• “’I still have yet to understand …in reopening [Park Row], how that creates that unsafe situation for Police Plaza, and I think that a number of us don’t agree with that assessment and we need to reopen Park Row,’ Bill Thompson, the Democratic Party’s mayoral nominee, told Downtown Express.” The paper endorsed re-electing Mayor Bloomberg, though.

• The Broadsheet Daily reports on the Battery Park City Authority’s debate about the 55,000-square-foot Asphalt Green Community Center currently being built on North End Ave.: “The community center now being built on North End Avenue in Battery Park City has received substantial subsidies from the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) but its management company, Asphalt Green, plans to charge high membership and usage fees with few free community amenities.” The partnership was approved anyway.

• The Weblicist of Manhattan, a photo blogger, shot some evocative pix of Duane Street storefronts (including the one at right).

• The New York Times‘ Generation B column checks in on Billy Gilroy, owner of Macao Trading Co. “Sitting at Macao, nursing a water (he rarely drinks now), Mr. Gilroy said life looks good. ‘I’m a lucky man,’ he said. ‘You know where you’re sitting? Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ed Burns and Christy Turlington sat there a few weeks ago.” Asked what they’re like, Mr. Gilroy said: ‘Oh, I didn’t meet them, just watched from a distance.'” Also of local interest: Gilroy’s son Devon was once a chef at Chanterelle.

• “City officials on Thursday unveiled a ‘Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts: The Moving Image,’ a guide that outlines expectations for the study of film, TV and animation from early elementary school through high school graduation.They said it is likely the first such outline in the nation and could serve as a role model for other communities. Produced in collaboration with industry reps, such as the Tribeca Film Institute, it is part of the Bloomberg Administration’s efforts to increase access to arts education in NYC public schools” (Hollywood Reporter).

• At 7 p.m. on Wednesday, noted atheist Richard Dawkins (author of The God Delusion and The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution) will stop by Barnes & Noble for a reading.