Public Advocate Bill de Blasio minces no words when asked why he is running for mayor and why he feels he is the best choice for the Democratic nomination.

“I am fundamentally dissatisfied with things in the city,” he said last week at a meeting with the editorial board of the Queens Chronicle.

The long-awaited rezoning of Ozone Park is in motion.

More than 500 blocks of southern Queens, including almost all of Ozone Park and parts of Richmond Hill, South Ozone Park and Woodhaven, will be rezoned this year in what is likely to be the last major zoning project of the Bloomberg administration, and one of the largest.

Here’s the latest disgrace out of Albany: Ex-Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who had to resign after it was revealed that he just couldn’t keep his hands off the pretty young things he liked to hire, has been fined $330,000 by the state Legislative Ethics Commission for his harassment of one young woman after another.

“Disgrace?” you ask. “What disgrace? Sounds like justice to me.”

Dear Editor:

Why do almost all Democratic members of the New York State Assembly act like chew toys for Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver? How can they face women voters while supporting a political boss who paid off sexual abusers with taxpayers’ money? They must demand his dismissal as Assembly leader for conduct that disgraced his party and legislative chamber.

That includes my assemblyman, Michael Simanowitz, who hasn’t spoken out publicly against Shelly Silver. Why not? His constituents deserve an explanation. In fact, they should demand it by phoning him at his district office: (718) 969-1508. Ask him: Do you support or oppose Sheldon Silver as your party’s Assembly leader? We need an answer.

Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott honored 11 teachers from around the city this week as winners of the first “Big Apple Awards” to recognize excellence in education, but none from Queens made the cut. Each winner will receive a $3,500 grant for use in the classroom and will serve as a “Big Apple Ambassador,” advising the city Department of Education.

Isaac Sasson, Democratic candidate for City Council in the 24th Council District in Queens, announced on Tuesday that he is ending his campaign for public office.

In a brief statement, the Flushing resident said will be focusing his efforts on his philanthropy and related positions in the Orthodox Jewish community.

Community Board 9 adjourned for the summer Tuesday night, but not until after a two-hour, high-drama debate over the future of its longtime district manager, Mary Ann Carey.

Responding to complaints from some board members over her efficiency as district manager, CB 9’s Executive Committee put forward a motion to remove Carey from her position, which she has held for 30 years — the longest serving district manager among Queens’ 14 community boards. The motion sent CB 9 into a rarely called executive session at Tuesday night’s meeting at the Majestic Marquee in Ozone Park.

Anthony Weiner, the newest candidate to enter the mayoral race, has had a controversial political past. His most recent sexting scandal notwithstanding, Weiner has been known to ruffle feathers as a congressman and Forest Hills resident.

When some of his old constituents were asked how Weiner was as a neighbor, the results were mixed.

A 31-year-old Astoria man committed suicide by jumping in front of an on coming N train at the elevated Broadway and 31st Street subway station on Tuesday, an officer at the scene said.

(BPT) - Sailors silently gliding underwater while patrolling the ocean depths in a nuclear-powered sub and the pride of earning the coveted Submarine Dolphins. This is the exciting and challenging life for personnel in the United States Naval Submarine force.

Democrats running for the City Council in the 27th District have their differences on some aspects of education.

But all said they believe in having more local control over instruction and curriculum in a candidate forum held Monday night at the Campus Magnet Educational Complex in Cambria Heights.

Confirming one of the worst-kept secrets in Queens politics, Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) formally announced his campaign for the Democratic nomination for borough president Tuesday on the steps of Borough Hall.

Comrie, who is deputy majority leader of the Council, is ineligible to defend his seat because of term limits.

State Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) dropped out of the race for Queens borough president last Friday.

The move follows the Queens County Democratic Organization’s endorsement 11 days earlier of Melinda Katz, a former city councilwoman and state assemblywoman, for the job.

Queens Pride House in Jackson Heights hosted its first-ever forum on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Tuesday night, attracting an audience of about 30 individuals, most of whom identified themselves as members of one or more Palestinian-sympathizer organizations. The event was free and open to the public.

Many in attendance indicated they were drawn to the gathering by the presence of the evening’s guest speaker, Sarah Schulman, a CUNY professor and supporter of the movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel.

The newest and most controversial candidate in the mayoral race, Anthony Weiner, said he knows he’s got a lot to prove but believes New Yorkers will be looking forward when choosing the next mayor this fall.

“We’re making a big mistake if we think that voters are looking to the past,” Weiner said in a sitdown last Friday with the Queens Chronicle staff, the first of his candidacy. “When they go to flip that switch, it is a fundamental, forward-looking, aspirational thing.”

The federal corruption case against Ozone Park lawyer and Democratic District Leader Al Baldeo is scheduled to go to trial in September.

A pretrial conference was held on May 23, motions are due by June 24 and the trial is set for Sept. 16 in Manhattan federal court.

This is not Bill Thompson’s first time on the mayoral campaign trail.

The former city comptroller ran against Mayor Bloomberg in 2009 and lost by less than 5 percent — a much closer margin than had been expected. Now he’s back for another run and says he’s the best candidate.

Mayor Bloomberg is bracing for a showdown with the City Council over the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy. He is trying to disarm a bill which would expand the definition of profiling and authorize litigation against it.

In a letter to the City Council, Michael Best, a lawyer for the mayor, claims the bill would end the use of stop-and-frisk and therefore jeopardize public safety.

Three-year-old Julie Vargas of Corona doesn’t know a thing about municipal budgeting or city politics.