Billionaire John Catsimatidis is taking a swing at leading a minor-league baseball team.

minor-league baseball team the as they gear up for opening weekend. 

The mogul behind Gristedes supermarkets and conservative radio network WABC was gearing up for the Staten Island FerryHawks' opening weekend after adding Atlantic League managing partner to his resume.

“It’s just a wonderful day,” Catsimatidis, who spent years supporting the Yankees-affiliated team, told The Post on Friday. 

“When the Yankees called me up about four years ago and they wanted to be partners – I said absolutely yes I love baseball. My grandfather took me to my first Yankee game when I was about six or eight years old,” he said. 

Catsimatidis – a power player in New York business and conservative politics – was a key investor in the team when it launched in 2022, replacing the Staten Island Yankees, which shut down operations in 2020. 

The FerryHawks home base is Staten Island University Hospital Community Park, located off of the Staten Island Ferry stop.

The stadium was built in 1990 under Mayor Rudy Giuliani and went through a renovation after its ownership change in 2022. 

Catsimatidis said he hopes to eventually name it the WABC stadium after his radio station, and plans to expand the site’s offerings to include concerts, festivals and a soccer team. 

“We want to make it a full entertainment facility," he said.

He even floated the idea of a minor league spinoff of the MLB’s Yankees and Mets Subway Series.

"You have the Mets minor league team the Coney Island Cyclones and you have the FerryHawks, which is a Yankee associated team,” he said. 

 “We should have a a series of a competition between the Cyclones and the FerryHawks.”

The new owner added that if it rains for Saturday’s game, they will implement a double header for Sunday. 

“You get two for the price of one on Sunday!” 

A deed theft that wasn’t deed theft has led to: state Attorney General Letitia James denying what her own office said, a showboat councilman playing the victim to the NYPD and Mayor Zohran Mamdani launching a whole new city office.

The shady ownership of a Bedford-Stuyvesant brownstone yielded yet more twists and turns Friday as Mamdani unveiled the Mayor’s Office of Deed Theft Prevention alongside James and Councilman Chi Ossé — just two days after the pol’s controversial arrest during an anti-eviction protest at the home.

The prolifically online Ossé has repeatedly claimed the woman whose eviction he was trying to block Wednesday was the victim of deed theft — an assertion refuted by the AG’s Office.

But James, speaking at mayor’s event in Brooklyn on Friday, seemed to cast it as indeed deed theft.

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City Council Speaker Julie Menin debuted a new proposal Friday to cut red tape for construction projects -- in the hopes of building 35,000 new housing units across the Big Apple.

Menin's plan would streamline zoning rules and reform the city's construction code to expedite housing developments atop an estimated 2,850 small lots, between 15- and 27-feet wide, that are currently vacant or deemed non-residential.

“Across the five boroughs, there are thousands of small, underutilized lots that have the potential to deliver tens of thousands of new homes, but outdated rules and unnecessary red tape are standing in the way,” Menin said at the American Institute of Architects award luncheon.

“At a moment when vacancy is at historic lows and rents are at record highs, we have an obligation to act boldly and deliver real results for New Yorkers,” she said. 

The speaker added in a press release that erecting buildings of up to eight stories on those parcels would create jobs, bring in much-needed new tax revenue for the city and "transform underutilized, often abandoned and trash-filled lots and revitalize communities."

The council also announced the launch of a new "Advisory Group on Housing Affordability" with industry experts and advocates to advise city pols on residential construction policies. 

City Council Land Use Committee Chair Kevin Riley (D-Bronx) noted that Menin's plan was also discussed with staffers of Mayor Zohran Mamdani -- who has made the affordable housing crisis a key platform.

A rep for the mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment on whether Hizzoner supported the new proposal. 

The council's new advisory panel will be co-chaired by Barika Williams, Gary LaBarbera and James H. Simmons III. 

Williams serves as the executive director of the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development. 

LaBarbera is the president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, while Simmons is the founder and CEO of private equity firm Ashland Capital Partners.

He has Zo regrets!

Mayor Zohran Mamdani was remorseless Friday about dragging billionaire Ken Griffin in a viral video promoting a new, proposed pied-á-terre tax.

Hizzoner dodged when asked if he had any regrets about calling out Griffin specifically in the video last week filmed in front of the Citadel founder's 24,000-square-foot property on Central Park South, which he purchased for $238 million in 2019.

“That home, when it was purchased, was the most expensive home in the United States of America, publicly reported, and it was described as such,” Mamdani said when pressed by reporters during an unrelated press conference in Brooklyn.

"And in a political environment where there is always an attempt to describe any increase in taxes as if it would be one that would apply to all, we wanted to make very clear that this applies to a very select group of properties," he said.

It was the latest volley in a back-and-forth with Griffin launched by Mamdani's eyebrow-raising April 15 video, in which he boasted that "today, we're taxing the rich."

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Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Friday the creation of an Office of Deed Theft Prevention that will investigate and try to prevent the crime.

The new office will be led by non-profit lawyer Peter White, who comes from Access Justice Brooklyn, which specializes in foreclosures and other legal housing woes.

"Thanks to the efforts of Attorney General James and State Senator Zellnor Myrie, New York State finally made deed theft a crime in 2023," Hizzoner said in Brooklyn Friday.

"Yet we know that injustice persists. That is why today I am proud to announce City Hall will lead that work through the creation of New York City's first ever office of deed theft prevention. 

The office will be under the Department of Finance.

Deed theft is often done with forged documents or through foreclosure scams that strips New Yorkers of generational wealth.

However, protecting against it is an uphill battle with the cases, which are often convoluted and require a lengthy legal fight.

The office could also face issue enforcing the state law, with it having to rely on the New York Attorney General' Office solely having jurisdiction in the cases.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani will veto a bill creating a “buffer zone” around schools for protests because he worries it’ll stifle demonstrations against ICE or in support of Palestinian rights. 

The move announced Friday would be the first veto of Mamdani’s tenure, likely killing the bill sponsored by Eric Dinowitz (D-Bronx) – which passed the City Council 30-19, just shy of a veto-proof majority.

The potential law was identical to another bill, which passed the same day last month, that requires a no-protest zone to be set up around synagogues and other houses of worship in the Big Apple.

But the religious buffer zone bill, which had been championed by Speaker Julie Menin (D-Manhattan), sailed through the council on the same day with an overwhelming majority, 44-5.

Hizzoner, along with his lefty comrades, has signalled skepticism over Dinowitz's no-protest zones outside of schools.

Sources said Mamdani has informed the council he plans to sign the veto as early as Friday morning.

News of the expected veto was first reported by The New York Times.

The New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America went on full offense ahead of the vote in late March, launching a phone bank campaign to drum up support to try to kill both of the bills.

“These bills expand the capacity of the NYPD to police and surveil Black, brown, and immigrant New Yorkers, jeopardizing the safety of protestors exercising their First Amendment rights and students attending school,” they wrote.

Mamdani hasn't publicly supported the buffer zones around houses of worship, but notably did not clap during Gov. Kathy Hochul's State of the State speech when she first pitched the 25-foot protest-free zone.

City Hall did not immediately responded for comment.

“Ensuring students can enter and exit their schools without fear of harassment or intimidation should not be controversial," said Menin. "This bill simply requires the NYPD to clearly outline how it will ensure safe access when there are threats of obstruction or physical injury, while fully protecting First Amendment rights.”

The mayor said in a statement that he will not veto the buffer zone bill for religious institution but that he had a "problem" with how the bill "widely... defines an educational institution."

"As the bill is written, everywhere from universities to museums to teaching hospitals could face restrictions," Mamdani said. "This could impact workers protesting ICE, or college students demanding their school divest from fossil fuels or demonstrating in support of Palestinian rights."

Int. 175-B is not a narrow public safety measure; it is a piece of legislation that has alarmed much of the labor movement, reproductive rights groups, and immigration advocates, among others, across this City. Nearly a dozen unions have raised the alarm about its impact on their ability to organize."

Multiple protesters pushing for higher taxes on wealthy New Yorkers were arrested during a sit-in at Gov. Kathy Hochul's office in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday.

NYPD officers responded to multiple calls about a disorderly group blocking entrances at Hochul's office on 919 Third Avenue late Thursday afternoon.

There, they found a swarm of protesters setting up camp in the lobby, with many holding up signs demanding higher taxes on the rich.

Other advocates called for greater health care protections, claiming President Trump's sweeping cuts threaten to leave them without coverage.

"Health care is a human right! Not just for the rich and white!" protesters chanted.

The NYPD confirmed that "multiple" demonstrators were arrested after they ignored orders to disperse.

The New York City Democratic Socialists of America applauded the protesters and implored Hochul to "choose our lives over her rich donors."

Hedge fund manager Ken Griffin's $6 billion redevelopment of a Park Avenue building is up in the air — after Mayor Zohran Mamdani dragged the billionaire in one of his slick signature social media reels.

The shocking revelation came Thursday in a memo to Citadel staff by Griffin's right-hand man, who attacked Hizzoner's "shameful" use of Griffin's $238 million apartment to attack wealthy non-NYC residents, accusing them of not contributing enough to Big Apple coffers.

Mamdani targeted Griffin in a tax day message last week in which he celebrated Gov. Kathy Hochul's pied-à-terre tax — an added levy on secondary homes in NYC.

Standing outside Griffin's building at 220 Central Park South, Mamdani crowed that he had successfully taxed the rich — even though the new tax was notably missing from his laundry list of proposed levies.

"It is shameful that he used Ken's name as the example of those who supposedly aren't carrying their fair share of the burdens associated with New York City's often costly and wasteful spending," wrote Gerald Beeson, according to the memo first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

"In doing so, the Mayor has once again manifested the ignorance and disdain of the elite political class towards those who have been consistently committed to building one of the greatest cities in the world," reads the note, obtained by The Post.

Beeson went on to rattle off the pricey contributions Griffin and his company have made to the city, including nearly $2.3 billion in taxes alone in four years and the entrepreneur donating over $650 million to local charities, schools, and hospitals.

He also revealed that the $6 billion redevelopment for his business wasn't a done deal.

"We are about to commence the redevelopment of 350 Park Avenue, creating 6,000 highly paid construction jobs and supporting the creation of more than 15,000 permanent jobs in mid-town New York," Beeson wrote before adding, "The project — if we move forward — will entail more than $6 billion dollars of spending."

Steve Fulop, CEO for the Partnership for New York City, said the comments were a "warning sign."

"Pushing Ken Griffin out would be a self-inflicted wound for New York," Fulop said. "Ken is not a tax dodger, as some elected officials portrayed unfairly.

"Ken is one of the city’s largest job creators, with 2,500 employees and $2.3 billion in taxes paid over five years," he went on. "When someone like that signals he’s done being made an example of, City Hall should be listening. The pied-a-terre tax proposal, without thoughtful exemptions for job creators, will hurt the very New Yorkers it claims to help."

City Hall did not respond to a request for comment.

A long‑running turf war between Amtrak and the MTA’s Metro‑North Railroad is spilling onto the tracks, with Amtrak now accusing Metro‑North of slowing down millions of commuters as leverage in a contractual fight.

In a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday night, Amtrak says Metro‑North has spent the last two months blocking its non‑passenger trains -- trains that do test runs, safety inspection trips and equipment moves -- on the Hudson and New Haven Lines, choking off what Amtrak describes as essential work that keeps passenger-filled trains moving on time.

"Their actions are violating agreements we’ve had in place for more than 35 years, causing escalating harm to Amtrak’s operations, undermining safety‑critical rail activity, disrupting service needed by millions of passengers, and putting the reliability of intercity rail service at risk," an Amtrak spokesperson said Thursday.

Amtrak warned that if the blockade continues while the two sides slog through arbitration, riders will pay the price.

Riders could see more delays and cancellations as locomotives and cars get stranded on the wrong side of Metro‑North’s territory, leaving Amtrak without enough equipment in the right places to maintain its timetable, according to Amtrak.

The rollout of Amtrak’s new NextGen Acela fleet is also at stake because blocked test runs over Metro‑North’s tracks threaten to delay the new high-speed trains from entering service even as older Acelas age out, Amtrak said.

In court docs, Amtrak cast the damage as reputational, arguing that once passengers give up on its reliability and switch to cars or planes, it may not be easy to win them back.

Metro-North's block of Amtrak's non-passenger trains lands on the heels of Amtrak quietly blocking a Metro‑North plan to extend service from Poughkeepsie to Albany after the MTA floated running its own Empire Service trains after Amtrak cut service amid construction.

The two train companies fought other skirmishes last year as well. 

Last fall, Amtrak’s president blamed the MTA’s “wounded pride” for a public blame game over years‑long delays to the $2.9 billion Penn Station Access project, after MTA officials pinned the holdup on Amtrak’s failure to provide work windows and staff.

The pair also clashed last year over Amtrak’s plan to close one of four century‑old East River tunnel tracks for more than a year of repairs. Amtrak engineers warned the crumbling, salt‑soaked tunnel needed a full shutdown, while MTA leaders blasted the scheme as a recipe for “untenable” train delays.

The MTA bizarrely responded to the lawsuit by blaming the federal government.

“It’s not clear who in the federal government is directing Amtrak’s lawyers to create distractions from the real issue — getting Bronxites the service they deserve,” said John J. McCarthy, MTA chief for policy and external relations.

Over 5,000 buildings in the Big Apple are nearing total financial collapse, as Mayor Zohran Mamdani continues to support a rent-freeze for the city's nearly one million rent-stabilized apartments.

Building owners are offloading properties at discounted rates up to 90%, as they're attacked with insurance hikes and "chronic non-payment" of rent, landlord reps warned at a Rent Guidelines Board meeting Thursday.

As the RGB gears up to vote on a preliminary rent increase or freeze in early May, landlord groups pleaded for the board to consider an increase.

"The analogy we use is 100 hard working firefighters trying to put out blazes in 5000 buildings," explained CEO of the New York Apartment Association Kenny Burgos.

"It's not possible... a rent freeze now would not hold the line. It would deepen the problem immediately in the buildings that are already closest to the edge," he said.

Burgos noted the financial catastrophe is the worst in the Tremont, Hunts Point, and Fordham neighborhoods of The Bronx--which accounts for over 34% of the city's dilapadated buildings-- and is the only borough where landlords saw negative income across the board.

While income for landlords was up 6.2% in the lates RGB report, Burgos argued they group was using a "millionaire average" in their calculations.

"If you take one millionaire and average it with minimum wage earners, you will not get a realistic average of wages, and you can't do that with these buildings either," he said.

He's on the right track.

Andrew Cuomo took a long-delayed victory lap Wednesday over President Trump's seeming seal of approval of a Penn Station revamp plan that broadly overlaps with the former governor's pre-pandemic proposal.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Cuomo cast Trump's desire to not relocate Madison Square Garden and instead demolish the Infosys Theater to make a grand new Eighth Avenue entrance as an endorsement of a 2020 plan the former governor pitched.

"It would make a major difference, and it’s actually achievable," Cuomo wrote.

The former governor -- whose attempts at political comeback during last year's mayoral election were embarrassingly scuttled by Zohran Mamdani -- then shaded New York City as in "crisis" and lambasted political leadership as "merely rhetorical."

He argued that major infrastructure projects -- such as the Tappan Zee Bridge, which he controversially renamed the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge in office and referred to as such in the op-ed -- can restore New Yorkers' faith in government.

"As the Penn Station proposals are evaluated, we shouldn’t ask what is the ideal plan but rather what is an achievable plan that makes the most progress," Cuomo wrote. "Accomplishments are what matter.

"This must not become another example of government incompetence. Now is the time and Penn Station is the place for government to show it can still perform. This isn’t only about bringing light into an underground train station. It’s about showing that New York City still has a future."

A final decision on Penn Station's redesign is set to be made by next month.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has proposed delaying a $1 billion pension payment as a way to help close his $5.4 billion budget gap, The Post has confirmed.

Hizzoner's team floated the idea of delaying the deposit to the governor's office as City Hall struggles to find savings in the massive $127 billion budget, according to insiders.

Sources said the idea — which was first reported by the New York Times — was an old recycled budget trick.

"It's stealing from Peter to pay Paul," a source said.

City Hall is grappling with getting the budget balanced by next Friday with little savings and out-of-control line items, such as housing vouchers and Carter cases.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has called on the mayor to find savings with the pied-à-terre tax, expected to generate some $500 million, being the final contribution from the state.

Democratic Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie echoed the governor's calls on Wednesday, saying he didn't believe the budget gap was $5.4 billion and the city needed to do more to balance the budget before the state doled out any more funds.