••• From David: “I know there has been speculation on a project at the southwest corner of Washington and Canal but the dark harbinger of reality, the dreaded drilling rig, has showed its ugly face again this morning.” The speculation involves the parking lot and the likely-to-be-demolished 528 Canal next door.

••• Brett commented and Peter emailed that the 346 Broadway clocktower bells chimed last night—”each hour (but not on the quarter hour, as it used to),” said Peter.

••• Joann confirmed that Belita Nails (in the Independence Plaza North strip of storefronts) is closing at the end of the month.

••• Part 2 of the Community Board 1 Landmarks Committee’s series of meetings about the Howard Hughes Corporation’s non-tower Seaport plans is Monday, Jan. 5, at 6 p.m. at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

••• More from G. on the cat(s) in northwest Tribeca: “They have been there for years and there are people in the hood who take care of them and feed them. There was even a raccoon down there living with them in harmony. There have been kittens that have found homes in our neighborhood, too. I was walking past a couple of years ago and a lovely woman talked to us about this little family and how the neighborhood takes care of them. I even saw a couple of cute black kittens climbing the trees on vestry last spring.”

••• WTC Progress tweeted this photo from the 64th floor of 1 World Trade Center.