Friday-Morning Roundup

The Times says that Mayor Bloomberg is looking for a larger role in downtown development. Too little, too late? Or is it just election-year campaigning? Chelsea Piers jefe maximo, George Bush friend and "Pioneer" Roland Betts has quit the board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. Shopping and rememberin'. There's money for the memorial, and there's plans for 200,000 square feet of retail down downtown way. (We had it here and here yesterday [sounds of tooting one's own horn].) The Post calls 2 Columbus Circle an "eyesore" and celebrates that it was finally sold yesterday to the Museum of Arts and Design for $17 million, clearing the way for its renovation and the mallification of Columbus Circle. The Daily News reports on a new Bayside, Queens, development that can't handle the rain. According to various people, it's so poorly constructed that its retaining wall nearly collapsed in the last downpour. -Matthew Grace