In an Election Night appearance on NYU News, Suzanne Rozdeba, who covered the key local political races, discusses how neighborhood issues such as noise complaints, liquor licenses, bike lanes and pedestrian safety played a role in Tuesday’s balloting.

Results of Local Races

Voters cast ballots for candidates in seven local races — three for U.S. representative, two for State Senate and two for State Assembly — and by overwhelming margins returned every incumbent to office.

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With just hours until the polls close in today’s general election, NYU Journalism’s Molly O’Toole and Clint Rainey offer an analysis of tonight’s likely winners and losers in races involving the East Village.

Hannah Thonet Miguel Algarín, founder of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, still delights in showcasing artists at the organization he established nearly 40 years ago.

On a gray August afternoon, walking through Tompkins Square Park, I saw dozens of poets huddled behind the bandstand, waiting to read from their own work or participate in an orchestrated performance of Allen Ginsberg’s iconic poem “Howl!” I joined the spectators, outnumbered by the poets, on seats scattered in front of the stage.

If the poets and visionaries of Ginsberg’s youth were “starving, hysterical, naked,” this sample of contemporary New York bards seemed calm and was fully dressed against the threat of light rain. As for starving, we all know there’s no money in the game. The audience for poetry sometimes seems to consist only of other poets, and almost nobody publishes a book of poetry expecting to make money. As one of the dedicated few who haunt poetry readings, and as an occasional poetry performer myself, I wondered how the poetry centers of the East Village were surviving this inhospitable economy.
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John GalaydaCarlos Martinez.

Beatriz Gil, a writer, and Carlos Martinez, a photographer, teamed up this year to offer the Calaveritas Poetry Workshop at the eighth annual Mano a Mano Day of the Dead Festival Sunday at St. Mark’s Church In-The-Bowery, at 10th Street and Second Avenue.

Participants lined up at kiosks to write poems about deceased family members (an old-fashioned typewriter was available to those who sought an authentic experience), before entering Mr. Martinez’s “Photo Booth Without Borders” to read their poems and pose for a portrait. The photo booth is an ongoing project that Mr. Martinez started as a resident artist with the Laundromat Project.

Through this initiative community members receive a free instant photograph in exchange for their personal story, according to Ms. Gil.

Celebrated on Nov. 2, Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, is one of Mexico’s most important holidays, where families invite the souls of their dead ancestors to their home for a visit. This year, in order to commemorate the bicentennial of Mexico’s independence and centennial of its Revolution, festival attendees dressed as figures from Mexican history.—Deanna Yurchuk
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Rhea Mahbubani John Penley.

John Penley’s circuitous journey to the world of community activism in New York City began with a single question.

It was 1984 and Mr. Penley had just finished a year in jail after charges arising from his role in a protest at a South Carolina nuclear plant.

“When I got out of custody, they gave me a $100 bill and a bus ticket and asked me where I wanted to go,” recalls Mr. Penley, who is 59. “I said New York and that was it.”
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C.C. Glenn

Good morning, East Village.

Community Board 3 is “a lion’s den,” according to an attorney quoted in the Wall Street Journal today. The fairness with which Community Boards treat restaurant and nightlife industry license applications is under scrutiny in the article, which singles out CB 2 and CB 3 as the city’s fiercest battlegrounds.

One step forward, one step back. The M15 select bus may be running just fine, but EV Grieve has a photo of what happens when the ticket machines stop working.

Finally, from the history which didn’t happen department, shocking evidence from Curbed that an abandoned 1916 plan to fill in the East River would have left the East Village indistinguishable from Brooklyn, thus making L train journeys much less of a rite of passage.

Timothy J. Stenovec Graffiti, 224 East 10th Street.

New York will never die so long as gifted, passionate people from all over the world feel that it is here, and nowhere else, that they must make their mark. These brave souls don’t recoil from the city’s impossible demands; they turn those limitations into virtues.

Jehangir Mehta, the chef-owner of Graffiti, a shoebox-sized restaurant at 224 East 10th Street, came to New York from Mumbai to learn how to cook. He opened Graffiti in 2007 after working as a pastry chef at some of the city’s more grandiose establishments, including Jean-Georges, and after creating the Candy Camp, where he taught children how to make pastry. A gentle soul whose convictions were culinary rather than mercenary, Jehangir wanted a place that felt true to him. He found an abandoned handbag store with holes in the floor and the ceiling, a space where he could start from zero. The rent was $3,000, which meant that he could hire a sous-chef and break even with 15 customers a night. He had lines out the door the first week. He hired two more people. And he continued to do exactly what he thought was right.
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Toby Nathan Jerry Levy, one of last night’s few protesters.

Tompkins Square Park was more or less empty Sunday night, save for a few extra auxiliary police vehicles and a rag-tag bunch of seemingly bewildered protesters, all in search of a protest that did not happen, despite lively online previews and last-minute reminders.

“Jerry The Peddler,” the “Slum Goddess,” and one or two other local characters showed up to protest Community Board 3’s new policy designed to implement a “better management of scheduling” and control some “volume issues,” according to Susan Stetzer, the board’s district manager. She told The Local by e-mail that the repercussions of the policy have been “exaggerated greatly,” but Jerry Levy, 56, who’s lived in the East Village for 33 years, said Sunday night that he thinks the issue isn’t the volume, but the changing guard of the community.

“If people who live there” – on Seventh Street between Avenues A and B “have issues with the volume, then they shouldn’t have moved there,” he said. “The community overwhelmingly supports the concerts. This” – the noise proposal – “just comes from a few people who are speaking to a receptive ear of a few reactionary members of the community board.”

He says that the community wants “nice, quiet smiley-faced type of events that are geared toward children,” and that the community board “doesn’t represent the community.”

The community did not, however, turn out in overwhelming numbers to support that point of view. Indeed, John Penley, the longtime East Village activist and photojournalist who organized the protest, was nowhere to be found when the time came to demonstrate. Mr. Penley had not returned earlier calls from The Local about the event.

Sally LaucknerSugar skulls by Mano a Mano.

Over the weekend, Mano a Mano, a non-profit organization that promotes Mexican culture in the United States, held its eighth annual Dia de los Muertos celebrations at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery. Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a Mexican tradition that dates back to pre-Hispanic times and celebrates the annual return of the departed.

Although the actual holiday is on Nov. 2, East Villagers got a head start by enjoying Mexican food, shopping for knickknacks and attending bread-making workshops.
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Meredith Hoffman The actress Rosario Dawson leads members of the Lower Eastside Girls Club in a cheer at a ground-breaking ceremony Friday for the club’s new home.

Meredith HoffmanMs. Dawson spoke at the ceremony (top) before joking around with some of the club’s members. She was joined by local elected officials, including City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez.

Dave Pentecost’s eyes gleamed as he pointed up at the steel and wood building frame being constructed over East Eighth Street near Avenue D.

“That’s where the 30-foot high dome of the planetarium will rise,” said Mr. Pentecost, the technology director for The Lower Eastside Girls Club. During a brief tour, Mr. Pentecost described the green features of the $26 million, 12-story building that would soon fill the muddy construction site, from green roofs to solar panels, which would produce electricity for the site, to water collectors which would water the gardens holding a sculpture created by neighbor, the artist Kiki Smith.

In addition to 78 units of mixed-use housing, this will be the future home of The Lower Eastside Girls Club. The Norwegian maples which had filled the lot had been cut on site and made into lumber which would eventually serve as tables in the conference room. Mr. Pentecost is looking forward to seeing a ‘58 Airstream trailer soon hoisted into place and converted into a state of the art recording studio where local girls would learn recording technology.

The ground-breaking ceremony Friday was graced with a parade of politicians and dignitaries including Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Council Member Rosie Mendez, Borough President Scott Stringer. The loudest applause greeted actress and neighborhood celebrity Rosario Dawson as she excitedly told how she looked forward to working in The Girls Club library.

Meredith Hoffman Members of the Girls Club at Friday’s ceremony.

Maya Millett Trick or treating siblings Ayodele and Adetayo Abinusawa, Alexia and Leo Muentes, and their Iron Man-costumed friend, Ethan Unthank, take a break from collecting sweets along First Avenue.

“Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!” sang Adetayo Abinusawa, 7, to a gaggle of fellow trick-or-treaters as they waited for a crosswalk light to turn near First Avenue and Avenue A. He and his older sister, Ayodele, 10, have been trick-or-treating in the neighborhood their whole lives, and by now could be considered local experts on the subject. “The Dunkin’ Donuts usually gives out free munchkins,” Ayodele says, adjusting the black felt pirate hat on her head, “but this year, it was just candy.”

Across the East Village, excited groups of children popped in and out of the neighborhood’s many restaurants, shops and corner stores Sunday afternoon in the hopes of accumulating as much sugary loot as their pumpkin pails could handle. They clustered close on street corners, pushing aside wings and antennas to get a better look at their wares; they traded sticky taffy for lollipops and strategized their next moves.
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Andrew Reid Kristin M. Davis.

Kristin M. Davis, the former escort service madam who is running for governor, is a constant source of one-liners – many of which are scarcely fit for publication. She tries to take the sting out of a gay slur by using it to underline her support of same-sex marriage. And her supporters are treated to a range of brothel humor on her Facebook page. But at the same time, Ms. Davis, who is also the former vice president of a hedge fund, says that she and her four-prong platform — legalize marijuana, prostitution, gay marriage and casino gambling — are no joke.

During the Eliot Spitzer scandal, the authorities shut down her escort service. Ms. Davis, 35, then spent four months on Rikers Island reading fellow libertarians Ayn Rand and Ludwig von Mises before mounting her bid backed by 50 Cent and California pot growers to run the Empire State. The Anti-Prohibition Party candidate chatted with The Local about learning from her past, living in the East Village and why she’s the only real “pro-freedom” candidate.

What do you like about the East Village? Have you ever visited?

I actually used to live in the East Village, when I first moved to New York, off First Avenue above Karma. It’s one of my favorite areas. If you’re into food, you can get anything and everything in the East Village. I used to spend a lot of time at Karma. I’m very disappointed that Waikiki Wally’s is no longer around. My friend, Eric, owns Lit. I used to go to Dolphin Fitness, off Fourth Street. Veselka is my favorite place for goulash — I call it stroganoff, but whatever.
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Janko Puls

Good morning, East Village.

As we emerge from a weekend of costumes and revelry, we find the New York Post focused on an East 11th Street co-op where the exceptionally low priced units are currently owned by women only, including local political figures Rosie Mendez and Margarita Lopez.

Bowery Boogie has a post describing new graffiti activity at the Barry McGee mural at Bowery and Houston. So far the random alterations are nothing as destructive as those which afflicted the Shepard Fairey mural at the same location.

Ephemeral New York takes a look back at East Village art of an earlier time, reproducing an East Village Eye cutting from 1983 about the art gallery (and party) scene on Avenue B.

Meredith Hoffman A memorial to Christopher Jusko began to develop on East Seventh Street this week not far from the spot where his body was found Monday morning. Jairo Pastoressa has been charged with Mr. Jusko’s murder.

This article was reported by Claire Glass, Meredith Hoffman, Clint Rainey, Timothy J. Stenovec and Katie Wang. It was written by Ms. Wang.

The plan was to meet Monday afternoon at their favorite spot in the city near East 14th Street and East River Drive in front of the Con Edison plant.

There, Christopher Jusko, 21, a graffiti artist who used the city as his canvas, was planning to meet his friend Robert Traverzo, 19, and embark on yet another adventure together. Their meeting never took place. Hours before their appointment, Mr. Jusko was stabbed and killed in the East Village in a dispute over a woman, police said.

“I’ve called his phone everyday and left him a different voice mail every day to ask him to look over me,” said Mr. Traverzo, who considered Mr. Jusko his best friend. “I ask him to guide me in the right direction, to look over me, to make sure my family’s alright.”

The authorities have charged Jairo Pastoressa, 25, with the slaying. Mr. Patoressa surrendered to police and was arraigned on murder charges Tuesday. According to the prosecutor’s office, the dispute started when Mr. Jusko called Mr. Pastoressa after discovering his ex-girlfriend was dating Mr. Pastoressa.
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Hannah Rubenstein Starr Ravenhawk is a high priestess of the Wiccan Family Temple, which hosts its sixth annual witches ball on Sunday.

This Sunday night is the one time of the year that a mere mortal can cavort with “real witches.”

The sixth annual Witches Masquerade Ball, at The Delancey in the Lower East Side, occurs on Halloween night. Billed as “A Night for all Vamps, Pagans, Witches, Druids, Goths, Faerie Folk, Magical Folk, Indigos & Urbanites,” the Ball regularly draws hundreds of guests to its Halloween festivities, which include performances by belly dancers, an ancestral drum circle, Indian pop singers, dancing, and what is mysteriously referred to as “a secret midnight ritual.”

“We’ll put a spell on you!” laughs Starr Ravenhawk, a high priestess of the Wiccan Family Temple that hosts the Ball.

Starr, co-founder of the Wiccan Family Temple, describes the Wiccan group as an “eclectic, improvisational, all-inclusive open circle” based in the East Village. Twice a month, in a rented storefront on East Ninth Street, a motley group of Wiccans and curious guests come together to practice the religion — recent offerings include “Witchcraft Ethics” and “Psychic Self-Defense” — in a public forum unimaginable in years past.

Starr has many monikers — real estate agent, minister, high priestess, mother, and independent business owner. Many people have told her that she bears a striking resemblance to Chaka Khan, and she does — if the singer wore a silver pentagram necklace and wove purple strands into her curls.
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Darla Murray Gordon Linzner, who leads tours of locations that are reportedly haunted in the East Village, with a bust of Peter Stuyvesant.

Have you ever found yourself walking along the Bowery and heard the “clip-clop” of a wooden cane hitting the pavement behind you only to discover no one was there? Or have you developed a photograph snapped at Shelton Cemetery and discovered an unexplained streak of light smeared across it? Or what about a time when you’ve reached down from your stool at McSorley’s Ale House to stroke the cat that brushed up against your leg, then realized the only feline in the pub is asleep twenty feet away in the windowsill?

Phil Schoenberg, a history professor at Queens College by day and a ghost historian by night, can explain.

Mr. Schoenberg and his team of experts offer skeptics and believers 90-minute walking tours of so-called haunted locations of the East Village – an area of Manhattan often overlooked by paranormal enthusiasts who tend to focus on Greenwich Village and Midtown’s Theater District.

“The popular literature will always mention the Merchant’s House,” says Mr. Schoenberg, referring to the oft-cited 19th century red brick rowhouse on East Fourth Street said to be haunted by the former owner’s daughter, “but not much else in the East Village.”
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This Sunday the streets will undoubtedly be filled with little witches, vampires and Justin Biebers clamoring for candy bars.

But if you’re looking for more than just penny candy, there are plenty of upscale treats in the East Village for you to eat:

Laura Kuhn Chocolate skulls at Bond Street Chocolate.

Bond Street Chocolate
63 East Fourth Street
212-677-5103

www.bondstchocolate.com
If it’s candy you’re after, Bond Street Chocolate sells dark chocolate skulls made of 70% chocolate. At $14, they’re not cheap, but proprietor Lynda Stern molds them like an artistan and tops them with a sprinkle of pure gold powder.

Laura Kuhn Blood Orange Delight at Veniero’s.

Veniero’s
342 East 11th Street
212-674-7070
www.venierospastry.com

Trying to complete your Snooki costume? Stop by Italian Bakery Veniero’s for some sweets. They make brightly-iced sugar cookies in the shapes of ghosts, Frankensteins and vampires for $3.50 each. Look in the glass cases for the serious sweets like the Autumn Trifle ($4.00)—made from layers of carrot cake, New York cheesecake and pumpkin topping. Equally devilish is the Blood Orange Delight ($4.50)—a combination of white chocolate sponge cake, white chocolate and blood orange puree, and dark chocolate ganache.

Laura Kuhn Cupcakes at Butter Lane.

Tu-Lu’s Gluten Free Bakery
338 East 11th Street
212-777-2227
www.tu-lusbakery.com/

Butter Lane
123 East Seventh Street
212-677-2880
www.butterlane.com

Cupcake eaters have choices. For strict dieters, Tu-Lu’s Gluten-Free Bakery decorates their gluten-free and vegan cupcakes in chocolate and vanilla icings with spooky sprinkles. The cupcakes, $2.95 a piece, come in chocolate, vanilla and red velvet and are made from rice tapioca and potato flour. Butter Lane goes the opposite route, loading up on the dairy with chocolate, vanilla and banana cupcakes slathered in buttery icing ($3.00 each). Fall flavors include apple spice and pumpkin.

What’s the best upscale treat on your block?

A small shop on East Ninth Street, Flower Power has promoted natural healing through the use of flowers and herbs for the past 17 years.

Its owner, Lata Kennedy, and regular customers swear by the powerful medicinal remedies plants can offer.

NYU Journalism’s Sarah Tung explores the healing powers of herbs.

Gloria Chung

Good morning, East Village.

Congratulations to the Lower East Side Girls Club which will be holding a groundbreaking ceremony this morning for its new building, under construction on Avenue D. EV Grieve has some pictures of progress.

NYU spokesperson John Beckman, interviewed for our article on the University’s expansion plans, gets a platform at The Villager to make his case.

Would you believe that an important East Village Halloween ritual survives in Pennsylvania? You haven’t been able to get tricked out and vamped up in psychedelic gothery on Second Avenue since the store Love Saves the Day closed in early 2009 after a run of over 30 years. Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York reminds us that its out-of-town branch survives in New Hope, Pa., and will doubtless be doing big business over this weekend.

And speaking of transitions involving local icons, Neighborhoodr has a report about the fate of what may the most notorious vehicle in the East Village.