The $200 million fund created to improve Bronx parks in connection with the construction of the Croton water filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park has already been put to good use in local green spaces.

For the first time in his three campaigns for mayor, former Bronx borough president Fernando Ferrer has a clear shot at unseating the Republican incumbent.

When a group of young people at the COVE and the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center gathered three years ago to discuss the future of their park – the southeast corner of Van Cortlandt Park – they came up with some big ideas. At the time, much of it seemed like only a dream, since there was so little money for large capital projects in parks. Few in the community would have traded filtration for the realization of that dream, but now that the plant is reality, it is at least nice to see that the Parks Department has closely adhered to the community’s vision in its new design for the southeast corner.

We are now in the 30th month of the Iraq war. Will it take us another 30 months to admit and correct our mistake?

DeWitt Clinton High School fired up its new metal detectors and scanning equipment for the first time this week, resulting in long lines and a growing sense of resentment among students. Clinton’s staff generally support, or feel resigned, to the changes, but hundreds of students staged a walk out last Monday in protest.

Students went back to school on Sept. 8 in what many officials and parents have said was a particularly easy first day. "It was probably one of the smoothest school openings in anyone’s recollection," said Joel DiBartolomeo, a local instructional superintendent for the area, last week.

It’s a rapid-fire exchange familiar to any Bronxite needing a cab to go to the doctor’s or across town. It’s a simple transaction – a phone number is called and a car comes – but one wonders about the anonymous operator and their clairvoyant knowledge of where the cabs lurk. And how’d they learn to talk so fast?

After more than 30 years in politics, Oliver Koppell is understandably quite confident in his ability to win elections. "Quite honestly, I’ve run a lot of campaigns and I think I know what to do," said Koppell, 64, wearing a large "Koppell for City Council" button on his lapel.

Ari Hoffnung prides himself on his math abilities, and in the last days of his bid to unseat Councilman Oliver Koppell in the 11th District, numbers are on his mind. "About 20,000 [people] will vote in the election," said Hoffnung, 31, a Riverdale resident and investment banker. "Can I meet all of them? No. But I’ve been meeting a lot of people and it adds up."