The mayor was upstaged when a truck-borne billboard, denouncing "Billionaire Bloomberg," showed up at his press conference on Staten Island.
Bloomberg was bringing good news to the borough, announcing that the city had obtained $270,000 in federal money for an environmental study that would kick off the development of a new park.
But as Bloomberg spoke at the park site, a 107-acre former industrial field, the billboard, urging New Yorkers to "Call 311 and demand a better raise for cops and firefighters," made several distracting passes in his vicinity.
Bloomberg made light of the scene-stealing sign.
"I did notice it, and they spelled the name right, and I appreciate the advertising," he said. "I don't think I have to report it to the Campaign Finance Board."
The unions, whose contracts have expired, blame City Hall for making low-ball offers that have stalled negotiations.
Bloomberg said the unions should be content with the same pay hike - 5 percent over three years - that the city's largest municipal union, District Council 37, recently accepted.
"We have offered them the same raise that we offered other municipal employees who also work very hard. We've also offered them the maximum this city can afford," he said.
"This city does not have any extra money."
But Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said, "They're not treating us the way they should be, by not giving us a livable wage."
Meanwhile, tempers flared at Madison Square Garden, where cops, firefighters and teachers are conducting "informational picketing" round-the-clock.
The protesters - who are not in uniform - have been handing out anti-Bloomberg literature since July 19 in a corridor along the sidewalk edge and into 33rd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues.
Yesterday, police brass pulled down signs that the picketers had placed on barricades along the corridor.
The protesters responded by wearing the signs, which had messages like, "We can't afford to live in the city we protect," and "Low pay + fewer cops + terrorism = formula for disaster."
They objected when the police brass tried to confine them to a smaller space, 40 feet farther away from Seventh Avenue.
"They want to restrict our access to people coming out of Penn Station," said Stephen Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association.
"They want to silence us. They're afraid of people finding out the truth."
Picketers said a senior police official used a tape measure to gauge how far the protest extended along 33rd Street before telling the unions they were 40 feet over the limit.
"I'm shocked. In all my years as a police officer, I've never seem them take out a tape measure," said Robert Berl, a cop for 16 years.
"This is not the way to treat one of their own. That's embarrassing."
Lynch vowed not to move the protest.
But late in the day, Lynch said the police brass had apparently given up.
"They left and we're staying," Lynch said.
