Isaac Sasson, second from right, Democratic candidate for the 24th Council District, opened his campaign office at 141-24 Jewel Ave. on Sunday.

The district includes areas of Briarwood, Fresh Meadows, Hillcrest, Hillcrest Estates, Jamaica, Flushing, Jamaica Estates, Kew Gardens Hills and Utopia Estates.

Residents of the Pomonok Houses in Flushing were joined by former Assemblyman and City Council candidate Rory Lancman in decrying what they described as a sudden and unfair increase in parking charges by the New York City Housing Authority that may leave many public housing inhabitants scouring the streets for parking.

Pomonok Residents Association President Monica Corbett discovered the price increase accidentally, while seeking information regarding another matter.

Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D-Fresh Meadows) announced this week that she has been selected to serve on five committees.

The freshman, who was elected in November to the seat vacated by Rory Lancman, was assigned to the Children & Families; Corporations & Public Authorities; Corrections; Environmental Conservation and Labor committees.

Martha Taylor, a member of Community Board 8 and a longtime fixture in Democratic politics in eastern Queens, has launched her second bid for the City Council seat being vacated at the end of the year by Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows).

Taylor lists herself as an attorney on filings with the city’s Campaign Finance Board, and is listed as undeclared for any specific office. Former Assemblyman Rory Lancman also has announced, as has Briarwood community activist Andrea Veras. Gennaro is being forced out by term limits.

For many Queens residents, 2012 will be forever married to Superstorm Sandy and the havoc she wrought. For good or ill, North Queens was spared the brunt of the storm.

A sizeable number of downed trees and power outages hit the area, but most counted their luck. Compared to the borough’s southern edge, Sandy was forgiving to Flushing and its satellite neighborhoods.

Take your big-ticket 2012 headlines about superstorms and elections and throw them out the window for a moment. Sure, the year was filled with its fair share of natural and political change. But scratch a little deeper and you’ll find 2012 was the year residents felt divorced from their government, when city agencies were called out for dubious practices.

The year was pockmarked with calls for transparency and fair representation. In short, there was often a gulf between government’s practices and voters’ desires.

Queens politics in 2012 brought new districts, a historic election in the 6th Congressional District and enough cloak-and-dagger intrigue to fill a Robert Ludlum novel.

But when Hurricane Sandy struck in October, killing 12 people in Queens and more than 40 in the city, devastating the Rockaways, Howard Beach, lower Manhattan and Staten Island, the people of central Queens, who were largely spared the storm’s wrath, rallied to the cause of those worst hit.

Politics in middle and southwestern Queens was the favorite sport outside of Citi Field in 2012, and the worst storm to hit the region in 74 years devastated some while causing others just a few flickers of their lights.

JANUARY

As the year began, the city filed an appeal of a ruling by federal Judge Nicholas Garaufus that found discrimination on the part of the FDNY against African-American firefighters in the testing and hiring process.

Is there a Whole Lhota Love out there for now ex-MTA Chairman Joe Lhota? He sure hopes so. The transit chief quit his job Wednesday so he could run for another one — mayor of New York City.

Lhota, who served as a deputy mayor under former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, is hoping to grab the Republican nomination for the biggest seat in town.

Hurricane Sandy’s devastation and its impact on New York City have conjured analogies to 9/11 — the sudden and random loss of life caused by forces beyond our immediate control and understanding, the unifying of a city better known for its citizens’ pursuit of their individual dreams, and the contemplation of a “new normal” way of life. But let’s not let the analogy extend to once again putting recovery workers in harm’s way more than is absolutely necessary.

Pressure is being applied to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration to cut corners on safety for workers engaged in Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has criticized OSHA for “trying to come in and enforce regulations on employers who are just trying to get things done.” Some argue that a softer hand from OSHA is called for, focusing the agency’s efforts instead on encouraging best practices, fostering interagency cooperation and generally making workplace safety part of the background noise of recovery efforts. Now is not the time, they say, to put enforcement of safety regulations above the imperative to get us back to where we were before Sandy hit.

Six years after Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Glendale) first launched his political career in Albany’s corridors, the 43-year-old has set his eyes on City Hall.

“I think I can make a very significant difference,” he said in an interview, pointing to the prospect of fresh blood flooding the council, as nearly half of the legislature’s members will be term-limited out of office.

More than 200 people gathered on the steps of Borough Hall on Monday as political and civic leaders embraced Israel’s cause during this latest round of rocket attacks.

The rally was organized by the Queens Jewish Community Council, and drew numerous elected officials from city and state government.

Familiar community faces and notable politicos were on hand Oct. 25 for the grand opening of the Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center’s new kosher kitchen.

The nonprofit expanded and renovated its in-house eatery to serve the denizens of its cavernous, 200-bed facility.

Voters in the 25th Assembly District will have to choose on Election Day between a young political aide who has spent a solid dose of her professional life traversing the heady waters of Albany, or a wonkish retiree with unorthodox prescriptions for what ails the district.

While the race to Capitol Hill is heating up between Assemblywoman Grace Meng (D-Flushing) and Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone), efforts by nonprofits to mobilize the district’s Asian population may tip the scales in Meng’s favor.

Two organizations — the Alliance of South Asian American Labor and the MinKwon Center for Community Action — have been trying to increase voter turnout within certain immigrant groups.

In at least two recent cases, public affairs have clashed with a belief of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish religion, prohibiting followers from attending a public hearing and almost stopping them from voting.

The issue is that entering the sanctuary space of a church is prohibited for them.

The primary elections are over, but for winning candidates facing major-party opposition, there’s a lot of work ahead.

In eastern Queens, Democrat Nily Rozic, 26, former chief of staff to Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh (D-Manhattan), will be running for the state Assembly 25th District seat against Republican Abe Fuchs, 56, a retired U.S. postal, worker this November.

Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh’s (D-Manhattan) old chief of staff is now the Democratic nominee for the 25th state Assembly District. Nily Rozic, 26, defeated opponent Jerry Iannece, chairman of Community Board 11, for the seat being vacated by Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows). 

As expected following this year's redrawing of state legislative districts and the Board of Elections' admission that it directed thousands of people in Queens to the wrong polling places, a number of voters were unpleasantly surprised when going to cast their ballots in Thursday's primaries.

New information on the electorate from the 6th Congressional District primary on June 26 shows a Democratic voting bloc that was far more white proportionally than the population of the district.

The new 6th CD is 40 percent white, 38 percent Asian, 18 percent Hispanic and 4 percent black.

Both sides in the race for the 6th Congressional District say they are eager for a series of televised debates called for on Monday by City Councilman and GOP candidate (Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone).

The campaign of Assemblywoman Grace Meng (D-Flushing) said she is ready to go.

Assemblywoman Grace Meng of Flushing handily defeated three Democratic opponents Tuesday in the 6th Congressional District primary.

The unofficial count was 51 percent for Meng, 28 percent for Assemblyman Rory Lancman of Fresh Meadows, 16 percent for City Councilwoman Liz Crowley of Middle Village and 5 percent for Dr. Robert Mittman of Bayside.