It's time for the sweet tax.

We are hearing from the city's budget people that there will be fewer cops on the streets, which will result in more crime and the return of a sense of menace. We are hearing that 25 firehouses might be closed at night, when the most dangerous fires erupt in the city. We are hearing that other agencies will cut services as they cut payroll. New York is on its way to becoming a meaner, more scary city.

Don't blame Mayor Bloomberg for this year's $1.1 billion deficit. Blame Mohamed Atta and his fellow hijackers. Blame the corporate swine who corrupted the institutions of Wall Street. Blame the ideologues in the Bush administration who cut taxes and increased spending. Bloomberg must live with what he has inherited from them. And there just isn't enough money. The feds can print paper money to cover their deficits. Bloomberg can't.

But Bloomberg can bring us what an old French king once called "the sweet tax" (because it is chosen by taxpayers, not imposed upon them). That is, they can expand legalized gambling in this city by demanding from Albany the right to create major casinos within the city limits.

There are several good locations for the creation of casinos. The best would be the 175 now-empty acres of Governors Island (more than 10 times the acreage of the World Trade Center site). Governors Island could be linked to Brooklyn by a bridge and connected to Manhattan by a tunnel that is part of the WTC redevelopment project. Boats also could service the island. There would be little need to add hotels to the casinos - tourists could stay in the hotels of lower Manhattan.

The revenue - in the long term - could be extraordinary. Forget Las Vegas, which is a one-industry town. Atlantic City grosses $4.3 billion a year from the casino market. The two Indian-owned casinos in Connecticut gross $1.9 billion. But New York has so much more to offer than either of those operations that estimates of income could be at least three times those numbers.

The reason: Casinos would have a ripple effect on the city's economy. Tourists could gamble all night and still get up the next morning to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, pose for digital cameras on the observation decks of the Empire State Building and shop anywhere from Century 21 to Bloomingdale's, with a thousand other stops in between.

They could eat at some of the finest restaurants in the world before heading for the casinos. They could see real Broadway shows, instead of the road-show retreads featured in Vegas, Atlantic City or the casinos of Illinois and the Gulf Coast.

Revenue up front

In the short term, revenue could be raised by demanding upfront money - deposits from business people who want to build and operate the casinos. In the long term, all city casino revenue could be mandated to pay for education, police, fire and sanitation services.

There are other possible long-term benefits. When the people of New Jersey voted in 1976 to legalize casinos in Atlantic City, it was estimated that 33,690 jobs would be created by 1985, with 24,600 working in the casinos. The actual number of casino jobs turned out to be 41,000.

Wages and tax revenues also exceeded by many millions the initial estimates. New Yorkers spend uncountable millions at the craps tables of Atlantic City to make those numbers possible, which is why New Jersey and its casino operators will fight very hard against casino gambling in New York.

There are, of course, problems with the Governors Island site. Any plan must preserve the landmarked buildings on the island: the Admiral's House (1840), the Governor's House (1708-49), Castle William (1811), Fort Jay (1798). These would only add to the charm of the developed island. The architecture of future casinos also should be in a New York style. The neon glitter of Las Vegas should not be the model - the casinos of Biarritz and Monte Carlo could show the way. In the end, crapshooters don't care about architecture. Their favorite color is green, as in dollars, or as in the felt on the tables.

Bloomberg, with the support of the City Council and Albany, also would have to scrap some plans already announced for Governors Island. In the innocent month of January 2000, Gov. Pataki, then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani and then-Sen. Pat Moynihan presented a plan for a civic, cultural and educational complex on the island. As recently as last April, Bloomberg said he wanted to build a campus for City University on the island, freeing CUNY sites for high schools.

Sadly, the mayor doesn't have the money for anything so grand and desirable. To begin the process of putting money-producing casinos on the empty island in the harbor, he could ask the City Council to plan urgent hearings that listen to all sides of the debate.

Ask Rudy to help

In a city of OTB and lottery fever, there is no longer a moral argument. Bloomberg could ask Giuliani, who once supported the casino idea, to present a study of the required changes in the state Constitution that would make casinos legal. Then Bloomberg could arrange for a special referendum, based on the New Jersey process, to persuade voters to support the notion.

Studies also could explore alternate city sites: Coney Island, the Rockaways, the east Bronx. Almost certainly (if the state Constitution is amended) there will be demands for casinos in Sullivan County and Niagara Falls. But none of those sites could compete with Governors Island, with its views of the great harbor and the gorgeous glitter of the downtown skyline.

A personal note: I've succumbed to most of the follies of humankind, but I've never been a gambler. I do know people whose lives were ruined by the habit, who lost families and jobs and pride on the turn of a card.

But I don't want to see New York recede into a dangerous twilight, where bad guys start to outnumber cops and children die because firehouses are closed. Last month, traveling in Connecticut, I counted 13 buses in a single hour, all bound for the casinos of the east. They were taking money away from New York. We need the money here. It's time to roll the dice.