Courtesy La MaMa Preliminary work on La MaMa’s white roof.

The building that houses La MaMa got a new mural back in May, and now it’s getting another paint job – but not in the name of art.

The White Roof Project laid down a first coat of white paint on the theater’s rooftop on Wednesday, adding another 7,000 square feet of solar-reflective white roof to the neighborhood in an ongoing effort to reduce carbon emissions and encourage energy efficiency.

Juan Carlos Piñeiro Escoriaza, the project’s founder, told The Local that the Lower East Side is one the heaviest energy users in the city. “Our efforts there get you more ‘bang for your buck’ every time a roof is coated white,” he said, adding that he wanted to have contiguous rooftops along East Third and Fourth Streets between Bowery and Second Avenue painted white by the end of 2013. Read more…

Earlier this week, Jose “Cochise” Quiles recounted his time as a member of the Satan’s Sinners Nomads, and told The Local that gangs such as the Bloods, Latin Kings, and Money Boys are still very much prevalent in the neighborhood.

Today, we hear more about the problem from a few of the people who are fighting it at Henry Street Settlement and the Boys’ Club of New York’s Harriman Clubhouse, on East 10th Street. They join others like Aida Salgado and the D.A.’s office in promoting alternatives to street violence.

Dante Lawson, assistant group leader at Grand Street Settlement, says he sees gang activity on an almost daily basis. In this video, he explains why he has resisted the temptation to join his own family members in some of the neighborhood’s many “sets.”

Scott Lynch

Life Cafe’s most storied artifact is headed to Jersey. The owner of the shuttered cafe, Kathy Kirkpatrick, writes on her blog that the bench where Jonathan Larson wrote “Rent” is now at Adelphi University. According to Ms. Kirkpatrick, Mr. Larson is an alum of the university in Garden City. “I felt a heaviness in my heart as I watched the boys lift the bench into the truck. It felt like a big part of my life was being taken away,” she wrote.

The Daily Beast tries to get to the bottom of Jennifer Sultan’s finances. Ms. Sultan, who was swept up in the arrests related to the missing guns from the Ninth Precinct, was reported to have made millions of an Internet company in 2000.

The Post reports that Carl Knox has pleaded not guilty to murder, and is claiming he was the victim of a gang assault when he stabbed Corey Capers to death on East Fifth Street last month. DNA Info has more. Read more…

Joel Zimmer Lakeside’s photo booth.

When it was reported that Lakeside Lounge would close at the end of April, New York Music Daily wrote, “the bar that defined oldschool East Village cool will be replaced by a gentrifier whiskey joint, no doubt with $19 artisanal cocktails and hedge fund nebbishes trying to pick up on sorostitutes when their boyfriends are puking in the bathroom – or out of it.”

Not so fast?

A liquor license application questionnaire submitted to Community Board 3 indicates that the space on the corner of Avenue B and 10th Street is being taken over by one of Lakeside’s partners, Laura McCarthy, who is also an owner in Bowery Electric, HiFi, and Niagara – all rock’n’roll spots that aren’t exactly known for catering to “hedge-fund nebbishes.” As if that trifecta doesn’t make for enough cred, Ms. McCarthy also opened Brownies, the rock club on Avenue A that was widely mourned when it was transformed into HiFi. Read more…

No word on when Long Island’s Yogurt Crazy will open on Third Avenue, or when the gelato joint on Second Avenue will start scooping (though we did notice it just got a new awning), but here’s some good news if you’re scouring for something cold and comforting.

Only U, the neighborhood’s latest frozen yogurt spot, opened yesterday at 159 First Avenue. According to owner Jason Chen, a Brooklyn resident who, until recently, owned a Chinese restaurant in the Bronx, the yogurt flavors will vary each week, though classics such as vanilla and chocolate will always be ready to serve.

This afternoon, the do-it-yourself stations were dispensing banana, sweet coconut, cheesecake and red velvet; there were more than 20 topping choices, including honeydew, kiwi, blueberries, Gummi Bears and low-fat granola.

The frozen treats go for 49 cents an ounce.

Only U, 159 First Avenue (East 10th Street), 212-254-8886.

Daniel Maurer

Suzanne RozdebaJune 21.

There’s trouble on Avenue A today, as the Fares Deli-Grocery has been seized by the state. A notice on the shutter cites nonpayment of taxes. It’s only the latest attention-grabbing sign to be slapped on the bodega between St. Marks Place and Seventh Street: last month a tipster noted that the police department had put notice of a restraining order on the front door prohibiting the illegal sale of alcoholic beverages. Two unfortunate setbacks for a spot that recently gussied up its old-school bodega signage. We’ve asked the state Department of Taxation and Finance as well as the Liquor Authority for information about specific violations. We’ll let you know what we hear.

Update | 4:10 p.m. A spokesperson for the Department of Taxation and Finance said the business was seized today as a result of a tax warrant filed with the New York County Clerk on June 5, related to $218,000 of unpaid sales tax from the years 2006 to 2008. “What we’re talking about here is sales tax that was collected from customers but not remitted for state and local government purposes,” said Geoff Gloak.

Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong continue sorting through their archives of punk-era concert footage as it’s digitized for the Downtown Collection at N.Y.U.’s Fales Library.

Village Voice ad.

The East Village was a very different and much more dangerous place in 1978. But it was still a shock to everyone on the Downtown scene when Johnny Blitz, the Dead Boys’ drummer, was stabbed in a fight on Second Avenue. Street violence isn’t quite what it was in those days, but one thing hasn’t changed: the problem of musicians and medical insurance, or the lack thereof. To help meet Blitz’s mounting medical bills, the CBGB community rallied with a four-day event, the Blitz Benefit (please, don’t call it “Punk Woodstock”). With a t-shirt created by the Ramones’ design guru, Arturo Vega, and more than 30 bands performing, it was a heartfelt outpouring of help and money for one of our own.

Billy Blitz, Johnny’s brother, recalled being just a teenager when his brother was stabbed. “I was in Cleveland so it was all new to me,” he said. “When I got to New York for the benefit, Stiv Bators [lead singer of the Dead Boys] and Tish Bellomo picked me up. They were shooting moons out the car window on the way to the club. I couldn’t believe it!” Read more…

At the very least, the water store on East 10th Street, Molecule, is a hit with reporters. “I mean it’s subtle, but if you have a sensitive palate you can totally tell” co-owner Adam Ruhf tells The Wall Street Journal. “It was sweet and tasted good,” a customer tells DNAInfo. “Who’d waste money on Molecule? Those who belong to the High Holy Church of Culinary Rectitude,” writes the always warm and fuzzy Steve Cuozzo in The Post.

Has Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver gone rogue? He tells The Daily News he won’t be campaigning exclusively for Democrats in the Senate this year.

Second Avenue has its noodle nuts, Jersey Street has its sneaker fiends. Bowery Boogie has shots of people queuing up for the release of limited edition Nike sneakers. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Dina Leor’s Mexican memorabilia store, La Sirena, may have to move due to a 30-percent rent increase.

A low-income housing association in the East Village is planning substantial rent hikes for its commercial tenants — a move that has already forced the Mexican trinket shop La Sirena to notify its customers that it will close.

Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association’s executive director Val Orselli explained that the rent increases will pay for $400,000-worth of renovations to some of its 25 buildings over the next couple of years. The Association’s tenants include familiar names like the 4th Street Food Co-op, East Village Music Store, Rivington Guitars, Bond Street Chocolate, and FAB Café. As many as 24 will face rent hikes once their leases expire.

“We tried as much as possible to use our reserve funds, instead of increasing the rents of the tenants through big increases that tenants cannot afford,” said Mr. Orselli. “So either the cost has to be borne by residential tenants, who are very low-income, or the commercial tenants.”

“We don’t have a choice,” he added.

The owner of La Sirena, Dina Leor, faces a rent increase of around 30 percent, according to Tower Brokerage president Bob Perl, who will be negotiating the new lease. “Their mission is to have affordable housing,” he said of the Association. “The board has decided to make good use of the retail values in the area.” Read more…

Curbed reports that the Landmarks Preservation Commission gave architect Richard Metsky the green light for a significant enlargement of 45 Great Jones Street yesterday. The approved plans call for two additional floors on the three-story building, as well as a penthouse recessed from the street. The building, which originally housed a lumber company, will have a commercial space on the ground floor.

Chelsia Rose Marcius

Mary Help of Christians may soon have a new owner, and the long-standing flea market next to the church is preparing to permanently fold up its tables.

John Matcovich, the manager of Immaculate Conception Parish, which has overseen the church on 12th Street since 2007, said that a couple of months ago the Archdiocese of New York found a buyer for the church as well as the adjacent school building and parking lot; the deal is expected to be made official in September.

Joseph Zwilling, director of communications for the Archdiocese, declined to confirm that a contract was in the works, citing a policy of not discussing real estate dealings until they are finalized. “The process is not over with Mary Help of Christians,” he said. Read more…

New York Police Department The suspected impersonators.

The police are still searching for two men who posed as police officers late last year and attempted to rob two spas, one of which is in the neighborhood.

New surveillance images depict the men, who the police say posed as police officers at the Waterfront Spa on First Avenue on December 1. In that incident, the pair flashed a shield and asked to review the spa’s licenses and any cash kept on the premises, police said. A 55-year-old worker was grabbed by one of the suspects but not injured.

A second incident on December 12 at a spa in Washington Heights followed a similar pattern.

In both cases the victims refused and the suspects fled empty-handed.

The suspected police impersonators were first covered in a police blotter in January.

Earlier this week the police announced they were searching for a man who posed as an officer and robbed teenagers in the Bronx of their cellphones.
Read more…

Last Saturday, Jose Quiles spoke to a group of students at P.S./M.S. 34 on East 12th Street. Some were the age that he was when he first entered the gang world.

Responding to a recent spate of violence, Rick Del Rio, the senior pastor at Abounding Grace Ministries, had invited the man many in the neighborhood know as Cochise to a basketball tournament, barbecue, and youth outreach session, to speak about his rough-and-tumble life on the Lower East Side.

Mr. Quiles was born on St. Marks Place in 1961. He joined his first gang at the age of 13 and then in 1988, formed one of his own: the Satan’s Sinners Nomads. After attempting to kill two of his fellow gang members in 1993, he served 18 years in prison. At the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y., he began counseling gang members; he was released in January and now, as a resident of Campos Plaza, hopes to steer at-risk youth away from what he said was an assortment of gangs in the neighborhood, including the Bloods, Money Boys, and Latin Kings. Read more…

Scott Lynch The Con Edison protests continue.

Good morning, East Village.

The Jewish Week reports that Greg Wall, the jazz-playing rabbi of Sixth Street Community Center, is stepping down amid financial troubles at the synagogue and infighting among board members. “The synagogue is financially challenged (aren’t we all!), and must now raise cash to shore up their 150-year old building, and cannot afford to fund a permanent rabbi,” Mr. Wall wrote.

The Paris Review has joined the fight to help the St. Mark’s Bookshop as it considers a move to a smaller location. The magazine is offering a one-year subscription to the first five customers who spend $500 during Saturday’s cash mob.

One of The Local’s community contributors, Martin Johnson, has a review of “Love Goes To Buildings On Fire,” by Will Hermes. The book examines the city’s music scene from 1973 to 1978, a time in which “great music grew out of buildings on fire.” Read more…

Paul Defiglia The line at Momofuku today at around 6 p.m.

Paul Defiglia Yep, it goes around the corner.

Nothing is more appetizing in 95-degree weather than…a hot bowl of ramen noodles? Fans are lining up in droves outside of Momofuku Noodle Bar for a taste of guest chef Ivan Orkin’s cooking. These photos were taken at 6 p.m., a half-hour after the event was scheduled to begin. So much for “walk-in” only.

Update | 7 p.m. A Momofuku employee is now telling people that the list for Mr. Orkin’s ramen has been closed and those not on it won’t get a taste. He said the restaurant sold three times as much ramen as it had expected to during the first hour.

N.Y.U. Red lines indicate the reduction of the boomerang buildings on the northern block.

A City Council committee voted in favor of New York University’s expansion plan on Tuesday following last minute negotiations that yielded several significant reductions of the project.

The land use committee’s 19-1 vote sends the plan, dubbed N.Y.U. 2031, to the full City Council, which will vote on the plans later this month. Councilwoman Margaret Chin, a member of the committee who represents Greenwich Village, took the lead in negotiations with the university and strongly urged other council members to support the modified plan.

“I wholeheartedly believe that this proposal will allow N.Y.U.’s growth in the Village to occur at a sustainable pace, and that it will not overwhelm the wider Village community,” Ms. Chin said. “Over the past few months, I have heard a litany of N.Y.U.’s broken promises from Village residents. It is time to start a new chapter.” Read more…

Daniel Maurer Mercat

Last month The Times reported that Hung Ry had served its last bowl of noodles on Bond Street, and it now looks like Mercat may have shuttered on the same block. On June 27, we tried to watch the Spain-Portugal game and found the tapas bar closed without explanation. Same deal during several return visits, and phone calls have gone to a full voice mailbox numerous times.

Last night, we peered in to see a copy of Norman Mailer’s “The Gospel According to the Son” on the bar along with a couple of wine glasses, but not a person in site. Weird, right? Same deal this afternoon. The shelves behind the bar are mostly empty of alcohol.

An employee of neighboring Il Buco said the restaurant has been consistently dark over the past month.

The Catalan tapas bar opened in 2007 and expanded to Williamsburg in 2009 only to close after less than a year there.

Bummer, but here’s some good news: Eater reports that Mighty Quinn’s, a popular vendor at the Brooklyn Flea’s Smorgasburg in Williamsburg, is going brick and mortar in the former Vandaag space. Owner Hugh Mangum calls his style of barbecue “Texalina,” which the Brooklyn Flea blog described as “a cross between the authentic Texas BBQ he grew up with and the eastern Carolina methods he learned from his wife Laura, who hails from North Carolina.”

Stephen Rex Brown The dormant construction site next to the garden that is owned by the Educational Alliance. Green thumbs say it is a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Alphabet City’s community gardens always feel like verdant refuges from city life, but lately Orchard Alley Community Garden has seemed downright tropical.

Stephen Rex Brown Check out the bites on Steven Matthews’ leg.

Yesterday swarms of mosquitoes forced members of the garden on East Fourth Street near Avenue D to close it indefinitely. The itchy green thumbs point to an adjacent stalled construction site owned by Educational Alliance as the insects’ breeding grounds.

“I was here playing catch with my son; after 10 or 15 minutes we had to go,” said Steven Matthews, whose legs were covered in bites from a recent visit.

Until the pools of water at the site are cleaned up the garden, which is open to the public whenever one of its 15 members is present, will remain closed.

Ayo Harrington, the head of the garden, won’t walk on the same side of the street as the garden, and said she’d been taking double-doses of Benadryl to keep the itching at bay. Read more…

On Friday, “Union Square” came to Houston Street: Nancy Savoca’s movie about estranged sisters who hash out their differences in an airy Union Square apartment opened at Angelika. The film is set just outside of the East Village: at one point, the more high-strung of the siblings, who runs a health food company not entirely unsimilar to actual Union Square company One Lucky Duck, gives her address as 886 Broadway, which would put her in the W & J Sloane Building, between 18th and 19th Streets. No wonder her sister thinks her place is “crazy awesome.”

Most of the “action” takes place inside this loft as the brash and boisterous Lucy (played by Mira Sorvino), who’s in the neighborhood to shop for tacky bags at Filene’s Basement (R.I.P.), tries to reconnect with the crunchy, cloistered Jenny (Tammy Blanchard), a vegan convert who’s so ashamed of her Bronx roots, her rough-around-the-edges Italian-American family, and her secret past as a (gasp!) smoker that she tells her hunky fiancée that she’s from Maine.

As The Times notes in its review, the movie is fairly theatrical in its contained setting and dramatic conversation. But perhaps the best bit of dialogue happens to be ad-libbed, and involves Andrew Cote, the beekeeper who a couple of months ago helped out with that Bowery swarm and then relocated some Central Park bees to the Sixth Street Community Center. Read more…