And Just As The Fall Season Begins . . .

So not only do they clog the streets with their motorcades, get out of parking tickets and beat DWI raps but their security detail radios are also messing with your television reception:

Residents in the area near the United Nations may be noticing fuzzy reception — even on cable — while all the foreign dignitaries are in town attending the General Assembly.

The problem is caused by high-powered radios used by security details protecting the diplomats, said Time Warner Cable spokeswoman Suzanne Giuliani.

“It happens every year,” Giuliani said of what amounts to “intermittent signal problems” on some channels.

The affected area generally stretches from 42nd Street to 86th Street on the East Side, Giuliani said, adding that the cable company has posted a recording on its phone systems to let callers know there’s a temporary problem.

The two-way radio signals can interfere with TV reception when the cable isn’t secured tightly, Giuliani said.

Cosmic Justice Will Come When They Change His Salary Package To A “Suggested Donation”

Seriously, you shouldn’t worry about stiffing the Met now that you know how much they get paid:

Museum leadership has become a kind of star system, in which a small group of directors can pull in seven-figure bonuses from boards eager to hang onto the talent.

Last year, the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philippe de Montebello, received a $3.25 million one-time payment as a reward for having stayed at the museum through his 70th birthday. His total compensation for the year was $4,557,342, making him the top earner in the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual survey of nonprofit executive compensation, beating out presidents of major hospitals and universities.

Other museum directors in Mr. de Montebello’s earning class include the director of the Museum of Modern Art, Glenn Lowry, who in addition to a compensation package that in 2004 was $1.28 million, between 1995 and 2003 received a total of $5.35 million from a trust set up by museum trustees. The former chairman, Robert Menschel, and president of MoMA, Marie-Josée Kravis, said in a letter to the New York Times that the trust helped to secure the recruitment of Mr. Lowry to the museum in 1995. In 2006, Mr. Lowry received $901,766 in compensation.

Electrified Manhole Cover? Check. Precious Puppy? Check. Film Crew Shooting? Check.

The new “New York story” has nothing to do with pizza, Broadway dreams or jazz but rather something more current:

Soho resident Jon Doran was going out for his morning cup of joe Wednesday and walking up Thompson St. with his yellow lab, Socha. They were forced to take a slight detour since the film crew of the Biography Channel had commandeered the sidewalks adjacent to the handball courts at Spring and Thompson Sts. while shooting promos.

Crossing back to the west side of Thompson, midblock, Socha (pronounced Sasha) stepped into a puddle in the street near the curb in front of 105 Thompson St. and began yelping and squealing like Doran had never heard before. The dog stiffened and fell into the water. Doran pulled her out — all 80 pounds, of what felt like dead weight. Socha appeared O.K. and her owner was mystified. A passerby, who witnessed these events, told him, “Your dog has been electrocuted.”

(While Socha clearly had received a severe electric shock, she wasn’t electrocuted, since “electrocuted” means to be killed by an electric charge.)

In the middle of the puddle, there was a manhole.

Immediately — the time was 10:48 a.m. — Doran called 911. While waiting for first-responders, he policed the puddle so no one else would wander into it. At 12:15 p.m. he called 911 again, pleading for someone to respond. At 12:38, almost two hours from the first call, police finally arrived, followed shortly after by firefighters. The area was cordoned off.

Come On, You Don’t Think I Already Understand The Risk Of Eating Ceviche I Bought In A City Park?

When the story of who killed the Red Hook Ballfields is written it will turn out that we are all guilty:

Honduras Maya, a restaurant owned by one of the vendors that serves Latin American food on weekends at the Red Hook Ball Fields, was closed down by the Health Department this week after an inspection stemming from the city’s crackdown on the vendors.

The shutdown could merely be a taste of what’s to come if the 13 food vendors at the ball fields fail to meet strict health code requirements by this weekend. And the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation may not extend the vendors’ temporary permit — which officially expires after Labor Day — until the soccer season ends in late October, as earlier promised.

. . .

Cesar Fuentes, executive director of the Food Vendors Committee of Red Hook Park, said health inspectors are expected to start issuing fines — or shutting down vendors — this weekend for not meeting requirements like providing hot and cold running water, refrigeration, and preparing food in commercial kitchens rather than at home.

Suany Carcamo, the owner of Honduras Maya, has been operating a Honduran food stand specializing in baleadas at the ball fields for more than a decade. Fuentes said her restaurant was investigated by the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene as a follow-up to a letter she submitted to prove that she was preparing her food for the stand in a city-certified commercial kitchen — her own restaurant.

The Park Slope restaurant received 122 violation points, compared to the citywide average of 14 points, according to the inspection report. Among the 20 violations listed were: missing Choking First Aid, Alcohol and Pregnancy, and Wash Hands signs; evidence of flying insects and mice; toilet facility not maintained and provided with toilet paper; and wiping cloths dirty or not stored in proper sanitizing equipment.

The owners were not available for comment by press time. An employee, when reached by phone, confirmed that the restaurant had been shut down.

But Carcamo could be viewed as one of the lucky vendors. She is one of only two that also owns a restaurant, while many of the others are struggling to find a commercial or community kitchen certified by the Health Department where they can prepare their food.

“The report from my vendors is that it is basically very, very difficult to do,” said Fuentes. After word traveled that Honduras Maya was shut down, “a lot of people were denying vendors the use [of their facilities] out of fear that the Department of Health would enforce harshly.

“Anyone who doesn’t have that letter wouldn’t be allowed to sell,” he said.

(The vendors do nothing to conceal it, we visit there because we want to eat it, we blame the Health Department for being there, but we are all there . . .)

I guess it’s back to those old reliable subway churros for us . . .

In The End, Sucking Up That Way To Ken Livingstone Was All For Naught

In case you were wondering why the State Department concerns itself with the ins and outs of a domestic transportation bill, now you know:

Mayor Bloomberg promised that diplomats would pay up, just like everyone else, under his congestion-pricing plan — but it looks like he won’t be able to keep that promise.

According to the fine print inside the deal that gives $354 million in federal transportation funds to support the anti-traffic scheme in the city, the State Department will be able to waive fees on foreign bigwigs whenever it wants.

The State Department has already taken a stand against congestion pricing. U.S. officials are arguing in London, which now has congestion pricing in place, that assessing such fees against foreign governments violates international law.

Aides to Bloomberg told The Post in April that the mayor will only waive fees for emergency vehicles, taxis, livery cabs and handicapped drivers.

. . .

The Committee to Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free, which opposes Mayor Bloomberg’s plan, said the last-minute clause was “infuriating.”

“It is galling that an Iranian diplomat could pay nothing while a senior citizen from Bayside would be charged to go for cancer treatment at a Manhattan hospital,” said spokesman Josh Bienstock.

The DOT said the potential loophole for foreign government workers was added at the request of the State Department.

The clause says the State Department can force the city to waive fees for “vehicles owned or operated by any foreign government or international organization.”

The State Department — currently locked in a bitter battle with the city of London over $3 million in unpaid congestion fees and fines American diplomats have racked up there — has argued that congestion pricing amounts to a tax. And under the Geneva Conventions, the agency maintains, foreign governments don’t pay taxes.

Backstory: Hizzoner The Cab Crusher.