Khristopher J. Brooks Francesca Manisco and her favorite filing system

Today on The Local East Village, it’s all about cleaning house. First Brendan Bernhard recounted the epic task of clearing out his apartment after it was infested by bed bugs. Now a professional organizer (yes, they exist) tells how to avoid all that clutter in the first place.

For nearly a decade, Francesca Manisco was a radio and television producer for Italian broadcast programs. An avid cook, she also contributed a chapter on regional Italian food to “All Italy: The Book of Everything Italian.” She moved to New York in 1980 and found her true calling a little over a decade ago after reading a story in the New York Daily News about professional organizers. Ms. Manisco says she was fascinated to learn that she could “get paid to nag people on where to put their things.”

These days Ms. Manisco works out of her East Village apartment on East 4th Street, a one-bedroom unit that holds thousands of books and hundreds of CDs, but is still quite tidy. A dozen mugs hang from hooks that are screwed underneath her kitchen cabinets; her books are stacked two rows deep; her art supplies are tucked into a canvas box in a corner; and she keep documents in an antique secretary desk.

The Local sat down with Ms. Manisco to gather a few tips on organizing, including how to get more space in a studio apartment. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Tommy McKean says that the whir of the air conditioning units directly above his apartment is a constant nuisance.

This time of year, the whir of an air conditioning unit is usually reassuring. But for several tenants living at East 13th Street and First Avenue, two industrial-strength air conditioning units on the roof of their building are instead a constant torment.

“It’s like a helicopter hovering overhead all day,” said Tommy McKean, who lives directly below the units on the fifth floor of the building. “For ten minutes, it’s not so bad. But for 24 hours a day it’s awful.” Read more…

Laura Lee Katie Holmes exits the American Felt Building

Is Joey Potter the East Village’s new Joey? The Local caught Katie Holmes emerging from the apartment she and husband Tom Cruise share in the American Felt Building on 13th Street this morning. The actress is in town to promote her latest work, “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” set to release August 26.

One of the two police officers who was acquitted of raping an intoxicated East Village woman in 2009 has been sentenced to one year in jail for official misconduct, the Daily News reports. The officer, Kenneth Moreno, 43 was immediately taken away in handcuffs to begin serving his sentence as his accuser looked on. A jury found Mr. Moreno not guilty of rape in May, but did find him and his partner, Franklin Mata, guilty of misconduct for entering the woman’s apartment without permission. Mr. Mata is expected to be sentenced later today as well.
Update: The sentencing of Mr. Mara has been postponed until Wednesday because his lawyer could not be present, the Daily News reports.

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

East Village cyclists have been put on notice. City workers plan to discard several abandoned bikes near East First Street between Avenue A and First Avenue, according to a Department of Transportation sign spotted by EV Grieve. Better pick yours up by the end of the day.

The New York Daily News profiled former CBGB bartender Jane Danger, owner of Jane’s Sweet Buns. The shop, at 102 St. Marks Place, features baked goods with hints of alcohol, like a Rum Runner bun with nutmeg, cinnamon, raisins, brown sugar, Galliano liqueur and aged rum.

Finally, Neither More Nor Less, Marty After Dark, EV Grieve, and Gothamist have photos from Saturday’s protest against East Village gentrification. Activist John Penley and his crew started at East Third Street, found its way to the BMW Guggenheim Lab and ended at what used to be Mars Bar. A poem was read. A cigarette was lit. Signs were waved, and then the protestors went home.

Phoenix Eisenberg on capturing the complexity of limitations.

“I want to give people a reason to be interested in the things they would normally dismiss– by making the unattractive look beautiful, the crazed look understandable, or the pristine seem imperfect. I want people to understand that it is the imperfections in our lives that make us so interesting.”
Read more…

Scott Lynch

You can tell a lot from the language people use– as well as from the language they don’t use. An online visit to the “mobile” BMW Guggenheim Lab, which recently touched down on Houston Street and Second Avenue in all its up-to-the-minute minimalist splendor, suggests that the “international, interdisciplinary teams of emerging talents” running it are engaged in the paradoxical task of trying to discover “innovative” solutions to intractable urban problems while thinking solely in clichés.

The Web site itself is of course cheery and bright, featuring lots of baby blues, the usual self-promotional videos, fussy graphics, things to click on, and, of course, an Internet letter box in which you – an ordinary citizen! – can post your radical visionary ideas about how to improve the city without even buying a stamp.

The economy is almost beyond repair, world banks are facing a meltdown, entire segments of the population have been served with their divorce papers by any and all employers, but the Guggenheim’s site is full of madly utopian visions such as that eye-catching poster in which all of New York’s major buildings are squeezed into the rectangle usually occupied by Central Park, while the rest of the island becomes a green, pristine forest – much as it was before those horrid Europeans arrived in their high-tech wooden boats. Yeah, that’ll work. Just watch out for the bows and arrows.

In a section of the Web site named “I Meditate NY” – a joke in itself – we read that “creativity is the font of innovation.” This is about as perceptive as stating that “sexuality is the mechanism of reproduction.” There’s a reason certain sentences such as “necessity is the mother of invention” stick around forever, while others barely make it to the end of the week. I think we can agree that “creativity is the font of innovation” belongs in the second category. It’s think-tank language, dead on arrival. Read more…

Courtesy of “Blogologues” The “Blogologues” production team from left to right: Assistant director Meredith Hackman, director Megan Loughran, co-producers Allison Goldberg and Jen Jamula, and stage manager Jim Armstrong

When an online phenomenon escapes the bounds of the digital world and emerges IRL (in real life), bloggers are fond of proclaiming “the intertubes are leaking.” “Blogologues,” an upcoming show at Under St. Marks, will turn the spigot and let Internet culture gush out at full flow.

Each month, “Blogologues” will take real Internet postings on a theme and turn them into a stage show. And get this: The producers are taking suggestions from readers of The Local. Have any recommendable tweets, blog posts, even Craigslist ads? Don’t be shy. Leave them in the comments and they may end up being enacted on stage. Read more…

Susan Keyloun

Good morning, East Village.

Here’s something to consider if you’re considering snatching up one of those rogue cans of Four Loko: Gothamist picked up a study from the Annals of Emergency Medicine that revealed 11 patients under the influence of the banned beverage (10 of them underage) were treated in the Bellevue emergency room in the four month period in late 2010. One patient had fallen onto subway tracks and five others were found unconscious in public places.

The Post’s police blotter (via EV Grieve) has news of a high speed getaway from Tompkins Square Park by a suspected drug dealer. After nearly careening into a sergeant in the stolen minivan he was driving, Robert Ball briefly escaped before hitting traffic and was apprehended.

Also from the Post, word that Jimmy McMillan, who ran for governor on a platform of “the rent is too damn high,” is facing eviction from his $872.96 rent-controlled St. Marks Place apartment. Mr. McMillan’s landlord claims he is in violation of his lease because he actually lives in Brooklyn. Mr. McMillan has vowed to fight the case. Read more…

Leila Samii

Earlier this week, the Daily News pointed to the intersection of Essex and Delancey Streets as one of the deadliest in the city. Where bicycle accidents are concerned, it isn’t the only dangerous street crossing on the Lower East Side. In fact, data shows that the neighborhood boasts many of the intersections most prone to bicycle crashes.

The Local obtained records from the New York City Department of Transportation of cycling accidents in 2008 and 2009, the most recent years available. The records reported all intersections where four or more cycling accidents occurred in 2008, and three or more in 2009.

Of the 33 intersections on the list, nine are on the Lower East Side (three of those nine are on Houston Street, the border of the East Village). The data reported a total of 45 crashes at those intersections.

Midtown was the second most sketchy neighborhood with 38 crashes across its accident-prone intersections.
Read more…

Michael Lefkovits

On Tuesday, a follower of The Local East Village’s Twitter page tweeted about how some East Villagers had helped a missing man back to his home. Seeing a counterpoint to the tragic death of Eason Alonzio, we asked her to tell us the whole story here.

On Tuesday night, my husband Ben and I settled in at Standings. The low-key sports bar has become the default home for one of our “integrate into America” projects: acquiring a love of baseball, or at the very least starting to work out what all the fuss is about. It’s not the most straightforward endeavor for a couple of Aussies raised to believe cricket is the best game on Earth. Becoming Mets fans has helped, though; we are culturally wired to support the underdog, and they fulfill the role with aplomb.

It was around 10:30 p.m. when we finished watching the Mets throw away their 8th-inning lead against the Marlins. Defeated and more than ready to be home, we crossed Second Avenue over to St. Marks, Ben pushing his bike ahead of me. In my peripheral vision I caught only a fleeting glimpse of what seemed to be a hunched figure leaning up against a tree trunk; it wasn’t until I had gone several feet further that the image even registered.

“Wait up,” I said to Ben, handing him my backpack as I returned to investigate.

An elderly man, perhaps 80 years old, was struggling to reach the walking cane he had dropped on the pavement. I picked up the cane and put it in his hand. He started talking in Mandarin. Within a few moments it became clear he spoke no English, but by this time he was holding my hand.
Read more…

Two late-night dining institutions are getting ready to unveil their new incarnations: Fork in the Road reports that Sidewalk Cafe, which closed for renovations in March, will reopen by mid-August with “reclaimed barn wood from upstate New York,” “housemade” potato chips, and other flourishes. Meanwhile EV Grieve notices that the long in-the-works second location of Veselka, on the Bowery, has put out chairs and is now hiring.

We’ve now received more information about the disturbance that occurred at the 7th Precinct’s National Night Out yesterday. According to a police spokesman, a man fleeing the scene of a gang assault made an unlucky wrong turn and ran right into police listening to the precinct’s commanding officer as she addressed a crowd of local residents and elected officials.

The suspect was part of a group of seven who allegedly assaulted a 24-year-old man at Ridge and Stanton Streets at around 5:45 p.m. The suspect fled the scene, according to the police, but ran right into the gathering of around 70 people at Attorney and Stanton Streets.

As shown in the Local East Village’s video from the scene, the incident interrupted Deputy Inspector Nancy Barry’s welcoming speech mid-sentence as officers swarmed the suspect.

Read more…

Lauren Carol Smith

In exactly an hour, at 6:15 p.m., The BMW Guggenheim Lab will kick off its film programming with a screening of Blank City. The Local talked with Paul Dallas, the project’s film curator, to see what’s in store for the neighborhood.

How does Blank City reflect the history of the neighborhood?

The film is really a document of the “No Wave” and “Cinema of Transgression” arts scene that happened in the East Village and Lower East Side in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was the time when people were squatting in buildings, before the real-estate boom of the eighties, and the moment when artists could live in close proximity and foster this anti-establishment sort of art scene. It shows what was happening in music and art at the time through rich moments that have had an effect on artists and filmmakers since.

Read more…

Lauren Carol Smith Television reporters interview a local about Eason Alonzio, a disabled man who was left in a van and died after six hours yesterday.

The police have confirmed to The Local East Village that the developmentally disabled man who died in the back of a van after being left there for six hours on Tuesday was a resident of the neighborhood. News vans are currently clogging East Fifth Street.

The 48-year-old, Eason Alonzio, was part of a group of disabled people driven to a daytime activity at 2082 Lexington Avenue in East Harlem at around 9 a.m, according to The Times.

The group got out of the van operated by AHRC New York City, but somehow Mr. Alonzio was left behind.

The police said that at around 2 p.m. the resident of 224 East Fifth Street, was found dead in a backseat.

A cause of death has not yet been determined. On Tuesday the temperature reached a high of 91 degrees.

Read more…

Rachel Citron The 7th Precinct has been targeting bar owners for serving drinks to minors.

The police crackdown on bars in the Lower East Side resulted in a dramatic increase in charges of underage drinking against business owners, data provided by the State Liquor Authority shows.

During a three-month stretch of intense enforcement early this year, the S.L.A., which acts on recommendations from the police, handed down 39 charges of underage drinking in the neighborhood, compared to 31 charges issued during all of 2009 and 2010.

Lauren Carol Smith View full graphic

Bar owners in the three zip codes that, taken together, include the East Village and Lower East Side faced 230 charges of serving minors from 2007 to 2011, resulting in $1,034,800 in fines. The data shows that large numbers of charges come during intense periods of enforcement, and bars in the Lower East Side in particular have faced an unprecedented and disproportionate amount of scrutiny this year.

Each offense results in fines of up to $10,000, and repeat offenders risk being shut down permanently. Some of the more high-profile watering holes caught in the dragnet include Mason Dixon (which eventually closed altogether) and Welcome to the Johnson’s.

The increase in enforcement came as the 7th Precinct resurrected its cabaret unit, which focuses on the Lower East Side’s booming nightlife scene, as well as the arrival of Capt. David Miller at the precinct last year. An officer with Community Affairs in the 7th Precinct would not comment on enforcement of sale of alcohol to minors.

In 2009, the East Village’s 9th Precinct disbanded its own cabaret unit, though at a recent community meeting Deputy Inspector Kenneth Lehr said underage drinking remained a priority.

Many bar owners say that they are being unfairly punished for an issue beyond their control.

Read more…

Ian Duncan The Avenue C poker club was robbed at gunpoint on Saturday. It has now closed. Below: a joker marks the club’s door.

Six card players were robbed at gunpoint late Saturday night in a poker club on Avenue C, according to police reports. Two armed men entered the New York City Poker Tour club shortly before 11 p.m. and ushered the players into a closet before robbing them. One player – identified by owner Jeremy Martin as Michael C. – had just returned from a successful night at a casino and was carrying $4,500 in cash.

Ian Duncan

The club had closed on Saturday night, but Mr. Martin and a few other players were inside after hours. The robbers knocked at the door and were let in. They quickly rounded up the players, took their cash and left.

Mr. Martin believes that he was “set up” by one of the players, because the gunmen shook down Michael first, before ordering the other players to empty their pockets.

Mr. Martin said no one was hurt in the robbery, but according to police reports, one person was punched in the face by the attackers. The robbers escaped with $6,500 in cash, a driver’s license and a Medicaid card.

Read more…

Courtesy of Curtis Brown

Curtis Brown, the former frontman of rock band Bad Wizard who became chef at Bubby’s, has left his gig at the Tribeca comfort-food standby and will open his own place at 234 East Fourth Street. Named after the bird of his home state of North Carolina (Mr. Brown was born in Asheville in 1972 and moved to New York City in 1996), The Cardinal is expected to open around Aug. 14, and will offer a “90 percent Southern” menu consisting of Memphis-style ribs, North Carolina-style pulled pork, and Texas-style brisket, as well as non-barbecue items such as lard biscuits, fried chicken, and fried pork chops with red-eye gravy.  Among the restaurant’s investors is Dov Charney, the notorious founder of American Apparel.

Mr. Brown’s front-of-house partner in the restaurant is Leanne Hebert-Nguyen, who worked at the clothing company for two years (before that, she was a manager at restaurants in Montreal). “He’s a friend of hers and we were looking for investors and he got involved,” said Mr. Brown of Mr. Charney’s “hands-off” role. “He’ll be here opening night— that kind of situation. And he gives us any support he can, helping us find stuff like light fixtures for the restaurant.”

Read more…