nyc.govI recently attended a Community Board meeting where a representative from the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DOITT) shared one of the newest updates to the 311 Online Services. An online service map, updated daily, shows residents the total amount of complaints made to 311 in any given area. In addition to being able to click on the complaint marked on the map by a yellow circle (relative in size to the amount of complaints per area), you can receive the status of the request.
Using this map, you can search by address, intersection, community board, city council district, or zip code. You may also narrow down the categories by using a pull-down menu to search for topics such as ‘sanitation’ or ‘public safety’. The map keeps information for up to 3 months, or using the advanced settings, data is stored for up to one year.
What’s the difference between a “call” and a “complaint?” Nick Sbordone of the DOITT explained that with a call, there is usually no follow-up required by the city. A complaint usually involves a service request, where the caller’s information and complaint is recorded and an action by one of the City’s Departments will follow.
It may be useful, or at least interesting, to track your own requests, those of your neighbors, or just to remain informed about any particular area’s happenings. Follow this link to search for the East Village’s Community Board 3 district, type in your own address or any intersection, and stay updated with what’s up in your area!
jdxWould-be messages from the East Village, in 140 characters or less.
Welcome To The East Village: This is Your Demented Realtor Speaking
Here is your sofa. Studio prices are available on the
Web, or via consultation with your Personal Real Estate
Provider. Please — sit down
& be comfortable. That is garbage on the street, & you
might want to avoid that rat. Sadly, rentals are a bit high
right… Look, don’t frown,
we’ve got planeloads of Japanese heading this way very
keen to escape the recent ‘troubles,’ if you see what I
mean, you underfunded clown,
& we do need to impress upon them that this is NY, NY,
with lots of people just like them, that it’s dynamic,
diverse, & a helluva town.
(It’d be one thing if you were a minority, but you’re not
a minority, you’re not even drunk, so get off that sofa or
the cops come round)
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Adrian Fussell on capturing energy and color in the city.
“Houston and Lafayette. The Village is always full of bright colors at night.”
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The author executes a human flag pose on a signpost. Warmer weather provides new opportunities to workout on scaffolding and other public spaces.The East Village has so many great places to work out for free – you just have to be creative. For those of you who have a hard time fitting exercise into your day, remember that fitness and life are one in the same. You don’t need a gym to work out when the whole world is a playground.
I’ve got nothing against working out in a gym, but with spring finally blooming after a long, snowy winter, my brother Danny and I couldn’t wait to venture back out to the streets of Manhattan to do another scaffolding workout.
We all have the opportunity to better our bodies every single day. Instead of sitting around waiting for things in your life to magically fall into place, go out and make opportunities for yourself. Learn to improvise with whatever’s in front of you – it’s a helpful skill in the world of fitness, but it’s an even greater asset in everyday life.
Al Kavadlo is a personal trainer, freelance writer and author of the book, “We’re Working Out! A Zen Approach to Everyday Fitness” (Muscle-up Publications, 2010). For more information visit www.AlKavadlo.com.
A Spring Scaffolding Workout
Ian Duncan The author, one of the preservationists trying to forestall the demolition of 35 Cooper Square, issues a call to the developer of the site to cover the roof to prevent further damage. Below: A detail of the roof shortly after work began in February.The recent article, “Developer Cited for 35 Cooper’s Roof” had some readers curious re what’s so important about the roof. The history of this building has been well-told, but the roof and dormers as essential structural elements and character-defining features, are currently compromised by partial demolition and exposure to the elements. Any effort to save this building, at this point, needs to start with the basics: putting a tarp back on the roof.
Over the winter, roofing material was removed by workers hired by the new owner under a permit for asbestos abatement, a prerequisite for obtaining a demolition permit. The dormers were similarly stripped of their protective roofing, and non-historic skylights were removed, exposing not only the roof structure but the upper floors of the building to the elements. The old wooden shingles, part of the historic fabric of the building, are now visible, but so too are the gaping holes in the roof. The rain and snow of the past few months are surely accelerating any decay and rot in the 185-year-old structure smacks of demolition by willful neglect.
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Despite the impending arrival of upscale Brooklyn chain Union Market, finding good quality food in East Village supermarkets can be difficult.
Health and nutrition coach Magdelena Wszelaki, who runs tours of supermarkets, offers some advice on what to look out for at Key Foods on Avenue A and East Fourth Street.
Carolyn StanleyMoishe Perl.“What, no bread? Nothing?” balked one customer upon entering Moishe’s Bake Shop Monday afternoon, greeted by bare bread cubbies and stark glass cases typically teeming with doughy Jewish treats. “What’s going on here?” another disappointed patron wondered aloud, stumbling out of the empty store.
But for many regulars of Moishe’s on Second Avenue near East Seventh Street, the shop’s temporary transformation is nothing new, and certainly no cause for alarm. The bakery, which locked its doors on Monday in observance of the Jewish holiday Passover, will reopen at the end of eight days, in accordance with Kosher law.
So why does Jewish law forbid bread during Pesach, and what does Moishe Perl do when he’s not allowed to bake? The Local met up with Mr. Perl hours before sundown and the first night of Passover to find out.
Q.
Why does Moishe’s Bake Shop and other Jewish bakeries shut their doors during the Passover holiday? You’re required to remove all of the Chametz, or leavened products, right?
A.
As you know, the Israelites were slaves in Egypt for 210 years, and the Pesach holiday, and its meals, are in remembrance of that. According to the bible, when the Israelites finally left Egypt during the Exodus, they were in a hurry and had no time for their bread to rise. Today, to remember their journey, Jews eat unleavened bread, called Matzah, and to follow Kosher law, we clean everything of Chametz. The shop bakes Chametz, so we spent all last night and this morning cleaning out everything, and at home we do the same. We’ve been preparing for the holiday for weeks.
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M.J. Gonzalez Giano, 126 East Seventh Street.One morning not long ago, Paolo Rossi, the co-owner of Giano, an Italian restaurant at 126 East Seventh Street, was having his coffee when he was struck by an inspiration for “a new caprese for 2011.” The caprese is a classic Italian sandwich with tomato and mozzarella. Paolo is fond of the classics but also, as a worldly Milanese, of the newest of the new. The caprese of 2011, now available on Giano’s menu, would feature a basil-flavored soft bun wrapped around a paper-thin slice of tomato and buffala mozzarella ice cream.
After more than 10 years in New York, Paolo’s English is pretty good, but I thought I had misheard him. Ice cream? “It’s a ‘Wow’ effect,” Paolo explained. “I can ask Simone to make you one.” Simone Bonelli is Giano’s new chef. He had, Paolo proudly told me, “worked seven years next to the number six chef in Italy” and had recently left the terribly pricey Per Bacco to cook at Giano. It was the middle of the afternoon, and Simone had just arrived on his Vespa; his helmet, bright orange with a white racing stripe, was sitting on Giano’s curving, fan-shaped white bar. I felt like I had walked into a Fellini movie.
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C. Ceres Merry on stitching together compelling images in New York.
“The date 10/10/10 was the day of the online event called One Day On Earth. When I saw Land’s End LES I decided not to just snap a pic but take a photograph. I truly changed that day from just taking many quick snaps to seeing the city as collected works of art and really learning how to take better photographs.”
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We at The Local have spring fever. And as we scoured the streets for this week’s Street Style, we noticed that the warm weather is starting to take effect on fashion. Whether in the first shorts of the season, white denim or light jackets, plenty of East Villagers are taking hold of fashion’s ubiquitous denim and stylin’ it up for spring.
Tim MilkJust a few years ago, in the face of a widespread rodent infestation, a concerned citizen offered the suggestion that New York would do well to appoint a “Rat Czar.” City Hall firmly said no. The idea was, indeed, preposterous. Especially when you consider that the rats themselves had already filled that position.
The Rat Czar is, by all accounts, a shadowy figure, whereabouts unknown. My calls were not returned directly. But the Czar’s own Lieutenant of the East Village, a rat of great cunning, agreed to speak on condition of anonymity:
“I apologize for the security precautions,” he said as we sat down, “but you see, someone is trying to poison me.”
“Oh, how awful,” I exclaimed. “Any idea who’s behind it?”
“No,” he huffed. “It was but a single, cowardly act.”
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Michelle RickWould-be messages from the East Village, in 140 characters or less.
First Steps Toward Marriage
The 1st time they met, she listened. The 2nd, she spoke.
The 3rd, they crossed swords over Sushi, & fought until
their chopsticks broke
Welcome to the Three-Day Week
Monday to recover, Friday to prepare. Then comes the
Insanely Unseemly Weekend – leaving only Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, there
Maids Gone Wild
Bar maids & chamber maids, old maids & French maids,
going on drink-raids, jumping on beds made, dancing
like demons in a big hotel
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