The island of Manhattan is 23 square miles large, but City Hall feels the need to declare war on a small businesswoman over three measly inches.
Meet Marilyn Louie, the owner of a newsstand that’s stood on the Bowery for the past 35 years without incident. But now Mayor Mike’s transportation dragoons intend to tear it down because it’s less than a finger’s-length too close to the building it faces in Chinatown.
That is, it’s 9 feet 3 inches from the building — instead of 9 feet 6 inches.
This, in a city with acres of free space for bike lanes and such.
The city is cashing in with the contractor Cemusa to replace all old newsstands with sleek new ones that have advertising space Cemusa can sell. But while the city will turn big bucks, too, poor Louie — who rarely earns more than $40,000 a year — is looking at the end of the line.
The Department of Transportation ordered her to relocate her stand by Feb. 29, yet all the alternative spots have less foot traffic or competing convenience stores — which means less business for Louie.
“This is the only job I’ve had. I’ve supported my kids with this. This is my only living, I don’t think it is fair for just a few inches,” she told The Post’s Chuck Bennett.
Absurd orders like this are usually the province of the Department of Health, which has been on a tear recently:
* Last November, health inspectors slapped the 85-year-old landmark Sardi’s with violations for serving free cheese at the bar, same as it had done for decades, forcing Sardi’s to yank the free snacks.
* The same month, the DOH banished the beloved cat Matilda from the lobby of the Algonquin Hotel, where she and her predecessors had held court since 1932.
* In January, the city shuttered the 65-year-old restaurant George’s after the downtown diner’s owner recorded a health inspector investigating his kitchen for the second time in a month. “They can do anything they want,” said owner Bill Koulmentas. “Something’s out of control here.”
Out of control not just at the DOH or the DOT — but in City Hall itself, which has created a system that treats workers like Louie as if they’re small-time crooks.
It’s not hard to understand why the city is targeting her newsstand — because it can.
That’s how petty tyrannies work. Cut the lady a break, Mr. Mayor.