It will be a while before we know how many people voted in our area, but as we write this on Tuesday afternoon, anecdotal evidence suggests that, like many other places in the city and the country, voter turnout is higher than it’s been since the 1960s.

It was bad enough Mayor Bloomberg vetoed sensible legislation to ban the installation of car alarms in New York City. Now, he has actually vetoed a bill that would ban the sale of those small, motorized scooters that plagued our neighborhoods over the summer.

In April of 1999, during the war in Kosovo, the Serbian police and military forced my family and me out of our apartment in Prishtina. As we were on the bus fleeing toward the Macedonian border, I remember looking back one last time and wondering if I would ever come back again. It turned out that it wouldn’t be until five years later that I would be ready to go back to the place where I had spent the first 23 years of my life.

Rampant school overcrowding and insufficient cafeteria food were the focus of a recent meeting of the District 10 Community Education Council, which replaced the old school boards this fall. Members drilled regional representative Joel DiBartolomeo on school and district-wide issues during the business portion of the Oct. 21 meeting, held in the beautiful new library of North Fordham’s PS 46.

While the school year has just begun, it’s already time for parents of fifth graders to look ahead to the next big leap – middle school. This is an especially crucial choice, as a positive middle school experience is key to children’s development. What follows are some helpful tips for navigating the range of choices available to you.

Little ghosts, goblins and everything else imaginable emerged at events hosted by local schools on the Friday before Halloween. Kids from PS 280 (below left and below right) paraded around the East Mosholu Parkway school, and those from PS 54 (bottom left) walked along Webster Avenue.

Through the maze of ESL classes and senior programs, up the stairs from the sprawling daycare center, McDermott directs Tolentine Zeiser Community Life Center from a small space more devoted to supplies than self-promotion. But those priorities – putting good work above self – are the essence of what drives McDermott and her staff to continuously better the lives of residents of University Heights, and beyond.

Homebound seniors in the Bronx who chose to continue with hot food delivery under the revamped Meals on Wheels program are receiving reheated frozen meals, contrary to what the city had previously indicated.

Anthony Chiofalo, a lawyer and Belmont resident, has continued his uphill fight for the 80th Assembly seat — this time, as a Republican.