–The publicly accessible plaza at Essex Crossing will be dedicated today (Wednesday) at 5 p.m. The mega-project in the former Seward Park Urban Renewal Area is seen by developers, “as a victory in an area where 165 million square feet of prime real estate laid fallow for roughly five decades.”  But Jonathan Westin, director of New York Communities for Change, disagrees: “This is another gentrification project… They’ll reap millions of dollars out of this project when the city should focus on working with non-profit developers to build truly affordable housing.” [Daily News]
–At the Alfred E. Smith Houses today at 11 a.m., U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez will unveil a proposal to pump billions of dollars into NYCHA buildings across New York City. [Daily News]
–The Lower East Side is now a million dollar neighborhood, according to a new apartment sales report. [Curbed]
–Opponents of the mayor’s borough-based jail proposal plan a protest march in Chinatown on Sunday. [Patch]
–Cops are looking for a suspect who stabbed a man outside a deli on Madison Street on Sunday. [Channel 7]
–Katie Rue of Reception Bar, the Korean cocktail lounge on Orchard Street, shares some of her favorite Lower East Side things. [Bon Appetit]
