A soup kitchen run by Cordoba House Canada

••• “Three years from now, there could be a $100 million mosque near the site of the World Trade Center. Construction at Ground Zero is moving forward, but so are neighboring projects. The new mosque will be built on the former site of a Burlington Coat Factory [on Park Place] that was damaged in the 9/11 attacks. The Tribeca mosque has had to expand to three evening prayer services every Friday to deal with the growing Muslim population.” (That reads like a third-grader wrote it because it came from the local Eyewitness News. Here’s how it was presented on CB1’s Financial District committee agenda: “The mission of Cordoba House is to establish a vibrant and inclusive world-class Islamic facility in the heart of New York City. The House will run programs that celebrate Muslim arts and cultures, promote education and learning, support the needs of Islamic faith and practice in Manhattan, encourage community cohesion and positive interaction, and provide facilities for a variety of recreational and leisure needs that all New Yorkers as well as visitors can enjoy.”)

••• “The Tribeca community has asked the city Parks Department to rename a local park [CaVaLa] in honor of their beloved neighbor Albert Capsouto, who died prematurely in January of a brain tumor. But the city is stalling, both on renaming the park and on identifying other possible memorial sites.” (Downtown Express)

••• Downtown Express reports on last weekend’s Church Street School block party.

••• The New York Times noted Intérieurs‘ new shop uptown. And that’s the last we shall speak of those deserters.