••• DNAinfo looks into why the West Street medians are a mess: “The state Department of Transportation had paid the Hudson River Park Trust $300,000 to clean and prune the West Street medians from Battery Place up to West 59th Street between August 2011 and April 2012 [….] But then the contract ran out, and the maintenance work stopped—which means no one has been picking up trash or watering the flowers along the busy street [….] The Hudson River Park Trust and state DOT currently are negotiating a new contract [….] But the state DOT—which rebuilt the highway following 9/11 and over the past several years planted flowers and trees in new stone-edged medians—said the ultimate responsibility for maintaining the medians lies with the city, not the state.” But: “The city is refusing to take care of the highway because the state has not finished building the section of road near the World Trade Center.” (Photo by Julie Shapiro for DNAinfo) Note: Maybe someone at the Hudson River Park Trust or the Friends of Hudson River Park can tell us whether we could form a volunteer militia to deal with the trash?

••• New York Magazine‘s “Fall Preview” says that Michael White’s Butterfly is opening in September, while Masaharu Morimoto’s Tribeca Canvas is opening in October.

••• “From this day forward, the restaurant formerly known as SHO Shaun Hergatt will now be called SHO NUFF NOT Shaun Hergatt The Exchange.” —Eater

••• “A group of families of 9/11 victims are continuing their fight against a plan to entomb the unidentified remains of 9/11 victims in the basement of the National September 11 Memorial Museum.” —DNAinfo