• We finally got around to visiting the LentSpace sculpture park at Canal and Sixth Ave, which opened Friday. This is the project that came about when Trinity Real Estate realized that there was no point in building anything on the plot in this economic climate, so it agreed to loan it to Lower Manhattan Cultural Council for what Eric Konigsberg of the New York Times calls “a 37,000-square-foot outdoor exhibition and performance space.” While it would be churlish to gripe about such a decent endeavor, one has to wonder if perhaps the area might not have benefited from less chain-link fencing and more art that didn’t resemble construction leftovers. Having more open space and outdoor seating is fantastic, but the LentSpace initiative pales in comparison to CaVaLa Park across Canal Street, where the flora and soothing sounds of water are (IMHO!) just what the LentSpace planners should have ordered—that or something with a bit more verve, like what P.S.1 has done in its site-specific summer installations. (That said, the artwork that surrounds the space, O.D.D. (Open Directional Device) by an artist called Thumb, with its shimmering aluminum paillettes, is a treat.) Pictures at right.

• The New York Times reviews the Museum of Chinese in America‘s new home, designed by Maya Lin, which opened today. Edward Rothstein declares the space “warm and inviting” but has some qualms about the content: “Despite the museum’s considerable achievement it also harbors a tension that reveals some of the problems with the identity archetype. Like some other identity museums celebrating ethnic groups and communities, this one can too easily slip into the ‘we,’ making it seem as if it were an internal account rather than a public statement.”

• To celebrate its new space at 10 River Terrace in Battery Park City (at Murray), Poets House is throwing a party this Friday and Saturday, and you’re invited. On Friday, there will be free bagels and coffee from 11 a.m. to noon. On Saturday, the highlights are readings by Billy Collins, Mark Doty, Galway Kinnell, Philip Levine, and many more poets. And then Natalie Merchant sings!

• “The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission has unanimously approved a six-story addition [left] to Tribeca’s 165-year-old Cosmopolitan Hotel,” says the Tribeca Trib. “The addition to the Cosmopolitan, an individual landmark and a working hotel since it was built in 1844, would add 25 rooms to the 135-room hotel and replace a two-story stucco building at 101 West Broadway, now the home of Mary Ann’s Mexican restaurant. Next door, in the existing hotel, a new, wider entrance to the building will displace the Cosmopolitan Café.” The hotel still has to get the city’s approval.

• Tucked into the Battery Park City Broadsheet‘s posting of the agenda for tonight’s Community Board 1 meeting is this: “106 Duane St., application for wine license for Beignet, Inc. – Resolution.” (Mmm, donuts….) The meeting is at 6 p.m. at AHRC NY, 83 Maiden Lane (at Gold), Penthouse.

• 92YTribeca sent over some additions to its schedule: Something in Spanish [That’s the band’s name. —Ed.] performing “avant-pop” (Sept. 26); Hip Hop Shabbat II with Peter Rosenberg (Oct. 9); This Ain’t Your Grandpappy’s Bluegrass: A Panel Discussion (Oct. 14); and on Halloween, there will be a Friday-night double feature of Killer Workout and Chopping Mall (Oct. 31). Also, on four Mondays (Oct. 5, 19, 26; Nov. 2) experts from the 92 Street Y Parenting Center will lead New Parent Get-Togethers from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Admission is $20.