Adrian Fussell

Good morning, East Village.

Hope you’re bundled up and ready for the wind, which is dropping the “feels-like” temps into single digits today.

In neighborhood notes, EV Grieve takes a look at some construction and renovation work that’s bringing changes to the Village, as well as a mysterious hole that may or may not be a harbinger of the zombie apocalypse.

Meanwhile, Lüc Carl, manager of the Lower East Side bar St. Jerome, wants to help you make good on your New Year’s resolutions, unless your resolutions are about drinking less. DNAinfo tells us that Mr. Carl, who also happens to be Lady Gaga’s boyfriend, is releasing a diet book called “The Drunk Diet,” to help you lose weight while partying like a rock star. But it won’t come out until next year, so your 2011 health efforts may have to be sans keg.

Happy Wednesday.

Ian Duncan

Covered in graffiti and often looking distinctly unloved, sidewalk ATMs are a common sight in the East Village. In fact, the neighborhood has more of the machines than anywhere else in Manhattan. Ready access to cash fuels the neighborhood’s bar scene and the machines generate a steady stream of easy revenue for the property owners who host them.

But in December, the City Council made clear its view that the machines are a blight and voted to ban them from city streets. After some dithering, Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed the bill on Jan. 4. The law will come into effect in May.

The decision has elicited mixed responses.

Jessica Dickstein, 29, a brand manager at a toy company, said she has no particular allegience to sidewalk ATMs but will use one if she feels it is the most convenient option. Sometimes, she added, she prefers the sidewalk machines because they often have lower fees than those in banks. Asked if she thinks using a sidewalk machine is less safe than using one in a bodega or bank lobby, Ms. Dickstein said, “If you’re going to be getting cash at 3 a.m. that’s not a great idea.” Read more…

Tim Schreier

Good morning, East Village.

Whether you spent yesterday hacking at the ice wall around your frozen car or stalking Gossip Girl’s Village visit (we won’t tell), today is a brand-new day. You may have needed to face its earlier hours with an umbrella, but for now, grab your hat and gloves. Temperatures are set to drop steadily, hitting 18 degrees by the time midnight rolls around.

Maybe someone should head over to East Houston and tell the model in this new American Apparel billboard to don some warm leggings? I hear electric blue is the new day-glo pink. In other additions to Village advertising, EV Grieve takes a look at various neighborhood graffiti and brings word that comic bookstore Forbidden Planet might be looking for some breathing room.

Yesterday we gave you a look at rider contention over the new M15 select bus service, and now City Councilwoman Jessica Lappin tells DNAinfo she’s given the service a B minus for its efforts. She says she supports the goals, “but it’s not quite living up to its potential.” C minus for accessibility, A for effort? Let us know how you feel about the new system.

Speaking of report cards, New York students might be graduating from high school, but that doesn’t mean they’re ready for college or a career — a new set of statistics says only 23 percent are meeting that standard. This news comes on the heels of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s voiced disappointment in state budget cuts for our little town, which he says will be devastating for teachers and other public employees (mayors excepted).

And finally, a super-short film to watch over your coffee break: Manhattan re-imagined as your favorite arcade game.

Laura Kuhn Some riders who use the M15 bus line wonder if more stops in the East Village should be added to the route. Currently, the bus makes two stops either way in the East Village, one at Houston Street and the other at 14th Street.

One recent evening, Tanya Garrett stood at the corner of 14th Street and Second Avenue counting with frustration the number of M15 select service buses that blew past her as she waited for a local.

“I probably missed the last local bus and now I’m going to wait here forever,” Ms. Garrett said Wednesday as she watched another select bus approach, its blue lights flashing.

“They have a million of those select buses going by,” Ms. Garrett said. “It’s uncalled for.”

Since its launch in October, the M15 select bus service – which runs express routes along First and Second Avenues – has promised riders faster commutes by featuring fewer stops, designated bus-only lanes and a pay-before-boarding system that requires users to purchase tickets prior to getting on at street machines.

But for some customers like Ms. Garrett, who lives four blocks away from the nearest select bus stop, the new service has only made the ride home more difficult.

“The select doesn’t stop at my stop,” she said. “I’m stuck with the local. They need to have more locals running. They don’t need all those select buses. They come back to back and you have to stand here and wait for a local forever.”
Read more…

Tim Schreier

Good morning, East Village.

And happy new year! Here’s hoping you found a good way during this busy weekend to celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Rabbit, mark World Nutella Day and spend a few hours with friends in front of a television cheering for a team you don’t hate. (The Local is referring to the Knicks victory, of course.)

If you didn’t make it outside to enjoy yesterday’s sunny temperature break, try to catch some elusive rays during your morning commute – the clouds will be back by afternoon, and the cold’s not far behind. If you walk to work slowly enough, maybe you can formulate your official position on the merits of the Black-Eyed Peas halftime show. Your co-workers will want to know.

Just don’t let your inner music critic distract you from looking both ways. Figures show traffic deaths in the city are up from last year, though over all numbers for the last two years put New York ahead of its American peers, and are the best the city has seen since your other car was a horse. Drivers with more modern transportation options may need to pry their ride from the snow and turn it around or face a fine, as alternate side parking rules are back to normal today.

Over at Bowery Boogie, Villagers get another look at progress and projections for the Allen Street Hotel. Meanwhile, Neighborhoodr reports the closing of Avenue A’sApizzA. Is fellow pie joint Tonda going the same route? Finally, congratulations and a warm neighborhood welcome to Jamshed Barucha, new president of Cooper Union.

Chelsia Rose Marcius Shoppers at Fine Fare Super Market, on the corner of Fourth Street and Avenue C in the East Village, stock up before inclement weather. Snowstorms have delayed deliveries, meaning bursts of long lines in an overall slow business season.

When you visit a local supermarket right before a blizzard, it can sometimes feel as if Armageddon is just ahead, not a snowstorm. Some shoppers roam the aisle in an apparent frenzy, seemingly ready to grab everything they can get their hands on as checkout lines snake through aisles. Patience can be thin and the urge to stockpile food can trump the inclination toward civility.

And that frantic edge can remain even after a heavy snowfall as shoppers rush to replenish depleted pantries with the threat of additional snow looming. At least that was how it seemed at the Fine Fare Supermarket on Avenue C and East Fourth Street on Wednesday.

Customers may not have had an easy time crossing slushy streets, tip-toeing on icy sidewalks and climbing over marble-colored snow mounds to get to the market. When they did make it inside, though, they appeared ready to make up for lost time, quickly buying out the stock of staples.

“We had no bread, no milk, no eggs, no nothing,” said one cashier, Yesenia Urgiles.
Read more…

Phillip Kalantzis Cope

Good morning, East Village.

Mars Bar will host a farewell party on Saturday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. with live performances by Daddy Long Legs and Nouvellas. Is this the end for the famous dive bar? EV Grieve ponders some recent rumors, including one that says the bar closed for good last Sunday. Curbed has heard it will remain open until the spring before giving way to a 12-story, 60-unit apartment building.

Bowery Beef, a roast beef sandwich shop modeled after a legendary Boston joint called Harrison’s, is set to open in the Bowery Poetry Club by the end of next week, according to the Village Voice’s Fork in the Road blog. Bagels and lox will be served starting at 7 a.m. and $5 roast beef sandwiches from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. EV Grieve asked Ray LeMoine, one of the owners of Bowery Beef, a few questions about the East Village’s new addition.

Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York catches up with Jane Young, a local artist and community activist who was instrumental in the efforts to save 35 Cooper Square. Get her take on how the demolition of the building would affect the East Village’s identity.

City Room reports that, according to the latest poll, 44 percent of New Yorkers believe Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is doing an excellent or good job. Though nowhere near the 68 percent approval he reached in October 2008 at the height of his popularity, the newest number is seven points up from early last month for the mayor, who, incidentally, is a fan of The New Yorker’s depiction of him as a modern-day Narcissus.

Mark Riffee City Council voted Wednesday to extend the smoking ban to parks and beaches. Jon Goldstein, an East Village tattoo artist, thinks the law was passed in order to make money from fines.

No smoking allowed in New York City’s 1,700 parks or along the city’s 14 miles of beaches, said the City Council on Wednesday. The measure passed by 36-to-12 after a bitter debate over government authority versus individual liberties.

So what do you think, East Village?

“I think it’s ludicrous,” said Jon Goldstein, a 39-year-old tattoo artist. “It’s just a way for them to make money. They can’t tax any more stuff so they just start adding fines. You know what’s going to happen?” he asked, lighting up in Tomkins Square Park while he still can. “The police are going to be so overwhelmed with ticketing people who are smoking and not really paying attention to what they should be paying attention to.”
Read more…

Vivienne Gucwa

Good morning, East Village.

After a few miserable days of rain, snow, and ice, we’re going to get some sun today. Unfortunately, temperatures won’t rise above freezing, according to The Weather Channel, so keep an eye out for ice.

According to DNAinfo, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation has urged the designers of the Astor Place and Cooper Square project to better recognize the historic significance of the area in their plans. In a letter to the Public Design Commission, the preservation advocates asked that old Native American and Dutch roadbeds, which date back as far as 1639, be maintained.

Having trouble eating healthily and cheaply? Check out NearSay’s guide to reasonably priced vegetarian restaurants and grocery stores in the East Village and Lower East Side.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg proposed an overhaul yesterday of New York’s pension system, which would require new municipal workers to work for at least 10 years to receive pension checks at age 65, eight years after most workers begin receiving them now. Read the full story in The Times.

Call in the canines. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development is looking for a pair of bedbug-sniffing dogs to help inspect buildings throughout the city, DNAinfo reports. In a 2008 University of Florida study, dogs located the bugs and their eggs with a success rate of up to 98 percent. They might consider reaching out for this pooch.

Gloria Chung

Good morning, East Village.

Staten Island Chuck, New York City’s groundhog meteorologist in residence, may not see his shadow today—freezing rain will continue to fall from overcast skies throughout the morning, according to Accuweather—but it’s hard to imagine winter will end any time soon.

Check out the City Room’s look back on 110 years of Groundhog Day coverage at The Times.

The proposed redesign of Astor Place and Cooper Square is causing trouble on a variety of fronts, Curbed reports. Nearby residents are worried that rowdy crowds would loiter late at night in the expanded Cooper Triangle and a new, thin plaza called the Village Square. On top of that, the plans for Astor Place interfere with an old Native American trail. Check out these renderings at The Architects Newspaper.

According to Real Estate Weekly, the owners of 35 Cooper Square, Arun Bhatia Development Organization, have not yet decided if they will demolish the building, which housed the Asian Pub until a few days ago. A spokesperson for the development group said a decision would likely be made within three or four weeks.

Colin Moynihan

The perils of the snowy season can take several different forms. There are the tall, thick drifts that entomb cars and end up forming ramparts that line the sidewalks. There is the gray slush that forms as those drifts melt, coalescing into pools and puddles – some of them deceptively deep – at intersections. And then there is perhaps the most subtle and hazardous result of the sorts of heavy snowfalls the East Village has been experiencing lately: slippery sidewalks coated with a thin sheet of ice.

This phenomenon typically occurs when sidewalks have not been shoveled completely clean. As temperatures drop, the remaining bits of snow harden into a slick surface that can send pedestrians sprawling. What’s worse, it is sometimes difficult to see when an icy stretch of sidewalk lies ahead. There are occasions when that realization comes accompanied almost simultaneously by a sudden loss of balance.

New York City law requires that landlords and businesses clear sidewalks, but anybody who has walked along the streets of New York City knows that some take that responsibility more seriously than others.

Temperatures tonight are expected to be below 30 degrees. Freezing rain is also forecast. As you walk – or slide – to work or to school tomorrow please take note of areas that seem particularly difficult or dangerous to navigate. Take a picture if you can, and remember the address. Then send the information in to us. We’ll do our best to look into whatever we hear about.

E-mail address: editor@thelocaleastvillage.com.

Michelle Rick

Good morning, East Village.

According to the Weather Channel, we can expect a steady mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain, which will bring three to six inches of accumulation between now and tomorrow evening. The National Weather service has issued a winter storm warning that will remain in effect until 7 p.m. tomorrow. Meanwhile, The Times reports, a grand jury is still trying to clean up the Sanitation Department slowdown mess from the Dec. 26 blizzard.

The city’s Parks Department is looking for restaurant vendor proposals for the kiosk at the corner of East First Street and First Avenue, according to DNAinfo. Veselka, the Ukrainian restaurant that has occupied the space for the past five years, may be moving out when its contract runs out in June. The Parks Department has said that the ideal eatery will be affordable and will “incorporate ethnically diverse and/or healthy food choices, such as salads, fresh fruit, yogurt, nuts, granola bars, protein bars, bottled water, juices, smoothies, etc.” Bids are due by March 4.

In local history today, EV Grieve looks back at the old Salvation Army building over the years before a new boutique hotel and restaurant takes its place at the corner of East Third and Bowery. Finally, the Community Board 3 Economic Development Committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. today at 59 East Fourth Street. The Local will be in attendance.

Vivienne Gucwa Protesters outside the Continental bar Saturday. The bar’s owner, Trigger Smith, said that he was willing to meet to discuss concerns about discrimination at the bar.

The owner of the Continental Bar, which is being investigated by the City Human Rights Commission, told demonstrators who gathered outside the bar on Saturday night that he would meet with them to discuss their grievances.

Since December, members of the ANSWER coalition have held protests outside the bar, saying that its bouncers have enforced a discriminatory policy that has barred some African-American patrons. In the past, the bar’s owner, Trigger Smith, has denied that the door policies were meant to keep out any particular group, but on Saturday, he emerged to say that he was willing to hold a dialogue.

Some protesters welcomed the offer, but others said they would reserve judgment.

Jeanette Caceres, a lead organizer with the ANSWER Coalition, said she was heartened that Mr. Smith was “at least showing in words that he wants to meet,” but said she has “yet to see” if he will follow through with his statement. She said that Mr. Smith  offered to meet with protesters in his bar during the picket, but the group preferred to wait and meet in a more “neutral” location.

Danny Shaw, a professor at the City University of New York said that he didn’t think it would be appropriate to meet inside the bar because its  “ambiance is not conducive to a serious sit-down about issues so intense.” Mr. Shaw, who teaches a class on cultural diversity, brought his students, some of whom, he said, had discussed friends’ complaints of being denied entrance to the bar.

Like Ms. Caceres, Mr. Shaw called Saturday’s picket “successful” but said he found Mr. Smith’s demeanor to be “mocking” and “sarcastic.” At one point in the evening, he said, Mr. Smith had joined in the chanting with the protesters.

“It was tongue-in-cheek,” Mr. Smith said of what he called his “dancing and cheering” at the picket. In a more serious tone, he acknowledged that the protesters’ “issues are legitimate” because “there’s racism in the world.”

Mr. Smith also said he is willing to meet somewhere “neutral,” with members of the group but said he did not want to meet with Ms. Caceres. He said that Ms. Caceres asked that Mr. Smith meet at the Answer office, a request that he called “irrational.”

And, as he has in the past, Mr. Smith stated that his door policy is not motivated by prejudice.

“I told them I supported Barack Obama,” he said adding that the bar’s dress code, which he said does not allow “baggy saggy jeans or bling” is not racist.

“Some minorities wear them more than others,” he said.

The picket, which ended at 9 p.m. – an hour earlier than scheduled because of the freezing weather, had “no effect” on business, Mr. Smith said, although one protester, Armide Pierre, said some potential customers “walked away” from the bar after she handed them flyers.

After the rally, Mr. Smith reflected in the warmth of his bar, where customers drank and mingled. “I’ve been here 19 years,” Mr. Smith said as a customer stood at the bar and order one of the house specials – five shots of liquor for $10.

Liz Wagner Homeless and needy line up for free lunch outside Trinity Lower East Side Lutheran Parish on East Ninth Street and Avenue B. The pastor of the church says that its soup kitchen is being stretched thin by an uptick in need.

Joey Ortiz has been coming to Trinity Lower East Side Parish on Ninth Street and Avenue B for a hot lunch nearly every weekday for two years. He’s been struggling to make ends meet since he lost his job working in an optometrist’s office at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. One recent afternoon, he stood in the soup kitchen line for 20 minutes with dozens of people in front of and behind him. While Mr. Ortiz says he has never been denied a meal, he wonders how long the church will be able to feed an increasing number of hungry New Yorkers.

“You see how many people,” Mr. Ortiz said pointing to the growing line. “There is not enough food. There is more need.”

Pastor Phil Trzynka says Trinity’s nonprofit, Services and Food for the Homeless, Inc., is seeing more needy people now than ever before, but can still meet the demand. He says the soup kitchen, which provides lunches Monday through Friday, serves 235 meals a day — up from 150 meals five years ago. But Mr. Trzynka also says the church’s budget is $30,000 less than what it was last year because government grant money and individual donations are down. He says the Lutheran parish which serves all denominations and has operated a soup kitchen since the 1950’s, is being stretched thin.

“We have no funds to draw on anymore,” he said. “This year will be a year to decide how the program will continue.”
Read more…

Tim Schreier

Good morning, East Village.

Cooper 35 Asian Pub is closed, Bowery Boogie reports. Drinks were served for the last time on Saturday night, just one day after a rally to protest planned development at the site of the historic 35 Cooper Square. EV Grieve has posted a link to a petition you can sign to urge the Landmarks Preservation Committee to grant the building a designation that would prevent construction at the site. Nearly 1,100 people have attached their names so far.

George Condo, a prominent artist in the East Village in the 1980’s, has a new exhibit called “Mental States” at the New Museum. NearSay gives a taste of the artist’s idiosyncratic representation of the human psyche, which will be on display until May 8.

Want to see the New York that could have been? Check out David W. Dunlap’s “The City’s Future That Never Was” in The Times. The United Nations center could have been in Flushing Meadow Park, bridges could have traveled over and through skyscrapers, and the Jets could have called Hudson Yards home.

Brace yourself: New York’s snowiest winter is showing no signs of slowing down. Accuweather says to expect another two to five inches between tonight and Wednesday evening.

Suzanne Rozdeba David Mulkins, chair of the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, speaks at a demonstration this evening in support of a landmark designation for 35 Cooper Square. The designation would prevent development at the site.

Holding signs that said “Build Memories, Not Luxury Hotels” and “Save Cooper Square’s Oldest Building,” about 100 people, many of them East Village residents, gathered in front of 35 Cooper Square today in a rally supporting the designation of the site as a historic landmark.

“We’re here today because this is one of the most significant buildings on this street. This is the oldest building on Cooper Square. If you lose this building, Cooper Square loses a much earlier sense of its history,” David Mulkins, chair of the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, which organized the rally, told the crowd, which included a handful of children from The Children’s Aid Society holding a sign that said, “Make 35 Cooper Square a Landmark.” The rally, which started at 4:30 p.m., lasted about 45 minutes.

The alliance is circulating a petition asking for supporters to urge the Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate the site as a historic site; more than 700 signatures have been collected so far. The building was sold for $8.5 million in November.

Mr. Mulkins, holding a sign with pictures of Cooper Square from the late 1880’s and early 1900’s, mentioned the site’s next-door neighbor, the Cooper Square Hotel, saying, “If we have this kind of out-of-scale, out-of-context development, we are destroying the sense of place that we get in these historic neighborhoods.”

The building at the current site, which houses the popular Cooper 35 Asian Pub, has a rich history that should not be destroyed, said State Senator Thomas K. Duane, whose 29th District includes the East Village. “There’s so little left of our beloved Village, of the history we are proud of. To risk losing a piece of that, even just one building, is tragic. We need the Landmark Commission to get this building on the calendar, and we need to preserve it.”

Assemblywoman Deborah J. Glick, who was also at the rally, said,  “We will continue to fight to landmark this essential part of New York’s history. I believe that people raising their voices will overcome the attempt of the administration to ignore us. Today is a great representation that we are standing together. We will fight until we win.”

Rachel Citron

Good morning, East Village.

Another inch of snow is on its way, according to Accuweather, but with the mountains of white out there already, we may not even notice. If you’re sick of the weather, check out the nation’s 5 coldest cities for consolation. Number 1, according to the Weather Channel? Barrow, Alaska. Its population is a tenth that of our neighborhood, but nearly half their days are below zero, and think of how few cafes they have for respite from that cold.

Apparently, the snow won’t deter East Village activists, with two demonstrations planned – a rally at 4:30 this afternoon to protest planned development at the historic 35 Cooper Square and a picket tomorrow night at 8 over allegations of bias at the Continental bar.

Also out in full force will be 3,000 volunteers counting the homeless throughout the city, this Sunday night with HOPE NYC, the Homeless Outreach Population Estimate.

Who else will be winding through the snow-swirled streets? Well, DNAinfo suggests, red-tailed hawks are actually on the rise, and may just be the answer to our rat predicament.

If you’re looking for local – indoor – activities, you may want to tuck into the Bowery Poetry Club Sunday for David Amram’s 80th birthday celebration. Mr. Amram, a noted musician and author who performed with the likes of Jack Kerouac, will be performing at 8 p.m.

Gloria Chung After yet another big snowfall, residents of the East Village shoveled, played and improvised their way through the day.

Once again the snow has put a wrench in the daily lives of East Villagers. The subways are slow, the corners are drenched in slush, and so are our shoes.

In light of all this immobility, we thought we’d ask some of the people most directly affected by the weather – retailers feeling the effects of meager foot traffic, school children with a suddenly free day and older East Villagers – to weigh in on how the snowy tundra is affecting their lives.

Here are a few snapshots from a snowbound Thursday:

Meltzer Towers Senior Center

Meredith Hoffman Mary Williams and Lulu, a Maltese puppy, prepare to brave the elements.

Holding her heart-fleece coated Maltese pup, today Mary Williams walked into the bustling lobby of the Meltzer Towers Senior Center and shared news from the outside world’s snowy craters.

“Don’t go out the back — the snow went up to my knee!” Ms. Williams, 68, warned the other residents of the center, a public housing building on First Street and First Avenue. Despite the “awful day,” Ms. Williams had taken her dog, Lulu, out to play, because “we love the snow.”

But Ms. Williams’ fearless spirit was unmatched in most other residents, who said the inclement conditions would confine them to their building all day. And with even boisterous twentysomething’s falling in muck on street corners, who could blame older East Villagers?

Another resident sitting in the lobby of the senior center, Iris Sweiberg, 68, shivered with her back to the snow and recalled her 6 a.m. excursion outdoors as if it were an intrepid adventure.

“Everything was dark,” Ms. Sweiberg said. “I thought I was going to fall, it was so slippery.” Ms. Sweiberg had walked to the subway in an attempt to get to her job at the Medicaid building on 34th Street and Eighth Avenue. Since the trains weren’t running, she’d returned home, for a holiday — without pay, she lamented.

Perhaps Maria Montalvo, an East Village resident who slowly made her way down East Sixth Street this morning, said it best.

“When I see this kind of weather, I say ‘I want to go back to Puerto Rico!’”—Meredith Hoffman
Read more…

Gloria Chung

Good morning, East Village.

In what EV Grieve dubbed “The Great Thunder Blizzard of 2011,” we were only one inch away from getting the 20 inches of snow that blanketed the city in the Dec. 26 blizzard. NY1 reports it’s our snowiest January ever, our sixth snowiest winter, and the eighth largest storm in city history. This time, “We were ready for it,” Michael R. Bloomberg told NY1 this morning after declaring a weather emergency last night. Grieve has some great neighborhood photos of the storm, including a snow-covered Tompkins Square Park, a fallen tree at East 10th Street and Second Avenue, and a downed awning at Kafana on Avenue C.

Brooklyn-based emcee Saigon has been out volunteering at the Bowery Mission the last few days, handing out blankets to the homeless, according to Bowery Boogie. Over on Avenue D, the homeless were bracing for the snow, as we reported yesterday.

If you’re off for the day and down for some sledding, Gothamist has a list of the best places to get your sled on.

After working up an appetite in the chill, head over to Ray’s on Avenue A and try his new roast beef on rye sandwich for $5. Nadie Se Conoce has a photo that’ll make you drool. Or, head out for some brunch since, surprise, surprise, according to Crain’s, New Yorkers love brunch more than residents in any other metro area.