Natalie Rinn

In a protest organized by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, a handful of representatives from the N.Y.U. Grad Student Organizing Committee distributed flyers outside of Kimball Hall at 246 Greene Street, where N.Y.U. President John Sexton was expected to hold a town hall with students at 4 p.m. The flyers, also signed by N.Y.U. Faculty Against the Sexton Plan, demanded that attendees of the meeting ask why Mr. Sexton was not respecting the group’s right to organize.

Check back here for an update from the town hall, where the subject of the university’s controversial expansion plan just might come up.

Update: N.Y.U. President John Sexton: ‘We Need More Space’

Daniel Maurer 100 Third Avenue (l) and 219 First Avenue (r).

A couple of new apartment buildings are showing themselves off today. On Monday, EV Grieve noticed the netting coming down at 219 First Avenue, a four-story building that has been enlarged to six stories with a penthouse. And this morning, a couple of blocks down 13th Street, The Local spotted scaffolding coming down at 100 Third Avenue. Originally a four-story building (and the site of theaters such as Blank’s Winter Garden, Sans Souci, and the Lyric), it now boasts seven floors, one of which will house the new Nevada Smiths. (The bar had hoped to relocate there this month.) We’ll have more about these buildings soon, but in the meantime admire(?) their shiny new facades.

We’ll save you from having to download a QR reader: The “best kept secret” alluded to in this flyer posted near Astor Place is in fact a gym with several locations throughout the city. Note to whoever posted this: once you’ve built a waterfall and a two-story rock wall, you’re not exactly a secret.

But it got us thinking: what is the East Village’s best-kept secret, anyway? It sure as heck isn’t Angel’s Share or Decibel anymore. Is it that you can get a free mini arepa with your drink during happy hour at Guayoyo? (Or is it the very name of that restaurant – we can never remember it.) Is it University of the Streets? Katinka? The fact that overnight parking is actually kind of a breeze on certain blocks? Is it the after-hours parties we hear are still alive and well in the neighborhood? (More on that later.) Is it the trick for skipping the line at Ippudo, which last weekend was 80-people long shortly before opening? Is it the identity of the owner of the private bike rack? Or is it the bar where you can get $2 beers, the occasional buyback, and a seat on a Friday night? (No way are we giving that one up.)

You tell us!

Kathryn Doyle

At a planning workshop on Monday night, the Department of Transportation asked residents of the East Village and Lower East Side to help it pare down a glut of suggestions about where it should place bicycles when it debuts its bike-share program this summer – but by the end of the session, its map had only grown denser with recommendations.

At the workshop, sponsored in part by the program’s operator, Alta Bicycle Share – which has launched similar programs in Boston, Montreal, and Washington, D.C. – the department unveiled a map in which its own preferences for kiosk locations were marked in blue and the suggestions of local business owners were marked in purple. The department had divided the map into 1,000-square-foot quadrants. By May, it hopes to decide where each kiosk will be placed – about one per every quadrant, or roughly one every four blocks.

With a multitude of suggested locations and just 600 stations planned in an area that includes Manhattan south of 79th Street and parts of Brooklyn plus satellite locations in the Bronx and Staten Island, the department asked residents to help it identify the worthiest locations and eliminate others. But the workshop’s couple dozen participants didn’t do much to narrow things down. Read more…

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

Gothamist reports that an estimated 200 people – including Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary, who performed Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” and other songs – converged on Union Square yesterday to protest police brutality. All Hip Hop reported that Dr. Cornel West and Norman Siegel were also expected at the rally protesting the “oppression of the Occupy movement.” You can see more of Scott Lynch’s photos of the event in The Local’s Flickr pool.

The Daily News has a shot of a mural depicting Jeremy Lin that graffiti-artist collective Tats Cru has painted on a wall on East Second Street: “The mural was commissioned by online culture magazine Animal for several thousand dollars, and will be up for at least a month.”

Speaking of street art, DNA Info notices that The Mosaic Man, who has been selling belt buckles on his own site for quite a while, is now selling them on Etsy. Which somehow prompts Gothamist to say he has “sold out.” Read more…

Earlier today, The Local published its weekly police blotter. Now one recent crime victim tells her story.

Clarissa Wei is fingerprinted by the police
so that they can eliminate her prints from evidence.

Maybe I watch one too many crime dramas, but I really didn’t expect the NYPD to care as much as they did when my roommate and I were robbed.

Someone had broken into our humble East Village apartment in broad daylight, swiped a DSLR camera, an iPad, a good chunk of cash and a handful of sentimental jewelry. Not the brightest of burglars (none of the necklaces were worth over $20), but the incident did initially leave us in hysteria.

I was the first one home and the place was in complete disarray. Drawers opened, bags on the couch, toiletries on the bed.

“I’ve been robbed,” I screamed when my boyfriend finally picked up the phone.

He laughed, presumably thinking I was referring to a shopping deal.

“No, seriously – I’ve been robbed.” I cried on the phone while he tried to calm me down. “What do I do, what do I do,” I yelled, frantically running around to see what else I was missing: my headphones, my nail polish, my money. My heart sank when I saw my jewelry box gone. I had spent years collecting earrings from my travels around the globe.

“Do I call the cops?” I asked him.

“No, what can they even do?” he said.

As I came to learn, a lot more than you would think.  Read more…

Kathryn Doyle

As one descends the stairs into the gallery space below Toy Tokyo, the room stretches out into a long rectangle, roughly the width of a subway platform. Pieces of painted aluminum are illuminated by track lighting – another echo of an underground subway station. What better setting for the works of John Matos, whose art career began when he spray-painted murals on subway cars in his native Bronx in the early 1970s.

At the opening of “Remnant Memories” at TT Underground on Friday night, Mr. Matos, also known as Crash, said the jagged-edged aluminum works were his favorites. “I like the ones with the bumps, you know, the texture,” he said. His friend Metal Man Ed, a West Coast sculptor, created the aluminum canvases to reflect subway cars, with grommet details, and Mr. Matos then spray-painted them.

As he spoke, Mr. Matos was surrounded by a crowd of polite admirers. Street style (bright sweatshirts and caps) mixed genially with Fifth Avenue chic (bright red-soled Louboutins). The artist’s own outfit was more understated: black Adidas sneakers, jeans, and a modest leather jacket atop a ribbed sweater with the collar turned up. Read more…

Here’s The Local’s latest installment of “Police And Thieves,” your weekly roundup of crime. What follows are the latest reports from Feb. 12 to Feb. 19, sorted by the type of incident. Our map of all of crime since Jan. 15 is at bottom.

Assault

• A early-morning brawl on East Fourth Street resulted in a man being clobbered with an aluminum baseball bat on Feb. 18. The 22-year-old victim told the police he got in an argument with the suspect on East Fourth Street between First and Second Avenues at around 5 a.m., after which the suspect punched him in the face and clocked him with the bat, causing swelling to his face and a cut.

Robberies

• A 21-year-old told the police he was on Third Avenue between 10th and 11th Streets at around 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 17 when he was blindsided and knocked out. When he came to, his wallet and watch were missing.
• A man was clobbered with a rock in the hallway of the Jacob Riis Houses on Feb. 19. The 39-year-old victim said he was in a building on Avenue D near East Seventh Street at around 1:15 a.m. when two men struck him and stole his cellphone and wallet. The victim would not cooperate further with the police.
• A thief confronted a man in a playground of the Jacob Riis Houses on Feb. 18 and stole a whopping $2,300 from him. The 30-year-old told the police he was crossing through the playground on FDR Drive near East 14th Street at around 4:45 a.m. when the suspect punched him in the face and demanded money. The victim said he handed over $40, but the suspect demanded more. The victim then fled into the lobby of a nearby building, where the two wrestled. The suspect — who is said to have brandished a glass bottle — eventually gained the upper hand and stole the wad of cash from the victim’s pocket. Read more…

Phillip Kalantzis-Cope

Good morning, East Village.

The Lower East Side Preservation Initiative tips us off to an event, “Germany in America: Kleindeutschland and New York City’s Lower East Side,” that will include an illustrated talk by Dr. Richard Haberstroh, a genealogist, about the East Village’s Little Germany, which was once the third-largest population of Germans in the world. It’s tomorrow from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Neighborhood Preservation Center at 232 East 11th Street, between Second and Third Avenues. E-mail LESPI-nyc.org or call (212) 477-9869 to make a free reservation.

The folks at Horse Trade Theater tell us that some productions from Frigid New York festival – “Fear Factor: Canine Edition,” “Little Lady,” “The Terrible Manpain of Umbertto MacDougal,” “The Rope in Your Hands,” “Missed Connections,” “Coosje,” and “Rabbit Island” – have been held over and Frigid Hangovers will run March 5 to 10 at The Kraine Theater. Tickets can be purchased online here.

Speaking of the Frigid festival, East Village Arts hears from Tim Murphy of “Blind to Happiness,” which “aims to leave the audience questioning their own perceptions and derivations of happiness.” Read more…

Daniel Maurer A fire truck at the scene last night.

A fire in a high-rise building brought engines and ambulances to the Lillian Wald Houses last night.

The Fire Department said that shortly before 9:33 p.m., a blaze broke out in the upper reaches of a trash compactor chute at 950 East Fourth Walk, a 14-story building near Avenue D. It was under control within about half an hour. One firefighter suffered a minor injury but didn’t need to go to the hospital.

The Fire Department was unable to say what caused the incident, but fires sometimes occur in trash chutes after they’ve become clogged.

Natalie Rinn Mr. Berman, right, at a protest on Thursday.

One of the most vocal opponents of New York University’s proposed expansion near Washington Square Park wants Borough President Scott M. Stringer to hold a public hearing before making an advisory decision about the controversial plan next month.

Andrew Berman, Executive Director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, drafted a letter to Mr. Stringer last Friday as the Borough President began his month-long review of the university’s proposal. The note, which came on the heels of Community Board 2’s unanimous advisory decision last Thursday against the expansion plan, was also signed by 15 community members, including block association leaders, preservationists, and Mark Crispin Miller of N.Y.U. Faculty Against the Sexton Plan. Read more…

Look for EVO alumni wearing these pins tomorrow.

If you haven’t heard by now, you’ve probably been living under a rock (or smoking too much banana peel): Tomorrow evening, we’re hosting a groovy little happening to celebrate the opening of “Blowing Minds: The East Village Other, the Rise of Underground Comix and the Alternative Press, 1965-1972.”

In a series of personal essays published over the past several weeks, some of the wonderfully warped minds behind EVO have been looking back on the pioneering alternative paper, and the era from which it emerged. Tomorrow, some of them – including Ed Sanders, Alex Gross, Peter Leggieri, Dan Rattiner, Steven Heller, and Claudia Dreifus – will appear on a panel moderated by John McMillan, author of “Smoking Typewriters: The Sixties Underground Press and the Rise of Alternative Media in America.”

If you can’t R.S.V.P. and make it to 20 Cooper Square, 6th floor, check back here at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow, when The Local will be streaming the event live. Otherwise join us in person – we’ll provide the booze if you BYOB (Bring Your Own Bananas).

Evan Bleier

Patricia James has been a resident of the Two Bridges public housing complex for more than half of her 67 years. About two years ago, mice began entering her apartment through holes underneath the radiators. The rodents, she said, were eating her food, nesting in her clothes and disrupting her family life. “At night my grandchildren can’t stay over,” she told The Local. “They get in the bed.” She said the New York City Housing Authority failed to fix the problem, so she stopped paying her $517-per-month rent.

In March of 2011, the Housing Authority deemed Ms. James chronically delinquent and began eviction proceedings. Between her back rent and other fees, she now owes more than $14,000.

After a month of negotiations between her lawyer and the city, the two parties have come to an agreement in principle, and Ms. James has readied a cashier’s check for $15,000. But she hasn’t yet turned it over. The Housing Authority, she said, has pledged to allow her to remain in her apartment so long as she pays the back rent, but it has refused to put it in writing — an odd tactic that her lawyer says he has never confronted in 35 years of practice. Read more…

A volley of kicks and punches were unleashed as fights broke out on the Bowery on Friday night, but it wasn’t what you think: More than 500 people had descended on the lavish Beaux Arts building that once housed the Bowery Savings Bank to watch “Combat at the Capitale.” Presented by Lou Neglia, a three-time champion of the World Kickboxing Association, the night showcased some of the top kickboxers from gyms in New York City and beyond.

Shortly after 8 p.m., the first of the evening’s 16 scheduled bouts began. Wearing headgear, gloves and shin guards, Rich Schaefer and Nazin Sadykov battled each other for three two-minute rounds, their fists hissing through the air and legs thumping against each other. Fans sipping beer and pricy mixed drinks from hilariously tiny plastic cups shouted for the occasional “uppercut!” and “leg sweep!” in thick New York accents. Mr. Schaefer prevailed over Mr. Sadykov in a close decision, having gained the edge on two out of the three judges’ scorecards.

Almost every bout of the evening was a close one. That was no accident. When gyms contact Mr. Neglia with the fighters they want to put up for a match, he weighs them closely.  “I take pride that I make the fights even,” he said during a phone interview on Saturday. He added, “No one wants to watch an uneven fight.” Read more…

EMA Photography/Elizabeth Allen. TastyKeish and Bronx Uber Villain

For almost five years, Bondfire has served as a monthly family reunion for New York’s hip-hop scene, but the open mic will end its run tomorrow night at the Bowery Poetry Club.

After starting the event in 2007, musician Ausar Paumam’ki handed the reigns to current co-host Tony Walker, a veteran of hip-hop open mic circuits better know as The Bronx Über Villain. “We made Bondfire warm,” said Mr. Walker. “An inviting, but still no nonsense place where one takes pride in being on our stage. We’re actually a listening, encouraging, true community.”

Co-host TastyKeish (born Keisha Datés) was asked to become a permanent fixture after hosting the first annual all-female Bondfire. She said that the monthly’s non-judgmental vibe meant that it was more diverse than most. “Anyone can come through and rock, and you won’t be scared to come back,” she said, “but you will get some criticism.” Read more…

A space that briefly housed a poker club –  until it closed in August after a gunpoint robbery –  is now home to a deli. As you can see from the exterior shot in the slideshow above, the Fresno Gourmet Deli at 27 Avenue C is much less shy about advertising itself than the poker club was.

Working the counter last night, Bee Alsadi said the deli opened a little over a week ago, and is operated by his family, which owns seven other locations in Harlem, the Bronx, and soon in Hell’s Kitchen. He claimed most of the stock was organic, pointing to shelves full of packaged nuts, and said prices would be cheap, with specials such as a free soda with a $3 cold-cut sandwich and free coffee with a $2.50 egg-and-cheese. Free delivery is available at (212) 353-1110. Read more…

Meredith Bennett-Smith

On Friday, the city’s Department of Education released data reports for roughly 18,000 teachers at public schools, grades 4-8. SchoolBook, the Times’ and WNYC’s education site, has posted the most recent data, based on students’ gains on state math and English exams in the 2009-10 school year. The site also posted career scores based on several years of data.

Below you’ll find just some of SchoolBook’s information about the East Village, indicating the percentage of teachers in each school that received a ranking of “above average” or “high” from the city. Click on a school’s name to find detailed information about each teacher for whom data was released, including the teacher’s ranking (on a percentile scale of 0-99) compared to similar teachers (note that the margins of error here vary widely and are sometimes quite high), the scores his or her students were expected to receive based on their demographics and past test performances, the scores the students actually received, and a score known as “value added” that gauges the difference between what was expected and how students performed. You can also read the teacher’s response whenever available.

Originally requested by The Times and other media organizations in 2010, the numbers were made public after the union, citing flaws in methodology and privacy concerns, unsuccessfully sued the city to prevent their release (the Department of Education now says it didn’t want to name teachers). Their controversial publication has sparked an outcry among educators such as Cara Cibener, a teacher at Tompkins Square Middle School who told The Wall Street Journal that the rankings were “completely misleading.” Parents and educators: read the data and tell us what you think – are they a fair representation of the East Village’s schools and teachers? Read more…

The police say this is the gun that Luis Martinez fired at two police officers early this morning. N.Y.P.D.

If you were wondering why those helicopters were hovering around the neighborhood early this morning here’s your answer: two police officers narrowly avoided being shot while chasing a man down Columbia Street into the Baruch Houses.

The police said that 25-year-old Luis Martinez opened fire on Officers Thomas Richards and Thomas Dunne at around 1:45 a.m. as the pair approached him on Columbia Street between Delancey and Rivington Streets. One of the shots struck Officer Richards’s spare ammunition magazine holstered to his gun belt, just missing his abdomen.

“It was a very close call for Officer Richards,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement. “The magazine may have well saved his life.” Read more…

Tompkins Square Park looked something like Zuccotti Park in its heyday yesterday, as a giant Statue of Liberty puppet shimmied to a beat thrashed out by a cohort of drummers. Next to them were the People’s Library, a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream cart, and a “Parents for Occupy Wall Street” station crawling with children.

Activists said the single-day occupation – the third to be organized by the group Occupy Town Square – was part of the movement’s process of reorganizing in the wake of the police eviction of the original Occupy encampment.

“We lost a few things when we lost Zuccotti,” said Jonathan Jetter, one of the event’s organizers. “We lost a place where the movement could come together to network amongst itself.” Read more…