Phillip Kalantzis CopeOur goal here at The Local is to expose our readers to as many different kinds of blogs as possible – but we can only do so if we hear about them. So we’d like to issue another call for you to submit the neighborhood’s best blogs to our blogroll.
Just visit the comments section below, leave the URL and we’ll consider adding it to the roll.
Adrian FussellA sampling of reader reactions to posts that have appeared on The Local.
Several commenters weighed in on our post about the closure of Mara’s Homemade, a Cajun style restaurant on East Sixth Street. Many readers took exception to the assertion by the owner of the restaurant, Mara Levi, that – in addition to higher taxes and rents – the restaurant’s bottom line was affected by the installation last summer of bike lanes along First Avenue, which limited available street parking.
Michael wrote:
“Uhm, the neighborhood is exploding with crowded restaurants and bars and Missus blames the bike lanes for her business failure? Lame!”
“East Villager” added:
“This is not the fault of the bike lanes; it’s the fault of people who think they have a ‘right’ to street parking everywhere.”
“Trizzlor” wrote:
“If you’re in the East Village and your business goes DOWN because of bike lanes then you don’t understand your client base.”
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Ian Duncan A musician plays outside Kenka, a popular Japanese restaurant on St. Marks Place. Census figures show Asians to be the fastest growing ethnic group in the neighborhood.Richard Lan’s family moved to the Lillian Wald Houses 14 years ago when he was just a baby. His mother still works in Chinatown as a janitor in a drug store, but his two older sisters led the move to the public housing in search of more space.
City statistics suggest Richard’s family is just one of many who have made the move. Data provided to The Local by the housing authority show that Asians make up almost 20 percent of East Village public housing tenants, and figures from the 2010 census show Asians to be the fastest growing ethnic group in the neighborhood. In the streets immediately north of Houston, the number of Asian residents almost doubled. Is this the beginnings of a China Village to complement Chinatown? Perhaps, but interpreting the numbers is difficult.
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Adrian FussellGood morning, East Village.
Hope your Easter weekend was grand. In honor of the holiday, The Local posted a video of Sofika Zieylk, demonstrating the traditional Ukrainian art of “Pysanky” (egg painting) in her Seventh Street apartment. You can find the video, which was produced by NYU Journalism’s Rachel Ohm, by visiting the right column of the blog’s homepage or by clicking this link.
What does an Easter Sunday look like at Mars Bar? Well pretty much like any other day, but see if you can spot the one Easter-related item in the pics. The hunt’s on, at Nadie Se Conoce.
Last week, The Times reported on the budding crop of Evangelicals taking root in the East Village. Trinity Grace Church opened its fifth New York branch at 59 Cooper Square, in the First Ukrainian Assembly of God, earlier this month. The new addition points to the rising expansion of evangelical churches across Manhattan, but also to a change in strategy. In the article, Pastor Guy Wasko emphasized the importance of finding acceptance in the East Village through acknowledging former pain caused by Christian leaders during the AIDS epidemic, and by opening his doors to a congregation that he hopes will be “multigenerational and multiethnic.”
And finally, a new detail has emerged about the red-tailed couple nesting on the 12th floor ledge of Bobst Library. Evidently, the pair enjoys waking up to the morning paper. The Time’s City Room Blog reported that Bobby, the male hawk, was spotted early Friday morning carrying a crumpled page of newspaper back to Violet in the nest. Potential subscribers? Doesn’t look like it, the paper the hawk scooped is suspected to have been amNew York.
Michelle Rick Good morning, East Village.
It’s Good Friday. CBS New York has word of an Easter egg walking tour – walking tour meaning ‘hunt’ but less frenzied and with a knowledgeable guide rather than cryptic clues. The jaunt will include chocolate pizza at Max Brenner and a stop in at Black Hound.
It’s also Earth Day. In the spirit of things, EV Grieve published the announcement that the St. Mark’s Church Greenmarket at East 10th Street and Second Avenue will return for the summer May 3.
NYU Local has an interview with a dope dealer at the school. According to the post business is good, despite the highly publicized bust of a Columbia University drug ring and its East Village supplier late last year.
Blockshopper reports that political consultant John Del Cecato has bought a condo in the neighborhood. Mr. Del Cecato, an associate of former presidential advisor David Axelrod, was obviously not put off by Chico’s Barack Obama mural becoming instead a plain blue wall covered in tags. Perhaps most interestingly, the Blockshopper post adds that 71 East Village condos have been sold in the last 12 months at an average price of $750,000.
Among a flurry of preservation news, DNAinfo reports that the Landmarks Preservation Commission is considering a new historic district in the neighborhood. It could include up to 300 buildings in an area bounded by East Second Street, Bowery, East 10th Street and Second Avenue. The commission will hold a meeting for property owners on April 26.
As for the weekend’s weather forecast: Today a high of 55 degrees with some clouds, Saturday 62 degrees and wet with more of the same on Sunday. Not the nicest, but try to enjoy yourselves.
This post has been changed to correct an error; an earlier version misidentified the greenmarket that is opening next month.
The developer of 35 Cooper Square has resolved three outstanding code violations concerning work at the site, according to a spokeswoman with the Department of Buildings. The developer, Arun Bhatia, paid about $16,000 in fines related to the violations, according to department records; the status of a fourth violation was unclear. Mr. Bhatia has not said how he intends to develop the site, which preservationists have asked him to maintain. —Suzanne Rozdeba
Suzanne Rozdeba Preservationists have rallied around the Essex Street Market, which may be forced to move because of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area development project.While a battle between preservationists and the developer of 35 Cooper Square is still brewing, residents on the Lower East Side are raising their voices about the possible uprooting of another historic location, the 70-year-old Essex Street Market.
“If that market had disappeared, and I had just sat back in my apartment, I don’t think I could live with myself,” said Cynthia Lamb, a Lower East Side resident who is circulating a petition to keep the market, home to more than 20 businesses, from being relocated as part of the contentious Seward Park Urban Renewal Area project. The site is home to five parcels of land that have sat empty as a development debate has steeped for over 40 years. John Shapiro, the city’s planning consultant, has suggested a “superior location” elsewhere on the Seward Park site for the market.
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Mario Ramirez Good morning, East Village.
Neighborhoodr spotted a Seventh Street and Second Avenue subway stop in the new Atlas Shrugged movie. The adaptation of Ayn Rand’s famous novel is set in 2016, by which time the Second Avenue subway should be completed, but in real life it will stop at 14th Street and Houston, bypassing the East Village entirely.
Until then, the most rapid form of transport might be the bicycle. But watch out, one EV Grieve reader sent the blog a copy of a $270 ticket he was given for running a red light on his bike.
Grieve also brings word that an apartment has been rented out in 120 St. Marks Place. The address is the former site of the Cave artist’s commune and was home to the Mosaic Man. A developer eventually removed the squatting artists in 2006.
DNAinfo has mapped out bedbug complaints for the first three months of the year. The Community Board 3 area, which includes the East Village and the Lower East Side, got off relatively lightly with only 4 violations and 27 complaints. Compare that with Community Board 9 on the far Upper West Side, which had 30 violations. Bowery Boogie notes that Discovery Channel show Human Planet will take a look at Lower East Side rats this weekend. According to the show, rat-related complaints are up 9 percent so far this year.
There’s more from The Lo Down on the 7th Precinct’s crackdown on troublesome Lower East Side revelers. But 102-year-old Lillian Sarno probably isn’t among their number, though. According to the Post, Ms. Sarno was at Back Room last weekend for a birthday tipple. The faux-speakeasy stands on the site of a real speakeasy she visited 78 years ago to celebrate passing the New York bar exam.
The weather? A high of 57 degrees and mostly sunny, so a fine day indeed.
Tim Schreier Good morning, East Village.
First up: Bowery Boogie spotted a call for help from the family of bike repairman Natividad Zirate on this old City Room post. The commenter said she is Mr. Zirate’s niece and that he has had no contact with his family back in Mexico. Head over to Bower Boogie for details of how to reach Mr. Zirate’s family if you have any information.
ArtNet has a report on graffiti artist LAII – real name Angel Oritz – who was supposed to be at a gallery opening in L.A. this week, but was instead languishing in Riker’s Island after being arrested for daubing on the Kenny Scharf mural. The space at Houston and Bowery is a regular target for Mr. Oritz, who appended his own images to an earlier Keith Haring work at the site. According to ArtNet, Mr. Oritz was also caught painting his own mural across Urban Outfitters on Second Avenue, despite being – ironically enough – an official Urban Outfitters artist.
City Room has news that assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries is proposing a law that would ban realtors from making up neighborhood names. While developers of the newest luxury apartment tower might be peeved, with the East Village besieged by SoHo, Nolita and NoHo, a moratorium on acronyms could be a welcome relief.
The second Taste of Seventh Street festival starts today and runs until Friday. The social media savvy restaurant owners on the block have partnered with deal site Scoop St to offer discounts on food at Luke’s Lobster, Butter Lane, Dumpling Man, Wechsler’s Currywurst and Cowgirl’s Baking. Based on yesterday’s EV Grieve report on empty storefronts on the street, it seems as though it could use a boost.
The Tribeca Film Festival also opens today, and with films showing at Loews on Third Avenue and East 11th Street, the East Village can stake a claim to a bit of the action.
Before we go: the weather. Highs of 69 degrees but thunderstorms forecast for this afternoon, so take care. That’s a wrap.
For those locals who took a quick glance at accident statistics for New York City compiled by Transportation Alternatives, it probably came as little surprise that the East Village is home to two of the city’s most perilous intersections.
The intersection of Third Avenue and East 14th Street tied for the fifth most dangerous intersection in Manhattan with 66 crashes involving pedestrians from 1995 to 2005.
Bowery and West Houston Street tied for the most dangerous intersection in the entire city with 29 crashes involving cyclists.
Now that Transportation Alternatives has unveiled a plan that it believes will help make streets safer, The Local decided to pay a visit to 14th Street between Second and Third Avenues to talk to residents and business owners about the area’s dubious place as one of the city’s most treacherous stretches of asphalt.
NYU Journalism’s Claire Glass reports.
Rachel Citron Good morning, East Village.
It’s tax day. If you haven’t filed yet, better get down to the post office quick sharp. If that’s not encouragement enough, an EV Grieve reader spotted this friendly warning.
In better news, Passover begins at sundown. Last week, The Times reported on the growing trend of eating out for the traditional Seder meal. East Village spots JoeDoe and Octavia’s Porch will be offering their take, and JoeDoe co-owner Jill Schuster put together a playlist to remind guests of a old-fashioned family Passover.
Hot on the heels of incredibly popular Tompkins Square Park ping pong table, which has seen action from all ages, DNAinfo reports that the planned facelift for Dry Dock Park will include domino tables. The $1.2 million restoration will also repair dilapidated basketball courts and install better lighting.
EV Grieve notes that traffic lights on Cooper Square are new, after originally wondering if they had been covered as part of a prank. That will probably come as welcome news to anyone used to madly dashing across the Square in the face of buses and cabs coming from all directions.
And finally, The Times reported on Friday that the Hot Chicks Room sign that had so irked some residents will find a new home in a Governors Island chicken coup.
After a blustery weekend, things are looking up: highs of 60 degrees are in the cards today with a few spots of cloud. Have a good week.
Tim Milk The developer of 35 Cooper Square has been cited by the Department of Buildings for the condition of the historic structure’s roof, which is pictured above in a February photo.City officials have ordered the developer of 35 Cooper Square to take immediate steps to repair the roof of the historic structure, which has been the subject of a campaign by preservationists to keep it from being razed.
On Wednesday, officials with the Department of Buildings issued a citation to the developer of the site, Arun Bhatia, ordering him to make the repairs.
Since February, city officials have issued four citations concerning work at 35 Cooper Square, all of which are still open. In addition to this week’s notice regarding the roof repairs, Mr. Bhatia has been cited for failure to safeguard property, performing work without a permit, and failure to post a permit.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Buildings said that the citation regarding the roof repairs “means that we had previously issued a violation for the condition of the roof and the property owner has not corrected that condition. What the property owner should do now is obtain permits to perform the necessary roof work. In this case it would be to close off the roof.” A hearing on the roof violation is set for June.
Asked about the gaping hole in the roof and whether the developer would be required to cover it, she said, “We issued a violation for the roof. To bring the site into compliance, the owner should obtain a permit for the necessary work.”
A spokeswoman for Mr. Bhatia, who met with preservationists on Tuesday to discuss the building’s future, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The students of The Hyperlocal Newsroom (from left): Claire Glass, Kathryn Kattalia, M.J. Gonzalez, Crystal Bell, Rachel Ohm, Ian Duncan, Grace Maalouf, Greg Howard, Mark Riffee, Kenan Christiansen and Hadas Goshen.Today, we would like to extend our appreciation to the students and community contributors who have joined our experiment in collaborative journalism in recent months.
They have joined so many others who have shared their talents and energy with the blog. The site could not exist without them – and all of you who read and engage with The Local.
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Phillip Kalantzis Cope Good morning, East Village.
We begin the day with talk of bicycles. A community meeting was held Thursday night at St. Mark’s Church In the Bowery to discuss bike lanes. And in other two-wheeled news, DNAinfo reports only 0.6 percent of New Yorkers ride bikes to work, according to census figures. The post notes that Department of Transportation figures show that cyclists in New York City increased by 66 percent between 2007 and 2009.
Second Avenue Saga checks in this morning with an update on the construction of the Second Avenue Subway. Work has been underway for four years on the line, which runs from 125th Street to the Financial District, but the MTA is currently facing a budget shortfall of $10 billion, which could potentially affect its completion.
Help find Harry! EV Grieve reports that a Chihuahua by the name of Harry is missing in the East Village and needs his medication. There’s a $2,500 reward if found.
Today’s forecast calls for partly cloudy skies and a high of 53 degrees. Happy Friday, East Village!
Vivienne Gucwa Good morning, East Village.
We begin the day with a bit of good news that you might not have seen Wednesday: Alexander Vorlicky, a 14-year-old who had gone missing from his East 10th Street apartment Sunday, was found unharmed. News that Alexander, who attends the Friends Seminary on East 16th Street, was found and safe, was announced via Twitter by a friend of the Vorlicky family.
More news on 35 Cooper Square: EV Grieve reports that a notice of Violation and Hearing was taped onto the building, citing the exposed roof and noting that a hearing is scheduled for June 1.
Dry Dock Park at 10th Street and Avenue D has long been the object of complaints, with those who live nearby noting how the park — with its cracked pavement, peeling paint, and broken basketball hoops — has fallen into disrepair, according to DNAinfo. The local tenant advocacy group Good Old Lower East Side has been working to raise money to improve the state of the park, and the Parks Department plans to unveil a reconstruction proposal this week. City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez and local residents have worked toward securing $1.2 million toward the project.
German boutique Personal Affairs on Seventh Street between First Avenue and Avenue A is going out of business. The shop’s owner announced that the store could close as early as Sunday. Guerilla Shopper says the store will be holding a sale before it shutters for good.
As for the weather, today’s forecast promises sunshine and a high of 65 degrees.
Alexander Vorlicky, 14, who had been reported missing from his East 10th Street home, has been found according to reports. The teen is said to be unharmed, but no further information on the circumstances surrounding his disappearance has been made available. — The Local
C. Ceres MerryGood morning, East Village.
The meeting to discuss the fate of 35 Cooper Square was held yesterday at the National Preservation Center, and DNAinfo reports preservation activists are optimistic about keeping the landmark building intact.
Despite the onset of spring, police are already taking precautions for potential complications caused by weather next winter. Gothamist reports the NYPD is training a dozen officers to use tow trucks in case drivers are snowed in during future snow storms, after Bloomberg admitted the city’s response to this year’s blizzard was unacceptable. As part of the plan, police will be able to get into locked cars, prepare vehicles for towing, and operate trucks, according to the Associated Press.
While a dozen police are being trained for potential snow storms, however, budget cuts are driving Bloomberg to delay the hiring of hundreds of New York City Police Department recruits for several months. NY1 reports the class of 540 recruits scheduled to begin training in April will now begin training in July. Concern has been expressed that with the lowering of police recruits, crime rates will rise.
In more safety news, the Village Voice reports police are searching for missing teen Alexander Vorlicky, 14. Mr. Vorlicky was last seen in his East 10th Street apartment last Sunday wearing black jeans, white sneakers, and a black jacket, and is roughly 115 pounds, and 5 feet, 5 inches tall. Tipsters may contact Tipsters can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) with information.
As for the weather, 55 degrees with a chance of showers. Stay dry, EV.
Tim Milk The developer of 35 Cooper Square met with preservationists this afternoon and listened to arguments for maintaining the historic site.In a room filled with about 20 people at the Neighborhood Preservation Center, Arun Bhatia, the developer of 35 Cooper Square, mostly quietly sat and listened today to requests made by preservationists to keep the building standing.
At the meeting, which began at 4:30 p.m. and lasted an hour, Mr. Bhatia arrived with a team of four people, including his spokeswoman, Jane Crotty, his lawyer and historic preservation architect Richard Southwick. Also at the meeting were Andrew Berman of The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, David Mulkins of the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, Kent Barwick of the Municipal Art Society of New York and a former Landmarks Preservation Commission chairman, Carolyn Ratcliffe of the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative, and representatives for City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez and State Senator Tom Duane.
“We appreciate they met with us and that we started a dialogue about exploring possibilities. We hope the conversation is going to continue,” said Mr. Berman. Asked what Mr. Bhatia said regarding demolition, Mr. Berman replied: “They didn’t give much detail in terms of exactly what their plans are at this point, which hopefully is a good thing that there are some possibilities. He was there to hear what we had to say. He heard it, and we’re going to wait and see what their response is.”
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Vivienne Gucwa
