Let the drama ensue.

As The Times's Corey Kilgannon reports, the Strand’s owner, who also owns the building, said the restrictions that come with landmark status will be expensive, and jeopardize her already fragile book business. (Really, is there any other kind of book business?)

At a Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing yesterday, Strand supporters spoke out.

Hank O’Neal, a photographer and writer who lives next door to the Strand, called it “a cultural and historical resource of immeasurable importance” that needs protection in an “increasingly difficult retail environment.”

Best of The Times

Data weapons for tenants: Coders are building apps to help city renters dig up dirt on bad landlords.

Apollo Theater: The storied Harlem institution will create spaces to incubate works by up-and-coming artists.

Ralph’s coffee: The Ralph Lauren shop on Madison Avenue will have a pop-up coffee shop.

Bleecker Street revival: A once-luxe stretch of the West Village that was recently pocked with empty storefronts is sprucing up again.

What we’re reading

Election trips: The company that supplied voting machines that failed en masse on Election Day bought flights, hotels and fancy dinners for the head of the city’s Board of Elections. [NY1]

Not funny: A writer for “Saturday Night Live” had his stand-up comedy set cut short at Columbia University by students who found his jokes offensive. [Columbia Spectator]

Sorry, Santa bros: The Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North and New Jersey Transit are banning alcohol this weekend in anticipation of the red-suited scourge known as SantaCon. [Gothamist]