The Real Deal brings news that puts an end to the speculation surrounding the empty lots on 13th Street between Second and Third Avenues. Charles Blaichman, a big-time developer who works primarily in Chelsea, bought the three parcels of land for $33.2 million, according to paperwork filed today. Last month, The Local noticed some activity at the lot while reporting on a proposed homeless shelter that is across the street. EV Grieve assumes that the lot is now bound for a “luxurious end.”

Earlier today we heard from John Penley and other longtime East Villagers spending time at Zuccotti Park. Now contributor Sarah Shanfield, a more recent arrival to the neighborhood, writes about an early encounter with the movement at Tompkins Square Park last weekend.

Rachel Citron

I first heard about Occupy Wall Street when a friend sent me a YouTube video of girls in crop tops being maced while they let out blood curdling screams. My reaction: complete horror. What the hell was going on? And where were they, so I could go and watch?

In the beginning, it didn’t seem these protests would end in compromise, especially because it was unclear who the interested parties even were. And yet these people spent their precious New York time going down to Wall Street, to sit and protest for a change that they couldn’t define.

At first, I simply wanted to watch these people, with their matted hair, cutoffs, and the checkered Israeli keffiyehs that were in style several years ago. They hoisted signs with witty sayings and held dazzlingly intelligent conversation. But they frightened me because they were so angry. I didn’t identify with them, because I didn’t feel angry at all. Read more…

Liv Bulli

Sheltered under a canopy of umbrellas and flanked by Councilwoman Rosie Mendez and Senator Daniel Squadron, three tenants gathered outside their East Village tenement this morning to object to what they said was mismanagement of the building.

The tenants of 515 East Fifth Street complained about noise from overcrowding and filth from constant construction, and are particularly concerned about a rooftop addition that the Board of Standards and Appeals deemed illegal in Nov. 2008. Since 2006, 198 complaints have been filed about the address with the Department of Buildings.

“What will it take for the Department of Buildings to follow the law and ensure the landlord has to comply?” asked Harvey Epstein, an attorney with the Urban Justice Center. Read more…

Today, we’re once again turning our attention to East Villagers involved in Occupy Wall Street. First, Suzanne Rozdeba checks in with three longtime residents who’ve been spending time at Zuccotti Park. Later, we’ll hear from Sarah Shanfield, who, like Rachel Citron, only recently had her first brush with the movement.

Last week we caught up with a few familiar faces – John Penley, L.E.S. Jewels, and De La Vega – in the days before they migrated north for Saturday’s “Occupy Tompkins Square Park” picnic. Click on our audio slideshow to hear their stories from Zuccotti Park. As for the small turnout in Tompkins Square Park, Mr. Penley said he wasn’t disappointed. “It was a diversionary excursion,” he explained of the approximately 40 people that came and went. “I never expected it to be a big turnout. A lot of the old activists that moved out came. We were out there to have some fun.” Read more…

Dominique Zonyee Scott

A representative for the police said yesterday that they have identified but have not yet apprehended a suspect in the murder of Donovan Salgado, 17, who was shot to death on 12th Street near Avenue C early Sunday morning. Last night, around 100 friends, family members, and neighbors gathered in front of Mr. Salgado’s apartment building at 695 East Ninth Street for a candlelight vigil. Many told survival stories, and spoke of the struggles of growing up in Alphabet City.

“Keith died for the community to learn, for us to get it – violence is not the answer,” said one man who was no stranger to gang life.

The man, who chose not to reveal his name (“the community knows me by face,” he said) told the crowd he was a drug dealer for 20 years and managed to turn his life around and become a family man and honest worker. “You see this chain on my neck? This is from work money, not drug money,” he said. “This is our community and our family – we need to stop killing each other.” Read more…

Emily Canal Residents enjoy Tuesday night t.v. on a roof deck at 10th Street and First Avenue.

Today at 10 a.m., residents of 515 East Fifth Street – with the support of Councilmember Rosie Mendez, Good Old Lower East Side, and others – will protest an addition to their building that was deemed illegal by the Board of Standards and Appeals in November of 2008. In a press release reprinted by Curbed and EV Grieve, they say the Department of Buildings has yet to decide about the matter.

Is this a sign of the apocalypse? “Handsome Dick” Manitoba has declared Pat Buchanan a “likeable fellow.” The punk rocker turned bar owner writes about an encounter with Mr. Buchanan on his Tumblr: “Told him I was a liberal, Jewish, NYC Democrat, who disagrees with MOST of his politics, but I find him likable, well-spoken and entertaining.”

The Post names B&H Dairy one of the best greasy spoons in town. But we already knew that. Read more…

According to the Associated Press, a police investigation has found that Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna violated department guidelines when he used pepper spray on two women at a Sept. 24 demonstration near Union Square. He faces the loss of 10 vacation days, and can appeal the decision.

On Saturday, a flock of giant handmade birds soared down East Fourth Street – part of a “puppet parade” to celebrate La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club’s 50th anniversary. The block party, staged in part by the company’s new artistic director Mia Yoo, also included a renaming ceremony (the Fourth Street cultural district now bears the name of late, legendary artistic director Ellen Stewart) and a performance by PigPen Theatre Co., a group of seven recent Carnegie Melon University graduates. Enjoy their banjo pickin’ as we look back on some of the festivities’ more colorful scenes.

Runnin’ Scared checks in with the group that passed out flyers in support of St. Mark’s Bookshop outside of Cooper Union’s Great Hall today. “I think this caught on so much because people are tired of mom and pop businesses closing,” says Frances Goldin. “People don’t want a Starbucks on every corner, or a bank. That’s not why they move to the Lower East Side.”

Daniel Maurer Little Italy Pizza III on University Place.

The area around University Place has, notoriously, seen its share of action lately. But demonstrators aren’t the only ones clogging the area. At a meeting of Community Board 2’s SLA Licensing committee last Tuesday, members of the East 12th and 13th Street Block Association complained to the board about noise and congestion in the area, citing a recent early-morning stabbing outside of Little Italy Pizza III restaurant at 122 University Place.

The bloody fracas occurred on Oct. 8 around 3:30 a.m., according to a complaint written by officer Michael Bellagamba, who arrested four suspects on charges of second-degree assault and possession of a criminal weapon. His complaint noted that a witness allegedly saw Florian Brulaj, 20, stabbing an unidentified man, 23, in the chest; and “slicing the face” of another, age 36. A knife smeared with what looked like blood was recovered in the purse of a female suspect, Mobeta Ceka, 18, court documents stated.

The other defendants in the case are Vison Brulaj, 23, and Gentian Gjana, 19. All of the alleged perpetrators were arrested shortly after fleeing the scene in a car. They were stopped a block away by police who had received a radio report, according to a sergeant with the Manhattan South anti-crime unit who asked to remain anonymous. He said the victims, whose names were not released, had suffered “serious injuries but they were not life-threatening.” Read more…

Tali Cantor, an associate director of CIVITAS, is on a quest to get the city to enact stricter rules mandating the upkeep of newspaper boxes. She believes the boxes – often marred by graffiti and stuffed with garbage – have become a “blight on our valuable streetscapes.” Having convinced Community Boards 1, 4, 7, 8 and 11 to support her cause, Ms. Cantor was surprised when she didn’t get the same warm reception as she addressed members of Community Board 3 at the tail end of a two-hour meeting of the Transportation and Public Safety committee last Tuesday. Watch our audio slideshow and you’ll see it’s hard to be a saint in the city. Then tell us what you think: Are the vandalized (decorated?) boxes an eyesore or an indispensable piece of the city’s fabric?

Emily Canal The SLA and DCA Licensing Committee. Ariel Palitz and Alexandra Militano, second and third from left. David McWater, third from right.

Last night, a rancorous debate between committee members exposed the internal tensions of Community Board 3’s SLA and DCA Licensing Committee, as Jane’s Sweet Buns, a pastry shop that opened on St. Marks Place this summer, managed to clinch the board’s support for a beer and wine license application. A Southern restaurant on Avenue C and a Mexican newcomer on Avenue B also got nods from the board.

The tension began at the start of the meeting when Susan Stetzer, the board’s District Manager, asked those present to abstain from eating or drinking anything but water. She said people complained about messes after meetings.

“I’m not going to sit here for six hours and not have anything to eat or drink,” Mr. McWaters said, adding, “I won’t spill.” Read more…

Suzanne Rozdeba

Neighbors tell DNA Info that Donovan Keith Salgado, who was killed near 12th Street and Avenue C early Sunday, was sociable, sweet, and a “good kid stuck in the wrong crowd.” A vigil is planned tonight.

The Cooper Square Committee informs the Lo-Down and EV Grieve that, at noon, it will be singing a song and handing out an open letter in support of St. Mark’s Bookshop, outside of today’s inauguration of Jamshed Bharucha, Cooper Union’s new president.

EV Grieve notices that Mars Bar has finally been shrouded behind a construction shed. “What this means for the rest of us?” asks Bowery Boogie. “Construction headaches for at least the next two years and the resultant gentrification.” Read more…

Before the mystery of the cryptic skywriting was solved last week, The Local cast its lens upward and asked perplexed onlookers for their theories. For an end-of-day moment of zen, watch our audio slideshow and relive that time of innocence and anticipation, before we knew it was all just an art project.

Daniel Maurer Lisa Burris and Paul Said.

The truck that the Bean debuted in front of its former storefront last month has been taken off the road – in fact, it only lasted a day. “It was a great idea,” manager Guy Puglia told The Local today, “but we couldn’t do it. It cost us too much money.”

Meanwhile, a half-block away on Third Street between First and Second Avenues, Khufu, a hookah lounge that opened about four and a half years ago, has started operating as a café during the day. Happy news for displaced Bean customers in need of a cappuccino, a croissant, free WiFi, or one of thirty varieties of organic tea? Not necessarily, according to Lisa Burriss, an employee of the cafe and a former director of organizing at Good Old Lower East Side. She said that she had encountered resistance from the coffee shop’s loyalists, in part because – coincidentally, she said – Khufu opened for coffee and brunch service on the day the Bean closed. Read more…

Last week we learned that East Houston Street and Bowery was the most dangerous intersection in the city for cyclists. New information culled from the same set of State Department of Transportation data reveals that Community Board 3 (which includes the East Village, Lower East Side, and part of Chinatown) was the fifth-most dangerous part of the city for pedestrians from 1995 to 2009. The statistics, compiled by the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, show that 4,138 accidents involving cars and pedestrians occurred during the 14-year span within Community Board 3. Community Board 5 — which covers Union Square, Times Square and much of Midtown — was by far the most dangerous district for pedestrians, with 8,604 accidents.

As previously mentioned, A Gathering of the Tribes recently unveiled its latest exhibit, “Blind Light,” inspired in part by the blindness of the gallery’s owner Steve Cannon as well as by the concept of synesthesia – when one sense involuntarily triggers another. Here, curators Ana Maria Benzanilla and Deondre Davis reflect on the history of the gallery, exploring what happens when senses and cultures collide.

DNA Info reports that at a Community Board 3 committee meeting last week, local residents complained to Deputy Inspector Kenneth Lehr, the commander of the Ninth Precinct, about a bottle redemption center outside of the Fine Fare on Avenue C and Fourth Street that they said was a hub of fighting, public defecation and urination, and other “beyond disgusting” behavior. A year ago, The Local reported that the redemption center in front of Key Food Supermarket at Fourth Street near Avenue A was also the site of fights, including one in which “one lady punched another lady in the face and knocked her out cold,” according to a store employee. Read that story here, and watch the accompanying video –  about a few of the can collectors, who can make $800 to $1,300 per month – above.

Michelle Rick

The Local reported that a man was shot near 12th Street and Avenue C early Sunday morning. According to the Post, the 17-year-old died in Bellevue Hospital. The Post names him as Donovan Salgado; the Daily News says relatives identified him as Keith.

The Local also reported yesterday on a demonstration at Washington Square Park. Washington Square News informs that fourteen protesters were arrested in all. Meanwhile, in Tompkins Square Park, protesters “super-glued the locks on the park gates and climbed limousines,” John Penley tells the paper.

Sunday marked the 95^th anniversary of St. Cyril’s Church on St. Marks Place. According to the Slovenian Press Agency, the Slovenian Ambassador to the U.S. was in attendance. Read more…