Daily News from New York, New York • 763

I r- DAILY NEEWOj News Bureau (718) 822-1174, Fax (718) 822-1562 Home Delivery 1-80O692-NEWS taraft fcft mm By BOB KAPPSTATTER Sanitation spokeswoman Kathy Dawkins has a whole list of fun facts from the storm that belted the Bronx: The department used 4,472 tons of salt and 360 gallons of ice-melting calcium chloride. Some 285 emergency workers, at $7.87 an hour, were used through Friday to help clear the snow. At the height of the storm, which began Sunday, 511 pieces of equipment and 595 sanitation workers were battling it. As of 7 a.m. yesterday, they had removed 242,517 cubic yards of snow from the Bronx.

Since 7 p.m. Sunday up to yester day afternoon, more than 9,000 tons of garbage was picked up. The Bronx was the first borough to have all its streets plowed at least once. It's wet and the blower just spits it out its sides." But old-fashioned shovels, wielded by a small army of welfare recipients on the Work Employment Program were being used to clear storm drains, fire hydrants and crosswalks, while both Sanitation and private contractors hired by the city were using heavy equipment to remove the remaining high mounds of gray to smudge-black snow. Sanitation Department spokeswoman Kathy Dawkins said that Mayor Giuliani has recognized Borough Sanitation Commissioner Anthony Punzi for "keeping The Bronx open and getting it back to good shape." degrees today and a prediction of rain for tomorrow could spell the end for all but the toughest remnants of the remaining snow.

Unless a homeowner or building superintendent wanted to stock up for the next snowstorm, it was too late to use a snowblower to get rid of this storm's remains. Over at Action Equipment Rental Sales on Third Ave. and 178th St, there were still some small snow-blowers in stock. "We sold all the big snowblowers during the storm," said one salesman, who identified himself only as Mike. "But you're not going to do anything with the snow that's still on the ground now.

It's too heavy to pick up and blow. Daily News Bronx Bureau Chief Now it's the Big Melt of '96. There were still car owners with snowed-in vehicles, garbage was still piled on the snowbanks and it was still slippery going on some icy sidewalks yesterday. But an uncharacteristic warm front and a small army of city workers and private contractors were helping to bring the Bronx back to its normal albeit slushy self. Almost two weeks after the Blizzard of '96 dumped 30 inches of snow over the borough, the digging out was a lot easier with a shovel yesterday.

Temperatures that could rise to 50 SDD(sir (sir(is tH 4 TTTTr. sTJfcJj; -S-fiilk i (DOB 1 if i ik lie I $4 W-y -w (Cop tteaoun coineirs By MIGUEL OAHCILAZO Daily News Staff Writer Joined by other city agencies, a special police unit arrested a halMozen drivers, seized several vehicles and handed out a slew of summonses yesterday at a busy Bronx intersection. Drivers who were pulled over at 138th St. and the Grand Concourse were checked for outstanding warrants, scofflaw histories and vehicle insurance "There have been too many tragedies involving people who have 1,500 suspensions on their licenses," said Transportation Department spokesman Alan Fromberg. "This is the way you go about getting them off the road." The unit made up of cops, DOT personnel, city marshals, Secret Service agents and officers from the Taxi and Limousine Commission targets high-crime areas in the Bronx: Dozens of vehicles were stopped and checked during the day-long operation.

More than 60 criminal summonses were issued. The Secret Service agents were on hand to check for cloned cellular phones, a favorite of drug dealers. On Tuesday, the unit hit 194th St. and the Grand Concourse, nabbing 17 vehicles and 11 unlicensed drivers. "It's all part of the mayor's quality-of-life initiative." Fromberg said.

"What we're going after are the things that actually affect people's lives. We're getting these unlicensed, uninsured drivers off the roads. It's preventing accidents and saving I Pataki's subsidy cuts, but the issue helped bolster Miller's strategy to link Marcus to "the Republican agenda." Jeff Plaut a strategist for Miller, said the Roosevelt Island vote "was a huge" part of Miller's winning 57-to-43 tally. The 30 turnout on Roosevelt Island was double what it was in the rest of the district and Miller carried Roosevelt Island by a 2-to-l margin, he said. Overall, Miller won by 1,444 votes, of 10,776 votes cast He can't take office until the results are certified, but he will attend today's Council meeting.

At 26, he is the youngest person ever elected to the Council. Until the campaign, he had been an aide to Manhattan Rep. Carolyn Maloney. The election fills a vacancy that arose last month when Republican Charles Millard was named president of the city's Economic Development Corp. Marcus, 51, had managed constituent services for Millard.

Democrats have a better than 2-to-l enrollment advantage in the district, yet the Council seat was considered a Republican one. Miller's win leaves six Republicans in the 51-member Council. He will have to run again in November to keep his seat through next year, when the regular Council elections 5 will be held. By FRANK LOMBARD! Daily News Staff Writer It wasn't Mayor Giuliani who was the kiss of death in Tuesday's special election for a City Council seat on the upper East Side. It was GovrPa-taki.

Democrat Gifford Miller became the city's newest and youngest Council member in large part because of a voter revolt on Roosevelt Island against Pataki's proposed state budget, campaign strategists said yesterday. The 5th Council District's territory includes Roosevelt Island, the state-developed housing community on the East River. Pataki's new budget calls for eliminating the $7 million in state subsidies Roosevelt Island receives, including help to run its tramway. Miller beat Republican Judith Marcus, who became the latest addition to Giuliani's losing streak of political endorsements. Giuliani's Gracie Mansion home is in the district Any boost Marcus might have gotten from Giuliani's endorsement was more than erased by the groundswell of support Miller drew from Roosevelt Island voters furious over Pataki's proposed subsidy cuts.

"We got totally killed on Roosevelt Island," said Joseph Mercurio, a Marcus Bdth candidates opposed r- 3" CL rz a 5 MARKWiNOEU BUSTED: Special unit of police and members of city agencies arrest dnver at surprise intersection checkpoint yesterday- lives. ft CO.