Every year, I get this little pang of nausea. The sickness strikes me when the Westchester County Rent Guidelines sets its annual rent increases for the apartment dwellers who live in the county’s 20 rent-stabilized communities.

That’s because I used to cover the rent board back in the early 80s. In those days, it was one of the worst beats ever conceived by a sadistic metro editor.

I had to cover every meeting, which was sheer torture because of the back-and-forth shouting that sometimes spilled into the hallway. I especially remember how a lawyer for a landlord’s group got in my face and I almost punched him out.

After every shout fest, I had to write some kind of story, even if there wasn’t any real news to report. Watching the rent board in action, or non-action, was a nightmare. At its most interesting, it amounted to nothing better than a pack of self-serving lies and a never-ending tableau of greed.
A cynic would say that the bottom line rules everything, but with the rent board there is no question about it. It’s really the only government agency that behaves like a take-no-prisoners, bargaining pit.

The rent board has landlord and tenant representatives, as well as supposedly neutral public members. When I covered the board, all of the public members had inside connections and conflicts of interest that made it seem like they favored the landlords. Worse, some of them were serving with lapsed terms.

This mattered a lot because heating oil sky-rocketed in price at that time and as a result the building owners were requesting and getting double-digit increases. Last week, the board passed 3.5 percent rent increases on two-year leases.
I know it’s still a contentious enterprise, but the rent board can’t be anywhere nearly as bad as it once was. Ah, the good old days.

Today’s “High Noon” radio program will include an interview with Carl D. Birman, the attorney for Eric Hoffstead, a homeless panhandler who was arrested in New Rochelle last month after asking a cop for a dollar.

The charge was thrown out of court after Hoffstead, 36, argued that his right to free speech had been violated. Do you think begging for money is a First Amendment right?

Listen in today at 12 noon at WVOX, 1460-AM. (It also streams live at www.wvox.com) and if you want, call in at 914-636-0110. Let your voice be heard! They don’t call it “VOX” for nothing.

This morning I spoke to the senior men’s club of the Hudson chapter of the Jewish Community Center in Tarrytown, a great bunch of people who always keep me on my toes.
They are never shy about expressing their opinions.
The topic dejour was New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s recent flirtation with a run for the presidency as an independent. At the end of my talk, I took a little poll of the audience.
I asked them who they would vote for out of the trio of New Yorkers—Republican Rudy Giuiliani, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Bloomberg—if it amazingly came to pass that they all made the 2008 ticket.
Nine of out 23 said they’d vote for Bloomberg.
That proves nothing, really. But it is better than a third of the total. Some of them chalked it up to my persuasive presentation, but I think they were just flattering me.
In any event, time will tell what will happend with Bloomberg. And there’s plenty of time left to go.

Which is to say, that flooding is inevitable as long as there are major deluges and there always will be unless and until we fall into the sun.

Nevertheless, things can be done to mitigate the problems that overwhelmed so many communities earlier this spring when eight or so inches of rain fell, causing local streams to swell to near Biblical proportions. It was an unprecedented, expensive, heart-breaking disaster—and worthy of Westchester County Executive Andy Spano’s call for a flooding summit.

But I’m somewhat amused, not to mention puzzled, by one of Spano’s first proposals that has nothing to do with flood prevention and everything to do with stupidity. He thinks it might be a good idea to erect special barriers to prevent people from driving onto the Bronx River Parkway and other parkways that are susceptible to flooding. The cars stall in the high water and the dummy drivers, who in many cases apparently ignore warning signs and drive around police sawhorses, have to be rescued. This ties up public works employees and emergency workers, who presumbably have better things to do with their time.

Spano believes some kind of sophisticated security gate would stop the dopey motorists. He doesn’t say how much the barriers cost, but they would be an item under a $50 million flood prevention fund raised over five years.

Maybe I’m missing something here, but this seems like a money-waster. It’s a Stupid Tax. A minority of drivers do a foolish thing and all taxpayers have to foot the bill for state-of-the-art barriers. Why not just fine the hell out those who ignore the warning signs.
It reminds me of a similar proposal a few years ago to set up a barrier to stop tractor-trailers from entering the parkways. The idea was expensive and went nowhere. It was, in effect, a Stupid Tax.

But here’s a thought about flooding and its cause. The other day, I was driving north on Weaver Street in New Rochelle, near the Scarsdale line, and I happened to pass the former Cherry Lawn driving range. The property was sold to a developer a year or so ago and now the bulldozers are at work, scooping up the ground and creating great mounds of dirt. No doubt, there will be dozens of homes built there…and where will all that runoff go when there’s a torrrential downpour?

The answer lies a short distance away. Down the road in the town of Mamaroneck is the Sheldrake River, which overflowed when the flood rains came and then ran as fast as mountain rapids into the basements and garages of countless homes.

So here’s a flood prevention proposal: Place a moratorium on all development in the region’s flood plain. Let’s see how that one goes over.

On todays’ “High Noon” radio program, I’m going to be talking about New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s flirtation with an independent run for president.

Tune in at noon at WVOX, 1460-AM…or listen live online at www.wvox.com.

A column I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the revived plan to establish a museum at Sing Sing Prison inspired a great deal of reaction, and much of it has appeared online or in The Journal News.
Jay Taylor, 47, who was has been an inmate at Sing Sing since 1987 when he was convicted of second degree murder in Kings County, also has an opinion on the matter which he expressed to me in a rather strange letter. He refers to his victim only as a three-year-old named, “Kenneth.”
Anyway, here’s a couple of excerpts from his letter:

“I am writing in response to your article—’Sing Sing tourism could put public in danger’. With all sincerity. It is with deep passion that I share these sentiments herein, all of which agrees with your view for opposing Ossining’s museum project. I have had many sleepless, deeply introspective nights, considering the circumstances surrounding my crime and the negative chain of events that led me into the belly of this Big House beast….
“If a tourist museum was on the grounds of Sing Sing Correctional Facility, it would devastate me. It is appalling ot think that Kenneth’s death would become a sensational profit.”

Taylor goes on to say that he is visited by a nun every month and that she “encourages me to look to the Lord for the strength that is necessary for sustainment.”

All very interesting. Question: Is Taylor’s opinion representative of te 1,700-inmate population at Sing Sing?

I have a dog only a newspaper columnist would adopt. She’s got issues, which include a pathological hatred for postal carriers and a paranoid reaction to other dogs, especially friendly ones.

It’s always the same embarassing routine—she barks like an out-of-control nut, strains at the leash and does a twirl routine common to German Shepherds, one of many breeds of large dog which I suspect are part of her colorful ancestoral past.

But she loves children. And to my amazement, I think she’s partial to politicians.

For example, on one recent walk into Bronxville we ran into Westchester County District Attorney Janet Difiore. Amy (my dog) wagged her tail and slobbered her approval. Same with Yonkers Councilman John Murtagh.
It’s always a minor adventure with this dog.

This morning, we hit the trifecta. Just as we walked out the door in Yonkers, a mail truck pulled up in front of the house. Amy went ballistic. She doesn’t even have to see the mailman. Just the truck sets her off. Actually, she doesn’t have to see the truck either. All she needs to do is HEAR IT. Amy seems to have an uncannty ability to distinguish the sound of the truck’s motor and gears from other vehicles.

To her a mail truck is as threatening as a Panzer tank.

It’s like she’s seen the movie, “Three Days of the Condor” and believes that all letter carriers must be homicidal maniacs with automatic weapons.
With all my strength, I pulled her back into the house. After her tantrum passed, she let out this tortured groan as if to say, “Don’t you realize, stupid, this guy wants to kill us all and YOU let him get away!”

Try to explain to a dog like this that the poor mailman is only bringing the latest Sports Illustrated and the Con Eidson bill. You can’t.

To calm her down, I rubbed her ears. Then we proceeded over the parkway bridge and into Bronxville where more unknown terrors lurk.

Amy and I agreed it was a beautiful day. We were quite happy as we walked along the lush, tree-lined banks of the Bronx River. I said something funny about some ducks, and Amy grinned that kind of anthropromorphic grin nature gave dogs so that cavemen would find them charming companions and invite them in for supper.

Suddenly, a large adolescent German Shepherd (a real German Shepherd) came bounding out of the brush and made a bee-line for Amy. It was on a leash, but it either got away from its owner, or its owner simply let it loose.
As expected, Amy saw red—and I thought, oh great, a dog fight is about to happen and I’ll probably get bitten trying to break it up.

I saw his owner, a thin woman in shorts and told her she had better call off her dog or else the fur would fly. Thankfully, the pup was just playing and he ran off.

Amy and I trudged on. I contemplated my dog’s many deficiencies. “Why are you so neurotic?” I asked. “Was I ever mean to you? No! And besides, you shed too much.”

We continued up the Palmer Road business district. Just as we passed the NLawrence Hospital emergency room entrance, a man called out from across the street. He had just left the cleaners and was carrying a suit in a plastic bag.

He shouted out, “Hey, is this how you write a story?”—or words to that effect. It was John Spencer, the former mayor of Yonkers and erstwhile Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, who took it on the chin against Hillary Clinton.

I shrugged and said, “Whaddya gonna do?”

Amy smiled and almost winked. I swear I could read her mind. She seemed to say, “I like that guy. If I wasn’t a dog, I’d have voted for him.”

She’s Obama Girl whose incredibly hot music “video”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKsoXHYICqU is raising the presidential campaign’s libido index to a dizzying height.
Eat your heart out Kucinich, you old makeout master. Step aside Rudy and Breck Boy Edwards. This bikini-clad babe has the hots for Barack Obama, and let’s it all hang out with an original song, “I Got a Crush…On Obama. O-B-A-M-A.
And here Hillary thought she had something going with her YouTube gimmick to get people to vote for her campaign song. That’s so lame. Obama girl has my vote all the way. If he gets elected, Obama should appoint her Secretary of the Department of Babes.

In Tuesday’c column, I wrote about the last episode of “The Sopranos” which was a pretty neat trick since I don’t subscribe to HBO.
A lot of people don’t subscribe to HBO, incidentally, and I heard from many of them.
In fact, a lot of people still don’t subscribe to cable. I’ve read that 20 million households in America are without cable, and therefore only watch limited broadcast TV with the help of old-fashioned roof anttenae and rabbit ears. But get this—Congress apparently has signed off on a deal which will eliminate all analog airwave transmission and replace it with digital spectrum. That’s better for high-definition television, something that is really being foisted on consumers.
By going digital, everyone who uses the old rabbit ears will go dark in a couple of years or go unless they get these costly converters installed. The federal government will give out vouchers to subsidize the purchase of the converters.
I don’t know, but doesn’ this sound like a snafu in the making? You just know a lot of people won’t get the word about this in time and then will go absolutely nuts when they can’t tune in to “The View” or some other junk.
Not only that, but how come taxpayers are footing the bill?
And who’s getting the converter contract? This is something to keep an eye on.

Tomorrow’s guest on my “High Noon” radio program will be Steve Tenore, the former chairman of the Westchester County Board of Legislators. Among other things, Tenore will talk about his recently published novel which involves international intrigue and, believe it or not, the funeral home business.
The show airs at 12 noon on WVOX, 1460-AM. You can also listen in live at www.wvox.com.