The side of a building on 125th Street and Broadway has become a focal point of AIDS awareness in Harlem. Until March, two huge billboards on the building combined to declare, “We’re not taking it lying down!” – the tagline of an ad campaign by The Women’s Institute at Gay Men’s Health Crisis. The posters were replaced by twin ads for the “HIV stops with me” effort sponsored by the state and city health departments.

The messages and their prime Harlem placement come at a time when African-American women are the group with the highest rate of HIV infection in the city – and the nation.

Kaiser Wilhelm started it all.

Wilhelm was the hamster Jessica Wells found crossing Broadway during a walk home nearly three years ago. “I had been shoe shopping that day, which was really lucky,” said Wells, 30. “So I took the shoes outside and put the box on the sidewalk.”

Wilhelm walked straight into the box and the New York Hamster House was born. Local shelters do not accept hamsters, inspiring Wells begin taking them in.

Run out of her one-bedroom apartment in Inwood, Wells currently houses 22 hamsters and other small animals. Cages are neatly lined up against the overflowing bookshelves in the living room.

For a room with so many animals living in it, it was surprising quiet on a recent Sunday. This all changes come nightfall – the cacophony of the hamsters squeaking, running on their wheels and shredding cardboard boxes can regularly be heard. “I had to move my DVD player into the bedroom because it got so loud in here,” Wells said.

Before Kaiser Wilhelm, Wells had never owned or taken care of a hamster before. “A lot of it is trial and error,” she said, crediting hamster discussion groups online and comments hamster aficionados post on her blog for much of her knowledge.

“I’ve learned a lot. The good thing is that I don’t pretend that I know everything,” added Wells, who estimates she has taken care of more than 400 hamsters since 2005.

Wells does not charge a fee to adopt, though occasionally families will donate when they take their adoptees home. She said she spends $150 to $500 a month on supplies.

Currently, New York Hamster House is not officially a nonprofit operation, though Wells is working to change that. “Right now I’m just a girl with a lot of hamsters,” she said.

With gas prices at a record high and environmental awareness growing, bike use is on the rise in the city. Since 2000, the number of riders has increased 75 percent, according to the city Department of Transportation.

Some new businesses are popping up to help meet the demand. Meet the self-proclaimed “Drug Dealer of Bikes” – a bus driver whose side business is also in transportation. Meanwhile, the folks at Recycle a Bicycle in the East Village are taking donated bikes, fixing and selling them – with profits going toward the group’s education programs.

With food and energy prices rising faster than dough in a brick oven, virtually everything that goes into making and serving a slice has gotten more expensive, New York pizza makers complain.

From flour to boxes, overhead costs for pizzerias have rocketed, prompting some on Manhattan’s East Side to commiserate with the competition and talk about how much to charge for a slice.

“It’s very hard, very hard to stay in this kind of business,” said Nicola Camaj, co-owner for 20-plus years of Adriatric Restaurant on 19th St. and First Ave.

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The South Street Seaport Museum in Lower Manhattan wants to reduce its fleet by one ship. The museum is looking to shed itself of the 2,800-ton Peking, the largest vessel in its flotilla, citing a lack of resources to maintain the aging vessel.

For months, Christopher Zambakari has watched online as the U.S. dollar’s value declined – especially its relation to the Ugandan shilling.

A 22-year-old foreign student living in Manhattan, Zambakari and his mother regularly wire money to Uganda to support 15 relatives there.

And while his classmates at the European School of Economics in Midtown rejoice at the strength of the Euro or the British pound, the dollar’s weakness means trouble for the MBA student’s family in Africa.

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The organic food market is a small but fast-growing segment of the food industry with sales up more than 20 percent last year, despite rising costs.

Some Fairway shoppers said it was well worth budgeting the extra bucks to keep organic foods on the table.

The economy may be down, but it’s no time to cry in your beer.

That’s the philosophy of Erik Ness, owner of The Bullpen, a new Upper East Side bar. He’s hoping his establishment will survive the tough times by offering customers reasonable prices, good food and a “neighborhood feeling.”

He’s got a big challenge ahead as the city’s $10 billion restaurant and bar industry braces for a decline. And with alcohol costs rising and a hops shortage pushing beer prices up, bars could be taking a double hit.

A 14-car caravan of Barack Obama supporters cruised the streets of the Bronx and Upper Manhattan Sunday while blasting horns and Spanish reggaeton music through Hillary Clinton friendly Latino neighborhoods.

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New Yorkers volunteering for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign worked their way down Broadway Sunday encouraging Manhattanites to vote for their candidate. The gathering attracted many younger voters, most of whom stressed Clinton’s legislative record and public policy experience over opponent Barack Obama’s youth and focus on hope.

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