BORIQUA'S BEST

By and large, the Puerto Rican Day parade on Sunday came off without a hitch. The parade is one of the city's most popular flirtations with pride-fueled mayhem, and for the past few years it's been struggling with a bad image, mostly due to the Central Park sex assaults videotaped in 2000. Since then, people have made a determined effort to keep things classy and upbeat, and this year it showed. It looked like Bloomberg's pleas finally got through to the owners of Fifth Avenue's over-priced stores, since their fancy storefronts weren't shuttered with plywood, as they had been in years past. The Daily News reported half a dust-up, where the Correction Department's Hispanic Society withdrew from the parade after they learned they'd be marching behind a group of Latin Kings (an alleged street gang). Still, everyone kept their good humor, including the police. To top the weekend off, Frankie Cutlass released an updated, reggaeton-inflected version of his classic anthem, "Puerto Rico." With no backyards for Memorial Day barbecues, this is how summer gets started in New York City.