GWB leaping beauty’s sad descent into 'faux foe' rage

The fashionista who jumped to her death from the George Washington Bridge felt under siege by five frenemies she barred from her funeral via suicide note — including one who told her to overdose, The Post has learned.

“Go try to kill yourself on Xanax again, you unstable loser. Go f--k yourself and never speak to me again,” Alison Tinari wrote in a Facebook exchange with troubled Ashley Riggitano, who killed herself Wednesday, her 22nd birthday.

The blond beauty left behind a multipage, handwritten note in a Louis Vuitton bag that excluded Tinari and four other women from the funeral because of their contentious relationships through the years.

HAD WORDS: Ashley (left) and biz partner Victoria Van Thunen (right) fought on Facebook.

WHY? Classmate Teresa Castaldo (left) and publicist Beth Bassil (right) are on enemy list.

FURY: Ashley ripped Alison Tinari (left) for hanging with hunk Drew Heissenbuttel (right).

A source identified the others as Teresa Castaldo, Beth Bassil, Victoria Van Thunen and Samantha Horneff.

Van Thunen was Riggitano’s business partner at Missfits, a jewelry-design business. Castaldo and Bassil were classmates at Midtown’s Laboratory Institute of Merchandising, and Horneff was a friend from New Jersey.

Riggitano placed her handbag on a walkway at about 4:40 p.m. Wednesday before leaping from a midway point in the Jersey-bound lanes of the upper level, authorities said.

Prescription drugs, including Adderall, which is used to treat ADHD, and Klonopin, an anti-panic drug, were found in her bag.

Riggitano’s suicide notes — written in girlish cursive on lined, loose-leaf paper — revealed the depths of her despair.

“To any funeral, these people should not be allowed based upon words and actions,” she wrote about the five women.

She also mentioned three others by first name only — calling them “only people I love & always there to tell sorry.”

She blasted her other pals, writing, “All my other ‘friends’ are in it for gossip, never there just 1/4 for gossip.”

Hours before the suicide, Van Thunen ripped Riggitano in a Facebook post.

“Those who incessantly blame others as the cause of their issues should perhaps take a step back and re-evaluate these situations,” Van Thunen, 21, wrote.

“The common thread may be that ‘they’ aren’t the problem, but rather that YOU are.”

About a month earlier, Riggitano initiated an ugly, two-day exchange with Tinari that led to the Xanax suicide comment.

The fight stemmed from Tinari’s ongoing friendship with Riggitano’s boyfriend, aspiring race-car driver Drew Heissenbuttel.

“It’s really horrible what happened. I feel really bad for her family. It’s crazy. I feel really bad for her. I never went after her; she went after me,” a remorseful Tinari told The Post yesterday, adding that she didn’t even know Riggitano before the exchange.

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WATCH: High-speed Los Angeles car chase ends in huge fireball

KTLA video still

A police chase in California ended in flames Wednesday night.

A Los Angeles police chase ended in a fireball Wednesday, with the high-speed pursuit caught on video.

KTLA video shows the chase - which involved a suspected drunken driver, the station reports.

The driver weaved in between cars, eluding authorities along a highway in Boyle Heights, a neighborhood on the east side of Los Angeles.

Eventually the suspect's car spun, crashing into a guardrail and bursting into flames.

As fire engulfed the wreckage, police approached the car and pulled the driver to safety.

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Plucked from icy death grip: Two plunge into Pond at Central Park

Two young Bronx men horsing around on the frozen Central Park Pond fell through thin ice yesterday — and three rescuers who tried to save them also ended up in the drink.

Ayana Nyamaa, 19, and Abdoulatif Ali, 20, told The Post they had no clue there was a body of water beneath the snow as they crossed at around 2 p.m. near the park entrance at Central Park South and Fifth Avenue.

Theyy were “taking pictures” and “goofing around” about 50 yards from the edge of The Pond, several witnesses said.

“One was doing a little dance,” said Phoebe Cutter, 23, a Manhattan graphic designer. “The one who did the dance hopped on one foot, then he hopped on the other foot.

Glenn Halcomb

LUCKY TO LIVE: Ayana Nyamaa (above left), 19, and 20-year-old Abdoulatif Ali were horsing around on The Pond yesterday (above) when the ice gave way. They said they didn’t know they were on the frozen surface of a body of water.

Dana Sauchelli

LUCKY TO LIVE: Ayana Nyamaa, 19, and 20-year-old Abdoulatif Ali were horsing around on The Pond yesterday (above) when the ice gave way. They said they didn’t know they were on the frozen surface of a body of water.

“I was going to leave, but I thought, ‘That’s so dumb. I’d better stay here. They might fall through,’ ” added Cutter, who was first to call 911.

After breaking through the ice, Ali was able to pull himself out of the water in a matter of seconds, but Nyamaa struggled in the 32-degree water for about 15 minutes before he was plucked to safety.

Two park workers and a Central Park Precinct cop also fell through the half-inch sheet of ice as they desperately tried to get Nyamaa out.

“The police officer threw his [rope] to the park employee so he could tie it together — and at that instant, the police officer fell into the water near the edge and my co-worker, who was beside him, fell in,” said park worker Rafael Perez, 36.

Another park worker went to the edge to help, when “everything started crumbling around him, and then he fell into the water, too,” Perez added.

FDNY units arrived in minutes and set up ladders across the thin ice.

Dressed in a dive suit, veteran firefighter Matt Murphy, 34, crawled over the ice with a rescue ring and entered the water behind Nyamaa, sources said.

“The water was over their heads. They could not feel bottom,” said FDNY Lt. Tony Tarabocchia.

Murphy hooked a rescue collar around the victim, and firefighters pulled him out. Other members of the rescue team plucked out the cop and the park workers.

“He was blabbering, he was a little lethargic,” Tarabocchia said of Nyamaa. “He might have been getting hypothermia.”

Nyamaa, Ali and the rescuers were treated and checked for hypothermia at New York Hospital.

The two victims told The Post they had cut through Central Park on their way home to The Bronx after going to a Midtown CVS to apply for work.

“People were on the snow walking. Me and my friend went in and tried to take pictures of the snow — I didn’t know there was water [underneath],” said Nyamaa, a native of Togo who moved to The Bronx last year and attends a GED program at Bronx Regional HS.

“One minute I was fine and then boom — we fell down in the ice at the same time,” he added.

“The fireman saved my life. I thank God for saving my life. I thought I would die.”

Nyamaa is lucky to be alive.

After 15 minutes, a person in such frigid water can lose consciousness, experts said.

Signs around The Pond read “Danger: Thin Ice!” — and police issued both men summonses for “unlawful ice activity.”

Additional reporting by Jamie Schram, Christine Parker and Pedro Oliveira Jr.

pedro.oliveira@nypost.com

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NYPD releases stop-frisk numbers: Most used in Brooklyn & Queens, nearly all stopped are black or Hispanic

The NYPD for the first time publicly released a report last night on its controversial stop-and-frisk procedure that breaks down by city precinct — and by race — those targeted.

The figures, all from 2011, show that the precinct with the most stops by sheer numbers was Brooklyn’s 75th, which includes East New York and Cypress Hills.

More than 31,000 people were stopped, 97 percent of them either black or Hispanic.

The 73 Precinct, covering Brownsville in Brooklyn, was the next highest with 25,167 stops. About 98 percent involved minorities.

In Queens, the 115th Precinct — which includes East Elmhurst, Corona and Jackson Heights — ranked third with 18,156 stops. Nearly 93 percent of those involved minorities, the figures show.

The 40th Precinct in The Bronx, which covers Mott Haven and Melrose, racked up the next highest number — 17,690 — with 98.5 percent of them involving minorities.

And at No. 5 was the 90th Precinct in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where there were 17,566 stops, with 88.6 percent involving minorities.

The New York Civil Liberties Union had fought for release of the stats last year.

After getting them, the civil-rights group published the figures on their Web site in May, saying they show a pattern of racial profiling — a charge that the NYPD denies.

The Police Department said it had no comment on why it was releasing the figures itself now.

As has been reported, the statistics show that overall, nearly 90 percent of those targeted by NYPD stop-and-frisks in the city in 2011 were either black or Hispanic.

Meanwhile, blacks and Hispanics together make up less than 53 percent of the population.

A total 685,724 people — 8.6 percent of the city’s population — were detained by cops for “reasonable suspicion.”

That was the highest number since the NYPD started recording stop-and-frisk figures in 2002.

Of that number, 9 percent also were white, and 4 percent were Asian, the figures showed.

The No. 1 reason for stop-and-frisks that year was possible weapons possession, the report said.

The statistics did not say how many of those stops resulted in arrests.

natasha.velez@nypost.com

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The good, the ads & the ugly

Some of the biggest scores and worst fumbles made during last night’s Super Bowl were made by advertisers.

At a record $3.8 million for each 30-second spot, companies strived for buzz and attention.

Mercedes-Benz wound up on both the winning and losing sides last night, experts said.

In the winner, the carmaker tapped Willem Dafoe as the devil offering to give a man a car in return for his soul — only to be rejected when the guy learned he could buy it for $30,000.

The company’s losing ad teased viewers by implying it would show supermodel Kate Upton getting sudsy while washing a Mercedes — but ended with highschool football players doing the job.

Old folks can party hard — and down late-night tacos — like anyone else! The funny, raucous spot showed seniors out on the town, dancing, getting tattoos, getting freaky in a bathroom and eating at Taco Bell.

Taco Bell found the marketing end zone with senior citizens going crazy.

Perennial Super Bowl ad star GoDaddy.com grossed out experts with stunner Bar Refaeli giving a very wet kiss to a nerd.

Budweiser and Jeep both scored emotional points, using a baby Clydesdale and military families, respectively.

The Post’s panel of experts included Richard Kirshenbaum, CEO of NSG/SWAT; George Belch, chairman of the marketing department at San Diego State University; Timothy Calkins, marketing professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management; and Barbara Lippert, Mediapost.com editorat-large.

—Additional reporting by Claire Atkinson

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Deadly deserts

Ralph Peters

Violence in Allah’s name in northern Africa won’t end in my lifetime — and probably not in yours. The core question is: To what extent can the savagery be contained?

From the Atlantic coastline to the Suez Canal, struggling governments, impoverished populations and frankly backward societies struggle to find paths to modernization and to compete in a ruthless global economy. Religious fanatics for whom progress is a betrayal of faith hope to block development.

Still, if the only conflict was between Islamist terrorists and those who want civilized lives, the situation could be managed over time. But that struggle forms only one level in a layer cake of clashing visions and outright civil wars bedeviling a vast region. Much larger than Europe, the zone of contention encompasses the Maghreb, the countries touching the Mediterranean, and the Sahel, the bitterly poor states stretching down across desert wastes to the African savannah.

AFP/Getty Images

Figthers of the Islamic group Ansar Dine

The Sahel is the front line not only between the world of Islam and Christian-animist cultures in Africa’s heart, but between Arabs and light-skinned tribes in the north, and blacks to the south. No area in the world so explicitly illustrates the late, great Samuel Huntington’s concept of “the clash of civilizations.”

If racial and religious differences were not challenge enough, in the Maghreb the factions and interest groups are still more complicated. We view Egypt as locked in a contest between Islamists and “our guys,” Egyptians seeking new freedoms. But Egypt’s identity struggle is far more complex, involving social liberals, moderate Muslims, stern conservative Muslims (such as the Muslim Brotherhood) and outright fanatics. The military forms another constituency, while the business community defends its selfish interests. Then there are the supporters of the old Mubarak regime, the masses of educated-but-unemployed youth and the bitterly poor peasants.

Atop all that there’s the question of whether the values cherished by Arab societies can adapt to a globalized world.

The path to Egypt’s future will not be smooth — yet Egypt’s chances are better than those of many of its neighbors. Consider a few key countries in the region:

Mali

Viva la France! (Never thought I’d write that in The Post.) Contrary to a lot of media nonsense, the effective French intervention in Mali demonstrates that not every military response to Islamist terror has to become another Afghanistan: The French are welcome.

As extremists invariably do, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its allies rapidly alienated their fellow Muslims — after hijacking a local uprising. The local version of Islam is far more humane and tolerant than the Wahhabi cult imposed by Islamist fanatics. To the foreign extremists, the Malian love of Sufi mysticism, ancient shrines and their own centuries of religious scholarship are all hateful — as is the Malian genius for music that’s pleased listeners around the world.

Have a comment on this PostOpinion column? Send it in to LETTERS@NYPOST.COM!

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Con Ed worker injured by explosion on UWS

On Friday a Con Ed worker was injured when a small electrical explosion burned his face and arms as he worked inside a tony Upper West Side apartment building, authorities said.

The explosion sent the unidentified Con Ed worker and one other injured person to New York Presbyterian Hospital/Cornell Medical Center in stable condition at about 12:50 p.m., the FDNY said.

The Con Ed worker suffered a flash burn to his face with first and second degree burns to his arms, neck and hands while working on a service box, Bob McGee, a spokesman for Con Ed said.

The other victim was burned on his hands, neck and face, FDNY officials said.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the second victim was a resident in the Windermere – an upscale building on West 92 Street and West End Avenue – but a Con Ed spokesman confirmed there was only one worker injured.

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Big-mouth ‘cop killer’

Accused cop killer Lamont Pride exposed his cohort by blurting out his name upon spotting him in a station house after gunning down Brooklyn cop Peter Figoski in 2011, police say.

“Yo, that’s Nels,” Pride said of Nelson Morales — who was pretending to be a victim of the botched robbery that led to the death of Figoski, Detective Albert Arredondo testified yesterday.

At the time, investigators were still trying to sort out who Morales and a third alleged accomplice were.

“We were trying to keep them separated,” a police source said, “but the accidental bump-in worked out pretty well.”

Pride, 28, faces first-degree murder charges in his week-old Brooklyn Supreme Court trial. If convicted, he could get life in prison.

When Arredondo got Pride into the interrogation room, the thug spun a tall tale, as seen in a video statement played in court by the prosecution.

He claimed that he and Morales had walked to the rundown East New York basement apartment to buy marijuana and that the gun went off as he wrestled it away from a phantom crook who had tackled him.

In a second video statement, he said that he helped Morales rob the drug dealer but that he shot Figoski by accident after the same phantom robber pushed him.

In a third statement, the one closest to the prosecutors’ version, he admitted driving to the apartment with Morales and three other men to rob the dealer.

“He sells bud [pot]. He got money. We can get him. It’ll be easy,” Pride said in the third video — adding that he shot Figoski, a father of four girls, by accident while trying to escape.

“I never took my hand off the trigger. That was my mistake,” he lamented.

Asked why he was finally telling the truth, he said, “I know I’m gonna do some time, but I’m not trying to do the max.”

The proceedings were delayed for more than an hour yesterday because Pride, a diabetic, did not receive his insulin shot at Rikers Island, Judge Alan Marrus said.

The trial is to resume Monday. Prosecutors expect to finish by Tuesday.

jsaul@nypost.com

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Miss America Mallory Hagan belts out National Anthem before Nets game

WireImage

Miss America Mallory Hagan sings the national anthem before the Brooklyn Nets game at Barclays Center Wednesday.

No lip sync needed.

Newly crowned Miss America Mallory Hagan belted out the National Anthem at the packed Barclays Center last night before the Nets game.

The former Brooklynite drew cheers and once again promised her adopted borough that she’ll be moving back after her Miss America reign ends.

“Once I came here, I never wanted to leave,” Hagan saidbefore her big performance..

Despite Hagan’s boost, the Nets were hammered by the reigning NBA champion Miami Heat, 105-85.

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Cop killer’s death threat: Lamont Pride and pal brutalized me, pusher says

He had murder on his mind.

The brutal thug on trial in the murder of a Brooklyn cop threatened to kill a small-time drug peddler he held up for cash and “bling-bling” during the botched robbery that led to the officer’s death, the dealer testified yesterday.

Lamont Pride, 28, is on trial for shooting decorated NYPD cop Peter Figoski in the face during the 2011 East New York robbery. Pride and another crook allegedly assaulted the dealer and brandished guns to force him to cough up his cash.

“They told me to give them the money and the drugs and the bling-bling,” pot dealer José Hernandez, 27, said through a translator.

Lamont Pride

Photos: Gregory P. Mango

I WAS TARGET: José Hernandez (above) yesterday testified that Lamont Pride beat him.

“He said that after they got the money and the bling-bling they were going to kill me.”

Prosecutors previously said Pride racked his 9mm semiautomatic handgun when the carload of thugs parked outside the Pine Street apartment — further evidence the killer was prepared to use his gun.

Hernandez, who grinned and joked throughout his testimony, said he spent the evening at a friend’s home smoking pot and playing video games before returning home and passing out.

The dealer also testified that the masked Pride and the other crook, Kevin Santos, identified themselves as police when they first broke in.

Pride and Santos ransacked the apartment looking for his $1,000 in cash and the $800 in marijuana Hernandez kept in a small refrigerator in his bedroom. Pride hit Hernandez twice and he bled heavily while he lay on the floor, the dealer testified.

“After you were down on the ground and the black guy was standing on your hands, he hit you again?” asked Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Howard Jackson.

“Yes,” said Hernandez, who said he later received 12 stitches.

Hernandez testified that his attackers disappeared shortly before cops arrived — prosecutors say that’s when Pride and Santos hid in a boiler room — and that he heard a gunshot after the uniformed cops had arrived.

A criminalist for the medical examiner testified that Pride’s DNA was found on the gun used to kill Figoski.

“We were able to determine that Lamont Pride is the source of the sample taken from the handle,” Jaheida Perez testified. “We would expect to find this profile once in 150 planets of our size.”

jsaul@nypost.com

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Ex-NYCiSchool principal in Regents test cheat

The former principal of the high-performing NYCiSchool improperly allowed one of her teachers to re-grade and raise scores on high school Regents exams, school investigators found.

She was among nearly 100 educators — including 17 principals, 61 teachers, seven assistant principals and nine other staffers — who have been implicated in cheating probes by the city Department of Education since 2006, according to documents obtained under a Freedom of Information Act filing.

It took the Department of Education nearly 18 months to comply with The Post’s request for cheating cases confirmed by its internal investigative arm, the Office of Special Investigations — in violation of the rules governing public access to documents.

Among the recent cases, NYCiSchool principal Alisa Berger let teacher Susan Herzog re-grade the June 2010 Living Environment Regents exam by herself after they had already been graded.

Herzog said she raised the scores given to students for certain questions after clarifying proper procedures with the State Education Department.

Berger told The Post that student scores were both raised and lowered, but that no students’ grade was changed from failing to passing.

“Did I make a procedural mistake? I did. Was it cheating? Absolutely not,” said Berger, who unrelatedly left the downtown school last year.

Among the biggest cases of cheating, teachers at Hillcrest HS in Queens were found to have bumped up the scores of 255 students on the English Regents exams back in 2006.

The case was never made public and no teachers were punished because the re-scoring practice, known as “scrubbing,” wasn’t technically prohibited.

In another case, Manhattan teacher Iris Ventura helped several classrooms of 8th graders with the state’s high-stakes math exams — at the request of MS 322 principal Erica Zigelman, investigators found.

Despite the DOE’s stated no tolerance policy for cheating, they were both let off with letters of reprimand.

In 2011, Ventura was caught cheating again — this time telling four 7th graders to check their answers on the state math exams, probers found.

She was again let off with a letter in her file, and has since resigned, according to the DOE.

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JonBenet Ramsey grand jury voted to indict parents in 1999, but DA refused to press case: report

AP

John and Patsy Ramsey, parents of slain child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, drew attention from a Colorado grand jury investigating their daughter's death.

The Colorado grand jury looking into the death of JonBenet Ramsey had actually voted to indict the slain tot beauty queen’s parents 13 years ago, though prosecutors decline to press the case, according to a bombshell new report.

The grand jury voted in 1999 to indict both John and Patsy Ramsey on charges of child abuse resulting in death, a Class II felony that can carry up to 48 years in prison, sources told Colorado’s Boulder Daily Camera newspaper.

The paper said Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter never reveled the indictment vote, but refused to sign it.

He announced the end of the investigation, telling the media: “I and my prosecution task force believe we do not have sufficient evidence to warrant a filing of charges against anyone who has been investigated at this time.”

The former child beauty queen was murdered in the family’s Boulder home on Christmas Day in 1996.

ZUMA PRESS

JonBenet Ramsey was found murdered on Christmas Day in 1996.

While Patsy died in 2006, a lawyer for John Ramsey yesterday hailed Hunter’s actions.

“If what you report actually happened, then there were some very professional and brave people in Alex’s office,” his attorney Bryan Morgan told the paper.

Experts are unclear whether the DA’s acted properly in not signing the indictment, the paper said.

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Casey Anthony: I'm flat broke

TAMPA, Fla. — Casey Anthony filed for bankruptcy in Florida on Friday, claiming about $1,100 in assets and $792,000 in liabilities.

Court records show that Anthony, who was acquitted of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in 2011, sought Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in federal court in Tampa.

Her listed debts include $500,000 for attorney fees and costs for her criminal defense lawyer during the trial, Jose Baez; $145,660 for the Orange County Sheriff's office for a judgment covering investigative fees and costs related to the case; $68,540 for the Internal Revenue Service for taxes, interest and penalties; and $61,505 for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for court costs.

AP

Casey Anthony

The filling also states that she is a defendant in several civil suits, including one brought by Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez for defamation in Orange County Circuit Court.

Fernandez-Gonzalez claims her reputation was damaged by Anthony telling detectives that a baby sitter by the same name kidnapped Caylee. The detectives were investigating the 2008 disappearance of the girl, who later was found dead. Anthony's attorney said details offered by Anthony did not match Fernandez-Gonzalez and clearly showed Anthony wasn't talking about her.

Court papers list Anthony as unemployed, with no recent income.

An attorney for Anthony, David Schrader, did not immediately respond to messages from the Associated Press.

Anthony lists about 80 creditors in the 60-page court filing. The claims largely cover fees for legal, medical, psychiatric and forensics consulting or services. But one claim covers a debt for scuba diving services.

According to the courts, the aim of seeking Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection is to be discharged of most existing debts — essentially to obtain a fresh financial start. A trustee may have the right to take possession of and sell non-exempt property and use the sale proceeds to pay creditors, but Anthony lists little in the way of assets. A debtor may still be held responsible for some obligations, such as taxes and student loans.

The filing came on the same day that a Florida appellate court set aside two of the four convictions she faced for lying to detectives during the investigation into her missing daughter.

Though Anthony was acquitted of killing Caylee, jurors convicted her of four counts of lying to detectives, and her attorneys appealed those convictions. Anthony was sentenced to time served for the misdemeanors.

She was sentenced to a year of probation after her release from jail for an unrelated case. For her protection, her whereabouts have been kept secret since she was released from state supervision last year.

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Losing its crown

To put Apple’s four-month stock slide into perspective, consider this: the value that the tech firm has lost since Sept. 19 is greater than Google’s market cap.

The 37 percent decline — sparked by fears of slowing growth — yesterday knocked the gadget giant from its spot as the most valuable company in the world.

Apple and CEO Tim Cook had worn the crown for 12 months.

But now ExxonMobil and CEO Rex Tillerson have that bragging right.

“You have one company that had pretty high expectations for it for the future and you have Exxon that continues to chip away slow and steady,” Jason Cooper, a money manager at 1st Source Investment Advisors, told Bloomberg.

Getty Images

Falling down: After 12 months as the world's most valueable company, Apple - and its CEO Tim Cook - lost the market-cap crown to Exxon Mobil yesterday as fears of slowing growth have cut the tech company's stock.

After passing Exxon last January, Apple posted an incredible year of increased profits and sales, leaving the Houston-based energy company in the dust.

The stunning run was only matched by a stunning decline, and yesterday Apple’s stock was back where it was when it first topped Exxon.

Apple shares dropped another 2.4 percent yesterday to a $413.1 billion market cap. Exxon closed with a market cap of $418.2 billion.

Market cap is figured by multiplying the number of shares outstanding by the stock price.

Apple’s stock has been stumbling downward for months since the release of the iPhone 5 and the iPad Mini. Wall Street began to see that competition was serious from companies such as Samsung, whose mobile devices have started to challenge Apple.

This week Apple reported results from the holiday quarter, which showed record sales and revenue, but fell short of expectations. Its guidance for the current quarter also disappointed.

Apple has lost $250 billion in value since its September peak, an amount that’s close to the value of Citigroup and Bank of America combined. Of course, Apple has $137 billion cash on hand, enough to buy either bank.

gsloane@nypost.com

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Mayor Bloomberg blasted at candidates forum

William Miller

New York City mayoral hopeful Joseph Lhota at at a Thursday forum discussion.

It looks like Mayor Bloomberg is in for a very long campaign year.

The mayor got battered last night at a forum in the East New York section of Brooklyn that featured Republican contender Joe Lhota in his first appearance with other candidates.

The former MTA chairman offered carefully constructed responses to questions that focused on affordable housing before a packed audience at the St. Paul Community Baptist Church.

But most of his Democratic rivals, as well as Republican hopeful Tom Allon, unloaded at just about every opportunity at Bloomberg.

"It's quite possible Mayor Bloomberg does not know what mold is," mocked Comptroller John Liu when the questioning turned to the city's response to super-storm Sandy.

All six candidates agreed the city hasn't done enough to help residents still struggling to recover.

"This is a city administration that wanted to run a marathon while people were just moving into shelters and unfortunately bodies were still being found," said former Comptroller Bill Thompson.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is closest the the mayor of all those running, said mold removal should have been included in the "rapid repairs" program initiated by the city after a homeowner from Gerritsen Beach said hundreds of homes there might be lost due to spreading contamination.

Bloomberg has said that he doesn't intend to respond to every single issue raised by his would-be successors.

But Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson felt compelled to tweet last night, "Reality check-- Bloomberg at 65-23 (per cent in polls) on Hurricane Sandy performance."

The harshest attacks on the mayor came during a discussion of the Housing Authority and its embattled chairman, John Rhea.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio charged that the agency can't function well "if the mayor doesn't care about people who live in public housing. There's an old colorful Sicilian expression that says the head stinks from the head down."

Longshot GOP hopeful Tom Allon went him one better by describing Rhea as the "Cathie Black" of housing, a stinging reference to the schools chancellor appointed by the mayor who lasted 96 days.

There's not much political downside for the Democratic candidates hammering away at Bloomberg before the primary, where the electorate tends to lean to the left and the mayor is an easy target.

The one place where Bloomberg got some credit was his ambitious program to build or rehabilitate 165,000 housing units before he leaves office, the largest such project in the nation.

Every candidate pledged to keep that pace of 15,000 added apartments a year. None explained how they'd paid for them.

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It’s plenty of 20 – plus flurries

When they say it’s “too cold to snow,” don’t believe them. A dusting of 1 to 2 inches is expected when snow showers develop tomorrow afternoon and continue into the evening.

Before that we’ll get more struggling sunshine today, with temperatures peaking at 21 degrees — but icy winds feeling like only 2 degrees. Tonight’s low temperature will be about 13, forecasters said.

Tomorrow’s temps should be more of the same, with a high around 22 degrees.

The weekend will be warmer, but just a bit. Saturday’s high is expected to be 24 and Sunday’s will be 27.

Don’t expect relief until next week. Forecasters say temps will finally go above freezing and hit 36 on Monday, 40 on Tuesday and a positively balmy 48 onWednesday. Andy Soltis

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Lucky ‘7’ at 3 Hudson Blvd.

Lois Weiss

BETWEEN THE BRICKS

The skyline in the Hudson Yards area is taking shape — at least on paper.

Here’s the first look at a new rendering (see right) for developer Joseph Moinian’s 1.7 million-square-foot tower at 3 Hudson Boulevard, bounded by the new park, the Javits Center and West 34th and 35th streets.

Designed by Dan Kaplan of FXFOWLE, the roughly 1,000 foot-high tower will turn slightly to catch the sunshine as well as views of the Hudson River and public spaces within Hudson Yards.

As the Manhattan street grid is slightly off the true north-south axis, Kaplan said the tower will align to the street grid at the base, and then do the twist.

FXFOWLE

WOW! Far West makeover king at 3 Hudson Blvd.

“It has a subtle, elegant spin and only rotates the 22 degrees as you go up,” said Kaplan. “It’s enough to give it a distinctive form, but not so much that it contorts the building.”

While the eastern and western ends of the building will change as it rises, the long sides of the structure will stay consistent.

“So that is how we were able to marry floor efficiencies with the mechanics,” Kaplan said.

The twist is also “great for tuning the building to solar,” as a unique highlight of the project will be solar-paneled awnings, or “eyebrows,” that will shield the south-side occupants from the sun while generating electricity with photovoltaic cells.

“They are architectural projections, and the revisions to the zoning code anticipate these kinds of devices,” Kaplan explained. “You will start to see more of these.”

The building will also have several roof terraces and a rooftop deck shielded from the winds.

“He’s been a magician in making this design efficient and beautiful and LEED Platinum,” said Arthur Mirante, tri-state president of Avison Young, which is leading the tenant marketing for the Moinian Group.

Because the building features an entrance to the new No. 7 line inside and has the new Hudson Boulevard Park at its eastern foot, Mirante said he is pitching the best site in the “center” of the new West Side. Construction on bedrock can start in 2014, and the building will be ready in 2016 or 2017.

“It’s a great building,” said Moinian at last week’s Real Estate Board of New York banquet.

The base could be designed as either trading or retail, Mirante said, with residential added at the top of the tower should an anchor office tenant not object. Asking rents for the base will start in the $80s per foot and rise from there.

“The whole building could be office or mixed use,” said Mirante. “We really have a clean slate, which is really exciting and will allow us to go after the monster tenants.”

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Bath salts bust in Hell's Kitchen

Byron Smith

Police at the scene on West 54th Street where officials had suspected a meth lab — cops found illegal bath salts instead.

Something foul is cooking in Hell’s Kitchen.

Police raided a West 54th Street co-op and found pounds of the illegal designer drug "bath salts" in a possible drug lab after neighbors complained that apartment smelled of cat urine, sources and witnesses said.

“One officer said, ‘I don't want to go in there,” said Chelsea Blakeburn, 20, who lives next to the third floor apartment and smelled the stench.

Blackburn said that a neighbor upstairs in the five story walk up — which is two blocks from a police precinct — was the one who called authorities.

Pounds of a white substance, believed to be illegal bath salts, were found in the apartment’s refrigerator along with beakers, according to police sources.

Bath salts are a low-grade synthetic drug with effects similar to cocaine and methamphetamine.

A 44-year old man who lives in the apartment is being questioned by police, but has not been charged, police said.

Neighbors describe the man as “bizarre and strange.”

DEP has not finished testing the substance and will make a final determination.

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Oaf of office

WASHINGTON — Will the real president please stand up?

Vice President Joe Biden committed one of his trademark gaffes over the weekend when he said at the Iowa State Society inauguration ball: “I’m proud to be president of the United States.”

The real president, Barack Obama, took his oath of office to a second term as the nation’s 44th commander-in-chief yesterday at a ceremony in the White House that lasted less than a minute.

Chief Justice John Roberts administered the 35-word oath before a small gathering in accordance with the Constitution, which mandates that inductions take place on Jan. 20.

Getty Images

SAY WHAT? Vice President Joe Biden, wife Jill watching, is sworn in yesterday by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a day after saying he was “president.”

Reuters

TWO PROUD: President Obama gets a hug from daughter Malia and a big smile from wife Michelle yesterday after the White House oath ceremony.

A public audience couldn’t take place this year, however, because the date fell on a Sunday and public institutions are closed.

Obama took the oath with First Lady Michelle holding her grandmother’s Bible and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, looking on. Sasha, 11, congratulated her dad after he took the oath.

“Good job, Daddy,” she said, hugging the president.

“I did it,” Obama replied.

His daughter then said, “You didn’t mess up,” an apparent reference to when Obama took his first oath in 2009 and had to repeat it a day later after Roberts tripped over the wording.

Obama will repeat the oath at a ceremony today at the Capitol, where about 800,000 people are expected to descend on the National Mall for the event, fewer than the 1.8 million four years ago.

The inauguration will be followed by a luncheon, parade and two official inaugural balls.

Biden was also sworn in during a ceremony at his residence at the Naval Observatory. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor administered the oath before about 120 of Biden’s family and friends.

Biden was sworn in at 8:21 a.m. because Sotomayor had to make it back to New York for an afternoon book signing, he said.

Biden’s guest list indicated he might have an eye on the 2016 presidential campaign — with Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, which holds the first presidential primary, in attendance. Iowa holds the first caucuses.

As Obama again takes office, the public’s opinion of the country’s direction is the lowest that a president has seen on his inauguration day to a second term in 40 years.

A small majority, 51 percent, have a negative view about how the country is doing, compared to 49 percent with a favorable view. At least that positive number is six points higher than in November.

gshields@nypost.com

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Rudy $laps Dems

David Seifman

INSIDE CITY HALL

A “fisc” fight has erupted between Bill Thompson and Joe Lhota — and right in the middle is Rudy Giuliani.

The former mayor threw down the gauntlet to the Democratic field of mayoral candidates, which includes Thompson, by proclaiming on TV that they would give away the store to municipal unions if elected.

“It frightens me because I think what they [the unions] have in mind is trying to elect their candidate so they can get sweetheart deals,” Giuliani charged on NY1.

“We’re going to need a mayor who’s capable of striking fair deals, but striking tough deals that protect the taxpayers of this city, not just deliver the city over to the union members.”

By Giuliani’s reckoning, that individual would be Republican mayoral hopeful Lhota, who served as his deputy mayor, finance commissioner and budget director.

Lhota told The Post in an interview that he would be a staunch guardian of the city treasury during contract negotiations.

“I understand how important unions can be in elevating people into the middle class,” he said, recalling how he attended college on a police-union scholarship when his father was an NYPD lieutenant.

“I won’t deny that from happening. But I also won’t provide an unfair contract to the people of the city of New York in any way, shape or form [by] over-negotiating.”

Thompson, who served as city comptroller from 2002 through 2009, didn’t take kindly to the accusation of being a union stooge.

“Over the years, I’ve shown myself to be fiscally responsible and understanding of the city’s budget,” he told The Post. “It’s a little strange coming from Mayor Giuliani. I came into office right after he left and he didn’t leave us in the best fiscal condition.”

How could that be when Giuliani pushed through a controversial contract in 1996 that contained no raises for two years? Thompson was asked.

He responded that Giuliani also tapped the city’s pension funds in 2000 so he could inflate his own budget, leaving his successors with the tab.

“He also had a pension re-start where he pulled out hundreds of millions of dollars to spend before he left and before the economy went south,” Thompson said.

“So I’m kind of dismissive of the former mayor’s comments, given his history of fiscal irresponsibility.”

Lhota stuck up for his former boss, saying the entire pension board, which is dominated by municipal unions, approved the deal.

“To say that this was solely and singularly a Giuliani policy is hyperbolic in the worst type of degree,” Lhota fired back. “The fact of the matter is Rudy Giuliani never raided the pension system the way it was described by Bill and he should know better.”

The city’s relationship with its unions is bound to be an issue in the mayor’s race since just about every union contract has expired.

david.seifman@nypost.com

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