••• An interesting/depressing comment from NV about Holland Tunnel traffic backed up on Hudson: “Regarding traffic, [Friday] afternoon as I was walking up Hudson street around 3:45 I noticed that the tunnel traffic was backed up to N. Moore street, but when I got to the Canal Street corner there was almost no backup coming east to the tunnel from the highway. It wasn’t that they had closed that approach, but as I watched for several light cycles it was clear that the two traffic officers there were creating the problem by over-favoring the Canal approach (which they often do) to an unusual degree. During the time I watched, the block of Canal from Hudson to Greenwich never was completely filled with waiting cars. A third traffic officer walked by so I stopped him and mentioned that Hudson was backed up for blocks. He told me that their orders from the higher-ups were to keep Canal moving no matter what happened on Hudson and that if I wanted to complain I should call 311.” There had been talk at CB1 of organizing a town hall where citizens fed up with the Holland Tunnel traffic problem could hear directly from—and speak directly to—elected officials and representatives of the Port Authority, NYC Department of Transportation, and the NYPD. But I don’t think anything has come of it. UPDATE 2/27: Good news from Sam: “There will be a public CB2 meeting this month with DOT regarding Holland Tunnel traffic issues. The DOT is commissioning a study that will look at all the issues in the area around the Tunnel entrance. I’ll post here as the date firms up.”

••• Still a whole lot of nothing happening at the 456 Greenwich hotel site.

••• And while we’re checking out the state of various construction sites, here’s 30 Warren (the east side of Church between Chambers and Warren). It’s hazy because the window in the plywood is dirty.

••• Opening March 2 at Steven Amedee: Distilled: Still Lifes by Ben Shattuck.

••• I finally got a big boy desk! And it’s a beauty, made by Artisan and purchased via Stillfried Wien—which is having an Artisan event on March 2. (Thanks to the folks on Twitter who answered my call for suggestions on where to find a desk pad. Ended up having a simple one made by Kerry Phipps. Highly recommended!)

••• Why does this sound so gross?