All You Need To Know

It’s simple:

With costs ballooning to replace two Bronx parks that were bulldozed for the new Yankee Stadium — the latest estimate is almost $195 million — the city’s Independent Budget Office said on Tuesday that more than $16 million of the higher expense “remains to be explained.”

The latest cost is almost $79 million over the 2005 estimate of $116 million, which itself was considerably more than the $96 million figure based on “conceptual designs” in an environmental impact statement using 2004 dollars.

The Yankees will be using their new $1.3 billion ballpark for opening day in April, but Little Leaguers, tennis players and picnickers are unlikely to have access to all eight replacement parks until the end of 2011, a year later than promised, the budget office said in a report.

Piven, I Watched Interviews With Jeff Kolodjay, I Was Riveted By Jeff Kolodjay’s Harrowing Story, Jeff Kolodjay Bravely Waited For His Death While The Heroic Captain Instructed Him To “Brace For Impact” — Piven, You Are No Jeff Kolodjay

Piven — you Golden Globe-attending, Broadway-ditching, recession-widening slacker — you don’t deserve even a passing thought that the guy rescued from Flight 1549 bears even the slightest resemblance to you. So quit trying hog the limelight, you fraud:

Yes, one of the passengers on US Airways Flight 1549 bore a striking resemblance to Jeremy Piven — at least on some TV shots — but the “Entourage” actor was not on the plane.

Video footage of Piven’s doppelganger surfaced, spurring Internet rumors and calls to all the Golden Globe nominee’s own entourage.

“He’s totally fine,” the star’s rep confirmed. “He’s in New York, and he did ‘Good Morning America’.”

The Three Words That Best Describe You Are, And I Quote: “Stink. Stank. Stunk.”

Christmas Eve is a great day to bury bad news (e.g., murders up 5 percent from last year) or even if you just want to be a dick:

Developer Joe Sitt showed little holiday spirit today as he infuriated business operators along the fabled boardwalk by having locks clipped and replaced — and their storefronts flooded with “For Rent” signs.

“He’s literally kicking us out Christmas Eve by not even trying to negotiate new leases with us,” said activist Dianna Carlin, who owns Lola Staar Souvenir Boutique on the Boardwalk.

. . .

Sitt owns almost 11 acres of prime beachfront real estate, including fabled Astroland Park and nearly the rest of the entire amusement zone — which he is in the process of trying to sell to the city. Astroland’s lease is up at the end of January, but the other business leases are up at the end of this month.

While some business owners allege Sitt is essentially booting them off the boardwalk by informally offering new leases with jacked up rents he knows they can’t afford, others like Carlin haven’t even received an offer.

Location Scout: Coney Island Amusement Core.

The Power Of Slush

Alleged Sanitation truck sends wave of slush crashing into storefront, destroying front window:

First they heard a ferocious rumble coming down Jewett Avenue; then came the crash of glass and a spray of ice.

The force of a splash from what witnesses believe was an orange Sanitation truck barreling downhill toward Forest Avenue yesterday just before 10 a.m. destroyed the front of the tiny Port Richmond exercise studio.

Tragedy was only averted because the oversized cardboard sign in the window of Get in Gear at 513 Jewett Ave. blocked the half dozen people inside from the flying debris, and the lucky fact that nobody was outside when the giant wall of slush rose onto the sidewalk and slammed into storefronts, neighbors said.

“Glass came in; two of the women screamed,” said owner John Pepe, motioning to show how close he had been standing the window when it shattered.

By the time he ran outside to try and figure out what had happened, Pepe said the truck was already more than a block away: “He was going so fast, he probably did not even know what happened.”

The Bigger Question Is Which Stores Would Accept Your Credit Card?

Things you don’t want to be caught doing while your father is under house arrest for bilking investors of billions include last-minute Christmas shopping:

Bernard Madoff’s investors have lost everything, but his son and daughter-in-law seemed without a care in the world yesterday as they dashed around SoHo on a holiday shopping spree.

Andrew Madoff, 42, who worked with brother Mark at their dad’s now-failed financial firm, still drives around in a BMW SUV to do his holiday shopping, loading up with purchases from J.Crew, Longchamp, Kidrobot and other tony stores in SoHo.

Andrew and wife Deborah, 41, who live on the Upper East Side, also shopped at American Eagle and a high-end lamp store, and checked out the windows at Vera Wang.