The Queens County Democratic Party on Monday announced its endorsements for three citywide candidates, as well as its pick to be Borough Hall’s next occupant.

Repairing the seawall in Queensbridge Park has been talked about for well over a decade. Last Friday those plans came to fruition when politicians, the Parks Department and dedicated neighborhood advocates dipped their symbolic golden shovels into a pre-dug pile of dirt to commence construction.

The $6.65 million project will raise the crumbling seawall separating the park from the East River in the most northern section of Long Island City across from the Queensbridge Houses. Plans also call for a 6-foot-wide promenade with benches, plantings and a small wharf at its northern end.

The race for the 19th Council District has a set candidate for the Republican Party. Well, it had one up until Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) was arrested on corruption charges in April.

The incumbent has since announced he will not seek re-election, leaving the door open for a fresh-faced Republican to enter a field that is seemingly growing in number by the week.

The New York City Water Board voted on Friday, as expected, to increase water rates by 5.6 percent for the new fiscal year, which begins on July 1.

The average annual water bill for a single-family home will increase from $939 per year to $991. The average increase for a unit in a multifamily dwelling will go up from $610 to $644.

The bill mandating that companies in the city with more than 15 employees eventually provide paid sick leave is awaiting a promised mayoral veto — and an expected override of that veto by the City Council.

The bill passed last Wednesday 45-3, more than enough to nullify the veto promised by Mayor Bloomberg, if members stick to their positions.

“Gravity of the Sculpture: Part II” will remain on display at The Dorsky Gallery, 11-03 45 Ave., Long Island City, through July 3. Call (718) 937-6317, email david@dorsky.org or visit dorsky.org.

The New York City Water Board voted on Friday, as expected, to increase water rates by 5.6 percent for the new fiscal year, which begins on July 1.

The average annual water bill for a single-family home will increase from $939 per year to $991. The average increase for a unit in a multifamily dwelling will go up from $610 to $644.

Preet can’t be beat, unless you think Loretta is better. The U.S. attorneys for the southern and eastern districts of New York, respectively, Preet Bharara and Loretta Lynch, are in the midst of stellar work that should do more to clean up the political corruption that seems endemic to Albany than most so-called reforms have ever managed.

They’re going after corruption in case after case and knocking down one elected domino after another. Any city or state lawmaker who’s on the take and hasn’t been charged yet must be very, very nervous.

“Gravity of the Sculpture: Part II” will remain on display at The Dorsky Gallery, 11-03 45 Ave., Long Island City, through July 3. Call (718) 937-6317, email david@dorsky.org or visit dorsky.org.

Dear Editor:

Queens Chronicle Asst. Managing/Online Editor Joseph Orovic's article — actually expose would be a more accurate description — about an Abu Dhabi oil multibillionaire prince who would appear to be Mayor Bloomberg’ s choice for a Major Soccer League stadium, where else but in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, represents excellent journalism (“UAE’s Sheikh Monsour to be FMCP’s MLS king,” May 2).

Equally worthy of applause is the Chronicle’s editorial condemnation of not just giving away parkland, but giving it to someone whose wealth is directly related to a repressive government whose policies “are not ones that most Americans would find tolerable” (“No park giveaway to an oil billionaire for soccer,” May 2).

With apologies to William Shakespeare, the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but at the feet of the current occupant of the office of mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg. In the almost 12 years he has held the office, he not only never lifted a finger to reverse the neglect inflicted on

FMCP, the second-most used park in our municipal park system (primarily by the less privileged), but has actively participated in giving up FMCP land, a nonrenewable resource, to private interests.

The expansion of the United States Tennis Association complex in the park; on the horizon a 1.4 million-square-foot shopping mall on the Citi Field parking lots, which were built on FMCP land; and a Major League Soccer stadium capable of seating up to 35,000 people are all part of Bloomberg’s romance with the wealthy and indifference to the little people. He fails to understand parks are the lifeblood of an urban society, or if he does understand, he is contemptuous of the people who need and use the park.

I believe if Frederick Law Olmstead, the genius who created Central and Prospect parks in this city and important parks elsewhere, was still alive, he would not break bread with Bloomberg, and justifiably so.

The names of six Democratic state senators and a city councilman from Southeast Queens were among those contained Wednesday on a list of people who had their conversations with then-state Senator Shirley Huntley recorded by an FBI listening device in 2012.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York declined to comment on Wednesday on the names, contained in a sentencing letter connected to Huntley’s case, or U.S. District Court Judge Jack Weinstein’s order to unseal the letter.

The School Construction Authority came before Community Board 11 on Monday night with a proposed new 416-seat school, pointing to what it calls a strong need for more classrooms in one of the city’s high-performing education districts.

The agency ran headlong into the gaping maw of Northeast Queens’ ire, fueled by the potential school’s incredulous neighbors, who claimed the city did not look hard enough for a better site.

City Comptroller John Liu continues to run for mayor as if confident he can overcome the embarrassment of a campaign finance scandal that could send one of his top former aides and a contributor to prison for decades.

How much impact the case will have is an open question. But according to two political science experts in Queens, the Liu campaign faces multiple challenges arising from the convictions last week of Jia “Jenny” Hou, his former treasurer, and Xing Wu “Oliver” Pan, a fundraising “bundler,” who secured donations from other parties that then went to the campaign.

Joel Miele Sr., who served as chairman of Community Board 10 for 11 years and later was commissioner of the Department of Buildings and the Department of Environmental Protection under Mayor Giuliani, passed away Monday at the age of 78.

Miele, a resident of Old Howard Beach, was also a well-known engineer in private practice with a firm on Furmanville Avenue in Middle Village. His partner in that firm was Benjamin Leonardi, who served as chairman of Community Board 9 in the 1990s.

Elected officials, members of the public and Queens Library employees gathered Tuesday on the steps of the Flushing Library to decry a $29.6 million fiscal buzzsaw in the mayor’s proposed budget looming over the institution.

The gathering starts what has become something of an annual cut-then-rescue ritual inspired every year by Mayor Bloomberg’s budget. Inevitably, hizzoner puts out dollar figures that cause lawmakers to use terms like “unacceptable” and “draconian.”

Sorry, park advocates, the Major League Soccer stadium planned for Flushing Meadows is a done deal. And, some of you same folks will lament the fact that the Ridgewood Theatre will never be a performance venue again. Lastly, you fans of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) will be disappointed to learn she will not be the next mayor of New York.

These were all revelations made to this writer on Tuesday. Do I have a crystal ball? No. (After all, I was liking Curtis Sliwa’s pick in the Kentucky Derby until the darn horse scratched at the last minute). No, what I had was a conversation with Queens’ own celebrity psychic, Jesse Bravo.

The responsibilities of a borough president have recently become the subject of debate. While some have said these borough-heads who cannot make any decisions on legislation are irrelevant, Queens borough president candidate Barry Grodenchik says the position is about more than rules and regulations.

“The job is about bringing people together,” Grodenchik said in a sit-down with the Queens Chronicle editors last Thursday. “We live in the most diverse place in the country and probably the world, and while it’s easy to scream and rant, the tougher job is to work with the people.”

The reviews are in, and critics of Mayor Bloomberg’s final executive budget are saying they have seen this show before.

And, as per usual, there is likely to be a rousing closing dance number when City Council members restore funding for the same fire companies, after-school programs, senior centers and libraries that have been proposed for cuts by the mayor for years.

They weren’t talking drag queens or queens of England, they were talking the Borough of Queens, as the actors in the new show “Let’s Hear It for Queens” sang at its debut at the Free Synagogue of Flushing last Saturday.

The musical takes audience members on a historical trip from the beginning of Queens when the Dutch snatched land from the Native Americans who occupied the area, up to present times, pausing on notable moments with personal testimonies from people who grew up in the borough and musical numbers.

(BPT) - En la medida que se acerca el verano, muchos padres se preocupan por el “retroceso en el aprendizaje”, y con toda razón. Según la Asociación Nacional de Aprendizaje de Verano (National Summer Learning Association) los estudiantes que no participan en actividades enriquecedoras y didácticas durante las vacaciones de verano, pueden perder cerca del 22 por ciento de los conocimientos y destrezas obtenidos durante el curso escolar ya concluido.

The names of six Democratic state Senators and a city councilman from Southeast Queens were among those contained Wednesday on a list of people who had their conversations with then-state Senator Shirley Huntley recorded by an FBI listening device in 2012.

Those on the list engaged in recorded conversations with Huntley in 2012.

The former treasurer of City Comptroller John Liu's campaign for mayor and one of his fundraisers were convicted of attempted fraud and other federal charges yesterday for their roles in accepting illegal contributions and attempting to rip off the taxpayers of New York City.

Jia "Jenny" Hou and Xing Wu "Oliver" Pan were each found guilty of playing a role in taking campaign contributions from straw donors — people whose names were entered as contributors even though someone else had provided the money — and could each face decades in prison.

Major League Soccer’s proposal to build a stadium in Flushing Meadows Corona Park has re-emerged this week, jangling a borough that has spent the better part of three months focused elsewhere.

The league once again contends it’s weeks away from finalizing a deal with the city, as it did last fall. This time, the league may have found an oil-rich owner for the proposed franchise: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a billionaire member of the Abu Dhabi royal family and deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates.