Daniel Maurer

Yes, indeed: we’re cruising for contributors! Want to write for The Local? Hop on board by using our nifty Virtual Assignment Desk. Just pitch us a story (whether it’s something you want to write or something you want us to cover) and we’ll get right back to you. If you end up contributing, we’ll even give you gas money.

And if you have photos of the neighborhood to share, post ’em to our Flickr group.

Lila Selim A parking lot at Campos is slated for redevelopment.

Mayor Bloomberg released more details today about the New York City Housing Authority’s controversial plan to lease its property to private developers, indicating that a request for proposals will go out around the end of April and developers for the sites will be chosen between August and November.

State Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh, one of the elected officials who had demanded more transparency and community outreach from the housing authority, called the Mayor’s response (below) “the most specific document available” regarding the agency’s plan to allow private development on its property. He also pointed to other positive steps in recent days. During a meeting with the state assembly’s housing committee Friday, N.Y.C.H.A. revealed that it would ask prospective developers to propose security and energy upgrades for the affected complexes, said Mr. Kavanagh.

For the first time, the housing authority has also posted information about its plan on its Website.

Still, members of Community Board 3 are concerned that they won’t have a chance to consider the plan until days before the request for proposals goes out.
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Sarah Darville Elderly residents held a “memorial” for Sasaki Garden in June.

A judge has dismissed one of two lawsuits against New York University’s controversial plan to expand in Greenwich Village.

Rent-stabilized tenants of Washington Square Village sued N.Y.U. in August, claiming that their landlord’s plan to redevelop a park-like courtyard in order to make way for two new high-rise buildings would illegally eliminate a “required service.”

The tenants had argued that the 2-acre “park-like area,” which includes a locked children’s playground and the historic Sasaki Garden, was one of the “required services [N.Y.U.] is obligated (as a rent-stabilized landlord) to provide without interruption to its rent stabilized tenants,” as part of Washington Square Village’s original “towers-in-the-park” design.

The lawsuit sought to block N.Y.U.’s plan to first eliminate the private park (along with the underground parking garage on which it sits) and then redevelop it as a “much smaller public park.”
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Meghan Keneally

Is Jimmy “The Rent Is Too Damn High” McMillan a fan of 7-Eleven?

Damn straight, he is.

“I applaud 7-Eleven!” the mayoral candidate told The Local earlier today, striking a decidedly different tone than the anti-chain activists who’ve been plastering the neighborhood with stickers reading “Shopping 7-Eleven? Shame On You!”

“I hope 7-Elevens pop up all over the place,” he added.

Mr. McMillan was spotted shopping at 7-Eleven last week, but he isn’t ashamed. “Anything that opens so people can grab a quick snack on their way to work, I welcome that,” he said, later adding, “The reason you see places like 7-Eleven and Walmart popping up all over the country is because people can’t afford to shop on Fifth Avenue. People complain that 7-Eleven is turning the East Village into a mall but they are not talking about the real issues that will get America back on track.”
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Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

Now playing at The Box: “Eliogabalo,” “a Baroque Italian opera by Francesco Cavalli, written in 1667 but never performed in the composer’s lifetime, partly because the story was a shocker even for Venetian audiences used to seeing all manner of wild sexuality and political corruption on the opera stage.”

A local resident pens an op-ed: “For many, Soho House coming to the Lower East Side is just another stage in the gentrification process. As New Yorkers, we have come to view gentrification as just a natural part of urban life. However, Soho House’s plan for our neighborhood reaches beyond gentrification.” [The Lo-Down]

Empellon Cocina and David Chang are among the finalists for the James Beard Foundation Awards. [Grub Street]
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The chef-owner of Candela Candela has returned to his roots with a new Israeli and Mediterranean restaurant, Local 92.

“I wanted to do the stuff that I know how to do the best,” explained Shai Zvibak. “I can do Italian and French, but why walk to the side when you can walk straight?”

Where Candela Candela once offered Italian fusion, the Israeli native now focuses on dishes based on traditional family recipes, such as shakshuka, falafel and baba ganoush. “It’s stuff from my childhood, stuff that my mom cooked — my grandma, my friends’ moms,” said Mr. Zvibak.

The menu, below, features “bissim,” or small bites, designed for sharing, as well as nine different varieties of hummus. Those not in a sharing mood can choose from a list of larger entrees, including a falafel-crusted salmon served with cucumber dill yogurt and Israeli meatballs served on a couscous nest, as well as a rotating roster of daily specials.
See the menu…

Daniel Maurer

John “Crash” Matos finished his mural at Bowery and Houston today, according to a security guard. The paint was still fresh — and we do mean fresh — when we stopped by minutes ago.

Daniel Maurer

Speaking of Rockaway, the folks behind Death & Co. have brought a piece of the peninsula to Russia. Sort of.

David Kaplan and Alex Day, proprietors of Proprietors LLC, recently helped a Russian restaurant group open a cocktail bar called Far Rockaway.

The concept for the “pseudo ex-pat bar” evolved months before Hurricane Sandy brought national notoriety to the neighborhood, said Mr. Kaplan. “What we really wanted to capture was the idea of Far Rockaway as a local escape – it’s close and easy to get to but it’s still kind of not within your every day.”

Don’t expect Rockaway kitsch on the walls, as at Chinatown’s new bar Forgetmenot. Mr. Kaplan and Mr. Day went back and forth about whether to keep the name Far Rockaway in the wake of Sandy, but they knew for certain they didn’t want to open a theme bar.  Read more…

Daniel Maurer

The “Rent Is Too Damn High”-mobile was spotted outside of the 7-Eleven on St. Marks today while Jimmy McMillan yucked it up at the checkout counter. That’s right: the Man of the People, in The Man’s convenience store! Will the No 7-Eleven folks smack a “Shame on You” sticker on his ride?

We’ve asked the mayoral candidate where he stands on Pringles, and will let you know if we hear back. To be fair, he is a champion of bodegas — at least, when there’s free ice cream involved.

“The Tomorrow People” is filming in the neighborhood next Wednesday and Thursday, per signs posted on East Sixth Street near Cooper Square. According to Deadline, the CW revival of the 1970s British sci-fi series (previously revived in the ’90s and ’00s) stars Mark Pellegrino (best known as Jacob on “Lost”) and “is about several young people from around the world who represent the next stage in human evolution and work together to defeat the forces of evil.”

Daniel Maurer

An outpost of UPS has opened at 34 Third Avenue, where Atlas Barber School went out of business after 64 years. Will the neighborhood’s custodians scoff at another chain, or will they welcome an alternative to the local post office?

Needless to say, Stuyvesant Station has only received more hatred from Yelpers since we last checked in. Here’s a not-so-glowing four-star review.

This was the best trip to the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office I’ve ever had. Clearly they have made some drastic improvements since the last time I patronized the establishment. Oh, where to begin.

First, I was pleasantly surprised that the owners had decided to add doorman service. I nice homeless man happily opened the door for me with a smile as I entered. It being cold out, it was good I did not have to take my hands out of my pocket for this. Read more…

As expected, Heart n’ Soul opened on East Third Street last week, which only triggered more nostalgia for the restaurant it replaced, Mama’s Food Shop.

@SarahMShaker tweeted, “Still Miss Mama’s food shop so hope heartnsoulnyc brings back what I loved to the neighborhood.”

@WilsonAlert wrote, “RIP to one of my favorite food spots in the East Village…”

@kikaeats struck a more optimistic tone: “Ideal replacement to Mama’s Food Shop. Pls make great fried chicken!”

Oh, and last month a Yelper left a proper epitaph on the Mama’s Yelp page.
See the menu…

Samantha Balaban

When it opens next week, Mentaikou will have something to distinguish it from the ramen joint a couple of doors down, and every other ramen joint in the East Village.

Four words: Build Your Own Roll.

Wilson Fu, the restaurant’s owner, says diners will be able to think outside the bento box and create their own, personalized sushi from a list of 50 ingredients. “We put your name in front of the creation,” he said. So go ahead Rick, invent the Rick Roll. Or if you’re not feeling creative, order the Satan Roll, a deep-fried number topped with “chef special sauce.” (We didn’t ask.) Read more…

Phillip Kalantzis Cope

Good Morning, East Village

11,000 old pay phones will become digital kiosks. |Hyperallergic|

Jennifer Esposito, known for her work in Blue Bloods and gluten free baked goods, plans to shoot her new reality series, “Playing With Fire,” in the East Village. |DNA.info]

Yuji Ramen is coming soon to Smorgasburg at Whole Foods Bowery. [Whole Foods]
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Ray LeMoine

It’s party time at Zaragoza tonight. The Mexican deli on Avenue A turned 13 tonight – on March 13, ’13. There’s free cake all night, and a rabbit in green mole sauce special. And Reuben Martinez, 28, says beer is coming back soon. Mr. Martinez and his mom and dad say thank you to all their customers and hope for many more years.

Daniel Maurer FAB Cafe

The new iteration of the Bowery Poetry Club isn’t the only recent change in the neighborhood’s cultural landscape. Shakeups are also in store for the homes of The Living Theatre, FAB Cafe, and Red Room.

Monday, at a meeting of Community Board 3’s liquor licensing committee, Stephen Michael Rondel, founder of the New Acting Company, revealed plans to open a new cultural venue in the former home of The Living Theatre. The committee voted unanimously to support a bid for beer and wine at a concession stand operated by Tyler Maganzini, owner of the Black Mountain Winehouse and the Union Grounds in Brooklyn.

The new theater at 21 Clinton Street will be home of Celebration of Whimsy (COW), a children’s and community theater group associated with the New Acting Company. In addition to hosting theatrical productions (the back room will be turned into a rehearsal space), the venue will be open to the community for things like “meditation groups, doctors who want to make presentations, improv groups, one-man shows, one-woman shows,” Mr. Rondel told The Local. Read more…

Andrew Cote Andrew Cote’s Bee Bus

When a bee buzzes in your window, you’ll all but crash your car to get it out. Not so with Andrew Cote: the beekeeper bought a school bus for the express purpose of filling it with bees.

The Bee Bus will be a mobile classroom for teaching kids about honeybees and beekeeping. “We’ve torn out the interior and we’re planning to build a Plexiglas room for the beehives inside the bus,” said Mr. Cote, who sells honey at neighborhood Greenmarkets and occasionally helps fight bee swarms on the Bowery.

With the bus, he’ll be able to bring the field trip to the school, which solves the problem of giving students access to his personal hives. “Most places that I keep my hives don’t have the correct insurance to cover 30 kids on a rooftop, so it’s difficult to bring school groups on tours,” Mr. Cote explained. Read more…

Scott Lynch

Good Morning, East Village.

A bank manager who allegedly stole over $300,000 from a customer’s account was apprehended. [New York Post]

“After four consecutive months of modest rental growth, Manhattan rents are accelerating again, according to a monthly rental market report released today by Douglas Elliman.” [The Real Deal]

St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery needs donations to help “ramp up disability access.” [DNAinfo]
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