Karl Fischer The building bound for 74-84 Third Avenue.

Stephen Rex Brown The site at Third Avenue and East 12th Street.

Karl Fischer may be many armchair architecture critics’ favorite target, but in the eyes of the developer behind the nine-story building bound for Third Avenue, he’s a consummate professional.

“I think he’s a tremendous value-add to our developments,” said Eli Weiss, a partner in YYY Third Avenue, the company behind the new building. “From a developer’s point of view, an architect offers so much more than the façade: making sure that the building is efficient, structurally sound, that it’s livable. The façade is one very small aspect of what an architect does, and in some ways the most subjective.” Read more…

The plot thickens. A new note (at least the fifth of its kind) posted in the window of the law office of Zenon B. Masnyj details a board meeting of an undisclosed credit union in which members were pressed to disclose charitable donations. “As elderly people subjected to two dozen introductions, financial reports and calls for applause that would make a Tupperware hostess blush, testily waited to get their free lunch he read off the names of dozens of charities that the credit union claims to have given money to,” the item in all-caps reads. And the mysterious credit union critic isn’t done yet: the note hints at a trip by board members to Europe may have been an unnecessary expense.

Today, we’re looking back on the past month of crime within the Ninth Precinct. Earlier it was beat-downs, brawls, and blades. Then: Burgled businesses and stolen rides. And now: Robberies and cell-phone snatches. 

Daniel Maurer Metro PCS on Jan. 6

• At last, the incriminating words uttered by the man who twice robbed a Metro PCS store on 14th Street have been revealed. An employee at the store between First and Second Avenues told police that when the suspect showed up on Jan. 20, he said, “Give me the money, I was here before,” and simulated a gun. The man then told the victim to go downstairs into the basement, and he made a run for it.
• Three perps pushed a woman down and snatched her shopping bag on Jan. 22. The victim told police she was at Second Avenue and East Ninth Street at around 8:30 p.m. when she was shoved and robbed.
• An attempt to hold an iPhone ransom went sour on Feb. 11. The 22-year-old victim told the police that when she realized her phone was missing she called it at around 2:30 a.m. and was told she could have it back for $150. The suspect instructed her to meet him at East First Street and Avenue A. When they made their rendezvous an officer pounced from behind, leading to a struggle on the street. The officer eventually arrested a 46-year-old man and recovered the woman’s bag and iPhone.
• A teenager snatched a woman’s phone on Jan. 24. The 26-year-old victim told the police she was on East Seventh Street between Second and Third Avenues at around 10 p.m. when the suspect put her arm around her neck, covered her eyes and grabbed the phone. Police are on the hunt for a 17-year-old woman.

Read more…