ANOTHER TAKE ON AIR QUALITY x CONGESTION PRICING
Tribecan Charlie Komanoff has a more nuanced and historical take [than mine] on the city’s recent report on air quality after a year of congestion pricing in Streetsblog here. “What’s unconditionally validating is the report’s finding that in environmental justice neighborhoods, ‘congestion pricing didn’t increase pollution.’… From 2022 until recently, ‘Gridlock’ Sam Schwartz and I expended considerable effort critiquing extreme MTA modeling scenarios and pushing back against local activists who worried that ‘diverted traffic’ unleashed by the toll plan could more than offset reduced through-traffic, leading to higher localized emissions and worsened air quality.”

NO HOUSING FOR ELIZABETH STREET GARDEN
In case you are engaged with this issue — it makes me wild with frustration — Crain’s has an update on the Elizabeth Street Garden: “After years in limbo, the Elizabeth Street Garden will remain a green space instead of transforming into senior housing. The Mamdani administration reached a deal with Pennrose, Riseboro and Habitat for Humanity on Thursday, providing the developers with an alternative site to build housing and leaving the NoLita garden’s newly minted parkland status intact.”

GLOBAL POLITICS OVER LOCAL SCULPTURE
The Trib has a story on a sculpture integrated into Elizabeth Berger Park in Fidi titled “Al Qalam: Poets in the Park,” which honors Little Syria and the writers of the Pen League. “To understand who they were and where they came from needs explaining,” The Trib writes. “And that’s the hitch. According to Lebanese officials and some Lebanese-American organizations, the text of the original sign…misrepresented the writers of Lebanese descent as Syrian. That’s a touchy issue given modern-day hostilities between the two countries.”

BROKERS SUE OVER COMMISSION AT 1 PARK ROW
The Real Deal reports that “Corcoran, Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group, and Brown Harris Stevens have filed a lawsuit against Circle F Capital, alleging the developer failed to pay full commissions following the $94 million sale and restructuring of the 1 Park Row luxury condo project.”