••• “Without much fanfare, on Wednesday the de Blasio administration released its draft plan to build four borough-based jails as part of its initiative to close the violence-plagued facilities on Rikers Island over the next decade. Each of the facilities in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan [including a 40-story tower on top of a gutted 80 Centre Street] would be built to hold around 1,500 detainees.” The Manhattan one would not include housing, but as you can see from the rendering, such as it is, the gorgeous building at 80 Centre will be crapped up with unnecessary retail. The way the mayor has tried to shove this through with no community input, in the dead of summer, is appalling. —Gothamist

••• Someone bought 1 White (southeast corner of W. Broadway) for $8.12 million. I’m not sure whether the image of the roof deck is a rendering, but last fall, James pointed out that roof use on that building is prohibited (unless something changed). —New York Post

••• Legendary drag festival Wigstock is coming back—to Pier 17 at the Seaport District mall, of all places, on September 1. And the counterculture is officially dead. —New York Times

••• “NYC Ferry’s expansion continues today with the launch of its latest route: the long-promised connection between Soundview in the South Bronx, and several stops in Manhattan. […] The new stop is located in Clason Point Park, at the end of Sound View Avenue, and promises to provide Bronx residents with more convenient access to parts of the Manhattan waterfront. It takes 45 minutes from start to finish, and stops at 90th Street on the Upper East Side, East 34th Street in Midtown, and Pier 11 at Wall Street.” I guess a Field Trip is in order, but I’ve never even heard of Soundview, so I have no idea what I’ll do there. —Curbed

••• “Answering a call last week from The Boston Globe, The Times is joining hundreds of newspapers, from large metro-area dailies to small local weeklies, to remind readers of the value of America’s free press. These editorials, some of which we’ve excerpted [worth a read!], together affirm a fundamental American institution.” I meant to write something, too, but I’ve been on vacation, and it can be a struggle just to keep up. I’m typing in Berlin, actually, where history has shown us what a leader who attacks democratic norms can do, if left unchecked—not just by the press, but by decent people in general.