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It’s too bad that Mayor Bloomberg is losing his battle to reinstate the commuter tax — just ask one lucky
 commuter named Mario Pesa. ¶
Pesa commutes into Manhattan every morning from Garden City. Like all of the 600,000 out-of-towners who make
 their living in New York City, he benefits from city-provided services like trash pick-up, police and fire
 protection and emergency medical treatment. ¶
In Mario Pesa’s case, underscore the medical treatment. ¶
On March 25, 2002, Pesa, then 76, was returning to his W. 30th Street office from lunch — where, ironically,
 he’d had a healthy meal of baked cod and a salad — when he felt a pain in his chest. ¶
"It was like a tank had rolled over me," he said. ¶
Police Officer Alan Such — a New York City employee, by the way — called for an ambulance. Within minutes, two
 more New York City employees — Pesa does not remember their names — were on the scene. ¶
The ambulance rushed Pesa to Bellevue Hospital where even more city employees treated his massive heart attack.
 They never asked him where he lived or whether he had contributed his fare share to the New York City coffers. ¶
Of course, he had not. Since 1999 — when the state abolished the commuter tax — commuters’ only contribution
 for the city services they enjoy are those piddling sales taxes they pay when they buy a bagel or a sandwich. ¶
But that’s only a fraction of the estimated $1.9 billion the city spends every year to service commuters. ¶
Yet Mario Pesa is alive today because our cops, EMTs and emergency room personnel don’t ask to see your 1040
 form before they save your life. ¶
"I think it’s only fair that we commuters pay our fair share," said Pesa, an architect who’s made a good living
 all these years in New York City. "Without those people, I would’ve died on the street." ¶
In which case, Pesa still would have required — and received — the services of a few more city employees. ¶