Tim Milk Talks are set for next month between developers and preservationists on the future of 35 Cooper Square.

Preservationists are holding out hope that there is still a future for 35 Cooper Square, now that the site’s developer, Arun Bhatia, has agreed to meet with neighborhood groups next month.

The meeting, arranged through Councilwoman Rosie Mendez, is set for April 12, Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, told The Local this morning. The Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, Historic Districts Council, East Village Community Coalition, and Lower East Side Preservation Initiative are among groups invited to the meeting, which will not be open to the public. The meeting’s tentative location is the Neighborhood Preservation Center on East 11th Street.

“It’s something we’ve been seeking for weeks or months,” said Mr. Berman. “It’s been in the works for a long time. We won’t know until we have the meeting exactly what will come out of it, but obviously we’re happy that it’s happening.”

Asked what persuaded Mr. Bhatia to arrange the meeting, Mr. Berman said, “My sense is that it was always a possibility, and now it is confirmed. We’re looking forward to it.”

Mr. Berman and other preservationists hope they can convince the developer to keep 35 Cooper standing. “Certainly the goal going into the meeting is to explore the possibilities for preserving the building, or preserving it as much as possible,” Mr. Berman said. “We go into this knowing that that is not the developer’s plan. We want to engage in what we hope will be a productive conversation, and we’ll see what comes of it. At this point, it seems as if the building’s only hope is the developer.”

Jane Crotty, a spokeswoman for Mr. Bhatia told The Local, “We agreed to meet since the elected officials asked for the meeting. We will hear what the community has to say.”

Matt Logan At ceremonies Friday commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.

A sampling of reader reactions to posts that have appeared on The Local during the past week.

Regarding the blog’s post about the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, including a map of where the East Village victims of the blaze resided, Suzanne Rozdeba wrote:

“It gave me shivers looking at this map and seeing how close to to me these victims had all once lived. When I clicked on some of the addresses, I was astounded at how many of them were so incredibly young, single immigrants seeking a better life here, living in the neighborhood I call home.”

jim tutwiler said:

“great article and map. Now we should remember what unions and worker safety legislation means to all of us.”

About our post on the potential closure of senior centers because of budget cuts, Bill Stepp wrote:

“They should all be closed. There’s nothing in the Constitution that allows the government to steal money to feed seniors, or anyone else.
The NYC government should be cut by at least 90%.”

Read more…

Gloria Chung

Good morning, East Village.

And welcome to the final week of what might be the maddest of Marches.

Your bracket is shot to shreds, your governor and Legislature agreed on a budget early, your parks are becoming recreation battle-zones.

And in a turn of events for 35 Cooper Square, are the developers now willing to talk preservation? It’s possible, says Bowery Boogie, which brings news that City Council members might meet with the building’s owners to consider its future.

On a related note, tonight a Community Board 2 meeting will discuss the latest push by neighborhood groups to get a National Register of Historic Places designation for the Bowery. The public meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at the Church of Our Lady Pompei.

If you didn’t get a chance to check out the great community-contributed photos of Friday’s Triangle Shirtwaist Fire anniversary commemorations, never fear — the Internet is forever. Browse them (and other East Village snapshots) on The Local’s Flickr group, and don’t forget to hitch your techno wagon to our Twitter star.

Finally, speaking of March: out like a lamb? Weather soothsayers say unlikely. Cold, clear skies for now, but enjoy them while they last.

Happy Monday.

Matt Logan, Michael Natale and Tim Schreier, community contributors to The Local East Village, share their images of Friday’s ceremonies marking the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Matt Logan A view of the Brown Building, formerly the Asch Building, site of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.

One hundred years ago today, on a Saturday afternoon just before closing time, a waste basket caught fire on the eighth floor of the Asch Building, between Greene Street and Washington Plaza. The fire spread soundlessly. Beneath the methodical whir of sewing machines it swept across the floor and upwards and, ultimately, caught 500 packed-in workers in a panic. Those that fled to the ninth floor stairwell found the exits shut fast. Those that packed into the elevators found that only so many could fit. And those that the fire herded to windows found the ladders too short to reach the ground.

Fifty-four jumped.

Within half an hour, 146 workers perished in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. Most of the victims were young, female immigrants, who had crossed over oceans in search of opportunity. What they found was a world that lacked adequate safety restrictions, wage requirements, and worker representation; all those things came after, when the public became galvanized by the blaze, setting the basis for legislative action and labor reform.

Roughly one out of three victims of the fire – 53 people – resided in the East Village. Every year descendants and union members alike gather at the former site of the Asch Building to recite their names along with the others as a gesture of respect and remembrance. This centennial anniversary will mark the first year that all the victim’s names are spoken. For decades, six victims of the fire were unknown until Michael Hirsch, an amateur historian, identified them earlier this year.

Now, their names will join the others after nearly a century of silence.

A Deadly Toll

This map, which lists the names and addresses of the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire who resided in the East Village, offers a stark illustration of the devastating toll that the blaze took on the neighborhood.

View 1911 Triangle Factory Fire: East Village Victims in a larger map
Map compiled by Kenan Christiansen.

Read comprehensive coverage of the anniversary of the fire in The Times.

Gloria Chung

Good morning, East Village.

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, which claimed the lives of 146 victims. The Times offers comprehensive coverage of events commemorating the anniversary of the disaster.

In other neighborhood news, we hope you’re thirsty because according to DNAinfo, nine East Village eateries plan to go before Community Board 3 to apply for liquor licenses.  If we thought the Village was already alcohol drenched, perhaps we’ve haven’t seen anything yet.

Gothamist offers a glimpse at city history, noting that Thursday was the 111th anniversary of the construction of New York’s first subway tunnel. The day was once known as Tunnel Day. Such a celebration naturally brings to mind the Second Avenue Subway, which will finally bring the East Village into New York City’s world of underground transport.

Just-released census data indicates the city’s population has risen by 3 percent; for Lower Manhattan, the population has increased more than 97 percent.

The weekend’s weather? The forecast calls for it to be sunny and cold with highs in the 40’s.

C. Ceres Merry

Good morning, East Village.

Spring is missing in action again today, but there are clear skies in sight for the weekend.

Girls Prep, the all-girls charter school long in search of a home and enmeshed in disputes over school space, will be moving into permanent digs soon enough. According to DNAinfo, the city recently approved the school’s move into the vacant East Side Community High School on 12th Street, located between First Avenue and Avenue A.

Recent confusion over Central Park signage, and outrage on the part of Borough President Scott Stringer who recognized misleading East-West confusion, has led to further questions about the identity of Fifth Avenue. Does it belong to our east side?

If you’re curious about a couple of new murals popping up in the neighborhood in recent weeks, namely the ones on Eighth Street between Avenues B and C, and on East Third Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue, EV Grieve explains the development.

With the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire just a day away, David W. Dunlap at The Times City Room blog ponders why the disaster is engrained in our memories so vividly. He looks to news coverage at the time for answers here.

If you have any striking photos of last night’s thunderous hailstorm, or results of its fury, please share them with us by submitting them to the blog’s Flickr group.

Alexis Lamster

Good morning East Village,

The unpredictable March weather is at it again. Highs today will reach just 34 degrees, and reports expect a snowfall.

The one hundredth anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, a tragedy that killed nearly 150 garment workers, arrives this Friday, City Room reports. To commemorate the horrific event, which exposed the horrors labor conditions in the city at the time, many will gather at Cooper Union Hall. Find more information here.

Last night’s Community Board 3 meeting featured many voices speaking out against demolition of 35 Cooper Square. Most remembered an older East Village, in their minds memorialized in the structure. EV Grieve references the Bowery’s grittier past in a post this morning.

Finally, more from the world of street art as artist KATSU hits the Lower East Side, replacing legitimate phone booth ads with his own work. Bowery Boogie reproduces the evidence, courtesy photographer JDX whose work has also featured on The Local this week.

Courtesy of N.Y.U. An illustration of a revised development plan by N.Y.U., which includes the construction of a new 14-story building at Bleecker Street and LaGuardia Place.

At a crowded public meeting in Grace Church’s Tuttle Hall Monday night, Greenwich Village greeted New York University’s revised core expansion plan with its own version of a Bronx cheer.

Since withdrawing the proposal to add a fourth tower to the landmarked Silver Towers site, the university has consistently said that it could create some 2 million square feet of new usage in the Washington Square district by developing sites it already owned. The audience seemed surprised, nevertheless, that the university had not looked elsewhere.

A slide presentation by university spokeswoman Alicia Hurley was greeted by hostile interruptions, catcalls and hisses as it became clear that the square footage lost through the cancellation of the so-called “Silver Sliver” had been redistributed to the Morton Williams supermarket site and the block-length “zipper building” on Mercer Street between Bleecker Street and West Houston.

The university has undertaken to donate the bottom seven floors of a new 14-story building at the Morton Williams location to the city for use as a public school. The rest of the building will house almost 200 university students. Existing plans for the “zipper building” have been bulked up to include the hotel development originally planned for the Silver Towers site.
Read more…

Vivienne Gucwa

Good morning, East Village.

Make sure to spend time in the great outdoors today as spring will be on hiatus tomorrow.

The heavily relied upon Chinatown bus circuit is subject to crack downs after two fatal crashes killed 17 people, according to DNAinfo. Senator Charles E. Schumer is spearheading the call to audit drivers’ licenses.

More details have emerged in the case of two East Village police officers who have been charged with sexually assaulting a 27-year-old East Village woman they escorted home. DNAinfo tallies the criminal counts against the officers at 26, up from the original 15.

In news affecting the entire city, landlords may see limits on rent hikes and deregulation for vacant apartments, according to The Wall Street Journal, with the current standards under review. Nearly 100,000 apartments lost their rent regulation from 1994 to 2009.

Next time you’re passing a phone booth — yes, they still exist — check out its advertisement panel. You might be surprised to find street artist Katsu’s name beneath the protective glass. No, companies haven’t teamed up with this alternative artisan. Rather, Katsu has been swapping his artwork for advertisements, Bowery Boogie reports.

This post has been changed to correct an error; an earlier version misstated the effects of rent regulation.

Rachel Ohm Lunch is served at Lillian Wald Senior Center on Avenue D on a recent afternoon. In the last year the number of lunches served at Wald has doubled to accommodate the closure of the nearby Jacob Riis Senior Center. “We don’t have enough chairs,” said Betsy Jacobson, the center’s director.

Earlier this month, the Department of the Aging released a list of 105 senior centers in the city that may be closing this year because of proposed budget cuts in Albany.

This could mean an influx of older New Yorkers into centers that remain open, fewer resources and less accessibility to services for those without transportation.

Last year, the city slated Lillian Wald Senior Center on Avenue D for closing, but it has remained open with funding from Community Council District 2 and private donations. To accommodate older East Villagers from Jacob Riis, another neighborhood center that closed, the 25 meals a day that Wald was serving last year has now more than doubled to around 50 to 55. Wald is now the only senior center in Alphabet City. “We don’t have enough chairs,” said Betsy Jacobson, the director of Wald. “We have people standing and eating and our numbers are probably going to continue to grow.”
Read more…

Tim Schreier

Good morning, East Village.

Don’t forget your umbrellas this morning. Reports say the rain will persist until early evening. But when things do clear up, perhaps you’ll want to take advantage of the new ping-pong table in Tompkins Square Park. DNAinfo reports that tension arose over the table’s placement near the dog park, but the addition will likely be popular come spring.

One East Villager abandoned the traditional staircase in favor of an aluminum slide to connect his penthouse purchases, NY Curbed reports. These digs, located inside notorious party pad called A Building may belong to a professional poker player who moved into the 13th Street space in 2008.

And if you missed the stunning moonscape during the weekend, check out these photos from Tim Schreier, one of The Local’s community contributors, here and here and here. Community contributor Tim Milk captured another view and Bowery Boogie also has some images of the spectacle.

Tim Schreier

Good morning, East Village.

It’s finally Friday, but the ongoing debate over the budget for city schools may keep you talking through the weekend. According to BoogieDowner, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Education Committee Chair Robert Jackson sent out a letter Thursday protesting Chancellor Cathie Black’s new budget requirement for school principals. For the first time, school principals have been asked to give a portion of their year-end surplus back to the city, rather than “roll over” their budget to the following year. How will East Village schools be affected? Read more about the proposed education cuts here.

And DNAinfo reports that the East Village graffiti artist Angel “LA II” Ortiz missed his own gallery opening last week after his arrest for – what else? – graffiti, after the authorities said that he tagged an East Village building the night before his collection was scheduled to open at Dorian Grey Gallery on East Ninth Street. Mr. Ortiz calls the streets his canvases, but art lovers can also view his work indoors, with his exhibit on display through April 17.

Of course, the East Village mural on Houston and Bowery, otherwise known as the Dietch Wall, pictured above, is always accessible to fans of street art. But after some taggers recently took turns on the work by Kenny Scharf, gallery workers from The Hole, which curates the wall, cleaned up the mess Thursday, according to Bowery Boogie.

East Village graffiti is just one manifestation of the recurring battle between the old and the new. EV Grieve shares photos of what the blog calls “intruding buildings” collected over the past year, “lurking, menacing in the background.”

And here comes the sun, but not for long; today’s high of 70 degrees will most likely cloud over Monday, with rain in the low 50’s.

Bruce Monroe

Good morning, East Village.

New York University finally showed us yesterday what Washington Square could look like by 2031 through what it describes as “subtle interventions.”

Having withdrawn plans for a fourth building on the landmarked Silver Towers site, the university now envisages meeting its core expansion requirements. Seven floors of dorms above a public school replacing the current Morton Williams supermarket, together with a major tower on the site of the Coles Sports Center at Mercer and Houston, are part of the new design, as well as lower rise buildings on the north side of the park. As anticipated, the university continues to leave open the possibility of further developments in the neighborhood around the core, which includes – of course – the East Village.

In other neighborhood news, today, of course, is St. Patrick’s Day, and local bars are dressing up for the occasion; according to EV Grieve, some bars on Avenue C are sporting identical signs over the battle for “official party headquarters.” And for those of us who prefer inebriation in the form of sugar, Butter Lane is offering Jameson icing and free icing shots to those clad in green.

In other news, DNAinfo reports that comedy troupe Upright Citizens Brigade has finally agreed to remove its “Hot Chicks Room” sign from its space near East Third Street, following angry complaints from some neighbors who felt it the sign was more fitted for the old Times Square or the Red Light District, than the East Village.

And on a more somber note, East Villagers are offering aid to Japan following the devastating earthquake and ongoing nuclear crisis that began last Friday. A donation box has been placed on the counter of Takahachi restaurant on Avenue A. Have you seen other donation stations around the East Village? Leave a comment and let us know where to find them.

Expect a gorgeous high of 62 degrees today, with another beautiful day to follow.

Chelsia Rose Marcius

Good morning, East Village.

More change to come for the East Village after ACME Bar & Grill, located on 9 Great Jones Place, announced that they were closing their doors yesterday. However, it’s only temporary, and after several confusing reports and confirmations, EV Grieve confirmed the news that ACME Bar & Grill is only closing for renovations.  The Cajun-style restaurant, which has been an East Village staple for 25 years, will be back in business in a few months.

Meanwhile, across the invisible border in Greenwich Village, New York University apparently postponed yesterday’s big reveal of the so-called “Greenwich Village 4,” the four large buildings planned around the core campus, including the as-of-right development which will replace the Morton Williams supermarket now that the “Silver Sliver” plan has bitten the dust.

As for today’s weather, grab your umbrella before you leave today.  It’s going to be a rainy day with a high of 56 degrees.

The State Liquor Authority Committee of Community Board 3 Monday night refused to endorse a liquor license for a proposed music and restaurant space on Avenue A. With the 4-3 vote, the committee turned aside a proposal to open a new Mexican restaurant and lounge at 34 Avenue A. The proposal had been submitted by several owners, including Phil Hartman, who owns Two Boots Pizza and a former venue, Mo Pitkin’s House of Satisfaction, and the music promoter Todd Patrick; the fate of the project is unclear. —Hadas Goshen

Bruce Monroe

Good morning, East Village.

The Upright Citizens Brigade are gearing up to make their debut in the East Village by putting signs up around local mailboxes, reports EV Grieve.  The comedy theatre troupe recently caused a stir among some locals with their “Hot Chicks Room” sign, located at the Upright Citizens Brigade HQ on Avenue A and Third Street.  The sign refers to one of the brigade’s comedy skits.  However, one local has started a petition to have the sign removed.

In other news, more artists seem to be leaving their mark in the East Village.  Not only are there more manuscript pages handing on lampposts, but locals have also spotted finger sculptures protruding from posts.  So far EV Grieve reports sightings on 11th Street, between First Avenue and Avenue A, and on 10th Street, between Avenues A and B.  Have you seen any in the East Village?  Tweet us your pics if you see any today.

Another piece, referred to as The Hipster Trap, was spotted on the corner of Avenue A and Sixth Street.   An unknown artist baited a steel-jaw trap trap made of cardboard with a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon, a pack of American Spirit cigarettes, a bike chain and neon pink Wayfarers.  The person who made the trap has yet to be identified.

As for the weather, aside from the partly cloudy morning, it looks like today will be mostly sunny with a high of 49 degrees.

Clint McMahon

Good morning, East Village.

We begin the week with some sad news. The East Village suffered a loss this weekend when Ricardo León Peña Villa, the Colombian-born poet known as El Poe, died Friday at Beth Israel Hospital after being in the intensive care unit for the last few weeks. According to EV Grieve, there’s a small memorial set up for El Poe, honoring his memory, outside the Umbrella House on Avenue C where he had not only lived but also helped manage the building with other tenants.

In other neighborhood news, Tompkins Square Park will welcome a new permanent fixture this weekend – a ping-pong table. DNAInfo reports that the table will arrive on March 19, and be placed between the park’s flagpole and center lawn. And if you’re worried about a little rain and wind getting in the way of your table tennis match, the table will reportedly be made of polished concrete and will include a steel net, so players can compete no matter the conditions.

Amid the continuing debate about preserving historical buildings in the neighborhood such as 35 Cooper Square, The Local today will begin a new occasional feature that describes the histories of neighborhood buildings, both well-known and anonymous.

As for the weather, expect a partly cloudy day with a high of 48 degrees.