Didn’t You Pay Any Attention To What Just Happened In Chicago?

Councilmember Tony Avella, the City Council’s true master of grandstanding (beating out both John Liu and Eric Gioia), has staked out many positions in his run up to a mayoral campaign, from the principled (refusing a pay raise, vowing to investigate the quid pro quo-like lobbying during the congestion pricing debate) to the useful (a do not call list for advertising circulars) to the loopy (section 809 of New York’s Education Law), but this just takes the cake:

The fight over foie gras is coming to City Hall, with a City Council member who is running for mayor, Tony Avella, set to urge his colleagues to support a proposed ban on the force-feeding of ducks and geese.

Mr. Avella, who also has introduced a bill to ban horse-drawn carriages in the city, said he thinks it is inhumane to force-feed birds to fatten their livers for foie gras.

Tomorrow Mr. Avella is scheduled to introduce a council resolution in support of a state bill proposed by Senator Frank Padavan that would ban the force-feeding of birds by hand or machine to enlarge their livers.

“If they can produce foie gras by feeding the animals in a normal process, well, that’s up to them,” Mr. Avella, who represents parts of Queens, said. The resolution will not call for a ban on the sale of foie gras.

And, dude, New York City is just not that kind of town.

At The Risk Of Spoiling My New Year’s Resolution To Be Less Sarcastic . . .

. . . New York’s milk price gouging law has been a huge success*:

A whopping 86 percent of supermarkets, delis and bodegas throughout the five boroughs are charging above the state-mandated price ceiling for milk, according to a City Council survey released yesterday.

The survey found that 43 out of 50 stores checked last November were charging an average of 40 cents above the state limit, which is set each month by the Department of Agriculture and Markets.

“It is no secret and it has been widely reported that the price of food has been consistently increasing in New York and across the country,” said council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan).

“While food prices are rising, it’s incredibly important that we make sure important staples, critical things to families like milk, are as affordable as possible.”

Current metropolitan-area limits for June are set at $3.93 per gallon, $2.01 per half-gallon and $1.04 per quart, with lower prices upstate.

Shoppers cutting every corner to make ends meet — many of whom did not know there were legal price limits — were appalled to learn they were getting gouged.

“I have two children. We buy a lot of milk. If it’s overpriced, it’s unfair for mothers and their children,” said Gloria Williams, 36, who was shopping in Murray Hill.

. . .

The complex state law does allow stores to make a case for above-the-limit prices before they are considered in violation.

Most of the major supermarket chains have done so, but many smaller shops do not.

In fact, a manager at one small store — the Food Market at Second Avenue and 41st Street, where a half-gallon was selling for $3.29 — was clearly unaware of the regulation, saying, “This is a free country. I’m allowed to charge whatever I want.”

*So was ditching the resolution worth it? Probably not.

No 7 Train Extension!

Sorry, I assumed that would be the headline instead of “MTA hike fare-y may visit us again”:

A rare back-to-back increase — along with service cuts — could be in store for commuters now that MTA number crunchers are suddenly dealing with a massive hole in next year’s budget.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s projected 2009 budget gap has ballooned — doubling or even tripling original estimates, sources said.

Without new state money, officials may soon raise the spectre of increases, service cuts — or both, sources and experts said.

“They don’t have many options,” one source said.

Subway riders gasped at the suggestion.

“I’m a recent college graduate so I can’t afford the subway as it is,” said Bryan Tran, 21, of Queens. “Any higher and I will have to walk everywhere. It’s ridiculous.”

Caveat Pleasure

Counterfeit Louis Vuitton handbags, sure. But counterfeit condoms, too? Not to sound harsh, but if you’re cheap enough to buy condoms at a 99-cent store, you probably deserve what you get:

Careful with those Trojan brand condoms from the discount store. They may not be the real thing.

Same with the Barbie doll and the Louis Vuitton handbag.

In raids in the metropolitan area yesterday, federal agents arrested at least eight people and charged them with heading a counterfeit products ring. Authorities say the ring has been smuggling into the country and then distributing massive quantities of fake brand-name goods manufactured in China, including Apple iPods, Major League Baseball and National Football League caps and Marvel comic books.

The counterfeits, which included millions of the phony Trojans, were sold for the past three years mainly in small discount stores in the area, as well as elsewhere in the country, including Texas and Virginia, according to court documents.

A spokeswoman for Church and Dwight, the company that manufactures the legitimate Trojan condoms in the United States, declined to comment on whether the counterfeit Chinese condoms could fail to prevent pregnancies or the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

But a source familiar with the federal investigation said that while the counterfeit condoms were of inferior quality, samples had been tested and they were no riskier to use than legitimate ones.

The packaging of the Chinese condoms is almost identical to the legitimate ones, except that the counterfeit packaging is plastic, while the legitimate product is packaged in aluminum foil, said another source familiar with the investigation. “They [the counterfeiters] spent all their money on printing,” said the source.

Think Of It Like Congestion Pricing . . .

. . . congestion pricing for taking crying children into a movie theater:

Clearview Cinemas on First Avenue and 62nd Street last week stopped offering reduced-price tickets for children and seniors, charging $12 across the board — even for a matinee.

And several other theaters are also expected to raise children’s ticket and concession prices to make up for their cost increases, The Post has learned.

“I feel like everywhere I go, I’m getting nickeled-and-dimed these days,” said Jack Miller, 40, who took his 7-year-old son, Benjamin, to see “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” at the Clearview yesterday afternoon, only to find that a children’s ticket had shot up $2.50.

“Everything is expensive,” he griped.

Davina Kahlon, a 31-year-old nurse from Manhattan who saw “Narnia” with her son Jahan, 2, called the price jump “horrible.

“I don’t think it’s fair,” she said. “It’s bad enough we [adults] have to pay $12. Children will be children. He may fall asleep or start to cry, and I might have to leave early. It’s not just.”

Rita Richardson, 46, said she plans to boycott the theater.

“They charge more to go to the movies here than in Times Square,” she said. “I won’t be coming here anymore.”

Making matters worse for the kiddies is the fact that a large tub of popcorn costs 50 cents more at the Clearview than it did last year — up to a whopping $6.50 — a concessionaire said.

A ticket seller in the box office said the admission-price increase started last week as a pilot program for theaters in the area.

(“Pilot program” . . . what else did they call a “pilot program”? Oh yeah.)