NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Tribeca Parenting ••• Stuzzicheria (my first impression is here) ••• BLT Bar & Grill. ••• W New York Downtown. ••• Five Guys Burgers.

PEOPLE
TCQ&As: Writer Glenn Plaskin, locavore Annika K. Martin, artist Bill Sullivan. ••• Glass artist James Carpenter (7 World Trade, Fulton Street Transit Center) works in Tribeca. ••• Writers Jennifer Egan and Darin Strauss will be at Pen Parentis’s next salon on Sept. 14. ••• David Bouley sold his East Village apartment. ••• Hanging out with historian Joyce Gold, who will be leading a tour of BPC.

CONSTRUCTION
The construction on Chambers has begun, as have nighttime closures of the Brooklyn Bridge. City Hall Park is being torn up.  240 W. Broadway and 471 Washington are getting built. Anojja Shah got a preview of the Pier 25 playground; meanwhile, one new building on Pier 25 looks like the Flintstones’ house.

PARK51
The Landmarks Preservation Commission saw no reason to landmark the Park51 building after all these years. ••• The Anti-Defamation League came out against the project. ••• Governor Paterson offered space elsewhere. ••• President Obama took the high road and then reconsidered. ••• Only Bloomberg really shined during this whole mess. ••• Opponents are going to protest on Sept. 11. (Classy!)

COMING
Opening soonish: What we know about Josephine, Canal Park Playhouse, Birdbath Bakery, RH Gallery, Pinnacle Medical, Mehtaphor, Maserati of Manhattan, and Unleashed by Petco. Opening laterish: What we know about Pizzeria Luzzo’s, Compose, Morimoto’s new restaurant, Sarabeth’s, Glad Tidings Tabernacle, Brushstroke, and more. Also coming: Don Hill’s, Hot Clay Oven, Chickpea, and a café called Samsara, something in the Hoi An space, an art project space is coming to the old Sasha Wolf space. Downtown Hospital is opening a wellness center, and the Manhattan Supreme Court will be opening a special court devoted to mental-health cases. The Innocence Project took 20K square feet in 40 Worth. Condé Nast is moving into the building formerly known as the Freedom Tower.

GOING
Bar Artisanal closed, and Todd English is rumored to be taking over the space. (And then word came that the BA concept will be reintroduced elsewhere in the city.) Puffy’s was rumored to be moving. No one returned my call. Pomme closed. RHX keeps promising to, but stays open…. The Drawing Center punted on coming further downtown. Manhattan Children’s Theatre is moving somewhere after this season. R. Schum Gallery popped up and left.

GROWING
What’s up with expansions by the New York Academy of Art, Cosmopolitan Hotel, Walker’s, and Washington Market School.

MISC.
CaVaLa Park will be renamed Capsouto Park. ••• Bouley’s empire got explained. ••• Clowns go to school to learn how to throw (and get hit by) pies. ••• We gave some advice to Equinox, and learned that the club will be renovated soon. ••• Street artists have a thing for faces. ••• The groovy chandeliers in 100 Church are being removed. (Maybe you can buy one? Don’t hold your breath.) ••• Egon Schiele’s “Portrait of Wally” was pretty cool, but maybe not as cool as its back story. ••• The destruction of the Winter Garden’s staircase appears to be a foregone conclusion. ••• I coined a phrase, TriBeCause, and met the guys behind the I’m Too Young for This! Cancer Foundation. ••• Anna Fishbeyn’s “Sex in Mommyville” debuted at the Flea. ••• Lady Gaga pondered living in Tribeca. ••• Republicans in Congress killed the 9/11 health bill. Rep. Anthony Weiner had a freakout on the floor. ••• I spent some time with a chocolate sausage—and I liked it.