••• The New York Times looks into the scaffolding scourge: “Now a new City Council bill aims to target the ubiquitous scaffolding, requiring that the structures be taken down within six months of going up, or sooner when no work is being done.”

••• Developer Larry Silverstein is moving into a penthouse at 30 Park Place. “Mr. Silverstein, 85, said he and his wife, Klara, ‘decided that we prefer to be where the young people are, which is downtown.’” —Wall Street Journal

••• The Battery Park City Authority installed night-vision cameras at the ball fields.

••• “Tenants at Gateway Plaza in Battery Park City have been charged fraudulent late fees for rent checks sent on time, in an alleged scam or crime of negligence that could see the buildings’ management facing a class-action lawsuit, according to a pair of Battery Park City legal eagles.” —Downtown Express

••• The Downtown Alliance announced its Founding Chairman, Robert Douglass, passed away. From the release:

In addition to his seminal role as the Alliance’s Chairman from 1995-2015, Douglass was also a lifetime director and former chair of the Downtown Lower Manhattan Association, and through every role he held was a staunch advocate of Lower Manhattan businesses and residents. He was 85 years old.

In his work with the D-LMA and as Counsel and Secretary to New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Douglass played a formative role in shaping downtown New York. His fingerprints were on everything from Battery Park City to the original World Trade Center.

For decades Douglass worked assiduously to make Lower Manhattan a premier global address for businesses, residents and visitors. Working closely with a small group of urban visionaries, Douglass helped reshape the neighborhood as an advocate for the conversion of Downtown’s vacant office space to residential properties and the establishment of a business improvement district. Following the devastating attacks on 9/11, he became a leading voice on the efforts to rally and rebuild Lower Manhattan into the vibrant community that it is today.

UPDATE: And here’s the New York Times obituary.

••• “Caviar Kaspia […] which has graced the Place de la Madeleine in Paris for 90 years, is being reproduced as a pop-up until Feb. 16 at Spring Place [….] Reservations are available to members; nonmembers can request reservations” via email.