Since You’re Talking About Cash-Strapped Municipalities Saving Money . . .

You could raise $3.4 million year by charging groups like the NYC Marathon for overtime or you could save $75 million a year by cutting back on pot arrests:

New York spends $75 million a year to lock up people caught with marijuana, a new study says, even though it’s not technically a crime.

The report by the Drug Policy Alliance says the NYPD spends that much on 50,000 annual pot arrests, in which 86% of those arrested are black or Latino.

Of course that might require a reconfiguration of the mayor’s “progressive goals,” but with his lowest approval ratings in eight years, there’s room to reconfigure.

Play Idea: Last Con Man In Manhattan

Alternate title: Con Err. Opening this summer at a fringe festival near you.

Maybe The Thought That You Just Blew Almost $200 At An Applebee’s Makes You Do Rash Things

Less dine and dash than binge and dash:

They feasted on shrimp and ribs, washing it down with booze and coffee.

And when it came time to pay their $170 tab Saturday afternoon at Applebee’s restaurant in New Dorp, [a Staten Island woman] and her friend handed over a Visa card.

When told the card was no good, the duo didn’t search their wallets for cash or another credit card, prosecutors contend. They didn’t even offer to wash the dishes.

Instead, they bolted without paying, cursing and yelling at a restaurant employee, said court papers.

Looking at the menu for the New Dorp Applebee’s, I’m confused. Double-Glazed Baby Back Ribs are $22.99. Double Crunch Shrimp is $13.99. That’s still under $40. How much booze and coffee can one possibly consume at an Applebee’s?

It’s A Bad Winter To Do Sketchy Shit

It’s important to always drive carefully on snow-covered streets, especially when transporting stuff you don’t want authorities to discover:

A New Jersey man who was severely beaten — and part of whose ear was hacked off — was found tied up inside the trunk of a BMW that crashed in upper Manhattan early Wednesday, police said.

. . .

The driver, who goes by the name of Blake, slammed the luxury sedan into a livery cab after running a red light on snow-covered Dyckman St., near an exit for the Harlem River Drive, the sources said.

The [livery cab driver] said the suspect tried to flee the crash by making a U-turn, but got stuck in the snow.

. . .

When police arrived, they spotted what looked like a bullet hole in the blue BMW’s trunk, which also had blood spots on it, the sources said.

They popped the trunk open and found the victim, bound and barefoot, with the bloody remains of one of his ears dangling from his head, the sources said.

And then there’s something called “thundersnow” . . .

Stumbling-Related Quote Of The Day

After the Mayor boasts that “a woman could walk in virtually every neighborhood in this city during the day and not look over her shoulder, and most neighborhoods at night,” the Daily News asks women across New York City whether they feel it is safe to walk around: “Bloomberg’s trippin.'”