Thanks to our guardian angel Mayor Bloomberg, we no longer have to worry about those nasty trans fat globules clogging our arteries. We need never fear second-hand smoke in the workplace or, for that matter, any public place in the city. Now, as soon as the mayor bans knives, bats, blunt instruments, and violent high school students, our children hopefully will make it home alive.

Unfortunately, the mayoral edicts were not made in time to save the life of 17-year-old Taishawn Bellevue, who was fatally stabbed in Union Square Wednesday while a marauding group of 50 students rampaged through the Farmer’s Market in what police are calling a dispute between rival public schools. Where is the outrage, and why isn’t this incident being condemned on the front pages of the tabloids? Are the sleazy antics of Hollywood teenagers more important than the needless death of an unknown?

Although my husband and I could little afford it, we sent our six children to parochial school. School safety was not our primary motive. We regarded a religious education as necessary for our children to deal with the complexities and amorality of today’s society. We also knew that the other parents who made similar sacrifices for their children’s education would be more demanding of their children’s performance, and thus more involved. Catholic schoolchildren may not all be perfect, but they do not rampage like the gangs that descended on Union Square.

I must have missed that anarchic display by only minutes, because when my downtown bus passed Union Square I saw nothing out of the ordinary. The merchants’ stands were decorated in seasonal colors and shoppers were milling around toting their purchases. I was surprised the following morning when the teenager’s death was not a front-page story in the tabloids. Could it be that because no guns were used and the NYPD was not involved, it’s not as newsworthy? Tell that to the Bellevue family grieving over their loved one’s murder.

This incident, however, harks back to the bad old days when New York City was awash with gangs, and their rumbles inspired drama such as that in “West Side Story” and “The Young Savages.” Whips, chains, knives, even swords were the weapons of choice, but these rumbles usually took place in my neighborhood, Spanish Harlem, or in Harlem. That this latest incident took place in Union Square, where tourists gather and the middle class roams, is a troubling scene that should send chills up and down the mayor’s spine.

These students don’t care much about getting into trouble with adult New Yorkers. Do you know why? This city is now wuss city. We don’t step up and fight anymore. Take away our rights to eat what we want and smoke if we dare, we’ll sit and grumble but do little to fight back. These children know whom to call to bail them out of trouble — the ACLU and race-baiting demagogues citing discrimination.

The most dangerous criminals in the city are underage, and we’ve let them know how cowardly we’ve become since the Giuliani era ended. Kill thousands of innocent workers in the twin towers and watch us stand by looking at a hole in the ground five years later because we don’t want to offend anyone’s feelings. We’ve had cops killed in my neck of the woods and we can’t figure out how to punish the perpetrators. Isn’t that encouraging to potential murderers out there?

Still, we keep hearing these glowing statistics of how safe this large city is and how crime is going down. Oh, really? Maybe if we’d be truthful about how dangerous this city has again become, that young actress wouldn’t have dared to say to the Staten Island youth when he pointed a gun at her: “What are you going to do, shoot me?” He did.

While Mayor Bloomberg goes around town trying to disarm law-abiding citizens, these children in the ghettos and tough parts of town know exactly how to get their hands on weapons of destruction. What law can you pass that will teach children the difference between right and wrong when their parents won’t do it?

Maybe children today don’t know their place because adults have lost their ability to command respect. Parents are more interested in being friends with their children than earning their respect. The mean streets of my youth remained localized because the city itself was still ruled by individuals with courage and character.

Now New York has become a very dangerous city again because our cowardice has allowed animals to roam free.