Jamie Larson Yesterday, Cooper Union students tried to run a string from the school’s newest building to its oldest building across the street, but their plans were disrupted. This was the scene shortly after a bus drove into the string and brought it down.After yesterday’s disappointing developments, Jeremiah’s Vanishing wants to send Cooper Union a message: It has launched a petition stating, “If St. Mark’s Bookshop is forced to close due to Cooper Union’s high rent, we will boycott any business that moves into its space at 31 Third Avenue in New York City.” As of this writing, the petition had garnered more than half of its desired 50 signatures.
The Times and the Daily News have more on the protesters that marched to Union Square. The Local was on the scene last night.
Bowery Boogie, Runnin’ Scared, According 2 G, Slamxhype, Freshness, Arrested Motion and the Lo-Down have shots of the new mural by FAILE that’s up at Houston Street and Bowery. Meanwhile a little south, the New Museum’s Carsten Höller survey opened to the public yesterday, and Gothamist has video of the centerpiece, a 102-foot-long slide, being installed. Read more…
Good morning, East Village.
Per an obituary in The Times, Swami Bhaktipada, a controversial ex-leader of the American Hare Krishna movement, has died near Mumbai at the age of 74. A Times article from 2004 tells more: “Mr. Bhaktipada was one of the first American followers of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, an Indian holy man who opened a temple in the East Village in 1965. His organization, the International Society of Krishna Consciousness, was seen by young members of the counterculture as a thrilling novelty. Known as Hare Krishnas, his followers were famous for dancing around Tompkins Square Park in saffron robes, beating drums and chanting.”
The Post reports that a man was arrested after posing as a realtor and getting a woman to hand over $3,500 for the key to an East Sixth Street apartment. Problem was, the apartment was occupied and the key didn’t work.
Speaking of property disputes, Bowery Boogie points to an interesting BlockShopper item: It’s reported that the Charles D. Saulson, the sculptor turned developer who was accused of flinging feces at an art gallery next door, has sold his condo at 259 Bowery for $2.321 million. Read more…
The Wall Street Journal reveals that playboy hotelier Andre Balazs bought the Cooper Square Hotel for $90 million, and that he is partnered with the property manager Ironstate Development Company. Mr. Balazs’s takeover of the hotel was approved by Community Board 3 last month. According to the Journal, he is not planning to change much about the hotel, but is examining the possibility of a new restaurant and bar.
Daniel MaurerGood morning, East Village.
Yes, that’s a mummy on Avenue B. The Local spotted it on a balcony at 295 East Eighth Street. Meanwhile in the park, there was some “blood wrestling” this weekend. Grieve and Melanie have photos.
EV Grieve spots signage indicating that two bars have been temporarily closed by the NYPD for “illegal sale of alcoholic beverages.” A photo on Neighborhoodr indicates Krystal Cafe met the same fate. Meanwhile the Mermaid Inn is taking some voluntary time off to renovate.
According to a review in The Times of “A Felony in Blue, or Death by Poker,” the new play by Daniel Gallant, the executive director of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, serves as a good excuse to gather some of the cafe’s founding members, including Lois Elaine Griffith and Rome Neal. Read more…
Earlier, The Local tweeted and reported from the scene of the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. Now see video of the demonstration as it moved from Union Square, down East Eighth Street, to Avenue D – near to where Makever Brown died on the FDR Drive while fleeing the police. We spoke to the march’s organizers and attendees, including Shamar Thomas, a former Marine whose yelling at N.Y.P.D. officers last week received widespread attention, and Jean Griffin, the sister of David Glowczenski, who died after Southampton police used a Taser stun gun on him in 2004.
Daniel Maurer At Astor Place shortly before 4 p.m.Hundreds of people protesting police brutality have marched from Union Square, down Broadway, down East 8th Street and St. Marks Place, and through Tompkins Square Park heading toward Avenue D. Follow The Local and its editor on Twitter as we tweet minute-by-minute updates from the scene. Tweet us your own updates and add photos to our Flickr pool as you take them. We’ll have more from the scene as this unfolds.
Update | 7:15 p.m. The event was the October 22nd Coalition’s 16th Annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. Similar marches were planned in 27 other cities today. The march ended with a gathering at Avenue D and East Sixth Street, outside of the Jacob Riis Houses, where a group of about 350 – including members of the Communist organization Ignite, Occupy The Hood, and others – listened to short call-and-response speeches.
Among those who took the bullhorn were Carl Dix of the Revolutionary Communist Party and the Stop Mass Incarceration Network (which spearheaded a “Stop and Frisk” protest that ended in the arrest of Cornel West and others in Harlem yesterday) as well as the parents of Elijah Foster-Bey, a teenager who was involved in a shootout with police in Brooklyn a year ago. “Shoot first, ask questions later is not right,” said Mr. Foster-Bey’s mother, Ellen Cross.
About 65 police officers lined Avenue D, many of them riding motor scooters and some of them surveying the scene from rooftops as demonstrators chanted, “Come down and face the truth, no hiding on the roof.” Their number had dwindled to about 20 community affairs officers by 6 p.m., when the crowd began thinning. The Stop Mass Incarceration Network will organize their next demonstration against “stop and frisk” policies during a meeting at St. Mary’s Church in Harlem, tomorrow at 2 p.m.
Update | Oct. 23, 12:45 a.m. We’ve now posted video from the demonstration. Watch it here.
EV Grieve notes that the BMW Guggenheim Lab will be dismantled Saturday and Sunday, resulting in the closure of East First Street between First and Second Avenues to traffic during the day. The ballyhooed “urban experiment” hosted its final gathering last weekend and is now bound for Berlin. It’s unclear what is next in store for the lot. A forum last month suggested making it a sculpture garden, or even a cat park.
Simon McCormackDuring two separate meetings with representatives of the police department this week, East Villagers complained about noise caused by the 13th Step on Second Avenue between Ninth and Tenth Streets, with one resident comparing the sports bar to Sodom and Gomorrah. Last night, other bars – including the Village Pourhouse, Webster Hall, and Amsterdam Billiards – were also singled out as sources of fighting and noise.
At Tuesday’s meeting of the Ninth Precinct Community Council, David Keller, who lives across the street from the bar, complained that “late at night, it transforms into a nightclub. There is a line winding down the street.” Lieutenant Patrick Ferguson described it as one of the most successful bars in the neighborhood. He said the police were well aware of the quality of life issues there, but that it passed a noise test by the Department of Environmental Protection on Sept. 17, so there wasn’t much he could do.
Last night, the bar came up again at a community forum at Webster Hall, meant to address ongoing nightlife problems around Second and Third Avenues.
A crowd of about 25 gathered at the nightclub to discuss heavy foot traffic, street noise, and drunken behavior in the northwest corner of the East Village on weekend nights. Webster Hall general manager Gerard McNamee, who began hosting bi-annual community forums about four years ago, moderated the conversation, which incorporated voices of neighbors across generations and representatives from popular bars on nearby blocks, including the Village Pourhouse and Amsterdam Billiards. Read more…
Suzanne RozdebaGood morning, East Village.
The Bowery’s new status as a historic district won’t stop progress: From an EV Grieve photo, it looks like the fridges have been installed at the forthcoming 7-Eleven. And per a Bowery Boogie shot, the neon signage has been switched on at Bowery Diner.
Elsewhere on the Bowery, Grub Street takes a look at the pies at soon-to-open Forcella. The specialty of the house: Pizza that is both fried and baked.
The Fine Fare on Fourth Street near Avenue C has agreed to fence off the recycling center that neighbors have complained about, but that isn’t good enough for one resident, who tells DNA Info that the fence is a potential eyesore. Read more…
Dominique Zonyee Scott Officer James LuongoOn Nov. 11 of last year, Sergeant Michael Fabitti and officers Katherine Keating, Joanna Lopez, and Natasha Deleon came upon a burning building at East Fourth Street and Avenue A. Recognizing that many of the residents would still be asleep in their apartments, the police officers ran into the blaze and helped evacuate the building. No one died — though all the officers and seven residents were treated for smoke inhalation.
The heroic tale of police work was just one of the many stories shared on Wednesday evening in Cooper Union’s Great Hall as part of the Ninth Precinct Community Council’s 16th annual awards ceremony. Read more…
Stephen Rex Brown The Bowery Hotel.The Department of Buildings hit the Bowery Hotel with a violation for an enclosed roof over a backyard terrace on Monday. According to Department of Buildings spokeswoman Ryan Fitzgibbon, the roof was contrary to the building’s approved plans. The hotel’s management will now face a formal hearing regarding the violation.
Interestingly, the complaint is nearly identical to one filed last year when the structure was being built. According to online records, workers were improperly storing construction equipment on the property of the New York Marble Cemetery, which abuts a portion of the hotel.
Caroline DuBois, the president of the cemetery, said she did not know why the violation was reopened (all complaints are filed with 311 anonymously). Rumors regarding a dispute between the hotel and the cemetery over the burial ground’s crumbling walls have swirled since an article in The New York Times in 2008.
Stephen Rex Brown Le Basket at 683 Broadway.An armed thief robbed the popular bodega, Le Basket, this morning and made off with around $3,000.
Police said that the heist occurred at around 4:35 a.m. Nick Lee, the 51-year-old owner of the business on Broadway at East Third Street, said that the suspect held up one of his employees (who was still working at lunchtime) at gunpoint and demanded the cash from the registers.
Read more…
Michelle RickGood morning, East Village.
The Lo-Down and Bowery Boogie report that the Two Bridges Neighborhood Council and the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors have succeeded in getting the New York State Review Board to include the Bowery in the State Register of Historic Places. Now they’ll gun for the national register.
According to the Post, Andrew Hanson has pleaded not-guilty to stealing books from the New York Public Library and attempting to sell them to bookstores. As The Post reported earlier this month, he was nabbed by Donald Davis, the owner of East Village Books.
Also from the Post: Anthony Lindsey has been sentenced to 65 years in prison for three violent muggings in the East and West Village in Nov. and Dec. of 2008. Read more…
Liv BulliSheltered under a canopy of umbrellas and flanked by Councilwoman Rosie Mendez and Senator Daniel Squadron, three tenants gathered outside their East Village tenement this morning to object to what they said was mismanagement of the building.
The tenants of 515 East Fifth Street complained about noise from overcrowding and filth from constant construction, and are particularly concerned about a rooftop addition that the Board of Standards and Appeals deemed illegal in Nov. 2008. Since 2006, 198 complaints have been filed about the address with the Department of Buildings.
“What will it take for the Department of Buildings to follow the law and ensure the landlord has to comply?” asked Harvey Epstein, an attorney with the Urban Justice Center. Read more…
Today, we’re once again turning our attention to East Villagers involved in Occupy Wall Street. First, Suzanne Rozdeba checks in with three longtime residents who’ve been spending time at Zuccotti Park. Later, we’ll hear from Sarah Shanfield, who, like Rachel Citron, only recently had her first brush with the movement.
Last week we caught up with a few familiar faces – John Penley, L.E.S. Jewels, and De La Vega – in the days before they migrated north for Saturday’s “Occupy Tompkins Square Park” picnic. Click on our audio slideshow to hear their stories from Zuccotti Park. As for the small turnout in Tompkins Square Park, Mr. Penley said he wasn’t disappointed. “It was a diversionary excursion,” he explained of the approximately 40 people that came and went. “I never expected it to be a big turnout. A lot of the old activists that moved out came. We were out there to have some fun.” Read more…
Dominique Zonyee ScottA representative for the police said yesterday that they have identified but have not yet apprehended a suspect in the murder of Donovan Salgado, 17, who was shot to death on 12th Street near Avenue C early Sunday morning. Last night, around 100 friends, family members, and neighbors gathered in front of Mr. Salgado’s apartment building at 695 East Ninth Street for a candlelight vigil. Many told survival stories, and spoke of the struggles of growing up in Alphabet City.
“Keith died for the community to learn, for us to get it – violence is not the answer,” said one man who was no stranger to gang life.
The man, who chose not to reveal his name (“the community knows me by face,” he said) told the crowd he was a drug dealer for 20 years and managed to turn his life around and become a family man and honest worker. “You see this chain on my neck? This is from work money, not drug money,” he said. “This is our community and our family – we need to stop killing each other.” Read more…
Emily Canal Residents enjoy Tuesday night t.v. on a roof deck at 10th Street and First Avenue.Today at 10 a.m., residents of 515 East Fifth Street – with the support of Councilmember Rosie Mendez, Good Old Lower East Side, and others – will protest an addition to their building that was deemed illegal by the Board of Standards and Appeals in November of 2008. In a press release reprinted by Curbed and EV Grieve, they say the Department of Buildings has yet to decide about the matter.
Is this a sign of the apocalypse? “Handsome Dick” Manitoba has declared Pat Buchanan a “likeable fellow.” The punk rocker turned bar owner writes about an encounter with Mr. Buchanan on his Tumblr: “Told him I was a liberal, Jewish, NYC Democrat, who disagrees with MOST of his politics, but I find him likable, well-spoken and entertaining.”
The Post names B&H Dairy one of the best greasy spoons in town. But we already knew that. Read more…
According to the Associated Press, a police investigation has found that Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna violated department guidelines when he used pepper spray on two women at a Sept. 24 demonstration near Union Square. He faces the loss of 10 vacation days, and can appeal the decision.
Daniel Maurer Little Italy Pizza III on University Place.The area around University Place has, notoriously, seen its share of action lately. But demonstrators aren’t the only ones clogging the area. At a meeting of Community Board 2’s SLA Licensing committee last Tuesday, members of the East 12th and 13th Street Block Association complained to the board about noise and congestion in the area, citing a recent early-morning stabbing outside of Little Italy Pizza III restaurant at 122 University Place.
The bloody fracas occurred on Oct. 8 around 3:30 a.m., according to a complaint written by officer Michael Bellagamba, who arrested four suspects on charges of second-degree assault and possession of a criminal weapon. His complaint noted that a witness allegedly saw Florian Brulaj, 20, stabbing an unidentified man, 23, in the chest; and “slicing the face” of another, age 36. A knife smeared with what looked like blood was recovered in the purse of a female suspect, Mobeta Ceka, 18, court documents stated.
The other defendants in the case are Vison Brulaj, 23, and Gentian Gjana, 19. All of the alleged perpetrators were arrested shortly after fleeing the scene in a car. They were stopped a block away by police who had received a radio report, according to a sergeant with the Manhattan South anti-crime unit who asked to remain anonymous. He said the victims, whose names were not released, had suffered “serious injuries but they were not life-threatening.” Read more…
Last week we learned that East Houston Street and Bowery was the most dangerous intersection in the city for cyclists. New information culled from the same set of State Department of Transportation data reveals that Community Board 3 (which includes the East Village, Lower East Side, and part of Chinatown) was the fifth-most dangerous part of the city for pedestrians from 1995 to 2009. The statistics, compiled by the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, show that 4,138 accidents involving cars and pedestrians occurred during the 14-year span within Community Board 3. Community Board 5 — which covers Union Square, Times Square and much of Midtown — was by far the most dangerous district for pedestrians, with 8,604 accidents.
