••• Michelin announced its Bib Gourmand awards (for “excellence on a budget”)—guess how many are in Tribeca. One! And it’s closed! I think the closest inclusion might be Dim Sum Go Go. No doubt we’ll fare much better in the Michelin guide proper, for what it’s worth, but still. —Eater

••• The Hudson River Park wants to ban smoking. The Hudson River Park’s Trust’s argument is that because most smoking is already banned in most other parks, smokers are more likely to congregate there. No smoker I know is going to wait to cross a highway to light up. —Wall Street Journal (article not online)

••• There are three contenders to run the 1 World Trade Center observation deck: “Legends Hospitality Management, a company owned by the New York Yankees, the Dallas Cowboys and David W. Checketts, which runs food services and merchandise sales at a number of stadiums and arenas. GSM Projects, a Canadian company, is working with Danny Meyer, who owns a stable of restaurants, including Blue Smoke, Union Square Cafe and the Shake Shack chain, as well as concessions at Citi Field and the Saratoga Race Course. Montparnasse 56 USA, an affiliate of the French firm that runs an observatory and restaurant at the Montparnasse Tower in Paris. In July, the company bought the observatory on the 94th floor of the John Hancock Center in Chicago. For the food services of the New York venture, Montparnasse has enlisted the Gerber Group, which operates the Whiskey Blue, Lilium and Living Room bars in New York, and Marc Murphy, the chef who owns the Landmarc restaurants in New York.”

••• “At the full meeting of Community Board 1 on September 20, Youth and Education chair Tricia Joyce reported that Downtown schools ‘are four [kindergarten] sections over capacity for what the schools can hold,’ adding, ‘we’re doing everything we can to site potential incubation space.'” —Broadsheet

••• “Homeless and long unwanted, the statue of Abraham De Peyster, a 17th century mayor of New York City, appears to be returning to a place of distinction: Thomas Paine Park in Foley Square. ” I keep reading that name as New York Post harpy Andrea Peyser (!). Also, can it be a place of distinction when 99% percent of New Yorkers—I’m guesstimating—can’t identify where Thomas Paine Park is? —Tribeca Trib

••• “New York Downtown Hospital has agreed to pay $13.4 million to the state and federal governments to settle a fraud case involving illegal payments made to the hospital for unlicensed inpatient drug and alcohol services. […] The fraud was carried out between 1998 and 2006, according to state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office.” —Downtown Express