During the Big Blackout of 2003, the press was amazed by a number of things that happened in New York. There was no rioting. There was no looting. With subways out of order, complete strangers were giving each other rides. With traffic lights out, some citizens even took it upon themselves to help out and direct traffic.

The New York Post reports that while Dr. Robert Richter took on a job usually reserved for men in uniform, the men in uniform were still writing tickets.

About a half-hour into Thursday's power outage, Dr. Robert Richter and two other New Yorkers took it upon themselves to ease the traffic jam at West 79th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.

Then, 15 minutes later, an NYPD traffic-enforcement car rolled up, but instead of directing traffic, the agent tagged a pair of cars on West 79th Street, Richter said.

"When I saw the flashing lights and the cars pull up, I said, 'Oh, relief is here,' " Richter told The Post. "Then they got out of the car and started writing tickets.

"After they finished writing tickets, they drove away - I couldn't believe this. I was just amazed."

Far be it for a national emergency to stop a cop from raising revenue for the City of New York. Mayor Bloomberg has a budget gap to fill, and just because most of the North Eastern United States was declared to be in a state of emergency doesn't mean the cops stop writing tickets.

Dr. Richter should bill Bloomberg for his time.