••• “Street fair season is still a few months away, but arguments are already breaking out downtown about the value of the schlock-and-greasy-food fests. Detractors complain that the fairs generate noise, traffic and garbage, harming local businesses and reducing residents’ quality of life. Supporters argue that the fairs are worth the inconvenience because they boost the cash-starved nonprofits that sponsor them. Further complicating matters, Community Board 1, the organization charged with weighing the pros and cons of the street fairs and issuing an advisory opinion on them, plans to raise about $30,000 this year by sponsoring seven of its own fairs.” That’s pretty much the definition of a conflict of interest. (DNAinfo)

••• “When the 9/11 memorial opens this fall, it will draw millions of visitors, who will likely arrive in thousands of buses and cars. In response to concerns that the influx of vehicles will choke the neighborhood’s narrow streets, city and memorial officials offered a first glimpse of their long-anticipated plan to handle the traffic at a Community Board 1 meeting Monday night. The key to the plan is that visitors to the memorial will have to reserve a free, timed ticket in advance. The memorial will control these tickets and will only give them to tour companies that agree to certain conditions, like dropping visitors off at remote sites and having them take public transportation to lower Manhattan […].” (DNAinfo) Related: Access will be limited for years. (New York Times)

••• “Jehangir Mehta, the chef and owner of longtime East Village restaurant Graffiti and Tribeca newcomer Mehtaphor is suing uptown rival chef Jesus Nunez of new restaurant Graffit for copyright infringement, arguing that the two month-old restaurant with a very similar name and concept is actively poaching customers. They both serve experimental, small plates cuisine, but he cites Nunez’s use of the candy Pop Rocks in a dish—which Mehta calls his signature ingredient—as the ironclad evidence that his place is a rip off.” (Eater)

••• The Broadsheet Daily eulogizes BPC resident and maritime advocate John Krevey.

••• “A three-year-old resident of Battery Park City is gravely ill and may die if a compatible bone-marrow donor is not found soon. […] Anybody willing to register as a potential donor is urged to stop by the Soundings (280 Rector Place, at the corner of South End Avenue) this evening, from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. (The doorman will direct you to the second-floor community room where cheek swabs are being collected.) For more information, browse CureRayan.org.” (Broadsheet Daily)

••• “Frank Gehry’s 76-story tower […] is open for business. Formerly the Beekman Tower, now New York by Gehry, the 870′ tall building has a 37th floor rental gallery and 18 studio, one- and two-bedroom model apartments on view by appointment only. Call 212-877-2220 to be one of the first to check out those bay windows in the City Hall region’s new steel-clad slab of starchitecture. Citi Habitats Marketing Group and Nancy Packes, Inc. are leading the leasing and marketing. The building has 903 total apartments that start on the seventh floor, and over 200 layouts to choose from. Rents start at $2,630 for studios, $3,580 for one-bedrooms and $5,945 for two-bedrooms.” Click the link for more on the amenities. (Curbed)

••• “With World Trade Center development picking up, it’s time for hoteliers to start anticipating a new FiDi boom. Enter the unstoppable Sam Chang. He purchased former Art Deco residential building 32 Pearl Street a few years ago and is finally about to begin construction on the 80-room hotel. It will be the neighborhood’s second Gene Kaufman-designed Hampton Inn. Er, in case one wasn’t enough.” (Curbed, linking to Crain’s)

••• Wall Street Journal checks out Compose.

••• “Cars exiting the Holland Tunnel can no longer turn right onto Hudson Street.” (DNAinfo)