The Alumni Association at Downtown’s Polytechnic University has broken with the school’s leadership to oppose a proposed merger with New York University on the grounds that it would destroy a valuable Brooklyn institution. Comment.

Park Slope: What, have the membership requirements at the Park Slope Food Co-op gotten too stringent? Has Fresh Direct started growing food as it delivers is? Comment.

Politics: A Civil Court race pitting firebrand former Councilman Noach Dear against a lesser-known judge has been thrust into the spotlight by gay and lesbian activists because of Borough President Markowitz’s endorsement of Dear, who was rated as unqualified for the bench by the City Bar Association. Comment.

Politics: The race between two sitting judges for a spot on the Surrogate Court — the powerful office responsible for doling out patronage jobs to legions of Court Street lawyers — has fast become the ugliest Brooklyn battle since the racially divisive election that brought Rep. Yvette Clarke to office last year. Comment.

Politics: State Sen. Marty Golden (R–Bay Ridge) has his platform, an open field, and a fund-raising apparatus — and he may have even found a date to announce his run for mayor. Comment.

Editorial: Local politicians’ call for an F express train ignores one reality: An F express would not improve F-train service through Brownstone Brooklyn. Comments (1).

Coney Island: Activists rushed to Coney Island’s Astroland this Sunday to rally in support of the doomed amusement park, which is slated to be demolished. Comments (1).

PS … I Love You: Our columnist’s third — yes, third — column about rubber-band-dropping postal workers. Comments (1).

Coney Island: Our cartoonist’s take. Comment.

Politics: Rep. Ed Towns, the 12-term legislator who survived a close fight during a 2006 re-election campaign that many felt would be his last, now says he’ll run for re-election next year. Comment.

Carroll Gardens: The much-loved F-train plaza at the Carroll Street station will stay, according to its controversial developer. Comment.

Williamsburg: Williamsburg residents want more places to park their bikes, especially now that they’ve gotten a taste for what it’s like when the city builds clusters of bike racks near public transportation. Comment.

Fort Greene: Myrtle Avenue is fast overtaking DeKalb Avenue as Fort Greene’s and Clinton Hill’s restaurant row. In little more than five weeks, a jaw-dropping (and saliva-inducing) five boites have opened their doors on the avenue once better known for its crime stats than its mascarpone blush sauce. Comments (2).

Greene Acres: Our columnist solves the mystery of the tall radio tower atop Brooklyn Tech HS. Comments (1).

Brooklyn South: Our columnist debunks a recent Observer article about biker babes. Comments (1).

Bay Ridge: The White House has changed course and asked the Federal Emergency Management Administration to release emergency relief funds to residents of Bay Ridge whose homes and cars were damaged in the Aug. 8 tornado. Comment.

Heights Lowdown: Our columnist hangs with the dorm kids of Brooklyn Heights. Comment.

Park Slope: Apparently, there was too much cvetching — and kvetching! — on Fifth Avenue. Comment.

Smartmom: The start of the school year has been an emotional roller coaster for Smartmom. So what else is new? Comment.

Park Slope: After six months of negotiations — and protests from some neighbors of the Eighth Avenue chapel — the Church of Gethsemane has sold its 10th Street garden to local real-estate broker Tim Betancourt, who says he will build a five-story building there. Comment.

Carroll Gardens: Despite a “closed” sign, the Long Island Restaurant will return, a source tells us. Comment.

Fort Greene: A homeless center that has caused Boerum Hill brownstoners to complain of stoop-side drug-use and public defecation has moved seven blocks away to a new, upgraded facility on Tillary Street — right across the street from a police stationhouse. Comments (1).

Bay Ridge: A local hero wasn’t in his usual place behind the bar, but firefighter Joseph Graffagnino, who died in the Deutsche Bank blaze last month, was honored on Sept. 11 at the Salty Dog bar, where he used to work. Comment.

Downtown: Despite a spring deadline to bar Supreme Court judges from using a sliver of Columbus Park as a parking lot, the dozen or so personal vehicles remain in the cordoned-off pedestrian path near Adams and Joralemon streets. Comments (3).

Fort Greene: Malcolm Gammah is single-handedly updating the tired Fort Greene and Clinton Hill dining aesthetic with house paint and a futuristic take on the age-old art of portraiture. Comments (1).

All the important meetings you should be going to. Comment.

Parenting: Now that everyone is back from the beach, it’s time to think about sand in a whole different way — as in melting it in a 2,000-degree furnace, dipping a hollow pole into it, twisting it around, blowing into it and hopefully not burning off your clothes in the process. Comment.

Parenting: All the fun you could be having with your kids. Comment.