••• Apple confirmed that it’s opening a store in the Westfield World Trade Center mall. —CNET

••• “Community Board 1 is taking a stand against attempts by two real estate developers to make a pair of Lower Manhattan properties more lucrative, under the guise of complying with provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act.” One is at 45 Broad, where the developers want to get extra square footage by agreeing to subway-station elevators on the sidewalk. “The second property in question is 90 Hudson Street, near the corner of Leonard Street. At this site, [CB1 member Bruce] Ehrmann explained, the owner proposed, ‘what is supposedly a handicapped access ramp that would take up the entire block, and most of that ramp is stairs for new storefronts they want to add.’ This ramp would be 116 feet long, and six feet wide. In addition to providing handicapped access, it would create a series of staircases (which are of no use to the disabled), leading to six new retail units on the building’s first floor.” That’s the block with Downtown Wine & Liquors and the former office of Douglas Elliman real estate brokerage, and this article is worth reading to learn more about how some real estate developers play the system. —Broadsheet

••• “One of the first tests of the city’s new public review process for changing deed restrictions—enacted in response to the Rivington House property-flipping scandal—hit a snag Tuesday when Community Board 1’s monthly meeting devolved into a shouting match over a deed modification for a downtown plaza.” It was at 28 Liberty, and this article usefully illustrates how sometimes Community Board 1 doesn’t work well. —Downtown Express

••• “A FiDi woman told police that after she hired a woman to clean her Beaver Street apartment via the app Handy, which connects independent contractors for services like cleaning and repairs to customers, she found two of her pricey handbags—together worth nearly $8,000—missing.” —DNAinfo

••• Musician Alan Vega was living in FiDi before he died last month. —Downtown Express