The Lo-Down has a reminder regarding Tuesday’s important meeting about the redevelopment of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area in the Lower East Side. The swaths of property, near Delancey and Grand Streets, have long been eyed by the city as a site for major new development, and have also caused much anxiety about the future of the Essex Street Market. Tomorrow’s public hearing will present opportunities for public comment on the project as it begins the environmental review process. The meeting starts at 3:30 p.m. at 184 Eldridge Street. There is an evening session, as well.

At 6 a.m., before the sun had cleared the horizon, the members of U TOUGH Bootcamp met around the jungle gym at Tompkins Square Park. Their trainer, a former army sergeant known as Sergeant D-Train, laid his equipment out on the pavement: hooks, ropes, carabiners, and resistance weights that looked like gigantic rubber bands.

Over the next hour, the students strained themselves in a series of army-style drills, while Sergeant D-Train offered firm instructions.

“Kate, you’re moving like pond water,” he said to one sprinting student. “Pond water don’t move! Let’s go!”
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Folks, we’ve added a half-dozen new photos to our gallery and the time has finally come to vote for the neighborhood’s sweetest ride.

Browse the slideshow above and then pick your favorite from among our hastily improvised monickers below (feel free to suggest better names!) Once we have a set of winning wheels — voting will close around this time next week — we’ll do our best to track down its owner. Then you’ll get the story behind that nutty paint job or that gleaming set of rims.
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Lauren Carol Smith Shots from the aftermath of the accident.

A black Ford S.U.V. ran into a Fire Department ambulance on the Bowery at East Fourth Street yesterday, and passengers from both vehicles were taken to the hospital.

A spokesman for the Fire Department said that the accident occurred at around 5:30 p.m., and that a two people were treated at Bellevue Hospital for minor injuries. Roughly a half-hour later the driver of the Ford — which belonged to the Delancey Car Service — was spotted dislodging the front of his S.U.V. from the rear bumper of the F.D.N.Y. ambulance by throwing it in reverse.

Ian Duncan The entrance to the theater at 94 St. Marks Place.

One of the neighborhood’s bastions of avant garde theater has been pulled back from the brink and will remain open for at least the next seven years.

Under St. Marks, the basement theater that hosts offbeat productions like “Naked Girls Reading,” “Basterdpiece Theatre,” “God Tastes Like Chicken” and “Thank You Robot,” has signed a new lease — allaying fears that the venue would be given the boot after its landlord put the five-story building on the market for $5.75 million.

“We are so happy and relieved to have come to this agreement,” said Heidi Grumelot, the artistic director for Horse Trade Theater Group, which operates the theater. “We doubt that any other basement in this city enjoys as much continual creative activity as Under St. Marks.”
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Lauren Carol Smith

A film crew from “Nurse Jackie” in Tompkins Square Park today.

Next time you see something like this, tell The Local.

Daniel Maurer A new sign at the bodega.

A sign posted in the Avenue A Mini Market between Ninth and 10th Streets reveals that the bodega isn’t renovating as originally thought, but has apparently gone out of business. A note posted early last month said the store would reopen after three to four weeks of renovations. But the new sign, with the phone number for the building’s landlord — who was away for the weekend — indicates that the hunt is on for a new tenant in the storefront.

Stephen Rex Brown A flyer alerting locals to the squirrel.

New details have emerged about the orphaned baby squirrel that is reportedly approaching passersby in a desperate attempt to feed. A woman who said she had posted the flyers alerting locals to the squirrel contacted The Local this morning and shared her saddening first encounter with the critter on Monday on East Seventh Street between Second and Third Avenues.

“This precious little squirrel — literally the size of my hand — was looking at people beseechingly and trying to climb up their pant legs,” said the woman, who did not wish to give her name.

The next day, the woman saw the squirrel again, this time rummaging around in a trash can on East Seventh Street. That’s when she realized the squirrel must be hungry. “It probably cannot crack nuts,” she said. “It is very small!”
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An exhibition opening today at the artistic haven Gathering of the Tribes is inspired in part by the blindness of its charismatic founder, Steve Cannon. “Blind Light” features photography that attempts to toy with the senses, according to a listing on NY Art Beat. “When one sense is diminished, the others are heightened, creating unique perceptive experiences from the remaining information,” the listing reads. The last time The Local chatted with Mr. Cannon, Gathering of the Tribes was still in limbo after his landlord put the East Third Street building on the market for nearly $3 million.

Suzanne Rozdeba James De La Vega puffs on a cigar outside the former home of his East Village Museum.

James De La Vega, who shut down his East Village museum in August of last year and left followers wondering where he’ll end up next, has taken his brand online.

“De La Vega is now writing on the sidewalks of cyberspace,” said the artist, famous for his street art, often adorned with the catch phrase, “Realiza Tu Sueno / Become Your Dream.” In January, Mr. De La Vega said he was working on a “digital experience.” Now, that experience has been revealed: an online store, featuring De La Vega T-shirts, tote bags and even an organic baby body suit with his signature fish jumping out of a bowl. An assortment of coffee mugs, shot glasses and water bottles range from $10-$18.

Mr. De La Vega remained confident that his followers — who see him as an artistic prophet of sorts — would follow him in his new, commercial direction.
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Stephen Rex Brown The violation at 331 East Sixth Street.

The construction site at 331 East Sixth Street — rumored to be the future home of “Friends” star David Schwimmer — received a violation from a Department of Buildings inspector today.

The notice cites the developer for failure to post the required permits for an eight-foot-tall fence at the front of the lot.

Much speculation and anger has surrounded the site since it was reported in July that the townhouse built in 1852 would be demolished to make way for a new dwelling.

The Local made numerous attempts to find out who the owner of the building is, as well as what the new building will look like. The accounting firm handling the property has remained tight-lipped about the identity of its client, and the architecture firm designing the building has not returned several phone calls.

Meanwhile, an apparent anarchist and architecture critic has left a note at the lot letting the developers know what he thinks about their “ugly, yuppie, ghetto catering to monied transients.”

Stephen Rex Brown There it is: free wi-fI!

Many East Village residents have expressed their dismay over the Time Warner cable outage that occurred this morning. Well, The Local is here to give you good news (if you can manage to get it without internet service): free wi-fi is now available in Tompkins Square Park.

A spokesman with the Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications said that the service quietly launched on Sept. 29, and a stroll through the park confirmed that sure enough, “attwifi” is an available network there.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Time Warner Cable said that the outage was the result of a fire in the Lower East Side, which melted a portion of the fiber-optic network. Read more…

Jamie Larson Mr. Kim outside of NY Tofu House.

The East Village isn’t exactly starved for Asian food, but that’s not stopping Steve Kim from opening NY Tofu House. Having just received a new awning, it’s set to open later this month at 6 St. Marks Place, the building that once housed Mondo Kim’s and, less memorably, Cafe Hanover. (Mr. Kim owns the building with his brother Tan and other investors.)

“Around this area we have a lot of junk food,” said Mr. Kim. “We’re trying to get healthier food to the younger generation.” That means tofu dishes, but also Korean-style dumplings and barbecue short ribs. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown The crew from “CSI” packs up its gear on Wednesday.

The Local spotted the crew for “CSI: NY” filming on Eighth Street between Broadway and Lafayette Street all morning. And for all you would-be paparazzi out there, “Nurse Jackie” — starring Edie Falco of “Sopranos” fame — will be shooting on Thursday on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue, according to notices posted on the street.

Next time you see something like this, tell The Local.

Stephen Rex Brown Astor Place, minutes after a pedestrian had been taken away in an ambulance.

A pedestrian was hit by a car at Astor Place at around 2:30 p.m. today.

A fire department spokesman said the accident, which happened at Fourth Avenue and East Eighth Street, left the victim with “serious injuries.” No further information was available, though an NYPD spokesman said no criminality was involved in the collision. Last month, a pedestrian was hit by a cyclist at the same intersection.

Did you see the accident? Let us know in the comments.

Last week, The Guardian reported that Anthony Bologna, the senior police officer who was videotaped using pepper spray on the eyes of protesters, was previously named in a lawsuit alleging police brutality at the 2004 protests of the Republican national convention. The Local has now acquired court documents, some of which are posted below, that show it is just one of nine lawsuits in which the officer is named, all of them alleging the violation of demonstrators’ constitutional rights.

The lawsuits, dating as far back as 2003, accuse Inspector Bologna of personal involvement in numerous false arrests, use of excessive force against demonstrators, and violation of free speech rights. In each of the cases, he was named alongside a list of defendants including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, police commissioner Raymond Kelly, and other senior officials.

Seven of the lawsuits resulted from the arrests of protesters at the Republican National Convention in 2004. Two earlier suits followed arrests at the World Economic Forum in 2002. Four of the cases resulted in settlements in which the city agreed to pay as much as $30,000. The other five remain open. Read more…

With several labor unions said to be joining the protests today, it’s bound to be a big one for Occupy Wall Street. Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES), which was last seen demanding rent reform, has sent an e-mail inviting its followers to meet at 171 Avenue B at 3:30 p.m. for a march – “against corporate greed and the big banks” – to Zuccotti Park. (City Room, by the way, introduces us to the park’s namesake today.) And an op-ed at NYU Local is encouraging New York University students to join in a march from Washington Square Park at 4 p.m. Of course, NYU students have already gotten involved – watch this video to hear from East Village resident Anna Lekas Miller, who has been on the scene from day one.

It’s two of the most common sights in Tompkins Square Park: rats and two guys ready to fight. Justin Bagley, who was on vacation from Milwaukee, was shooting a video on Monday of the scurrying rodents when he spotted two men nose-to-nose and ready to throw down. The brawl was over before it started: as you can see in the graphic video Mr. Bagley posted to YouTube, one swing led to a knockout.

“Totally random – it was crazy,” said Mr. Bagley, 28, who was back in Milwaukee today. “I was thinking, ‘Those are ratholes?’ Then, out of nowhere, all of a sudden the guy blasts him.” Read more…