EYE AYE: A police sniper, with rifles nearby, keeps a close watch on the World Trade Center site yesterday. (UPI)
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Not even the state’s most recognizable last name could earn a quick pass through yesterday’s security lockdown at the World Trade Center.
Mario Cuomo was New York’s governor for 12 years — and his son is the popular current chief executive — but that didn’t stop him from getting snagged near Ground Zero yesterday.
The elder Cuomo and his wife, Matilda, were spotted at 6:45 a.m. at the corner of Warren and West streets, headed to the 10th-anniversary commemoration.
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They were even escorted by a uniformed police officer.
But, like everyone else, the Cuomos needed clearance. And the senior cop OKing arrivals was busy and didn’t immediately recognize the ex-governor.
So Cuomo introduced himself and asked for approval to enter.
“Of course, Governor,” the cop quickly replied, and the Cuomos were on their way — with smiles all around.
“I was going to whisper it [his identity] to you,” a second cop told his boss before leading the couple away.
Not everyone was as lucky.
Battery Park City denizens needed proof of residency to cross police lines just to return home.
A woman in her 30s said she lived in the Liberty Court building but had no ID on her. The cops on duty weren’t sympathetic.
“But I live there,’’ she complained.
After waiting about 10 minutes and getting nowhere, the woman was finally let through after a higher-up intervened.
The local security jitters — stemming at least partly from what authorities have described as a credible tip of a possible terror attack — have prompted the extension of a heightened security alert nationwide for at least the next few days, said a senior Obama administration official.
While there has been “no new intel’’ on the tip, the “White House wants to continue the monitoring for a few more days,” the source said.
Authorities, meanwhile, recovered two vans stolen from the Tully construction company on Sept. 2 in Queens.
Tully is working on road repairs at the World Trade Center site.
Cops said crooks had used the vans to swipe $70,000 in tools from the construction site before dumping the vehicles, indicating their theft was unrelated to terror.
Still, another van stolen from a rental-car agency in New Jersey has yet to be recovered.
Additional reporting by Josh Margolin, Doug Auer and Kevin Fasick