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It feels like a flashback to the 1980s on city streets - an era no one's nostalgic for. Overstretched cops are struggling to combat petty crime, according to police sources - resulting in an easing of enforcement that's taking Manhattan down fast, angry New Yorkers told The Post. "People tell me they're scared to come here," said Greg Agnew, owner of the East Bay Diner on First Avenue at 29th Street. "Guys are hanging out in the street, doing things they're not supposed to be doing, loitering. They cause fights. They urinate on the floor, There's drug use."

A doctor on her way to work at Brooklyn Hospital was dragged under a Fort Greene stoop and raped after stepping out of the subway, cops said yesterday. The horrific attack happened at the corner of Felix and Fulton streets, only steps from the medical center, shortly after 6 a.m. Thursday. The thug, who covered his face with a scarf and was wearing a hat, grabbed his victim from behind and said he had a gun. He pulled her beneath the stairwell of a brownstone and raped her, cops said, then snatched her bag before escaping. Cops said the woman...

A rash of gunpoint robberies has terrified residents on the Upper West Side and Harlem. Three thugs - all in their 20s - have pulled off 10 robberies inside low-rise buildings - in most cases demanding debit cards and PIN numbers so that they can withdraw cash, authorities said yesterday. The men have swiped $6,000 in cash from various victims.

New York's most vulnerable children are living in houses of horror - run by the city. Four rat- and roach-infested city-run shelters - housing more than 500 kids and their parents - have been cited for violating more than 80 state regulations, according to records. Yet the city's Department of Homeless Services has apparently done little to fix the potentially disastrous situation. Records show the city has repeatedly neglected violations, including failure to provide counseling, child care or help in finding families permanent homes. Out of 83 violations in 2008, 35 were committed in previous years. The city was also...

A 300-pound, knife-wielding maniac went on a bloody rampage in Queens yesterday, stabbing an elderly couple and a young woman simply because they crossed his path, cops and witnesses said. The victims were taken to New York Hospital-Queens, where 71-year-old Joan Purcell was in critical condition. Her husband, John Purcell, 78, and the third victim, Juhn Fook, 41, were listed in serious condition. All three had been stabbed in the torso, cops said.

<p>If the NYPD relaxes its enforcement of petty "quality of life" infractions, it could be a turning point back to the days when murders, muggings and mayhem plagued the city, says a law-enforcement expert who played a key role in developing the crime-busting policy.</p>

Cops are writing fewer "quality of life" summonses because New Yorkers are simply "behaving better," Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday, pooh-poohing fears the decline could be a turning point back to sky-high 1980s crime rates. "Some days, you can't win for losing. We brought crime down, which means fewer summonses," the mayor said. "The bottom line is, crime is down in all these categories. There's better enforcement." He was speaking in response to police sources telling The Post the department has relaxed its push to ticket people for petty crimes. Proponents of the "broken windows" theory say letting small-time lawbreakers run...

A silent lunatic attacked a female jogger in broad daylight on Sunday, beating her senseless just steps away from Gracie Mansion, cops said. The 39-year-old woman, identified as Erika Dreifus, told fellow joggers that the man "never said a word" before he pounced on her on the Carl Schurz Park promenade around 1:45 p.m. She was not robbed, and cops said the attack looked like a random act of violence. The bleeding woman was taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell, where she was listed in stable condition. Cops said the attacker ran into the woods behind the mayor's official...

Three good Samaritans chased down a cowardly thug after he beat and tried to mug a woman in front of a trendy Manhattan bar, cops said yesterday. Kester Robinson, 23, was allegedly trying to steal the 33-year-old victim's iPhone and purse at around 8:15 p.m. Tuesday near Mama's Bar on Avenue B in the East Village, sources said. -snip- Customers Brian Bielemeier and Jude Campbell joined the chase, tailing Robinson for several blocks until the suspect ran out of steam. "As soon as I grabbed him, he started crying and said, 'Don't call police,' and 'Let go, I have asthma,'...

A violent two-man crime team - wanted for at least six stickups in Greenwich Village over the past month - was busted when cops nabbed the duo as they trolled for another victim early yesterday, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said. Authorities said the two suspects' mode also fit the pattern of robberies in the East Village and Chelsea in which the thugs would approach their victims from behind and either draw a gun or knock them to the ground. Adam Temple, 21, and Anthony Lindsay, 30, were captured at West 12th Street and Eighth Avenue at around 12:35 a.m. after...

The wild, wild West Village and Meatpacking District mugging spree has escalated to the point that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn sent out a flurry of e-mails warning constituents about violent criminals stalking the area. Police brass are deploying extra officers to the neighborhood, and Sixth Precinct cops are investigating six of the eight robberies as part of a late-night pattern between Nov. 15 and Dec. 4. -snip- "I thought I was going to die. I was like, 'I can't believe this is how my life is going to end,' " the woman said of the attack on West 10th...

A series of brash daylight muggings in the West Village have residents on edge, with one frightened mom telling The Post yesterday she was robbed of her iPhone early on a Sunday afternoon while she out walking with her 6- and 8-year old sons. "A guy approached me [on West 12th Street] from the front, and he grabbed me all the way around," said the 41-year-old Street woman, who asked that her name not be used. "He said, 'It's going to be all right.' He tried to take my bag as well - that's when we started struggling. I started...

Burglars are movin' on up - but not just to the East Side. The city's latest crime statistics show skyrocketing increases - some higher than 25 percent - in some of the wealthiest neighborhoods. Greenwich Village and the Upper East and West sides are among the neighborhoods hardest hit, bucking what city officials said is an overall drop of 8.9 percent citywide. -snip- The Upper East Side's 19th Precinct has seen a 26.9 percent increase in burglaries, with 212 so far this year, compared with 167 last year at the same time. But Nicole Delia, 25, a mother of two...

Harlem erupted in mayhem last night when bullets began flying on jampacked streets across the neighborhood, sending panicked residents running for their lives. Seven victims, all youths in their teens or early 20s, were wounded - including one who was in critical condition. The other victims were stable. The trouble began just after 10 p.m. at a Memorial Day barbecue in Marcus Garvey Park. A witness said a fight over girls broke out and violence spread like wildfire. People were shot at four or more locations. "First thing, I heard six shots, then I heard about another 12 shots another...

(CBS) NEW YORK -- Former New York Mayor David N. Dinkins endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, her campaign announced Thursday. In a statement from the Clinton Campaign, Dinkins said, "Her depth of experience and her strength of character make her uniquely suited to be President." Dinkins, the first African-American to serve as mayor of New York, held office from 1990 to 1994. "Mayor Dinkins has been a leading voice for social justice in New York and across the country, and I'm honored to have his support," Clinton said. Dinkins' tenure is remembered for his "Safe Streets, Safe City" program, which...

Today, Post Opinion begins publishing something unusual for these pages: four days of excerpts from the new book, "The Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York and the Genius of American Life," by Fred Siegel. Why is this so important? Because it offers some important context for this year's mayoral race, pitting Giuliani's successor, Michael Bloomberg, against four Democrats who seek to replace him. When Giuliani took office, New York's prospects were so grim that even so prescient an analyst as the late Sen. Pat Moynihan glumly warned that salvation would not take "less than 30 years." Under mayors like...

IT turns out that a former New Yorker, one-time David Dinkins press rep Albert Scardino, is behind the stunts that have embarrassed Britain's looney-left newspaper, The Guardian.

...Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich, upholding a nonsensical jury verdict, ruled that the city must pay more than $170,000 to the mother of Jose "Kiko" Garcia — a dangerous drug dealer killed by police gunfire in Washington Heights 12 years ago. How distant now seem the four days of rioting that followed Garcia's demise.... In fact, Dinkins even flew in the dead man's family from the Dominican Republic, met with them — and ordered the city to pay for Garcia's funeral.... A dozen years ago: * CUNY was the sad joke of academia, a remedial institution filled with perpetual...

<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Former New York City mayor David Dinkins will campaign this weekend with Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark, he said on Wednesday after endorsing the retired general because "he can win." Dinkins, the city's first black mayor, was elected in 1989 and lost his re-election bid to Rudy Giuliani four years later.</p>

'91 Suspect Admits: "I Killed Yankel" By John Marzulli NY DAILY NEWS Tuesday, April 29th, 2003 Lemrick Nelson did it. He now admits stabbing Yankel Rosenbaum during the 1991 Crown Heights riots - but insists he didn't target the Hasidic scholar because of his religion, Nelson's lawyer declared yesterday in Brooklyn Federal Court. "I stabbed somebody, but not because he was a Jew, 'cause I was drunk. I had been drinking," Nelson told his girlfriend about a year after the attack, his lawyer Richard Jasper said yesterday. The bombshell stabbing admission - and radical change in legal strategy - came...