••• “On Thursday, the City Council is expected to pass a bill that tackles a little-known facet of the multipartite problem: the commercial rent tax, which affects only businesses in Manhattan south of 96th Street that pay at least $250,000 a year in rent. The threshold for the tax was last changed in 2001, when it was raised to $250,000 from $150,000. […] The bill, introduced by Councilman Daniel Garodnick, a Democrat who represents the Upper East Side and Central Manhattan, would raise the rent threshold to $500,000 a year, a move that would free some 2,000 businesses of the tax.” —New York Times

••• An update on the plan for a “one-seat” train ride from the World Trade Center to Newark Airport. —Broadsheet

••• The Caterer confirmed that London-based steakhouse Hawksmoor won’t be opening anytime soon at 3 World Trade Center. “I don’t think there’ll be any restaurants in Tower three until 2019,” said owner Will Beckett. (via New York Post)

••• “As city prepares plan for Brooklyn Bridge Beach, advocates mount campaign to lift restrictions.” —Tribeca Trib

••• At “the overly long, confusingly configured and heavily trafficked crosswalks along Broadway at the southern end of City Hall Park […] getting from one street to another at Park Row, Ann and Vesey can be a test of pedestrian smarts and, at times, courage. […] Changes are expected to be made next year. The illustrations below, by the Department of Transportation, give a picture of those and other improvements.” —Tribeca Trib