Phillip Kalantzis Cope

Good morning, East Village.

Local skaters can rejoice because Open Road Park officially reopens today. The park closed recently amid reports of drug dealing. The closing forced East Village skaters to go elsewhere to ride, hang out and practice kick-flips. East Side Community High School Principal Mark Federman, who held a public meeting earlier this week about the park’s closing, said he hopes to increase the park’s hours of operation next month.

In other neighborhood news, NY1 reports that the demolition of 51 Astor Place will begin in a few days. Later this year, construction is scheduled to begin on a 13-story, mixed-use office tower; that work is expected to take about 17 months.

The folks at EV Grieve have photos this morning showing that the Yippie Museum Cafe is closed temporarily for renovations. Along with the Chickpea location on 14th Street, many East Village business owners are closing for a few weeks in order to spruce up the interior of their shop. EV Grieve also has photos of boxing promoter Don King smoking a cigar in Tompkins Square Park during the premiere of the free, summer-long film series there. The Local’s Joshua Davis will have a full report on the series later today.

As we told you Wednesday, Open Road skate park on 12th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A will reopen this week. Our friends at DNAinfo report that the park will officially reopen Friday. East Side Community High School Principal Mark Federman said at a public meeting Wednesday that he hopes to increase the hours of operation next month. — Chelsia Rose Marcius

For a neighborhood with some of the highest concentrations of bars, restaurants and retail stores in New York, the East Village stands as a prime location for a coupon provider like Groupon.

“New York is a region that we continue to study intensively,” says Julie Mossler, a Groupon spokeswoman. “We handpick and curate the deals with the best businesses that are the most exciting or interesting in the area.”

But with questions being raised about Groupon’s business model, as well as complaints from some small business owners, The Local checked in with five East Village businesses to learn about their experiences with the coupon site.

While most business owners interviewed said that they saw an influx of customers, some voiced unhappiness with what they they saw as a lack of support by the site.

In response to situations in which a business owner was not completely satisfied with Groupon, Ms. Mossler said that Groupon attempts to work “extremely close” with merchants and describes their relationship as an “ongoing process.”

“It’s not like we sign you up, you run and that’s it,” she said. “You get an account representative who holds your hands through the process and gives you tools to help you take advantage of the feature.”
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Michael Natale

Good morning, East Village.

It’s a sight on the New York City skyline that’s been almost a decade in the making: the appearance of One World Trade Center. The GammaBlog has a collection of construction photos that show the tower poking up through the skyline (to the left of the traffic light in the image above, which was taken by community contributor Michael Natale at Canal and Chrystie Streets). That portion of the downtown skyline has been empty for far too long. By the way, an American flag stands atop the unfinished steel structure.

In neighborhood news, federal authorities say two East Village tattoo parlors were doubling as boutiques for illegal drugs. SiLive.com reports that two Staten Island residents were dealing designer drugs to tattoo parlors Addiction INK and Addiction NYC.  The dealers, Igor Kanchik, 31, and Steve Zhik, 30, were both charged in a federal drug sweep that netted a Washington state-based distributor and nine sellers.

The owner of d.b.a., a bar on First Avenue, was in critical condition Wednesday morning after being hit by a car while cycling on Canal Street. Ray Deter, 53, was taken to Bellevue Hospital, reports DNAinfo. The staff at the bar asks that well-wishers refrain from calling the bar, hospital or Mr. Deter’s home.

Finally, Mark Federman, the principal at East Side Community High School, told a group of locals that school officials closed the Open Road Park on 12th Street because of recent reports of the sale and use of marijuana on park grounds. The Local’s Chelsia Rose Marcius reports that there’s a good chance the park will reopen but with different hours of operation.

Chelsia Rose Marcius School officials and Open Road staff members gather to meet with skateboarders and area residents about the closed East Village skating space on 12th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A.

At today’s public meeting to discuss the recent closure of Open Road Park on 12th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A, Principal Mark Federman of East Side Community High School said recent reports of the sale and use of marijuana on the property were the primary reason that school officials decided to close the neighborhood skating space.

“There have been lots of reports of the smoking of cigarettes and the smoking and dealing of marijuana,” he said. “I’m not keeping stats but I have enough reports to be concerned.”

In the last few days, the school and Open Road have started raising money to hire more security to supervise the park during weekends and after school hours. Mr. Federman said that he understands “it’s a huge burden to the kids who come and skate,” and hopes to reopen the park — with restricted hours — later this week.
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Meghan Keneally The ‘assembly’ portion of the magazine is literal.

Nearly two dozen people walked past the “For Sale” sign and closed gate of a townhouse on Third Street on Sunday, invited themselves in the unlocked door, and made their way up to the second floor with folders of their work in tow.

When they walked in, it was like a mini reunion of yesteryear’s East Village art world: everyone knew each other, liked each other’s work, and swapped stories about peers of old.

And then they got to work publishing a magazine.

They were all there to put together the 34th issue of “What Happens Next,” an assembly magazine made up of poems, collages and drawings. The event, and the 33 issues prior, have been organized by Eve Packer who started it “just to have a forum” for the work of she and her friends, and anyone else who wanted to jump in.

The magazine is made up of individual work provided by the participants, with each bringing 100 copies of their pieces. The assembly aspect of the magazine is very literal: everyone lines their stack up and they start passing it along, with one person at the end taking charge with a stapler.
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Chelsia Rose Marcius Teri Hagen says that she is being unfairly denied access to the Peach Tree Community Garden on East Second Street. Those who manage the memberships at the garden deny any wrongdoing.

At the entrance of the Peach Tree Community Garden on Second Street between Avenues B and C stands a small, decorative sign bearing a one-word message: “Welcome” — seven letters that most take as a friendly invitation to enter.

But some residents say they’ve been locked out of this urban green space for at least nine months, and after voicing multiple complaints to Green Thumb, Community Board 3 and City Council District 2, one says she’s fed up with feeling overlooked.

“We have a right to be here, this is a community and everyone has to have a say,” said Teri Hagan, 75, who lives on East Second Street just across the street from the garden.
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Community Board 3 passed a resolution Tuesday night condemning the actions of the two former Ninth Precinct police officers who were convicted of official misconduct in May. The former officers, Kenneth Moreno and Franklin L. Mata, were acquitted of all other charges from the 2008 incident in which a woman said that she was raped by the officers after they helped her to her East Village home. The resolution calls on the sentencing judge to impose the harshest possible punishment on each of the men — two years in prison.
—Laura E. Lee

Michelle Rick

Good morning, East Village.

It’s going to be hot outside today, so if you get too warm just know that all Manhattan public pools have opened. Yes, that means, in about an hour, you can go jump in that pool at Tompkins Square Park. Or, if that’s too crowded, try the Dry Dock Playground and Pool on East 10th Street. Remember though, the pools are open from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and they do a daily pool cleaning between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.

If you shop regularly at the Super Saving Store on 14th Street and Third Avenue, it’s time to make your final selections. Our friends over at EV Grieve report that the store is closing soon. The store is known for selling groceries, health care products, school supplies and clothing all under one roof.

Speaking of roofs, there’s a new historic landmark just south of our neighborhood — the Hardenbrook-Somarindyck House located at 135 Bowery. DNAinfo reports that the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the house and two other buildings during its meeting on Tuesday. The commission also voted to schedule a public hearing for two East Village historic districts: a 300-building stretch from East Second and East Seventh Streets between First Avenue and the Bowery and 26 buildings along East 10th Street between Avenues A and B, DNAinfo says.

Oh, and just in case you missed it, Community Board 3 denied a liquor license to a new music spot at 34 Avenue A. The music spot, already labeled Piney Woods, is a project by music curator Todd Patrick and longtime East Villager Phil Hartman.

The liquor license application for a new music venue at 34 Avenue A was denied by a Community Board 3 vote tonight. Tensions ran high as board members heard from the public on both sides of the issue, which was referred to the full board by the licensing committee. The 28-7 vote puts the future of the proposed site, a project by music curator Todd Patrick and longtime East Village proprietor Phil Hartman, on hold. — Laura E. Lee

Chelsia Rose Marcius

East Side Community High School will hold a public meeting at 4 p.m. tomorrow to discuss increased supervision at Open Road skate park on Twelfth Street between First Avenue and Avenue A — the only official East Village public park where ramps, benches and ledges welcomed daily wear and tear before it was shut down by the Department of Education last week. The reasons cited for closure were drinking, smoking, fighting, littering and vandalism.

It came as a blow to skateboarders like 14-year-old Val Perre, who makes daily trips to the park from his home at 24th Street and Lexington Avenue, and sold soda, chips and other confections at the Open Road canteen last summer.

“I don’t think everyone should’ve gotten a punishment, and I doubt there will be more smoking,” Mr. Perre said.

Open Road founder and executive director Paula Hewitt Amram said she’s already recruiting volunteers and revamping fundraising efforts to increase park security during afterschool hours.

Still, she expects there to be some pushback tomorrow from residents on 11th and 12th Streets, who have made several efforts since 2009 to get Open Road — and it’s noise — off their block.
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Todd Olmstead The doorway of 34 Avenue A.

I felt very young last week, sitting at the Community Board 3 meeting at 200 East Fifth Street. Being 21 years old, there were surely other attendees my age, or younger. But I could not beat the feeling that our voices and spirits were being silenced. I say this mostly because, as the Community Board again refused to support the application for a new experimental music venue at 34 Avenue A (formerly Mo Pitkins), a project of the music promoter Todd Patrick and Two Boots owner Phil Hartman, I felt like one of the few attendees who genuinely understood the cultural significance of what their proposed space, The Piney Woods, could be.

Imagine my surprise yesterday afternoon, when, flicking through Gmail on my iPhone, I found a response from Richard Hell, musician, punk innovator, East Village resident,and one of the most influential musical figures to come out of the neighborhood, in support of the application. The board is scheduled to consider it again at its meeting tonight.

“The Lower East Side needs a specialized, non-pop music room for musicians who are in it for other things than head-banging or making it big,” Mr. Hell told me. “Headbanging and raw ambition are fine, but there are plenty of venues for that already, and the Lower East Side would do well to maintain or recover its tradition of cutting edge art.”
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Meghan Keneally The chef Anthony Bourdain earlier today.

The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck had a famous fan on Tuesday afternoon, with celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain stopping by while filming a segment for his new television show.

The truck, which has been around since 2009 and has more than 19,300 followers on Twitter, was parked on 17th Street and Broadway when Mr. Bourdain stopped by for his yet-unaired Travel Channel show, tentatively titled “The Layover.” Fans watched as the chef waited for 15 minutes like the rest of us food plebeians to get his hands on a “Salty Pimp” cone (vanilla soft serve with dulce de leche and sea salt, dunked in chocolate coating). According to a crew member, the show will air in either November or January.
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The Village East Cinema auditorium.

On the corner of 10th Street and Second Avenue, the neon blue of the glass Chase Bank building beams among the many signs and street lights. Yet this particular site casts a stage-light glow on the now-oxidized, brassy stars embedded in the sidewalk, embossed with Jewish names.

This is the Yiddish Walk of Fame.

The placement of these stars is a reminder of a former culinary institution (some might say shrine) that once occupied this coveted address, the Second Avenue Deli. From 1954 to 2006 the restaurant was an East Village staple, founded, owned and operated by the locally beloved Abe Lebewohl. The park across the street was re-named for Mr. Lebewohl after his murder in 1996.

Although the Second Avenue Deli had to vacate its historic setting (it has since relocated to 33rd Street and Lexington Avenue in Murray Hill) it was originally centered among a unique and ubiquitous string of Yiddish theaters along Second Avenue: what Josh Lebewohl — nephew of Abe and co-owner of the deli with his brother Jeremy — calls, “The Jewish Broadway of its time.”
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Marcia Krause Bilyk Beau — at rest.

“No, Beau is not sick. Beau is not dying. Beau is resting in Madison Square Park while his walker (off camera left) waits for him to get up and poop. Beau had 17 minutes left on the clock. Beau is five years old and lives a privileged life with his work-at-home owner, who will take him out again later if he hasn’t done his duty. Because Beau has food allergies, his owner buys a variety of meats for him to eat, most recently kangaroo. I trust he receives the best of care, but still…what’s up with the sleeping, Beau?!”— Marcia Krause Bilyk

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Scott Lynch

The conclusion of Brendan Bernhard’s quest to address one of the banes of New York City apartment living: a neighbor’s noisy radio.

The landing was a long, very narrow rectangle of peeling linoleum, about four feet wide, with a continuation of the staircase in the middle of it leading up to the roof, as well as a window that let in some much-needed sunshine. The radio was coming from my right. Two grim apartment doors faced each other at one end of the corridor, painted that soul-destroying brown so cherished by New York landlords. It was obvious which apartment the radio was in and I started banging on the door right away. No answer. I banged some more. Nothing. So I tried the door opposite, hoping to find a sympathetic neighbor trembling on the brink of a nervous breakdown. Again nothing. Was everyone dead?
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