Phillip Kalantzis-Cope

Good morning, East Village.

Bob Holman, owner of the Bowery Poetry Club, tells EV Grieve that rumors that the site has posted about the club are “greatly exaggerated”: “By spending the summer renovating and working out a partnership with a restaurant (rumors of Duane Park as our collaborators are sweet and the two entities surely do share a love for the populist arts of the Bowery, but nothing is signed yet folks), we hope to reopen come fall and be SUSTAINABLE with a neighborhood (Loisaida/Earth) focused poetry schedule, utilizing other neighborhood resources as well as the Club.”

The Post has more details about the shooting of a police officer in the Seward Park Houses.

The Wall Street Journal visits the set of the CBGB movie in Savannah, Ga. And Sound of the City has photos from the shoot. Meanwhile, The Observer recommends five CBGB Festival events not to miss, including a panel discussion about “Tales from the Club,” and ArtsBeat has the lineup for the free show in Times Square. Read more…

Here’s a sketch of the suspect in this morning’s shooting in the Lower East Side that likely would have killed a police officer were it not for his Kevlar vest. The incident happened in the stairwell between the 18th and 19th floors of the Seward Park Houses at around 3:40 a.m. While on a routine patrol, Officer Brian Groves came upon the armed suspect, who shot him in the chest after a brief pursuit, according to a statement from Commissioner Raymond Kelly. The Lo-Down reports a heavy police presence in the neighborhood.

Mary Reinholz

Chanting slogans and waving flags, including one that read “Don’t Tread on Me,” at least 1,000 demonstrators massed this morning near the headquarters of Consolidated Edison at 4 Irving Place to support some 8,000 unionized employees locked out early Sunday morning.

The utility company and representatives of Local 1-2 of the Utility Workers of America resumed negotiations around noon today, assisted by federal mediators. Allan Drury, a spokesman for Con Edison, declined to give the location. Previous talks had been held in Rye, N.Y.

Meanwhile, demonstrations continued in the sweltering heat. “We’re here to show our support for the union,” said utility worker Damon Romanelli, 49. “I’ve been working for Con Ed only five years but there are guys here who have worked for them for 30 and 40 years and they locked us out. They want to cut back on our pensions and on medical. It’s not fair.” Read more…

Melvin Felix Steve Rose in the garden.

On May 26, less than three weeks after the Creative Little Garden was touted as the best community garden in the city by readers of the Daily News, a message appeared on the garden’s Facebook page: “Without new volunteers our garden may close at the end of this summer.”

For the past five years, Steve Rose, a “semi-retired” 62-year-old resident of the block, has opened the garden’s green gates every morning at 11 a.m and watered its azaleas, hydrangeas and ferns. He closes the park at sundown — to prevent vagrants or late-night partiers from entering — and when it’s used for events: 14 weddings were held at the Creative Little Garden last year, and a “Saturday Night Live” skit was filmed there. But earlier this summer, Mr. Rose decided he would no longer be involved with the garden, citing personal reasons he did not want to discuss on the record.

Most East Village gardens are run in a communal fashion, meaning the loss of one member wouldn’t bring on a closing scare. But Mr. Rose runs the garden if not with an iron fist, then with a very green thumb. “The good thing about our garden is that it’s run by one guy,” he said. “That’s why it looks the way it does. It’s not a whole bunch of people complaining and compromising — which is most gardens, where it gets political. I sort of became the dictator and did everything when no one else did and it just worked out easily that way.”

Mr. Rose did get assistance from Ron Curtis, a friend who built the garden’s 66 birdhouses and has been involved with it since it opened in 1978. But Mr. Curtis wasn’t an ideal replacement, since he travels constantly. (This summer, he’s in Nova Scotia.) Read more…

Scott Lynch East River Park

Good morning, East Village.

And congrats to the neighborhood’s own Tim “Eater X” Janus, who placed second in the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest, downing 52.25 dogs in 10 minutes. His roommate Crazy Legs Conti ate 20. Meanwhile at the Crif Dog Classic, Takeru Kobayashi downed 68.5 dogs, which would’ve edged out Joey Chestnut’s 68 had he been competing in the Coney Island contest.

The Daily News and The Lo-Down report that a police officer was shot during a confrontation in the Seward Houses. He was saved by his bulletproof vest and the suspect is at large.

The Daily News spotted Katie Holmes with daughters Suri at Sundaes and Cones on Tuesday. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown The unmarked police car and the van in the background.

Stephen Rex Brown Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann speaks with the driver, who eventually decided against going to the hospital.

We already knew traffic on the Bowery was a nightmare, but a van driver found out the hard way this afternoon, after rear-ending an unmarked police car at East Fourth Street. Awkward!

The commanding officer of the Ninth, Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann, made a star appearance at the scene of the fender-bender at around 4:30 p.m. He said the officer driving the car, who works at the Police Academy, considered going to the hospital, but then decided against it.

The passengers in the van were fine, and no damage was evident to either vehicle.

Stephen Robinson The victim, on a stretcher, being treated by medics.

A would-be robber cracked a female employee at Snack Dragon in the head with a tip jar he tried to snatch at around 2 a.m.

Stephen Robinson Bloody gauze at the scene.

“Somebody walked in there and tried to take the tip jar,” said Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann, who confirmed the incident on East Third Street near Avenue B. “The female tried to stop the perp, and he wound up using it as a weapon.”

The victim required stitches in her head. Bloody gauze was left at the scene, where several stunned witnesses lingered until around 3 a.m.

One of the bystanders, who did not give his name, said he tried to pursue the suspect who fled the scene, but lost him on Avenue C.

Inspector Cappelmann added that investigators from the Ninth Precinct were on the verge of arresting a suspect.

Stephen Robinson The scene at East Third Street and Avenue B.

DNAInfo reports that the Bowery Poetry Club will close for around one month starting in mid-July to make way for full food service. “There will be a better mix of food and art,” club owner Bob Holman tells the site, without going into further detail about how the well known performance space will change. The news comes after much concern over the poetry club’s fate. Last month EV Grieve noted its nearly empty events calendar for August. And a Kickstarter for a restaurant in the club was quickly abandoned in May.

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

According to Crain’s, St. Mark’s Bookshop is looking to move on despite its recent rent break. The embattled bookstore “is hoping to move out of its current home when its rent goes up toward the end of this year.” Co-owner Bob Contant says, “We’d like to stay in the East Village. We understand the print book business has declined, but we’re still doing enough business to keep going, if we had a smaller space with less rent.”

Fear not: even if the Bookshop moves, we’ve still got The Readery! Billy Farrell Agency posts some shots from the party at the Standard East Village for the hotel’s new book nook. Socialites like Tinsley Mortimer, Kristian Laliberte, and others were in attendance.

The Lo-Down takes a nice long look at the issue of chain stores in the Lower East Side, and Meghan Joye, co-chair of the Community Board 3’s economic development committee gives some indication of what the board is thinking as far as the rezoning measures they’ve discussed. She “said most members of the panel are uneasy about using zoning to limit national chain stores. A better solution, she suggested, might be taking some inspiration from those Seward Park residents. A first step would be conducting a large-scale community survey to find out what types of stores people need and want.”

Clayton Patterson tells Animal he regrets the time he drove a gunshot victim to the hospital and failed to photograph his wound. “So I look back at Tony… It’s about the size of my little finger, this burnt hole — like a cigarette burn in a white sweater, white acrylic sweater. I thought, “Ohhhh, I should take a photograph.” And I just never did it.”

Stephen Rex Brown Chico at work today.

The original Kiss mural at Avenue A and East First Street has been wiped out, and Antonio “Chico” Garcia is busy creating a temporary replacement that depicts the band comin’ home to New York City.

The new design is on a woodshed outside of the former Nice Guy Eddie’s, which is getting a gut renovation by the new owner, Darin Rubell, who also owns Ella and Gallery Bar. When finished in the next day or two, the mural will show the band arriving on a train to the city. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Workers on East Seventh Street today.

East Seventh Street just can’t catch a break. Last week it was sinkholes, and now the block between First and Second Avenues has been closed to traffic due to repairs of a collapsed sewer in the area. A worker on the scene earlier this afternoon confirmed that some electricity on the block was being disconnected so that the repairs could be made.

Tim “Eater X” Janus and Jason “Crazy Legs” Conti

This Wednesday, July 4, Takeru Kobayashi will be downing dogs at the Crif Dog Classic instead of the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest. Meanwhile, among those returning to the eaters’ table at Coney Island are two East Villagers.

Walk into Gruppo pizzeria some afternoon and there’s a good chance you’ll see an extremely normal looking guy in a polo shirt and jeans behind the counter. He might be holding forth on Euro monetary policy, arguing with a coworker over a word in that day’s Times crossword puzzle, or chatting with schoolchildren who know him by name. This is Tim Janus, the Clark Kent alter-ego of Eater X. Mr. Janus, 32, has spent the last eight years working at Gruppo while making a name (or at least, a pseudonym) for himself on the competitive eating circuit. Most recently, he set the world record for longest burp – a monster belch so epic ESPN ran the whole 18 seconds on SportsCenter.

Mr. Janus lives in the East Village with fellow competitive eater Jason “Crazy Legs” Conti, subject of the film “Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating.” On Tuesdays, Mr. Conti hosts Crazy Legs Movie Night at Professor Thom’s, the notorious Boston bar on Second Avenue. The Belmont, Mass. native starts his films at 6 p.m. so he won’t miss the end of Red Sox games.

The Local caught up with the gurgitators during their hectic week before the Nathan’s contest, to be aired on ESPN at noon.  Read more…

Mary Reinholz

Good morning, East Village.

Above, workers who were locked out by Con Edison picketed outside of company headquarters at 4 Irving Place this morning. The Times reported that “the workers, members of the utility’s largest union, were locked out after their contract expired at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, and talks broke down less than two hours later. About 5,000 managers, including some former union members, will step in to keep the utility running, Con Ed said.”

A cab trying to avoid a biker plowed into the cyclist and then through the window of a Staples at East Eighth Street and Broadway yesterday: ABC 7 Eyewitness News has footage of the damage. Eight were injured.

Meanwhile on 16th Street and Avenue C another cab driver was stabbed by a man who was upset that the cabbie cut him off. “He stabbed me in my right side four to five times and he stabbed me in my shoulder,” Etzer Jerome tells CBS New York. Read more…

Sarah Darville Matthew Broderick, in glasses.

The City Council hearing on New York University’s controversial expansion plan got a star cameo today, as Greenwich Village native Matthew Broderick argued that N.Y.U. 2031 would further strip the neighborhood of of its character. He was one of about 250 people who spoke out during the packed nine-hour meeting, with about 60 percent opposing the plan and 40 percent voicing their support.

Six hours before the actor testified, N.Y.U.’s president, John Sexton, started the hearing (which The Local liveblogged earlier today) by vigorously defending the project and the university’s need to expand. “This is not a development project. This is an academic project,” he said, explaining that more space was needed to recruit top-quality faculty and students.

Asked why N.Y.U. couldn’t look to other parts of the city, Mr. Sexton told council member Leroy Comrie that further dissipation of N.Y.U.’s activities across the city would amplify the perception that it doesn’t have a traditional campus “or a big football stadium where we gather,” turning off potential students.

“This is the most enlightened way to do this,” said Mr. Sexton, who also used his presentation to announce that a “huge initiative” for financial aid would be coming soon. Read more…

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

The folks at N.Y.U. Faculty Against the Sexton Plan send word that actor Matthew Broderick will testify at today’s City Council meeting regarding the school’s expansion plans. He’s described as “a Village resident and a staunch opponent of the plan.” We’ll have coverage of the meeting as news develops.

The Villager reports that Davawn Robinson, who was accused of strangling a man to death during the course of a robbery in the man’s East Village apartment (the defendant said the strangling was consensual and occurred during sex) has been convicted of second-degree manslaughter.

The Villager also reports that St. Emeric’s Church will close and its parish will be merged into that of the new St. Brigid. Father Lorenzo Ato, who will be the priest of the new parish, says there’s “no decision yet on the disposition of the St. Emeric’s church building or the two-story parochial school built in 1952 next door on E. 12th St. and Avenue D. ‘The first preference is always to see if another Catholic agency wants it,’ Zwilling said.” Read more…

Cyn Darling Scenes like this at Sutra Lounge may soon be a thing of the past.

Community Board 3’s agenda for July just landed in The Local’s inbox, and the most striking item is a possible new operator in Sutra Lounge.

Reached by telephone, club owner and Community Board 3 member Ariel Palitz said that negotiations are ongoing with the company that may take over, Golden C Hospitality Inc, and that she’d added her business to the agenda so as not to miss a deadline for this month’s meeting.

“If they don’t accept the offer it’s probably going to be withdrawn,” said Ms. Palitz, who expected that negotiations with the company would be concluded by early next week. For now, she would not go into further details.

A few other highlights include an appearance by the new operators in the Lakeside Lounge space, as well as a request for approval of a full liquor license at the new location of Nevada Smiths. (The soccer bar has appeared on the agenda for several months, only to be withdrawn.)

Stephen Rex Brown Blueprints for the CBGB in Times Square.

Some punk rock purists might roll their eyes at Tuesday’s announcement that the CBGB Festival will hold a “multi-stage” concert in hyper-commercialized Times Square. But before you go cracking a Disney-meets-Dead-Boys joke, consider this: a few years before the legendary club on the Bowery closed, founder Hilly Kristal was on the verge of reopening it in Times Square.

The new location wouldn’t have been a mere recreation of the club that fostered the likes of The Talking Heads, Television, Blondie and many others, either. Mr. Kristal planned to drastically expand it. Blueprints drawn up of 1540 Broadway, which are pictured above, hint at the scale of his ambition.

He aimed to demolish a four-screen movie theater next-door to the now-closed Virgin Megastore and make it a club. Given that the theaters could seat 1,626 people total, it is clear that Mr. Kristal was fine with CBGB — which by then had developed into the merchandising bonanza it is today — moving on from the dirty bathrooms, dingy bar and sorry speakers of the original location. Read more…

Joel Raskin

Good morning, East Village.

Photographer Joel Raskin got this shot of a mural on East 10th Street and Avenue C. In the caption of the photo he posted to The Local’s Flickr group, he writes, “I saw Chico working on this from the bus either late last week or early this week.”

Bowery Boogie heard from “sources” that the Ace Hotel was headed for the Jarmulowsky Bank building at 54 Canal Street, but The Lo-Down batted down the rumor before it could cause any more of a stir: “Today a source with knowledge of the Jarmulowsky project tells The Lo-Down that the creative team consists solely of Ron Castellano, the developer of The Forward Building, and Taavo Somer, who’s behind Lower East Side restaurants Freemans and Peels.”

Capital New York takes a look at what Erik Dilan’s loss to Nydia Velazquez means for Brooklyn’s county chairman Vito Lopez. “Dilan’s poor showing could throw a wrench into the Lopez’s reported plan to challenge Velazquez over the course of two cycles. The first was supposed to weaken Velazquez and put her on the ropes for an even tougher fight in 2014.” Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown

Good morning, East Village.

Nydia Velazquez beat out her opponents in the Democratic primary, according to DNA Info, The Lo-Down, and Runnin’ Scared. “With 97 percent of the districts reporting, Velazquez had a commanding lead with 58 percent of the vote, compared to City Councilman Erik Martin Dilan’s 31 percent,” reports DNA Info. “The other two challengers, Dan O’Connor and George Martinez, received just 8 and 3 percent of the vote respectively.”

The Lo-Down reported from yesterday’s Community Board 3 meeting, where a bar that the owners of B-Side are planning for 221 East Broadway received more scrutiny. The board eventually voted to support its liquor license application after it agreed to close its windows at 9 p.m.

East Village Corner spots some workers fixing the sinkhole on East Seventh Street. Read more…