A man sexually assaulted a woman on a rooftop near Clinton Street in the Lower East Side on August 3, the police said. The pair entered the building together at 2:50 a.m. and then the suspect, who is said to be 5-foot-5 and in his early 20s, assaulted the victim and fled. Just yesterday, the Manhattan District Attorney announced the conviction of a 39-year-old man who was linked to a sexual assault in the East Village in 2008 thanks to a state DNA database.

Brenda H.

The Architects Newspaper sits down with Adam Lubinsky, a managing partner of WXY Architecture + Urban Design who is charged with designing the East River Blueway. It’s no easy task. Aside from overcoming the barrier of FDR Drive, there’s the “ADA-inaccessible overpasses; narrow, collision-inducing bike lanes; and combined sewage overflows [that] have also been identified as key issues.” And then there’s just the simple fact that a lot of people don’t look toward the river for recreation: “The challenge is to get residents to turn around, to realize the river is there,” Mr. Lubinsky said.

The Lo-Down reports that landlord Ben Shaoul now must submit a detailed timeline about replacement of a staircase in his building at 435 East 12th Street, following complaints by a resident who was at one point literally stranded in her apartment. “After the plan for each day has been approved, residents must be notified by certified mail when the work will be done, so that they can make arrangements to be away from their apartments,” the site reports. Typically, developers do not face such a high level of supervision.

Gothamist notes that Cake Shop has accomplished its fundraising goal, and will stay put on Ludlow Street.
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Dan Glass Kirk-Jones Quintet at University of the Streets

The boycott of University of the Streets is over, a group of musicians announced in a statement posted by Brooklyn Vegan today. But it’s not necessarily back to business as usual for the jazz venue: its director, Saadia Salahuddeen, said it would likely head in a new musical direction in the coming months to help pay the bills.

“I’ve always supported the musicians that can’t get paying gigs, who are more improvisational, experimental, and given them a place to play,” Ms. Salahuddeen told The Local. Moving forward, she said, “We will service another community of musicians, change our focus to another group that needs attention.”

That shift is a result of ongoing financial pressures on the nonprofit performance space and a result of the negotiations between University and a coalition of musicians represented by the Local 802 union. As part of the agreement that brought the boycott to a close, the venue will end its “pay-to-play” policy, which required bands to pay a fee if too few paying customers came to see their show. Read more…

Mohammed Rahman, the Bangladeshi man clocked in the face and threatened by a pair of troublemakers, was back at work today at Astor Place serving lamb gyros, chicken over rice and the like. So, did the police get that guy who threw the punch? “It’s foolishness,” Mr. Rahman said. “I told the police, ‘He’s right there!’ One block away. They’re slow. They said call 911 if he comes back.” Since the incident on Thursday, which was followed by a threat to burn his food cart to the ground, Mr. Rahman has seen his attacker around. Fortunately, it seemed the man had cooled off.

A 2008 cold case involving an East Village woman sexually assaulted in her apartment resulted in the conviction of a man already behind bars for a similar attack, the Manhattan District Attorney announced today.

George Poirier, 39, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for sexually motivated burglary and sexual abuse in the first degree. In April of 2008 the 28-year-old victim was entering her apartment on East Seventh Street near Avenue B when the Bronx resident pushed her inside, locked the door, and sexually assaulted her. During the attack the victim bit Mr. Poirier’s arm, drawing blood that was subsequently entered into a state DNA database. At the time, the DNA did not yield any matches, and the case went dormant.

But one year later Mr. Poirier’s DNA was entered into the database as part of his conviction for a charge of sexual abuse tied to a string of groping attacks on four different women on a single day in May, according to a criminal complaint. He was then tied to the 2008 attack. Read more…

Sarah Darville

The designer who outfitted Chloë Sevigny’s apartment as well as her brother’s club, the Beatrice Inn, is moving to bigger digs in the East Village.

According to a Craigslist posting, David Cafiero’s art gallery and home goods store, Cafiero Select, will soon vacate its East Sixth Street location near Cooper Square. The post advertises two side-by-side storefronts, each “325 square feet with painted exposed brick walls and 11′ ceilings”: one is going for $2,800 per month and the other for $2,750.

It won’t be part of the wave of furniture-shop closings in recent months. Mr. Cafiero said the store was moving to a bigger, better space in the neighborhood. He declined to go into detail.

“I want to smoke food, cure food, and be in a place where I can do whatever I want,” said chef Will Horowitz, whose new eclectic barbecue joint Ducks Eatery will officially open early next month.

Judging by the limited menu (the restaurant is still in soft opening mode) and smoky, spicy cocktails, Mr. Horowitz is indeed having fun. A spicy beef jerky is made with squid sauce; cherrystone clams are served with smoked ham, kaffir granita, currants, and cilantro; crispy pig ears come in a lettuce wrap. The spicy trail mix includes bacon and Cocoa Krispies.

The star of the show, of course, is the smoked brisket with apricot and fish sauce.

Mr. Horowitz plans to continue changing up the menu, and mentioned goat feet curry soup and yakamein, a New Orleans noodle soup.
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Saturday and Sunday, bands and neighborhood activists, including local legend David Peel, took to the park to commemorate the 1988 Tompkins Square riot (not to be confused with the May Day riot of 1990). The Local’s cameras rolled as slamdancing and calls of “Die yuppie scum!” ensued.

Among those clubbed by police officers during the curfew and gentrification protest of Aug. 6, 1988 was New York Times photographer Angel Franco. Funny that: 24 years later, a headline in today’s paper reads: “Times Photographer Is Arrested on Assignment.”

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

Another one bites the dust. WNYC reports that Big City Records NYC on East 12th Street will close at the end of the month due to rising rent. Owner Jared Boxx told the blog that he’d cultivated a diverse clientele looking for old jazz, Latin music and hip hop, and counted Q-Tip and Dr. Dre among his customers. The news follows the recent closings of Rockit Scientist Records. Bleecker Bob’s and Norman’s Sound & Vision are expected to depart its current location soon.

DNAInfo chatted up Grace Weaver, a vegan who sings the praises of the dietary restriction as she walks her dogs around East First Street. “Vegans have better sex, better health, cleaner conscience,” she sings in her original ditty. And if that doesn’t get through, she passes out flyers, too. (Perhaps she should get her commitment to veganism immortalized with a vegan tattoo from White Rabbit.)

Speaking of a meatless lifestyle, The Wall Street Journal gives a shout-out to the brunch at Caravan of Dreams. The vegan restaurant on East Sixth Street that has been avoiding delicious steaks since 1991.
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Timothy Davis Construction work at Paulaner Brauhaus.

High levels of lead have been found in dust that shot up from the incoming Paulaner Brauhaus and blanketed an upstairs apartment, displacing a family of seven and causing the city to issue a stop work order.

The dust-up occurred last Wednesday at 265-267 Bowery, where the brewhouse and beer hall is being built on the ground floor. On June 25, ceiling work sent a plume of dust through the floorboards of a second-floor loft, forcing its residents to seek shelter elsewhere while testing for toxic materials was conducted.

Today, a health department representative said the levels of lead found in parts of the apartment were six times what the Environmental Protection Agency finds acceptable. According to the testing company’s report (posted below), the highest concentrations were found in the living room, where Mr. Davis said the children’s books and toys are kept.

Blood work taken from at least one of the five children is still out at the lab. Read more…

Photos: Sarah Darville.

At Forbidden Planet’s new location, which opened last Tuesday, the shelves still overflow with comic books, graphic novels, and action figures  – but according to manager Jeff Ayers, there’s one big difference from the old store at the corner of Broadway and 12th Street. “It’s not a cave,” he said, pointing at windows in the front and a skylight in the back. “There’s a sense of actually being able to breathe.”

The new location at 832 Broadway is the store’s third on the block south of Union Square where it first opened in 1981. For those who remember sky-high shelves and bumping into other customers in the aisles, the 40 percent increase in space will likely be a shock to the system.

“F.P. has always had that cool, grimy — not dirty… but that reputation of being jam-packed,” Mr. Ayers said. “We want it to be the same, and a little classier.” The store’s most recent Yelp reviewer appreciated the upgrades, writing, “So much more room and THE A/C WORKS!!!” Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Special delivery last summer.

It was the story of last summer: First the hawks came to Tompkins Square Park and then came the rats. A media feeding frenzy ensued and before long, there was a movie trailer. The park department fought back with minty trash bags and high-tech compactors, and eventually started planting poison again. Earlier this year, parents declared victory over the playground infiltrators, but now a reader uses the Virtual Assignment Desk to tell us  – rats!  – they’re back.

Continuing story. Efforts to reduce the resident rat population haven’t helped. The local hawks grow fat on unpoisoned rats, but kids and caretakers in the Avenue A playground and the garden alongside the E.10th Street pool must share the playspace with fat and happy rats. Anyone can see that the baited boxes are too few to dent the population. Why can’t these rodents be gassed?

Have rats returned to the park, like at Rat Alley? Volunteer to be our rat-porter at the Open Assignments page (filter posts by “Pitch” to see the submission above). Add photos to our Flickr pool. E-mail us your most hair-raising video footage.

And now, Sandy Berger continues to document the smells and sounds of the IHOP underneath her window. The restaurant installed a ventilator unit to dial down the bacon odors, but with noise levels up, Ms. Berger’s battle continues.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012
An inspector came to my apartment and told me that since a violation had already been given they couldn’t serve another one until Sept. 10 when IHOP is due in “court” (he didn’t say which court, but did say that those making the complaints could not be present). This is just not right! We shouldn’t have to rely on the Department of Environmental Protection to describe the schizoid life we’re leading between smells and noise (in some cases, both at the same time); we should have the right to speak for ourselves without having to sue a major corporation.

Saturday, July 28
During a meeting of the ad hoc committee that’s been waging a war to regain our pre-IHOP quality of life, we visited each other’s apartments to understand how we each were affected. The people on the first two floors seem to be bothered by the noise more than smells. They can’t see the eyesore that has become the landscape for the upper floors, which seem to be affected by smells more than noise. The middle floors win the trifecta: they get them all, up close and personal. Read more…

Time for another installment of Neighborhood Appeal, where we appeal to East Villagers to share their go-to spots. Today, Kate McGee Reyes salutes some dog-friendly businesses. Leave your own tips in the comments. 

Alberto Reyes

The East Village is a great neighborhood to have a dog: we’ve got the dog run, some great dog rescues, the beloved Puppy Love Kitty Kat, and of course Doggie Dearest. But where do you go for your morning Joe when the health department doesn’t allow dogs inside cafes? Ost Cafe, on corner of 12th Street and Avenue A, has the answer in the form of a walk-up to-go window. Not only can you get your cappuccino and croissant there but the baristas always have some dog treats to dole out.

Veselka will let you and your canine companion share a meal in its outdoor eating area, so long as he or she stays on the other side of the fence. While there, you can get their made-on-premises dog biscuits for just 35 cents or three for $1. And the servers are always happy to fetch a bowl of fresh water.

If you’re the type that prepares for the Tompkins Square Park Halloween Dog Parade months in advance (and who doesn’t?), stop by Sew Good Cleaners at 337 East Ninth Street, where they’ll make you a custom costume. They’re exceptionally kind and patient while making measurements for the outfit, and they’ll also mend your doggie’s winter coat to last another season.

Have some suggestions of your own? Unleash ’em on us!

The police arrested an East Houston Street man yesterday and charged him with four counts of robbery related to the string of 16 stick-ups near the East River since May. Dion Whitehead, a 38-year-old resident of the Lillian Wald Houses, had previously been arrested for attempted murder, according to The Post. In the robberies the suspect would brandish a weapon or pretend he had one, then grab his victims’ belongings, the police said. None of the victims were hurt. The Daily News reported that investigators were led to Mr. Whitehead after a tipster recognized him in subway surveillance images.

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

The Post reports that stop and frisks were down 34 percent during the second quarter of the year: “A city official with access to the data said 133,934 people were stopped by police between April 1 and June 30, compared to 203,500 from January 1 to March 31.”  Those stopped were “66 percent black; 26 percent Hispanic; 6 percent white; and 2 percent Asian.”

More Than Usual has a photo of a flyer that went up at the site of the notorious “private” bike rack. It appears that the owner of the bike that was stolen from the rack has not given up his search.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the city has declined to defend Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna in a civil suit. Inspector Bologna is accused of pepper spraying protestors during an Occupy Wall Street rally near Union Square in September. The move means that the police officer “could be personally liable for financial damages that may arise out of the suit,” according to the paper. His lawyer is fighting the decision by the city. Read more…

Mary Reinholz

It’s been a while since folks lined up for Ben and Jerry’s in the East Village, but lo and behold, there was a queue about 40-people strong in Union Square today, as fro-yo yoyos mobbed the brand’s Greek frozen yogurt truck for what an attendant said was the last day of giveaways this summer. A few yards up Union Square West, a crew from ABC 7 Eyewitness News stood by. “A guy was arrested yesterday for looking up a girl’s skirt with a pen camera,” explained a cameraman. (What is it with the Union Square subway station, anyway?) Watch ABC 7’s report here.

Farewell, leather jackets, hello nano puff hoody. The Commercial Observer reports that Patagonia is moving into the two-floor space at 313 Bowery that was once part of CBGB. The outdoor apparel brand reportedly signed a lease in excess of 10 years for the space that was formerly occupied by the Morrison Hotel gallery and Riff. Racked notes that Patagonia is likely the first tenant post-CBGB that “isn’t self-consciously cashing in on the club’s legacy.” John Varvatos will remain next-door at 315 Bowery. Come to think of it, Patagonia’s outdoor gear isn’t that radical a departure from CBGB. Heck, the club’s name is slapped across punked-out cycling jerseys.