It’s hard not to both be attracted and repulsed by Council Member Vickie Paladino’s made-for-Twitter confrontation with an alleged squatter in her Eastern Queens district. You kinda have to see it to believe it (and wait until the end when the alleged squatter blows pot smoke in the conservative’s face):

There’s a known squatter house in my district at 20th Ave and 146th street in College Point. This morning I viewed the house and confronted the squatters personally.

This will not stand on my watch. Homeowners have rights and our neighborhoods deserve better. More action coming. pic.twitter.com/8Qtr6y5cnr

— Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (@VickieforNYC) August 15, 2022

We won’t profess to claim we know what’s going on — and none of the other outlets that Paladino alludes to in the video posted stories yesterday — so if we hear anything, we’ll keep you posted. But it’s a truly priceless moment when Paladino threatens the alleged squatter with media coverage:

“The newspapers are going to be here, you know,” she says towards the end.

“To do what?!” the alleged squatter spits back.

It’s must-see TV (but, please, everyone, please: shoot horizontal!)

In other news:

• The Daily News played up Rep. Ritchie Torres’s concerns about congestion pricing to almost sort of make it seem like The Bronx congressman is now wavering. The Post turned the day into a full on Torres-Malliotakis love fest (which it was not, as we reported). Over at amNY, Kevin Duggan covered Gov. Hochule doubling-down on the vital revenue and traffic mitigation measure, and he also covered Torres’s presser in The Bronx. His colleague Ben Brachfeld covered the Malliotakis-Gottheimer clown convention.
• Speaking of congestion pricing, it’s weird that the Times still hasn’t covered Wednesday’s release of the environmental assessed on which so many stories have appeared elsewhere. Indeed, it the paper’s coverage yesterday of the MTA’s budget problems, it had to link to a Bloomberg piece on congestion pricing!
• Maybe that labor dispute with Staten Island Ferry workers is going to be resolved? (The City)
• Delivery workers are pushing back on NYCHA’s e-bike ban, which seeks to deprive workers of their ability to make a living without giving them tools to succeed. (Gothamist)
• The Daily News had more on the sad crash death of 74-year-old delivery worker Be Tran. The Post also covered.
• At last, a parking lot is serving the public (in this case, preventing a casino)! (The City)
• And, finally, PBS is showing “The Last Cyclist” tonight at 6:30 p.m. It’s not what you think — it’s a drama about victims of a Nazi death camp staging a farce to keep their spirits up, but the play within the play centers on persecution of cyclists. And it stars “Murder at the Food Coop” director Eric Oleson (left in photo below with Patrick Pizzolorusso)!