Jamie Larson Owner of St. Mark’s Bookshop Terrence McCoy, along with Borough President Scott Stringer, Cooper Union President Jamshed Bharucha and others.

Cooper Union has eased the St. Mark’s Bookshop financial burden — somewhat.

A day after students from the school protested the possibility that they would have to pay tuition for the first time in more than a century (we’ve now added video of that demonstration to our initial post), politicians, community activists, school officials and the bookshop’s owners officially brought the two-month rent dispute to an end at a press conference this morning.

Under the agreement for the next year, Cooper Union will, as reported by The Times last night, cut the bookshop’s rent by $2,500 from its current rate, $20,000 a month.

Cooper Union will also forgive $7,500 of the shop’s debt and send a team of students to work with the owners on creating a new business plan. The agreement, which only last week seemed dead in the water, should save the store $40,000 over the next year, according to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who took credit for bringing an end to the standoff.
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Khristopher J. Brooks

It looks like the saga of the St. Mark’s Bookshop may have come to an end. Earlier tonight, the Manhattan borough president, Scott M. Stringer, stopped by a meeting of Community Board 3’s Economic Development committee to tell members of the board to expect an announcement about the bookstore tomorrow at 11 a.m. When Richard Ropiak, co-chair of the committee, asked Mr. Stringer if they should bring picket signs or champagne to the announcement, he replied, jokingly, “Bring both.”

Now the cat is out of the bag. The Times reports that at a meeting with Mr. Stringer, Cooper Union agreed to reduce the Bookshop’s rent, though not by $5,000 per month as the store had hoped: “At a meeting in Mr. Stringer’s office, the college agreed to reduce the store’s rent to about $17,500 a month from about $20,000 for one year, and to forgive $7,000 in debt. The school will also provide student help with revising the store’s business plan.” The school’s president, Jamshed Bharucha, tells The Times, “The relief that we’re providing is so that the bookstore can come up with a viable and sustainable business plan not dependent on further subsidies.”

We’ll have more on this tomorrow.

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Daniel Maurer

The Local just spotted “Mosaic Man” Jim Power outside of Tompkins Square Bagels, where a sign he spent three or four weeks working on is being hoisted this afternoon. Flanked by his right-hand social-media man Matt Rosen, who had put out a tweet about the store’s christening, Mr. Power revealed that he is talking to The Bean about doing a sign for their forthcoming store.

Also on the scene was Tompkins Square Bagels owner Chris Pugliese, who gave us a tour of the space (later, we’ll have shots from inside). Mr. Pugliese, who is an owner of Court Street Bagels in Cobble Hill but lives in the East Village, said some of the pastries, including vegan items, would be provided by Babycakes and Butter Lane – for the bagels and bread, he purchased and refurbished a used Cutler oven to the tune of $15,500, and installed it in an open kitchen so that customers can watch the bagels being made. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Board Member Alexandra Militano discussed October’s applications for liquor licenses.

Community Board 3 approved Jane’s Sweet Buns application for a beer and wine license last night, paving the way for the bakery to pair alcohol with its desserts.

“Literally 75 percent of our clientele that comes in after 8 p.m. wants to have a glass of wine with their sweet bun or tart,” said Ravi DeRossi, the owner of the business on St. Marks Place between First Avenue and Avenue A. “Wine and dessert go so well together.”

The business was met with skepticism by some members of Community Board 3, however.

“I hear we’re all dying to receive this: A bakery that sells booze,” joked board member Joyce Ravitz.
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Eater sits down with Jason Wang, the manager of Xi’an Famous Foods (a favorite around The Local’s offices) and gets the latest on plans for the popular noodle joint’s expansion. Mr. Wang said that a new location should be opening in East Williamsburg soon, and that an expansion into Washington D.C. or Boston is likely. Given Mr. Wang’s grand ambitions for Xi’an, it should come as no surprise that one of his idols is the man behind McDonald’s, Ray Kroc.

Khristopher J. Brooks

Just when East Villagers had started to think that all hope was lost to save the St. Mark’s Bookshop, the store’s owners said today that their landlords at Cooper Union are reconsidering lowering the rent by $5,000.

“They said the decision is under reconsideration,” said Bob Contant, co-owner of the 33-year-old book store.

On Tuesday, Mr. Contant told The Local that Cooper Union President Jamshed Bharucha and Vice President T.C. Westcott had  told him and his partner Terry McCoy that there was nothing the school could do about their $20,000 rent. As other outlets ran with headlines such as “St. Mark’s Bookshop DENIED Rent Reduction From Cooper Union,” a Cooper Union representative insisted to The Local that the matter was not yet settled, and that a final decision would come by the end of the month. Reached today, Mr. Contant said he was scheduling a meeting with Ms. Westcott for next week.

Today, Cooper Union spokeswoman Jolene Travis reiterated that a decision about the rent had never been officially reached. She had no information about next week’s meeting.

Stephen Rex Brown The shuttered store at 64 East Fourth Street.

Sara’s Vintage and Handmade Jewelry on East Fourth Street closed over the weekend, and the landlord says it is being evicted.

The store, which opened in 2008, sold vintage and antique jewelry as well as handmade jewelry by local designers, according to Yelp.

The store’s landlord said that it was far from an ideal tenant.

“They didn’t pay the rent for roughly the last six months,” said Valerio Orselli, the executive director of the Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association. “They are being evicted.”
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Jamie Larson St. Mark’s Bookshop owners Terrence McCoy and Bob Contant say Cooper Union will not reduce their rent. The university, however, says no decision has been made.

The St. Mark’s Bookshop’s fate may still hang in the balance — at least according to Cooper Union. Though the beloved bookstore’s owners have abandoned hope of getting a $5,000 rent reduction, a Cooper Union spokeswoman insisted today that no official decision has been made.

After a meeting yesterday with top administrators from the school, bookshop co-owner Terrence McCoy was left with the clear impression that a reduction of the $20,000-a month rent was not in the cards.

“They said they couldn’t do anything — that all they could do was defer one month’s rent,” Mr. McCoy said. “I don’t want to have more debt.” Read more…

Crain’s brings news that Hung Ry, the well-regarded but underperforming hand-pulled noodle spot at 55 Bond Street, has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection owing in part to “relentless” litigation initiated by Amadeus Broger, who is identified in the filing as a former chef. The restaurant’s debt includes $79,601 in non-payment of sales taxes and $34,483 in accrued payroll taxes.

Late last month, Community Board 3 left supporters of Heathers stunned by voting nearly unanimously to recommend a denial of the bar’s liquor license renewal. But was the whole process a waste of time? Two weeks later, the State Liquor Authority — the true arbiter of the fate of businesses that sell booze — renewed the bar’s license with little fanfare, raising doubts about whether it had heeded the board at all.

Just how much stock does the S.L.A put in the community board’s recommendations, anyway? For all the blogosphere’s feverish coverage of dramatic and often-controversial community board rulings, the question is rarely addressed. To answer it, The Local combed through a year’s worth of liquor authority license applications going up to Feb. 2011 (we ignored applications after that date, since many of them are still under review). In that year, we found that the State Liquor Authority consistently granted licenses to bars and restaurants that Community Board 3 had recommended for denial.

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The Real Deal brings news that puts an end to the speculation surrounding the empty lots on 13th Street between Second and Third Avenues. Charles Blaichman, a big-time developer who works primarily in Chelsea, bought the three parcels of land for $33.2 million, according to paperwork filed today. Last month, The Local noticed some activity at the lot while reporting on a proposed homeless shelter that is across the street. EV Grieve assumes that the lot is now bound for a “luxurious end.”

Runnin’ Scared checks in with the group that passed out flyers in support of St. Mark’s Bookshop outside of Cooper Union’s Great Hall today. “I think this caught on so much because people are tired of mom and pop businesses closing,” says Frances Goldin. “People don’t want a Starbucks on every corner, or a bank. That’s not why they move to the Lower East Side.”

Tali Cantor, an associate director of CIVITAS, is on a quest to get the city to enact stricter rules mandating the upkeep of newspaper boxes. She believes the boxes – often marred by graffiti and stuffed with garbage – have become a “blight on our valuable streetscapes.” Having convinced Community Boards 1, 4, 7, 8 and 11 to support her cause, Ms. Cantor was surprised when she didn’t get the same warm reception as she addressed members of Community Board 3 at the tail end of a two-hour meeting of the Transportation and Public Safety committee last Tuesday. Watch our audio slideshow and you’ll see it’s hard to be a saint in the city. Then tell us what you think: Are the vandalized (decorated?) boxes an eyesore or an indispensable piece of the city’s fabric?

Andrea Huspeni Jamie Graber outside of the cafe.

Next month, the East Village’s latest vegan (and gluten free!) café will make its debut at 130 East Seventh Street, between First Avenue and Avenue A. Will Gingersnap’s Organic sell gingersnaps? Not necessarily. “My friends call me Gingersnap because they joke that I’m a redhead,” explained the owner, Jamie Graber.

A native New Yorker, Ms. Graber spent a few years in Los Angeles where she did marketing for Juliano’s Raw and was a manager at Euphoria Loves Rawvolution, which now has an outpost in the East Village. When she returned to New York, she continued working with raw supplements at Live Live & Organic on East 10^th Street.

“The East Village is the mecca of health. It is my favorite part of the city,” Ms. Graber said, describing Seventh Street (which has, of course, become a foodie strip of sorts) as “magical.” Read more…

Alexis Lamster

After a brief closure by the Department of Health, Butter Lane has once again fired up the ovens and is preparing to serve cupcakes. A spokeswoman for the Department of Health confirmed that the bakery was shut down yesterday for “extensive rodent infestation,” and that it passed a reopening inspection today. The Local just put in a call to Butter Lane, and an employee said that vanilla cupcakes should be ready by 2:30 p.m.

Lauren Carol Smith For Sale signs in the window of Zee’s Pet Store on Avenue B, between 9th and 10th.

The space housing Zee’s Pet Store, the pet supply shop closest to Tompkins Square Park, is up for grabs. The owner, Zee, who declined to give a last name, said his rent had been raised, and a sign in the window solicited a hair or nail salon for the storefront on Avenue B between Ninth and Tenth Street.

At the Tompkins Square Dog Run, reactions varied. Read more…

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.

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…

Dan Kendmey Nancy Schreiber (left) and Katarzyna Swidzinski
review records of their noise complaints.

According to city regulations, noise from a bar should not exceed 42 decibels, which is somewhere between a whisper and a laugh. According to Nancy Schreiber, the noise from the Cloister Cafe is loud enough to shake her walls.

Four years ago, the cafe erected a party tent in the patio beneath Ms. Schreiber’s bedroom window. Since then, she says she has had to endure an escalating barrage of noise over the course of a given night. Around 10 p.m., the noise of the crowd begins to swell. At 11 p.m., the disco lights start flashing on the windowpane. Next comes the music, the singing, and occasional accordion playing. It is channeled through a PA system, which sometimes plays until 4 a.m.

Ms. Schreiber said she had tried running the air conditioner, wearing earplugs, and taking Tylenol PM. On especially loud nights she will blow up an air mattress and sleep on the other end of her apartment. “My neighbor, who is five months pregnant, has called me up at 3 a.m. in tears because of the noise,” she said.

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