomberg said, according to The Times. "Adrian Benepe has done extraordinary work as parks commissioner, leading transformative changes in every corner of New York City, and I couldn’t be prouder that he is going to lead the Trust for Public Land’s new initiative to replicate our work in cities across the country.”

Former parks commissioner Henry Stern also waxed poetic about his successor's skills. “His intimate knowledge of the emerald empire and the men and women who manage it will be enormously helpful as he seeks to spread New York City’s example nationwide," wrote Mr. Stern.  "He has had great success in working with community groups and building alliances of citizens and business groups to help improve parks. "

And at the very least, Mr. Benepe's successor should prove adept at community communication and alliance building. The mayor has named Veronica M. White, who is currently the founding executive director of the city's Center for Economic Opportunity, an anti-poverty non-profit, as Mr. Benepe's successort. We'll be watching eagerly to see how the city will mark Mr. Benepe's time at the helm of the department. A bench seems a little less-than.

kvelsey@observer.com

“When I heard about Bloomberg’s plan, on the national news, to make large sodas illegal, my mind immediately went to ‘Are people going to jail for this?’” the artist, Owen Smith, told the magazine's Cover Stories blog.

The New Yorker has never been one to shy away from Hizzoner's more colorful aspects. Last year, the Mayor's ban on smoking in parks prompted this Bruce McCall cover, which shows New Yorkers in the stocks for indulging in salt or a smoke. And who could forget last year's Valentines Day cover? That one, drawn by Barry Blitt, had the Mayor mooning at himself in the mirror over chocolates and Champagne. (His birthday is February 14.)

Not that he needs take it personally. Mayor Bloomberg's predecessor Rudy Giuliani also made the cover three times, according to the New York Times.

Photo by D Dipasupil/FilmMagic.

A note to our colleagues: Now may be a good time to stop sleeping in the office. Mayor Michael Bloomberg had The Observer on his mind yesterday at the Friends of the Hudson River Park's sping gala, reminding partygoers that FOHRP board chair Douglas Durst ranked fifth on The Commercial Observer's Real Estate Power 100, five spots ahead of hizzoner. "Look out for a visit from the city's building inspectors," he quipped, a friend tells us.

Mr. Bloomberg—his girlfriend Diana Taylor chairs the board of the Hudson River Park Trust—was on hand at Pier 26 to present Highbridge Capital co-founder Glenn Dubin with the FOHRP's Leadership in Community Enrichment award. It was no mere pit-stop on the evening agenda—Mr. Bloomberg stayed through dinner (goat cheese panna cotta and seared arctic char from Union Square Catering) and chatted with guests (who included Christy Turlington, Ed Burns and former-Gov. George Pataki).

Teen-aged children mean Mr. Dubin—who grew up in Washington Heights and frequented Fort Tryon Park as a boy—is spending less time at his country house these days, he told guests, and more time in the park. Though Mr. Dubin seemed partial to venerable Central Park, his track record as a philanthropist—Mr. Dubin was a founding board member of the Robin Hood Foundation, and more recently, the Eva and Glenn Dubin Breast Care Center at Mt. Sinai Hospital—and environmentalist instincts made him an apt honoree.

"You're looking for someone who can raise money, yes, but also someone whose ethos matches what the organization is trying to accomplish," said Michael Novogratz, a principal at Fortress Investment Group and Hudson River Park Trust board member. Mr. Dubin's stature on Wall Street helped bring fresh faces to the sold-out event, said FOHRP executive director A.J. Pietrantone, and the organization treated guests to cameos by park users. Intrepid members of New York Kayak Water Polo staged an exhibition off Pier 26 during the cocktail hour, and CBS This Morning co-anchor Gayle King—who hosted the festivities—was escorted onto the stage by a parade of dog-walkers. Mr. Durst entered by bicycle. "We wanted to give our guests the sense of fun and exploration that's at the heart of what Hudson River Park is all about," Mr. Pietrantone said.

The event raised $1.6 million towards the park's operating fund. Guests gossiped that a generous donor had made a $50 million pledge, but Mr. Pietrantone said that the organization hadn't received a gift at that level.

The neighbors are not fans (AMagill, flickr)

The majority of New Yorkers would actually like to live in smoke-free buildings, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll, they just don't like Mayor Bloomberg telling them what to do.

Although 59 percent of New Yorkers told pollsters that they wanted to live in a building where no one was allowed to smoke, another 53 percent thought that city hall shouldn't pressure co-ops, condos or apartment buildings to ban smoking.

Basically, no one likes a nanny state, even when they like everything the nanny does.

Of course, Mayor Bloomberg has insisted that the new law he's been pushing wouldn't force buildings to ban smoking, it would just require them to disclose their smoking policies and procedures to potential tenants and renters.

“We protect people from hurting themselves if they’re trying to jump off a bridge, we restrain them,” Mr. Bloomberg told The New York Times when he announced his policy proposal last month. “Should you really do it with smoking? We’re not going to do it with smoking, but we—this is purely an informational thing.”

Women are bigger fans than men of smoke free buildings, (63 percent to 55 percent), although not by much, according to the poll, and even though people don't really like the idea of the Bloomberg administration nosing into their apartment buildings, 45 percent said that the mayor's steps to improve the health habits of city residents were "about right." Still, 33 percent felt that the administration had gone too far butting into people's lives.

No matter what happens with Mayor Bloomberg's law, it's likely that apartment smoking bans will become more popular, further igniting the anger of the city's nicotine-addicts.

kvelsey@observer.com