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You must be riding the Orient Express, I am not Asian nor foreign born and I always give my seat up for a lady whether she is with child or not. I have been doing this deed since I began riding public transportation by myself. I have not forgot the teachings of my up-bringing.

I don't think it's accurate to assume women aren't giving up their seats, especially after Syphrite just confirmed that they, in fact, do. As a young woman, I always give up my seat when I see a pregnant woman or a woman holding an infant. I hope that one day others will afford me the same kindness.

In my informal study of riding the PATH twice a day, I see plenty of ladies giving up their seats. Perhaps this is a bit Polyanna, but I think that when men & women don't give up their seats, it's often the result of people not noticing or paying attention to other passengers. Not that that's always a bad thing. Zoning out with my iPod is a welcome respite when my thighs are smushed up next to the person beside me & I'm having to smell someone else's Egg McMuffin.

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Let them find out for themselves. If potential home owners are stupid enough not to find out for themselves what responsibilities are in store for them then let them sleep in the bed they made for their night's sleep. This system has worked for over 50 years well at least back then the pipes were 50 years younger. The city knew to what $$ amount this would lead to. If the voters in J.C. are opposed to this then a vote should take place.

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I think the real issue with retail on Newark Avenue is that we aren't really attracting tourist shoppers, and its a catch-22 because the sort of stores that would attract outside shoppers can't be supported by local residents alone.

What I mean is, for a vibrant retail district, the area needs to do more to attract people from outlying areas and the city to expand the customer base. Right now we have a large proportion of shops that provide everyday needs retail-- the sort of stuff that you need on an everyday basis, like a vegetable stand, or a dollar store. But some suburbanite doesn't say, "hey, lets go into Jersey City to shop at the vegetable stand and buy hand towels from the dollar store."

There are of course a handful of destination shops that provide really great shopping opportunities -- Metropolis Music for one thing, or some of the Grove street clothing boutiques or Another Man's Treasure, but I think these really are not centralized well enough, nor are they publicized well in areas outside of Jersey City. For instance, if you walk down Smith Street or Bedford Avenue, there is a much higher concentration of unique, independent retailers; its a lot more obvious to people who are unfamiliar with the area that you are in a shopping district. By comparison, there are shops on Newark Avenue, Grove Street, Jersey Avenue, and on side streets, but nothing in a clearly marked, centralized shopping district. Also these streets are punctuated with nail salons, vacant store fronts, and the dollar stores. The shopping "experience" doesn't really exist here right now; Jersey City isn't attracting people from outside the city, and no one is making a day trip here. Hoboken has done a much better job, I think, because Washington Street is concentrated enough that day trippers can walk up and down and shop at the local stores.

an interview with Bloomberg, Gross all but pleaded for a
Bill Gross is a Capitalist?

Federal bailout of Fannie/Freddie

(U.S. Must Buy Assets to Prevent `Tsunami,' Gross Says):

The U.S. government needs to start using more of its money to support markets to stem a burgeoning "financial tsunami,'' according to Bill Gross, manager of the world's biggest bond fund.

Banks, securities firms and hedge funds are dumping assets, driving down prices of bonds, real estate, stocks and commodities, Gross, co-chief investment officer of Newport Beach, California-based Pacific Investment Management Co., said in commentary posted on the firm's Web site today.

"Unchecked, it can turn a campfire into a forest fire, a mild asset bear market into a destructive financial tsunami,'' Gross said. "If we are to prevent a continuing asset and debt liquidation of near historic proportions, we will require policies that open up the balance sheet of the U.S. Treasury.''

The government needs to replace private investors who either don't have the money to buy new assets or have been burned by losses, Gross said. Pimco, sovereign wealth funds and central banks are reluctant to fund financial firms after losses on investments they made to support the companies, Gross said. The world's biggest banks and brokers have raised $364.4 billion in new capital after more than $500 billion in writedowns and credit losses since the beginning of last year.

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I do understand what you are saying, and I didn't mean there are 500T of CDS', that's the total amount of all derivatives of all kinds. This is what's the root of these issues, that's why i think 700B is just the beginning.

I'm afraid we'll be at the same place after all that money is spent, in the way Hank and Ben want it done.

here's an idea I head this morning on WNYC from a former IMF member:

- Lending money (instead of buying those assets) and holding those as collateral, instead of outright buying

- or, as one of the posters wrote : How about buying equity in these companies, so tax dollars would own stock. Wall street won't like it, but tough sh*t.

- better yet let's just confiscate all those assets, as we're on the road to Socialization, anyway. This is what this bailout amounts to.

__________

About Bill Gross and PIMCO - He was the biggest benefactor of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout.

The WSJ noted about PIMCO:

The bond-management firm has posted good gains since the credit crunch began last year, in part by betting big on mortgage debt tied to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- whose implicit government backing and relative safety compared with other securities has helped keep their bond returns in the black.

Now as both entities show continued financial weakness and many parts of the bond market remain pressured, a main challenge for Mr. El-Erian, 50 years old, will be sustaining Pimco's winning returns.

Then came the very strange commentary Bill Gross posted at the PIMCO site -- a weird, quasi-homage to Cramer, which then reiterated the expected pain of a deleveraging and asset liquidation.

There also needs to be a municipal lot or parking garage that comes right off Newark Ave or is right behind it. This way people can park and then walk up and down the storefronts...

Especially if the lot behind Skinners has been sold to a private party...

Don't worry Wibbit, your investment class friends have long greased the gears of Washington. Your precious money is no doubt safe in the hands of Congress.

The proposed bailout is wealth redistribution, and nothing less. Its ensuring that poor investment decisions are rewarded with profits. It keeps money flowing from the poorest Americans into the hands of the wealthiest. But should we really expect anything else when Congress has been bought and paid for?

Just to back up to a claim a couple of people were making upthread, I think that while reckless borrowers/homeowners share some blame here, it's the smallest part of the blame.

I don't think American's magically became way more irresponsible in the last 10 years, so you have to ask WHY there was a sudden epidemic of people taking on debt they couldn't handle. I mean yes, some of it is stupidity, inadequate financial knowledge, petty personal greed, delusion etc. But going up the ladder, who do you blame most?

- The first-time homebuyer who, at the STRONG encouragement of a broker, takes on a loan he can't really afford but thinks he'll be able to afford because housing prices are going up.

- The mortgage broker who KNOWS the guy can't afford the loan but is happy to be dipping his hat into a river of money and doesn't have to worry about the consequences.

- The lender who, in spite of being in the lending business, does not do due diligence on the loans it is making

- The I-bankers who sell off packaged loans as investments, knowing that the risk assessments and ratings are based on dubious assumptions about housing prices

Someone should take this story along with the one about the German guy who got arrested over the light rail ticket and publish a book of these stories. No re-write or anything; just a compilation of these stories in the form they're published in.

Give copies out to people going into and out of real estate offices, open-houses, etc.

Maybe a cover design that looks like Ripley's but is:

Healy's believe it or not!!!

As of this morning Liberty is in 10th place!!!
Please keep joining and posting guys we can do this for Liberty and our Homeless Animals!!!

Mr. Mocco should have long ago been imprisoned. Any problems he has with the city over his real estate empire are just a tiny portion of what he is owed.

The man thinks he can flout the law just becasue he has gotten away with it so often in the past.

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Because you live in Jersey City and Jersey City cops think they are entitled to more than one salary!

Hey, when Bret Schundler sold the Jersey City water supply to American Water Company, he sold the pipes too. Welcome to the consequences of having a crooked mayor.

Thousands of pet lovers are logging on to Zootoo to support shelters in their community. One shelter will win a renovation valued at up to One Million Dollars* - while 19 others will be receiving cash prizes totaling $195,000 to be used for shelter improvements.

The $195,000 will be divided as follows:

First Runner Up Prize: One award of $50,000 will be given to the Shelter that receives the 2nd highest number of public votes from America.
Second Runner Up Prize: One award of $25,000 will be given to the Shelter that receives the 3rd highest number of public votes from America.
Finalist Prizes: The seven Finalists who are not selected as the Makeover Winner, 1st Runner Up, or 2nd Runner Up will receive $10,000 each.
Semifinalist Prizes: The ten Semifinalists that are not selected as Finalists will receive $5,000 each.
Most Points Award: One award of $10,000 given to the Semifinalist who earns the most points during the Point Accumulation Phase. This prize is awarded separate from and in addition to the Makeover, First, and Second Prizes. Therefore, any Shelter Participant may win the Most Points Award, regardless of their selection as a Finalist or Prize winner.

http://www.zootoo.com/makeover/standings

--
Please help Jersey City's animal shelter, Liberty Humane Society (http://www.libertyhumane.org/)win the ZooToo shelter makeover!! If you e-mail me for an invite to join, that will be a total of 100 points to go to the contest!! Information on the contest can be found on www.zootoo.com/makeover/.

thanks
Mary Ann
faeryx4@yahoo.com

what a scumbag!

Jersey City man charged in phony scholarship scam

The Jersey Journal
Wednesday September 24

A Jersey City man is accused of diverting cash from a Downtown Jersey City Scholarship Fund for his own use as part of a two-pronged scam that netted nearly $100,000 from an educational organization, according to the North Country Gazette of Upstate New York.

Thomas M. Kelly, 51, is the former executive director of Community for Education Foundation, the New York-based charity he is accused of bilking, the paper said.

==================
Feds: CEF Chief Bilked $90K From Charity

Posted on Wednesday, 24 of September , 2008 at 9:26 am

NEW YORK?Thomas M. Kelly, the former executive director of Community for Education Foundation (CEF), a New York based charity, has been indicted in connection with two schemes to allegedly defraud CEF of over $90,000.

According to the complaint unsealed in Manhattan federal court, CEF is a non-profit corporation that was founded in1992. CEF?s purpose is to assist children ages five to 18 years with the development of life management skills like the ability to communicate effectively, set goals, and make decisions. To do this, CEF provides curriculum materials, training, and support to public schools throughout the United States.

Kelly, 51, of Jersey City, NJ, was employed as CEF?s executive director from 2005 until he was fired on or about March 31. As executive director, he was responsible for CEF?s day-to-day management including supervision of its finances and the sales of its educational products and services to school districts nationwide. Kelly reported to CEF?s founder and chairman of the board and to CEF?s Board of Directors.

Prosecutors say Kelly engaged in two schemes to defraud CEF out of over $90,000. As a part of the first scheme, Kelly established an entity known as ?Downtown Jersey City Scholarship Fund?, prosecutors said, which he falsely represented was a part of CEF. Kelly then allegedly used DJCSF to solicit and receive donations totaling approximately $52,481 that he deposited into a bank account that he opened in the name of ?Community for Education Foundation/Downtown JC Scholarship Fund?. He then diverted much of the donated money to his personal use.

The second scheme involved the alleged diversion by Kelly of approximately $53,100 that a public school district outside of New York State paid to CEF for certain educational materials. In October 2007, the school district placed an order for CEF?s curriculum materials to use in schools within school district. Prosecutors say Kelly never reported the district?s order to the founder and the board, but instead provided the school district with instructions to wire payment into the DJCSF Account he controlled rather than to CEF?s legitimate checking account.

In January 2008, the school district wired approximately $44,100 into the DJCSF Account. In addition, Kelly deposited a $9,000 check sent by the district into the DJCSF account.

A total of approximately $117,159 was deposited into the DJCSF account. Of this amount, Kelly withdrew approximately $46,500 in checks made payable to himself and diverted an additional approximately $45,000 by issuing a check to an acquaintance. http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2008/09/24/charity_scam/

Below are web links for charity:

http://overcomingobstacles.wordpress. ... rganizational-highlights/

http://www.guidestar.org/pqShowGsRepo ... ner=justgive&npoId=338538

Heavy Metal & Jersey City -- Talking Metal Podcast

September 23, 2008

TALKING METAL EPISODE 229: INFERNOPHONIC SPECIAL FEATURING FORMER NON-FICTION BASSIST KEVIN BOLEMBACH & ELAINE TUTTLE

Credits: ? 2008 Talking Metal

This episode features an interview hosts Mark Strigl and John Ostronomy conducted with former Non-Fiction bassist, Kevin Bolembach, and Elaine Tuttle of Infernophonic. Topics include Infernophonic, Pat Piegari, Courtney Williams, Ross Kantor, Alan Evans, Non-Fiction, Maul Stanley, and Star Wars. Additional podcast topics include Bumblefoot, Twitter, and Jersey City, New Jersey.

http://www.captaint.com/talkingmetal/talkingmetaleps229.mp3

http://www.striglsmusicnews.com/podcasts/talkingmetal/index.htm

Man is shot from car in the Western Slope

Thursday, September 25, 2008
By PAUL KOEPP
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A Jersey City man was shot in the hip Tuesday evening near the corner of Liberty Avenue and Lincoln Street by a gunman in a passing car, police reports said.

The 32-year-old victim saw a dark-colored vehicle drive up to him and heard shots ring out as he was standing at the intersection at 8 p.m., police said.

He began running south on Liberty toward his house and then felt a bullet hit him on the right hip, reports said.

The man told cops he did not get a good look at the car or anyone inside it. He was taken to Jersey City Medical Center for treatment of his injury.

In a similar incident early Tuesday morning, a man heard shots after riding his bike past a dark Dodge Caravan occupied by two men on Central Avenue.

Punishment for Downtown shakedown

Thursday, September 25, 2008
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A former union local president involved in the construction of Jersey City's Goldman Sachs tower has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for shaking down contractors on the waterfront project for $112,000 in bribes, authorities said.

"Corruption is the mortal enemy of a labor unions and will be aggressively investigated and prosecuted by the federal government," Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Moscato said last week about Tuesday's sentencing of Peter O. Strannemar, 66, of Blairstown.
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Strannemar, the former president of Local 825 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, was also fined $20,000 by U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler, officials said.

Strannemar admitted in May that beginning in 2001, he conspired with engineer Anthony Mann and Local 825 Business Agent Craig Wask to shake down two contractors for cash and other items, officials said. Strannemar also admitted that in 2004 he filed a federal tax return that concealed about $50,000 in income, officials said.

Mann pleaded guilty in May, and Wask pleaded guilty in March, Muscato said, adding that both await sentencing.

Strannemar acknowledged that he and his co-conspirators unlawfully received about $112,000 in labor bribes from steel and plumbing companies.

He also admitted getting free household appliances, valued at approximately $1,900, from the plumbing company, and said the appliances were delivered to his home by Mann, officials said.

The contractors building the state's tallest building were not identified.

The U.S. Attorney's Office has been investigating the union for well over a year, officials said.

Strannemar remains free on bail pending his surrender to the federal Bureau of Prisons on a date to be determined, Muscato said.

Pipe under city's street, but repair bill is all hers

Thursday, September 25, 2008
By PAUL KOEPP
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Justina Smith, 78, has lived in her house on Morton Place in Jersey City for almost 40 years. The lead pipe that carried water to the three-story home had probably been there even longer.

But when it broke recently, it left Smith and her granddaughter, Lisa Joseph, facing a repair bill of over $5,000 - even though they didn't cause the leak and it's under a city street.

That's because the city's water system rules, which date to the 1950s, put the burden of fixing transmission lines - as opposed to water mains - squarely on property owners.

Joseph, 34, who also lives in the house along with her brother and uncle, called United Water last Wednesday because they had low water pressure. A company employee came to the house Friday, determined there was a leak and said a crew would come to fix it Monday.

Instead, Joseph said, United Water workers showed up Saturday night, dug up the street and shut off their water, telling her she would have to hire a plumber to dig down at least 4 feet and install a new copper pipe.

"They only rang the bell after they dug up everything," she said. "The least they could have done is make it a little easier on us."

City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said the water had to be shut off to prevent a sinkhole from forming.

But that's meant the family has had to draw water from a neighbor's hose and carry it up from the basement to wash dishes, bathe and flush toilets while the plumber they hired, A-Absolute Construction of Roselle, collects the necessary city permits to do the $4,500 replacement.

The Building Department would not issue the permits until the family paid the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority $422 for a new connection, and the work was delayed again when the department did not have any inspectors available on Tuesday, Joseph said.

She will also have to pay $35 an hour for an off-duty cop to direct traffic, and $126 for a new water meter.

"I find it amazing that it's our responsibility to replace these things at such a high cost," Joseph said. "In addition, I feel the city is unreasonable with all these extra costs we have to pay out of pocket."

Smith added: "I'm paying my taxes. Why should I have to pay for a policeman to stand up over there? It's a stress on me."

The work is expected to start today and be completed by tomorrow.

Graffiti busts near Square

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Two men were arrested early yesterday after allegedly writing graffiti on several storefronts near Journal Square in Jersey City, according to police reports.

Charles Shelton, 27, of Van Wagenen Avenue, and Erik Whalen, 23, of Hudson Street in Hoboken, were caught on surveillance cameras spraying buildings on Sip Avenue at Van Wagenen at 4:20 a.m., police said.

Cops found the pair hiding in a nearby alley with two permanent markers, latex gloves, a squeeze bottle and spray paint, reports said. They were charged with criminal mischief, police said.

PAUL KOEPP

McCain Aide?s Firm Was Paid by Freddie Mac

By JACKIE CALMES and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: September 23, 2008
WASHINGTON ? One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month from the end of 2005 through last month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain?s campaign manager, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement.

The disclosure undercuts a statement by Mr. McCain on Sunday night that the campaign manager, Rick Davis, had had no involvement with the company for the last several years.

Mr. Davis?s firm received the payments from the company, Freddie Mac, until it was taken over by the government this month along with Fannie Mae, the other big mortgage lender whose deteriorating finances helped precipitate the cascading problems on Wall Street, the people said.

They said they did not recall Mr. Davis?s doing much substantive work for the company in return for the money, other than speak to a political action committee of high-ranking employees in October 2006 on the approaching midterm Congressional elections. They said Mr. Davis?s firm, Davis & Manafort, had been kept on the payroll because of Mr. Davis?s close ties to Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, who by 2006 was widely expected to run again for the White House.

Mr. Davis took a leave from Davis & Manafortfor the presidential campaign, but as a partner and equity-holder continues to benefit from its income. No one at Davis & Manafort other than Mr. Davis was involved in efforts on Freddie Mac?s behalf, the people familiar with the arrangement said.

A Freddie Mac spokeswoman said the company would not comment.

Jill Hazelbaker, a spokeswoman for the McCain campaign, did not dispute the payments to Mr. Davis?s firm. But she said that Mr. Davis had stopped taking a salary from his firm by the end of 2006 and that his work did not affect Mr. McCain.

?Senator McCain?s positions on policy matters are based upon what he believes to be in the public interest,? Ms. Hazelbaker said in a written statement.

The revelations come at a time when Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama are sparring over ties to lobbyists and special interests and seeking political advantage in a campaign being reshaped by the financial crisis and the plan to bail out investment firms.

Mr. McCain?s campaign has been attacking Senator Barack Obama, his Democratic rival, for ties to former officials of the mortgage lenders, both of which have long histories of cultivating allies in the two parties to fend off efforts to restrict their activities. Mr. McCain has been running a television commercial suggesting that Mr. Obama takes advice on housing issues from Franklin D. Raines, former chief executive of Fannie Mae, a contention flatly denied by Mr. Raines and the Obama campaign.

Freddie Mac?s roughly $500,000 in payments to Davis & Manafort began immediately after Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in late 2005 disbanded an advocacy coalition that they had set up and hired Mr. Davis to run, the people familiar with the arrangement said.

From 2000 to the end of 2005, Mr. Davis had received nearly $2 million as president of the coalition, the Homeownership Alliance, which the companies created to help them oppose new regulations and protect their status as federally chartered companies with implicit government backing. That status let them borrow cheaply, helping to fuel rapid growth but also their increased purchases of the risky mortgage securities that were their downfall.

On Sunday, in an interview with CNBC and The New York Times, Mr. McCain responded to a question about Mr. Davis?s role in the advocacy group through 2005 by saying that his campaign manager ?has had nothing to do with it since, and I?ll be glad to have his record examined by anybody who wants to look at it.?

Such assertions, along with McCain campaign television ads tying Mr. Obama to former Fannie Mae chiefs, have riled current and former officials of the two companies and provoked them to volunteer rebuttals. The two officials with direct knowledge of Freddie Mac?s post-2005 contract with Mr. Davis spoke on condition of anonymity. Four other outside consultants, three Democrats and a Republican also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the arrangement was widely known among people involved in Freddie Mac?s lobbying efforts.

As president of the Homeownership Alliance, Mr. Davis got $30,000 to $35,000 a month. Mr. Davis, along with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have characterized the alliance as a coalition of many housing industry and consumer groups to promote homeownership, but numerous current and former officials at both companies say the two mortgage companies created and bankrolled the operation to combat efforts by competitors to rein in their business. They dissolved the group at the end of 2005 as part of cost-cutting in the wake of accounting scandals and, at Freddie Mac, a lobbying scandal that forced out its former top Republican lobbyist.

read more
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/us/ ... .html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

McCain is a f****ng pussy. Backing out of the debate...COWARD!

And now EVERBODY'S credit card, including the Government's is maxed out.

Time for change.

Time for Obama.

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But that mentality has been ENCOURAGED by this administration. Wasn't it GWB who told us to "go shopping" after the 9/11 attacks?

SLyng,

dont bother, the lemmings will never understand how close we came last week. If fed didnt do the bailout, morgan stanley would collapsed thurs, followed by aig over the weekend. The entire financial system would then melted, the dollar going into freefall, foreign banks as you said with trillions of us treasury debt will be in a panic to dump at a firesale, resulting in interest rate be forced up to 10-20% to stabilize the dollar, the real estate market completely destroyed as a result, credit frozen, unemloyment goes up to 30%, milk costing $10-20. THEN those idiots with their fdic insured 100k cheering the meltdown will realize how f**ked they actually are. At that point, 700B will be like trying to catch an elephant with a handkerchief, we are literally at hour zero this week.

Buffet, probably the most trusted and reasonable voice came out and strongly supported the bailout today, because all the guys in the trenches knew how close we came to the abyss last week. If this bailout doesnt go through, it will finish off last week.

Govt is not giving 700billion to evil wallstreet bankers, they are making a conservative investment. Any private equity firms will fall over each other to get the risk/reward of the deals the govt got. The aig deal they did is close to highway robbery by the govt against aig, the govt made off like a bandit NOT aig.

Everyone is pissed at the ceos and regulatory on how we got to this point, but we are here NOW and this is the only solution that MIGHT work. By doing nothing, it is guarenteed another depression at this point.

I agree the video speaks for itself! But fasteddie what is going on? Your job is to be funny -- this is rather -- well you know...

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Pretty brazen. It's a busy corner.

I hope that these people recover their property, and these guys are caught.

Thankfully, the victims are physically okay.

You probably saw the video on TV. This is why cops lose respect. Incredibly stupid police work. The taser was designed as a non-lethal option. These guys found a way to get around the non-lethal part.

Naked man falls to his death after tasered by cops in Brooklyn standoff

BY KERRY BURKE and ALISON GENDAR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Wednesday, September 24th 2008, 10:13 PM
Inman Morales stands atop security gate moments before he was stunned by police and fell to his death. Hutton

Inman Morales stands atop security gate moments before he was stunned by police and fell to his death.

Naked and perched on a ledge, a disturbed man fell to his death in Brooklyn Wednesday when cops Tasered him without placing an air bag below, witnesses and police sources said.

Inman Morales plunged 10 feet and landed headfirst on the pavement outside his Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment building. He was declared dead at Kings County Hospital.

"When they Tasered him, he froze and pitched forward. He fell on his head," said witness Ernestine Croom, 40. "They didn't put out a mattress or a net or anything."

Morales hit the ground while an air bag was being brought to the site, police sources said.

Neighbors said Morales, 35, had "freaked out" earlier in the day, and his mother called the police at 1:52 p.m., saying he was threatening to hurt himself and had stopped taking his medication.

The first police Emergency Service Unit truck arrived at Morales' third-floor Tompkins Ave. apartment about 2:05 p.m., police sources said.

Morales refused to allow police into the apartment, crept nude onto the fire escape and tried to enter a neighbor's fourth-floor window when police forced their way into his apartment.

"He tried to get into my window. He banged. He said, 'Let me in! Let me in!' But no way I'm letting a naked man into my apartment," said neighbor Tanya Wright, 40.

So Morales crawled down the fire escape, screaming and posing for gawkers as he went, other witnesses said.

"When the police came, he was screaming, 'You're gonna kill me and I'm gonna take everyone with me. I'm gonna die and you're gonna die with me,'" said neighbor Sean Johnson, 43.

Morales left the fire escape and stepped onto the 2-foot-wide metal top of a roll-down security gate for a ground-floor business. He then ripped an 8-foot fluorescent light bulb from the business' sign.

From his perch, Morales jabbed at ESU officers, who were tying themselves to the fire escape so when they grabbed him they would not all fall.

When Morales started to swing the pole like a batter, an ESU officer on the ground fired a Taser at him. The Taser, which is designed to stun, can deliver a five-second jolt of 5,000 volts of electricity through two wires and has a range of 21 feet.

"They didn't try to brace his fall. They did nothing. I've seen a lot of things in my time. But what they did was wrong," said neighbor Kirk Giddens, 39, a mental health worker.

Morales hit the ground at 2:27 p.m. The NYPD is investigating the incident.

ESU cops and the city's roughly 500 sergeants are trained to use Tasers. An independent review recommends the NYPD expand Taser use as an alternative to more lethal methods.

I came out Obama 11-2...actually surprised they got me on those 2.