Say goodbye to free WiFi in Central Park. The service has become the latest casualty of the recession, now that city officials say they can no longer afford the expense of maintaining the network without any a sponsor willing to foot the bill. On the upside, you probably won't notice its absence for a while, since there aren't too many people sitting in Central Park with their laptops out in the middle of winter. [Crain's]

[I'm sorry, but I can't help it. These photos, of Katie Holmes and her daughter by Tom Cruise Suri playing in Central Park, have been on every photo agency and I can't help but like them. Sue me. I ruined Gawker already, what more can I do. Image via Splash]

Central Park: it's sacred space worth billions. But it will be public forever! It will never be sullied by the hand of commerce, or turned into a commercial venue! Except for the huge silver Chanel "Mobile Art pavilion," modeled after a Chanel handbag, that will descend on the park this fall. But it's really an art exhibit, you see, and Chanel is giving a huge donation to be able to put it there, so the commercial angle is totally superfluous. Except that all the freaking art is "inspired by Chanel's classic 2.55 quilted-style chain handbag." You clever bastards. Larger picture of the alien-looking new kind of ad in your life, below:

Well, we suppose it's more innovative as a marketing strategy than giving freebies to Kate Moss and Ashley Olsen: To celebrate its quilted chain purse, which has been around since 1955, Chanel is dropping a huge spaceship-like gallery in the middle of Central Park beginning in October.

Sarah Chubb is not just the president of CondeNet, the online division of Conde Nast—she's also a "nationally ranked cyclist." And she's damn tired of you plodding runners hating on her cycling style in the wild streets of Central Park, for real! "There is a lot of hate," she tells New York mag. "The Road Runners club can take over the entire park, and they get pissed at us if our races go past 8 a.m. The runners don't stay where they're supposed to stay, they're wearing headphones, and they'll scream at you if you ask them to get out of the way!" Fools. If you think that CondeNet president Sarah Chubb will hesitate to run you over at high speed, well, you don't know anything about making it in the media. [NY Mag. Pic via NYO]

The news that the Upper West Side's Claremont Riding Academy, a stable and horseback riding school at 89th and Amsterdam, is closing imminently after being sold to a developer—perhaps as soon as this Friday—is a blow not only for uptown riding princesses (just think how much more painful their virginity-losing will be!) but anyone else who enjoyed taking one of the horses out for a little Central Park wandering. As a correspondent reports:

A recent transplant to the city, Dashiell continues his quest to discover the "real New York." Help his search at newguy@gawker.com.

Our post about the Central Park Zoo immediately occasioned a response from the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation. We're happy to set the record straight:

From the website of The Central Park Zoo:

A coyote was spotted in Central Park Sunday, and sharpshooters with tranquilizer guns have been hunting for him ever since. He was finally caught this morning, as 1010WINS is reporting on the top of its website. This is moderately good news for New Yorkers, who may have been concerned about walking their dogs in the Park while the animal was on the loose. And no doubt it's excellent news for San Antonio Spurs fans, who hope to have him back in time for tonight's halftime show.