Gloria Chung

Good morning, East Village.

In case you haven’t had enough of the snow, we’re getting dumped on again now and expecting up to five inches. Look on the bright side – it’ll turn into a messy mix of sleet and ice by the end of the day, reports NY1.

Meanwhile, Community Board 3 has unveiled its State Liquor Authority agenda for a Feb. 14 meeting, where Superdive, a troubled bar on Avenue A, will ask for a renewal of its liquor license, Momofuku Milk Bar, on Second Avenue near East 13th Street, will request a new liquor license, and Ninth Ward, on Second Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets, is applying for a sidewalk cafe. If you want to join in the fun, the meeting will be held at the JASA/Green Residence on East Fifth Street at 6:30 p.m.

If you’ve got pierogies and borscht on the brain, run over to the Veselka kiosk at First and First. There’s a strong possibility the little Eastern European spot will be turned over to the city’s Parks Department after the owner, Tom Birchard, expressed concern over a costly requirement to install a bathroom, according to Crain’s.

Take a nostalgic look at the East Village in the late 80’s, with pics on EV Grieve, and of the Lower East Side from the 60’s to the 80’s with photos at 21-7 magazine.

Got rats, bedbugs or cock roaches? A company called Optomen Productions is looking for tenants with severe infestations for a new documentary, according to Bowery Boogie. They’ll take care of your pest problem, free of charge.

Phillip Kalantzis Cope

Good morning, East Village.

This morning began with the sight of fresh snowflakes and also a reminder that no matter how pleasing the sight may be to many eyes, it also can also come with a cost. The Times reports that city officials have put the pricetag for cleaning up last month’s blizzard at about $68 million.

EV Grieve has a full report about one of the season’s most vivid reminders of the severity of the recent temperatures: efforts to free a car that was frozen under a sheet of ice when a water main burst on East Second Street. An image of the car also made the front of The Post.

Two development projects are also being discussed in the blogosphere. Grieve has more on an effort to stop development at 35 Cooper Square (including a look at the building and its neighbors from 2004). And turning our gaze a bit south of the neighborhood, Bowery Boogie has a report on Community Board 3’s passage of new guidelines for development of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area – an agreement years in the making.

Colin Moynihan.

Although I was born in Manhattan my first trips to the East Village came as a teenager in the 1980’s when I traveled to the Bowery – CBGB! – and to St. Marks Place, where I spent hours in used record stores and book stores.

Later, in the early half of the 1990’s, I moved to Suffolk Street, a few blocks below what is generally considered the southern end of the East Village, although I always tended to consider the territory above East Houston Street to be the northern zone of the Lower East Side. (There will be more, in future posts, on the nature of geography and labeling of neighborhoods.)  I have lived just south of Houston since then, but my travels and my interests have always extended beyond that borderline.

In the late 1990’s I began writing newspaper stories about the area and it was then that I began to see events not so much in terms of what they meant to me but in terms of how they affected others and how they fit into a historical or cultural context.  Some of my first stories were about local landmarks, squats, the struggles surrounding the future of the Charas / El Bohio community center, the community gardens – during both celebratory moments and times of tension – and the nearly ceaseless battles over real estate and development that have shaped so much of the recent history of the East Village and continue to do so today.  (More, also, in future posts, on that.)

Over the last eight years, I have reported and written more and more about the world beyond the East Village.  But I have never stopped roaming the neighborhood, talking with people and paying attention to what is going on there.

I have also continued to write about the East Village: The departure of a market, a cafe, or a large, eccentric piece of public art; the possibility of privatizing public space; the troubles faced by a mainstay of the local landscape; the tradition of protest and debate; the death of a neighbor and existence as it is experienced on a certain stretch of Avenue A.  To me these are not just interesting stories.  They are narratives of vital concern to the people who cherish the neighborhood’s streets and parks and buildings and sense a connection to the other lives that are lived here. I know that I am not the only one who feels that kinship.

I’m fortunate to be able to start off in this job with the benefit of a solid base established by my predecessor, Kim Davis and the site’s chief editor, Richard G. Jones. (Kim and Rich, thank you.)  And I’m hoping to help continue making The Local a site where people go to read about –– and to write about –– the events and occurrences that make life in the East Village something worth caring about.

To all contributors: I look forward to working with you.  And to all members of the community: consider this an invitation to become a contributor.

Colin Moynihan is the community editor of The Local East Village. If you are interested in becoming a contributor to the site, please email him.

Vivienne Gucwa

Good morning, East Village.

We begin the week with a look back at a piece of East Village history. The Bowery Alliance of Neighbors is circulating a petition to stop the development of the historic building located at 35 Cooper Square, now the home of Cooper 35 Asian Pub. The alliance is also holding a rally and news conference Friday to protest the building from being destroyed. It’s one of the oldest houses on the Bowery, and was sold for $8.5 million in November. Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York put together a comprehensive look at the building’s history.

Meanwhile, street artist Kenny Scharf is speaking out about the tagging of his huge mural at the corner of Houston Street and the Bowery. “It really hurt me,” Mr. Scharf told The Post. “It was a big diss.” The mural was defaced during December’s big blizzard, and the Big Time Bombers, a graffiti gang, is being blamed. Take a peek at what the wall looked like in the 60’s on Bowery Boogie, which has stills from director Martin Scorsese’s 1967 film, “Who’s That Knocking At My Door.”

If you’re out riding your bike, be extra cautious to follow the rules. The NYPD has handed out close to a whopping 1,000 tickets this month to cyclists accused of breaking the law, which includes violations such as riding the wrong way and up on the sidewalk, running lights, and making illegal turns, reports The Post.

But before you head out into the deep chill, keep in mind that it’s 12 degrees, though it’s suppose to warm up to a balmy 18, according to NY1. Bundle up.

Kim Davis.

My last day as Community Editor of The Local East Village finds me looking back on what has been a long and eventful journey. For me, the journey didn’t begin with a phone call from Rich Jones, or even with the friendly interrogation to which I was subjected by Jay Rosen and his Studio 20 journalism class.

The journey, for me, began more years ago than I would like to think, still living in London and devouring everything I could read about downtown New York. The history, the legends, the tales of the artists and poets. Books by Joseph Mitchell and Ronald Sukenick, photographs by Fred McDarrah. I even subscribed to “The New Yorker” – not uncommon, I know, but I used to check “Goings on About Town” and plan what I might do with my evening if only I wasn’t 3,000 miles away. Danny’s Skylight Room at the Grand Sea Palace sounded like the most exotic joint on earth.

Almost 15 years ago, I saw my chance and seized it, moving first to Midtown with a temporary job, before settling in the East Village and beginning the process leading to residency and something like permanence. My daughter was born in New York, has grown up in the East Village, and will have the memory of it always. Call me a romantic, but one day she will realize what a wonderful gift that is.

Although I’ve been a writer of one kind or another as long as I can remember, I could hardly have imagined when I set out on this trip that I would have the opportunity to help edit and even modestly shape a site like this. That will be a great memory for me going forward: like celebrating my green card by going out and buying a Yankees jersey (number 42), this has been another ritual of arrival in the pre-eminent city of arrivals. Thanks to The Local, to Rich and the rest of the team, for giving me this home. And you haven’t heard the last from me.

All the best, of course, to Colin Moynihan in taking this all to the next level.

Kim Davis is the founding community editor of The Local East Village. He blogs at www.pinkpignyc.com.

Simon McCormack Investigators with the City Commission on Human Rights have begun looking into an allegation of bias at the Continental bar.

The City Commission on Human Rights has begun investigating an allegation of racial discrimination against the owner of the Continental bar, who has been accused of denying admittance to African-American patrons.

The commission, which is charged with examining civil rights complaints in the city, has been looking into an allegation of bias at the bar for the past month. A spokeswoman for the commission confirmed that an investigation is underway but, citing confidentiality concerns, declined to provide any additional details.

The owner of the bar, Trigger Smith, said that he intended to cooperate fully with the commission’s investigation and denied that there was anything improper about the admittance policy at the Continental.

“There’s not a prejudiced bone in my body,” Mr. Smith said in an interview with The Local earlier today. Mr. Smith acknowledged that the commission had conducted another investigation into allegations of bias at the bar several years ago. However, he said, that case was closed. Mr. Smith, who is white, said that his own review of the bar’s policies led him to believe that there were “a fair mix of colors” in the bar.
Read more…

Colin Moynihan.

We at The Local are happy to announce that Colin Moynihan, a reporter who during a period of 12 years has written about the East Village for The Times, is joining the blog as its next community editor.

Mr. Moynihan, who has also written for The New Yorker, New York magazine, and The
Village Voice, succeeds Kim Davis, who recently completed a six-month rotation as the site’s founding community editor.

“I’m looking forward to joining in the intrepid journalistic experiment that The Local began five months ago,” said Mr. Moynihan. “The East Village has a rich history and a legacy of great reporting and writing. It will be exciting to be part of a project that will try to contribute to that legacy while helping to write the next chapter in the neighborhood’s history.”

Richard G. Jones, the editor of The Local, praised the depth and breadth of Mr. Moynihan’s journalistic experience.

“We are extremely fortunate to have an editor of Colin’s caliber who brings an understanding of The Times’ standards and values, an innate knowledge and appreciation of the East Village’s distinct culture, and absolutely impeccable reporting chops,” Mr. Jones said.

Vivienne Gucwa

Good morning, East Village.

After getting about four inches of snow overnight, the last of the flakes have fallen as we make our morning commutes. The Sanitation Department was out in full force to make sure that no street was left behind in our fifth snowstorm this winter, reports NY1.

In architecture news, there’s an updated version of the design for the proposed Bowery Hotel from The Observer, which says of the plan, “it has light up balconies that will shimmer at night, bringing a bit of that dance-club flare back to the cleaned up thoroughfare.” The comments aren’t any more flattering than when we first saw the design for the hotel, which will stand on the site of the old Salvation Army building. One commentator on Curbed wrote: “Looks more like it’s ‘festering’ than ‘shimmering,’” while another said, “Is restraint really uncool?”

Meanwhile, the bike lane debate keeps getting hotter. At a Brooklyn community board meeting last night, residents argued with Department of Transportation officials, saying that the agency inflated numbers of cyclists using a Prospect Park lane, according to The Post. Our own bike lanes debate continues, and if Jimmy McMillan had any say in it, he’d do away with them all.

And if you’re planning on watching the Jets play the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night with a berth in Super Bowl XLV at stake, The Post has an in-depth championship game preview. But if you’re not feeling the football love, EV Grieve suggests some bars without TVs where you can drink, minus the football fanatics.

The Local is pleased to announce that Colin Moynihan, a reporter who has written about the East Village for The Times over a period of 12 years, will join the blog as its next community editor. Mr. Moynihan succeeds Kim Davis, who recently completed a six-month rotation in the position. We will have more details and a fuller post tomorrow. —The Local

Michelle Rick

Good morning, East Village.

We heard from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg last night in his State of the City speech. The Times reports that he focused on small-scale local initiatives and spoke little of education, and didn’t even mention last month’s blizzard.

While the mayor made his address, a Village Voice blogger was busy teaching a lesson to every young person in the “greatest city in the world.” In response to a girl’s complaint of getting overcharged by a locksmith, blogger Joe Coscarelli said getting ripped off here is inevitable, and recalled his decrepit past East Village apartment. Perhaps you can relate.

Meanwhile, tenants on 13th Street are scrutinizing their building’s facade for its constant graffiti. DNAinfo reports on the “tagger’s paradise” that some suggest should become a mural.

And though cops have monitored the wall, many will be on a bigger mission today: one of New York’s largest Mafia arrests.

Vivienne Gucwa

Good morning, East Village.

There’s an online outcry over the design of the proposed Bowery Hotel, which was unveiled by Curbed. One commentator said the project “looks like the winner of a contest where crazed architects are asked to design their weirdest fantasy buildings.” Brokerage Eastern Consolidated announced that Paris-based Louzon Group will build the 72-room boutique hotel and restaurant at the old Salvation Army building, bought by the group for $7.6 million, at 347-349 Bowery.

Meanwhile, in his 10th State of the City address this afternoon, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will reiterate his agenda amid criticisms of “a battle over his new schools chancellor, an $80 million fraud scheme involving the city’s payroll system and a botched effort to deal with a crippling snowstorm last month,” reports The Times. He’s expected to propose a plan to make it legal to hail livery cabs and announce plans for changes to the pension system.

For those of us who take the M15 bus, your ride is up to 16 minutes faster with the new system, according to The Daily News.

And if you’re concerned about the amount of pollution in the air while you’re out and about, check out these new high-tech sweatshirts, designed by two NYU graduate students, emblazoned with lungs and hearts that turn blue when you’re exposed to dirty air.

Suzanne Rozdeba Jimmy McMillan.

Jimmy McMillan, the founder of the Rent Is Too Damn High party, may have failed in his bid for governor but that’s done little to quash his ambition – or his opinions.

Mr. McMillan, who’s 64, still has a broad and ambitious plan for change through his party, which includes banning bike lanes, cutting taxes and, of course, lowering rents. And then there is his most grand  – and quixotic – plan of all: a run for the White House in 2012.

“We have bird-brained economic leaders,” he told The Local in an interview. “People need money to spend. And it boils down to one thing: the rent is too damn high.”

Mr. McMillan spoke with The Local about his lingering ambitions, his plans for the future – he’s planning to hold a news conference in Tompkins Square Park next week to officially kick off his presidential bid – and his deep ties to the East Village.

What’s the first thing you’ll do for the East Village as president?

We need new leadership. The first thing I would do is meet with the governor and direct Cuomo to reduce the property taxes. Property taxes in the East Village are crazy.
Read more…

The authorities have arrested a man and charged him with attempted murder in connection with a shooting along East Second Street last week. The man, Claudio Daniel, 31, also faces assault and weapons charges in the incident, which occurred Jan. 12 at 225 East Second Street and left a 33-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. The victim, whom the authorities did not identify, is listed in stable condition.—Meredith Hoffman

Vivienne Gucwa

Good morning, East Village.

If you’re feeling neighborhood-nostalgic, you might turn to the site Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, where a local laments her move from East Village to West, after a decade on “buzzing” Avenue B.

If you’re interested in gearing up for Sunday’s Jets game, you can still turn to a local source, East Village Radio, which this morning aired a discussion with football experts.

Meanwhile, amidst our city’s ongoing bike lane debates, EV Grieve has an amusing post on a biker who was ticketed for riding on the sidewalk. On this morning’s ice, you probably won’t want to be cycling at all. Even NY1 calls it a “slippery, messy start,” and says rain will continue through the afternoon.

And today’s weather makes The Village Voice’s video of the 10th annual No Pants Subway Ride even more entertaining.

Suzanne Rozdeba Workers with the American Red Cross earlier today at the scene of a small fire in Stuyvesant Town.

A small kitchen fire broke out in a woman’s apartment in Stuyvesant Town, just after 1 p.m. today, and was under control in 20 minutes at the building located at 535 East 14th Street between Avenues A and B.

Officials said that the resident of the apartment sustained minor injuries. She was treated at the scene for a minor injury, but refused to be taken to the hospital.

Three American Red Cross officials were also at the scene. The officials said the woman residing in the apartment turned down any assistance, saying she did not require it.

One person sustained minor injuries this afternoon in a fire at 535 East 14th Street. The blaze, which began around 1 on the eighth floor of a 13-story building, was under control in about 20 minutes. Reporters from The Local are on the scene and we will post a full report as soon as we have more details. —Suzanne Rozdeba

Tim Schreier

Good morning, East Village.

As we remember Martin Luther King Jr., today, check out one of the many celebrations around the city honoring the civil rights activist. There are documentary screenings, concerts, and walking tours, reports The Daily News.

Today, EV Grieve also remembers Jodie Lane, a Columbia grad student who lived on East 11th Street and was electrocuted by a Con Edison junction box in 2004. Her father, who died last month, worked tirelessly to push the electric company to improve its procedures.

In development news, the Guggenheim Museum is planning a community center for a rat-infested lot on East First Street, reports DNAinfo .

If you’re curious about what our neighborhood looked like in 1770, the Brooklyn Historical Society this week will unveil a rare, restored map of Manhattan by Bernard Ratzer, the “Da Vinci of cartography,” according to The Times.

In the world of culinary controversies, a waiter at the soon-to-be-shuttered Mercadito Cantina has written an open letter to EV Grieve and Community Board 3. The waiter defends the restaurant, which is reportedly closing because of mounting debt after it was denied a liquor license, and says residents should be sensitive to the fact that 25 people will lose their jobs.

And don’t put away those snow boots just yet. According to NY1 there’s a chance of snow tonight that will turn into slush, just in time for your morning commute.

After two neighborhood shooting incidents this week, and amid the nationwide gun control debates provoked by the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, The Local sought out the reactions and opinions of East Villagers.

NYU Journalism’s Meredith Hoffman reports.

Vivienne Gucwa

Good morning, East Village.

We know it’s cold out, but this weekend if you’re yearning for a peaceful stroll you should head to the East River Park promenade, nearly completed after five years of renovation. The Villager describes the progress so far.

DNAinfo also reminds us that today at 5 p.m. is the deadline to apply for membership to our local community board, communty board 3. If you’re looking to get more involved in local decision-making, you might be interested. And EV Grieve offers a humorous take on local celebrity Chloe Sevigny’s decision to join or not to join the board.

In housing news, The Village Voice tells us that yesterday Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg vowed to “close a slumlord loophole” and require landlords to pay for repairs that they’ve neglected to pay. The Voice reports that landlords owe the city a total of $19 million in emergency repairs made since 2007.

This morning we’d also like to bid a fond farewell to Ellen Stewart, iconic founder of the LaMaMa Theater on East Fourth Street. She died yesterday at age 91, and The Times and DNAinfo gives us a glimpse of her full life.