The Local has learned that Mike Zecchino, 63, has died after being found at his home with gunshot wounds, as reported yesterday. His name was misspelled in yesterday’s post, but has since been corrected. — The Local.

Michelle Rick

Good morning, East Village.

This link kind of sums up where we were yesterday, so it is good to see a little sunshine filtering through this morning, turning some more of the snow to grey water.

Consider traveling uptown to see some drawings of downtown in the ‘thirties and ‘forties as The Museum of the City of New York mounts the exhibition “Denys Wortman’s New York.” As Jeremiah writes, “priceless images largely of a lost Lower East Side.”

Or just settle down for another year of debating the bike lanes. Here’s a supporter’s take a recent City Council debate at The Villager.

Keep jumping the puddles.

Meredith Hoffman

According to the Fire Department, firefighters called to an alert at 362 East Tenth Street (reported earlier) discovered a male in a bathtub with gunshot wounds. He was taken to Beth Israel Hospital but there is no further report on his condition.

The fire alert had caused firefighters and police to close down most of the block between Avenue B and Avenue C.

The owner of the building, Irwin (who declined to give his last name), told The Local that the man in the apartment was Mike Zecchino, a man in his sixties, who had been living in the building since before Irwin bought it seventeen years ago. A police detective who did not give his name said the situation seemed to be that the man had shot himself.

Irwin described Mr. Zecchino as “an intelligent man,” saying he “drank a lot of wine and smoked Pall Mall cigarettes,” adding that he “has a daughter.”

Damaris Reyes, Executive Director of the GOLES (Good Old Lower East Side) community organization, who was at the scene to speak with police, said she knew Mr. Zecchino from working with him. “He organized neighborhood campaigns with GOLES” said Ms. Reyes. “He’s a good guy.” Read more…

A reporter on the scene for The Local says that parts of East 10th Street were cleared between Avenues B and C shortly before 4 this afternoon and that firefighters have entered the fourth floor of a building by ladder. We are continuing to track the story.—The Local

This post has been changed to correct an error; an earlier version misstated the extent of the evacuation effort along East 10th Street.

Colin Moynihan

Two people were injured on East Second Street on Wednesday morning. The authorities said that a man was shot in the abdomen and a woman received a cut to the head. Both were removed to hospitals, and neither injury appeared to be life threatening, the authorities said.

Several police officers, including some from the Emergency Services Unit, arrived on the block of East Second Street between Avenue B and Avenue C around 9:30. Shortly afterward, police escorted a woman with a bandaged head from a brick building at 225 East Second Street.

Police confirmed that a Hispanic male, 33, was shot one time in the abdomen. Emergency services responded and transported the victim to Bellevue Hospital where he is listed in stable condition. A woman was also taken to Bellevue to be treated for a laceration to her head. The perpetrator fled the location and the investigation is still ongoing.

Denis Dang, 33, who lives across the street, told The Local that at about 8:30 a.m., “I heard crying. and then I looked out the window. He was laying on the ground, and she was laying over him in her pajamas.”

Although Mr Dang said “This is a great neighborhood,” when asked about how he feels about shootings in his neighborhood, he also said, “This is normal.” A resident who asked not to be named said there was a shooting at the same building last summer.

Meredith Hoffman and Suzanne Rozdeba contributed information to this report.

Dan Nguyen

Good morning, East Village.

As we trudge through the slushy snow – we got nine inches overnight – the cleanup is in full force. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, mindful of the mistakes of the Dec. 26 and 27 blizzard, when the city was left in a snowy, trashy mess, has declared a “weather emergency”. Tread carefully — more injuries are caused after the snow falls as we slip in icy patches and dodge puddles, reports NY1.

Speaking of snow, if you’re walking near First and First on your way to work, catch a glimpse of a tag by the late East Village artist Daniel “Dash” Snow, his work on the rolldown gate at Rogers Garden, which is under renovation.

Finally, more changes in view for the Bowery. Curbed reports on plans for the Salvation Army shelter with its familiar red sign at 347, sold for $7.6 million to a London-based boutique hotel group.

Kelly Samardak

Good morning, East Village.

Noise-burdened neighbors may be relieved to hear EV Grieve’s news that in the Community Board’s meeting last night, they didn’t renew hookah bar La Vie’s license. Of course, La Vie wasn’t so happy at the verdict.

Meanwhile, also check out Grieve for shots of yesterday’s bustle in Tompkins Square Park, with the filming of CBS police drama series Blue Bloods.

In case you haven’t heard yet, more snow is headed our way this evening. If you’re looking to stay warm to watch the flurry, you might venture to Lebanese restaurant Balade at 1st Avenue and 13th Street, where they’ll be offering a free glass of wine to toast their one-year anniversary.

Meanwhile, on a more somber note, Engine 28 has posted the funeral time for its noble firefighter, Roy Chelsen, whose death from cancer was announced yesterday.

Stay safe and stay warm.

Suzanne Rozdeba Firefighters at Engine 28 and Ladder 11 mourn Roy Chelsen, who died Sunday of bone-marrow cancer and was credited with saving the lives of 11 of his colleagues on Sept. 11.

Courtesy of FDNY

Already, the south tower of the World Trade Center had collapsed. But as Kevin Murray and Roy Chelsen huddled with their fellow firefighters for safety in the lobby of the north tower on Sept. 11 – debris and bodies falling all around them outside – no one knew what had happened.

“Roy ran out to leave, and realized the whole other building wasn’t there,” Mr. Murray recalled in an interview earlier today, describing how Mr. Chelsen, who died Sunday, saved the lives of 11 of his fellow firefighters. “He turned around, and ran all the way back to get us. He ran through it three times to get us out. He convinced everybody that we had to go because it looked like the north tower was coming down.”

In all, Mr. Murray and Mr. Chelsen worked side-by-side for eight years as firefighters in the East Village. And they were side-by-side again Sunday just hours before Mr. Chelsen died after a long battle with bone-marrow cancer at age 51.

At Engine 28 and Ladder 11 firehouses in the East Village, the mood was somber today after firefighters learned of the death of Mr. Chelsen, whose cancer had been linked to his work digging through the rubble at Ground Zero in the days and weeks after the attacks.

But Mr. Murray, who still works with Ladder 11 on East Second Street, said that the sadness at the firehouse was tinged with something else.

“Of course everybody’s upset,” said Mr. Murray, who’s 36. “But nobody wanted to see him suffer anymore.”
Read more…

Courtesy of Daniel L. Squadron State Senator Daniel L. Squadron, with constituents last fall, said that he favors expanding the East Village’s “bike network so that it’s a viable way for folks to get around to commute and recreate.”

A new year brings a new legislative agenda for State Senator Daniel L. Squadron, who – entering his second term – says that he wants to bring issues that are important to neighborhood residents to the forefront in Albany. In an interview with The Local, Senator Squadron, whose 25th District includes the East Village, the Lower East Side and parts of Brooklyn, discussed the importance of bike lanes, renewing housing laws, cracking down on careless drivers and noisy bars, and expanding East Village parks.

Bike lanes are a hot topic right now. But there are battles still brewing. What will you do this year to help smooth out the sometimes rocky relationship between bikers, businesses, the community and the Department of Transportation?

There’s an overall increase in the bike lanes use, and I think that is great. We are continuing to develop the bike network so that it’s a viable way for folks to get around to commute and recreate.

I like the idea of a bike share program. As we have more bicyclists and more access, which is a great thing, we need to increase compliance with laws. And we need to expand our bike networks for more people out there.

My frustration at bike lanes comes from two places: failure, in some cases, to be fully collaborative with communities and think through the consequences as we expand the network, and secondly, from those few who don’t follow the rules. Too often, the DOT implements lanes without preparing businesses to understand what the rules are. They’ve done it in ways that are not responsive to the community. DOT has gotten better at this; my job is to keep the pressure on. We need clarity about rules for bicyclists and members of the community, and work with community boards, businesses and residents before implementing them. We need opportunities for folks in bicycling communities and other groups to weigh in.
Read more…

Tim Schreier

Good morning, East Village.

We wake up to the sad news that Roy Chelsen, an East Village firefighter who rescued his colleagues from the north tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11, has died from cancer. The Daily News and DNAinfo have his story.

In other neighborhood news, the folks at East Village Radio were recognized in a light video on Huffington Post on the musical passions of the station’s DJs.

Meanwhile, many East Village residents were out and about this weekend, some of them mulching their trees at Tompkins Square Park, as The Epoch Times reports. Trees across the city are being mulched, including the 74-foot one at Rockefeller Center, the remains of which will go to Habitat for Humanity to build part of a family’s home.

If you feel like treating yourself after all that mulching – or just because it’s Monday – you might want to check out The Village Voice’s list of the most pretentious restaurants; two of them are in the East Village.

Emily Lawrence

Good morning, East Village.

We’re expecting up to five inches of snow today, and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg insists the city is ready to handle the storm, reports The Times. He was heavily criticized after the big blizzard on Dec. 26 and 27, when trash piled high, emergency response was slow, and New Yorkers couldn’t get to work. Let’s hope we won’t have to navigate around big mounds of trash in our neighborhood again.

Meanwhile, pedestrians will enjoy more open space at the busy intersection of Astor Place and Cooper Triangle. DNA reports that at a meeting Thursday night, Community Boards 2 and 3 passed a big redesign plan, unveiled by the Department of Design and Construction.

In culinary news, if you’re planning for brunch this weekend, 7A, a favorite breakfast spot for East Villagers, will unfortunately be closed for renovations until Jan. 14, writes EV Grieve. (And on the subject of building projects, Grieve also has a very cool look at the construction of 2 Cooper Square.)

If you’re still thirsty for the banned Four Loko, you might think twice after we tell you it’s now being turned into (gulp) gasoline. The Village Voice reports that a company called MXI Environmental Services is converting the alcoholic and caffeinated drink into, yes, petrol. Still thirsty?

Suzanne Rozdeba Pratik Shah, owner of the East Village Farm & Grocery, stands in front of what remains of the store after it was devastated by a fire Tuesday morning. Below: Mr. Shah greets a well-wisher outside the store.

When Pratik Shah’s family opened East Village Farm & Grocery 20 years ago, he was 14 years old. He quickly got to know the customers as he helped his parents, who had emigrated from India, run their first, successful business on the corner of Second Avenue and Fourth Street.

“Our customers watched me grow up. I remember being a teenager there, and then I worked there through college. It’s a family business,” Mr. Shah, 34, told The Local. “It didn’t make us rich. It was more for survival. This is what we have, and this is what we will have, if it’s reconstructed. We are ready to do whatever it takes to bring this place back.”

On Tuesday at 4 a.m., a fire roared through the business, leaving the store, which Mr. Shah owns with his father, in ruins. Seven residents of the six-story building were treated for minor injuries, officials said; all of the injured were taken to Beth Israel Hospital. The fire, which was confined to the first floor, was declared under control within an hour. Mr. Shah said that the Fire Department told him it seems there was an electrical fire, but officials say the cause is still under investigation.

Mr. Shah estimates the damage at close to $500,000.

“This business is how I support my family,” said Mr. Shah, who has a wife, Niti Parekh, and 6-year-old son, Sahil. As he stood outside the boarded-up bodega, customer after customer walked by to offer apologies. One gave him a huge hug, and said, “It’ll be alright.”

He found out about the fire when his cashier, who was working the late shift at the 24-hour store, called him at 4 a.m. that morning. “I had just come back from India after a two-week break. They don’t usually call me then, so I knew there was something wrong,” he said. “There were sparks in the ceiling lights. It was a flammable drop ceiling. In the area where it started, we had paper products. It all caught fire really quickly.

“The workers tried to open water jugs and throw it on the fire, but they only did it to the point they thought it was safe. Then the FDNY came and took it from there.”

Mr. Shah arrived 15 minutes after he got the call. The damage was so bad that it took the better part of 24 hours for him to be able to see what was left of his store. “There’s a lot of water damage,” he said. “Most of the inventory, equipment and infrastructure have been damaged. It’s just something we have to deal with.”

He’s been busy meeting with his insurance investigator and an architect to assess the damage, and see how quickly he can rebuild the family business. “This was an area which was affordable 20 years ago,” Mr. Shah said. “The first line of work my father got was in a convenience store, and he found it interesting because of all the people. He wasn’t skilled in any profession, but he said, ‘This is something I can do.’ And he loved being around people all the time.”

“We’re hopeful that we can get it running again in one or two months,” Mr. Shah said. “It takes time to rebuild. We’ll recreate what we had. We’ll come back. We will.”

Suzanne Rozdeba Mr. Shah has been busy meeting with his insurance investigator and an architect to assess the damage, and determine how quickly he can rebuild the family business.

Phillip Kalantzis Cope

Good morning, East Village.

While you were sleeping (unless the sirens awoke you) our neighborhood witnessed yet another fire, on East Seventh Street near First Avenue. Officials said that the blaze broke out around 11:40 Wednesday night at 127 East Seventh; the fire was declared under control in about 40 minutes. Two firefighters were hospitalized with minor injuries and investigators are still working to determine the cause. The blaze is the third in the neighborhood this week after a pair of fires Tuesday morning. DNAinfo has more information and there are photos at EV Grieve.

In school news, on this first week back for the semester, we’d like to point you to DNAinfo’s report on an East Village charter school suing the city to stay open.

Meanwhile, if you’re hungry for brunch, you might be tempted by The Wall Street Journal’s blurb on Jewish-fusion foods at Octavia’s Porch on Avenue B.

This post has been updated to correct an error; an earlier version misstated the location of the restaurant Octavia’s Porch.

Suzanne Rozdeba A day after a fire that destroyed the 6th Street Kitchen restaurant and severely damaged several apartments above it, displaced residents of the building are still trying to cope with damage from the blaze and an uncertain timetable for a return to their homes. Below: Damage to a third-floor apartment.

Paul Canetti

When David Gold stopped by his apartment on East Sixth street Tuesday evening, hours after a fire ripped through the restaurant on the first floor, he couldn’t bear the smell.

“It smells terrible. It’s like being around the biggest campfire you’ve ever seen – in a closed apartment,” Mr. Gold told The Local earlier today. “You get a headache after being in there for 10 minutes. There was no way I could sleep there. It’s that bad.”

Instead, Mr. Gold spent the night at his girlfriend’s apartment. “I’m assuming I’ll be there at least a week until it’s cleaned up.”

Mr. Gold’s apartment was one of eight that firefighters stormed through after a blaze broke out in 6th Street Kitchen, the restaurant on the first floor of the building at 507 East Sixth Street. While the building’s management has already begun repair work, there is no timetable yet for when residents might be able to return. In the meantime, Mr. Gold and his displaced neighbors have taken temporary refuge with friends and family.

Even as residents adjusted to their jarring, new living arrangements, a fire department spokesman told The Local today that officials were continuing to investigate two fires that broke out there yesterday morning, and an earlier blaze at a bodega on Second Avenue and Fourth Street.

While Mr. Gold applauded the work of the firefighters, he’s left with torn-up floors, ripped-open walls, and broken furniture. “There’s so much smoke damage that I don’t know yet if it can be cleaned. If damage is bad enough, you have to replace your whole wardrobe.”

The management company of the East Sixth Street building already had workers repairing apartments last night, said Mr. Gold. “They’re cleaning up the walls, floors, and ceilings, and the smashed windows and doors. The problem is, I can’t really go back there until it’s done. Hopefully, they’ll do a quick job.”

While Mr. Gold’s apartment will eventually be restored, 6th Street Kitchen, which had quickly become a neighborhood favorite, is in ruins and its future remains uncertain.

“Chris is a wreck,” Annie Wang, a publicist for the restaurant, told The Local referring to Chris Genoversa, the restaurant’s owner. “Right now, we’re going through all our options. The staff is taking it pretty hard.”

Ms. Wang said Mr. Genoversa was told by the fire department that there seemed to have been an electrical fire in the restaurant, but an investigation is still pending. “It was the FDNY that called him yesterday morning to tell him about the fire. When I talked to him, he was just speechless. You could tell in the tone of his voice he was completely torn apart. He’s invested so much money into the place. We were all really optimistic about the New Year.”

“There are still a lot of things going on before Chris can make a decision on what to do next,” Ms. Wang said. “I don’t know how long it would take to fix the place up. It’s a complete mess.”

Michelle Rick

Good morning, East Village.

After Tuesday morning’s fires, if you feel local blazes have run rampant of late, you’re not alone. This morning EV Grieve scrolls through shots of 13 neighborhood fires it’s covered since May.

On a more positive note, the Historic Districts Council has deemed the Bowery as one of its top six places to preserve, writes Bowery Boogie.

DNAinfo reports further on the Bowery Alliance’s continuing effort to limit building heights.

Now, if only we could get our trash problem resolved soon.

A slideshow of images of this morning’s fire at 6th Street Kitchen by NYU Journalism’s Suzanne Rozdeba and community contributors Paul Canetti and David Gold.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

David Gold Flames erupt as firefighters attempt to enter the 6th Street Kitchen around 7:30 this morning. A second blaze around mid-morning forced another evacuation for the residents of apartments above the restaurant.

Shortly after the tenants of a Sixth Street apartment building were allowed to return to their homes after an early morning fire, they were forced to evacuate a second time while firefighters put out a lingering pocket of flames.

The second evacuation, which occurred around 9:40 a.m., came after firefighters extinguished a blaze that gutted the 6th Street Kitchen, a restaurant located on the ground floor of the building at 507 East Sixth Street.

A Fire Department spokesman said that fire marshals at the scene came across areas that were still smoldering on the first floor. They called for several units to return. “It wasn’t a major operation. It was put out in about 20 minutes,” said the spokesman.

Paul Canetti, 27, who lives on the building’s third floor said that he had returned to his apartment after being allowed back inside by firefighters.

“Within 30 seconds of being in the apartment, we couldn’t breathe, so we said, ‘No, we will not stay here,’ ” Mr. Canetti said. “We went back downstairs. Within five minutes, we hear them radioing for firefighters to come back because the fire was still burning between the first and second floor.”

Mr. Canetti said he and other tenants were again forced to evacuate.

Around 1 p.m., Mr. Canetti said they were let back into their apartments. “The apartment is a war zone. It’s pretty terrible. Everything is knocked over and completely covered in soot.”

The American Red Cross was at the scene and gave disaster relief paper work to the tenants. “They said we should call them if we need a place to stay, and they would put us up in a hotel for a few days,” he said. “I think I’m going to take them up on that because I definitely cannot stay in my apartment.”

Suzanne Rozdeba Firefighters at the scene of a blaze at Kitchen, a restaurant on East Sixth Street. The fire was one of two this morning in the East Village that sent eight people to the hospital with minor injuries.

Eight people were treated for minor injuries after two separate early-morning fires that broke out in the East Village today, one that destroyed a restaurant on East Sixth Street, and the other in a bodega on Second Avenue.

The first blaze occurred at East Fourth Street and Second Avenue around 4 a.m. at the East Village Farm Groceries store, the authorities said. Seven residents of the six-story building were treated for minor injuries, officials said; all of the injured were taken to Beth Israel Hospital. The fire, which was confined to the first floor, was declared under control within an hour.

The second fire, at 507 East Sixth Street, occurred around 7:30 a.m. inside 6th Street Kitchen, a restaurant on the first floor. The authorities said that a firefighter sustained a minor injury while battling the blaze and was being treated at Bellevue Hospital.

Deputy Chief Robert Carroll told The Local that firefighters had to cut their way through the restaurant’s roll-down security gate before they could put out the fire.

The restaurant was all but destroyed by the blaze. “It’s pretty bad,” Chief Carroll said of the damage. “It’s all burnt out. We had to go in there, take the ceilings down, check for any hidden fire.”

Paul Canetti, 27, who lives on the building’s third floor and was with his girlfriend, told The Local, “I woke up at 7:30. We heard the beeps from the fire alarms. We started to smell smoke. We opened the front door, and you couldn’t see in the hallway. It was filled with smoke.”

After exiting the building safely, he said, “A couple minutes later, the fire trucks came. They cut the locks off the restaurant gate. When they lifted it up, the flames came shooting out.”

David Gold, 32, who also lives on the third floor, said, “We heard four, loud pops. They sounded like gunshots. That woke me up. Then the smoke alarm went off and we came down and called 911.”

Tom Claxton, 35, who was staying at a friend’s apartment in the building, said, “I heard this large, cracking noise, and then the fire alarm started. A few minutes later I smelled smoke. I panicked, grabbed my laptop and a couple of things and got out. I just got in last night from London, and this was my first night here. Most of my things are still in a suitcase upstairs.”

The authorities said that investigators are still trying to determine what caused both blazes.

Suzanne Rozdeba A firefighter surveys the damage to the 6th Street Kitchen.

Firefighters are investigating the cause of two separate blazes that broke out in the East Village this morning. The first fire, near Second Avenue and East Fourth Street, occurred about 4 a.m. and was placed under control in about an hour; the second blaze, near East Sixth Street and Avenue A, erupted around 7:30 and was placed under control in about 45 minutes. There were no immediate reports of injuries in either blaze; reporters from The Local are on the scene and will post a full report as soon as we have more details.—Suzanne Rozdeba