Michelle Rick

Good morning, East Village.

Wake up feeling a strange sense of vindication?

Well, if you:  a.) have a bike, b.) rode it this year, c.) became one of the unhappy recipients of one — or more — of the13,843 tickets handed out to cyclists since January; then you may have cause to celebrate. Gothamist reports that a group of cyclists are suing the city for tickets that were issued to riders for infractions that they say do not qualify as violations under city law. The law firms Oliver and Oliver Law and Rankin & Taylor are gearing up to represent the cyclists in a class-action lawsuit that should be underway in a couple of months.

Natividad Zirate, the East Village’s premier curbside bike repairman, was forced to relocate yesterday, due to construction at his normal location near Sara Delano Roosevelt Park. Mr. Zirate has provided bargain-rate repairs to passing cyclists for at the location for the past couple of summers and almost without incident. However, this season has proved different. Two weeks ago, park enforcement officers confiscated Mr. Zirate’s tools and destroyed them while he was away, claiming that by being on the sidewalk the tools presented hazardous conditions for patrons of the park. And now the new construction has pushed his business across the street to the northwest corner of Houston Street and Second Avenue. Despite these setbacks, Mr. Zirate appears intent on continuing his sidewalk operation, but is sorely in need of tools. The Bowery Boogie compiled a list of items.

And finally, while preservationists paid their final respects to 35 Cooper Square last night, the Community Board 3 listened to a variety of proposals that would allow the Essex Street Market to continue operating, though some would involve uprooting the market and moving it to a new street. Bowery Boogie has the details.