While my family and I were playing tag in the baseball field along the FDR, we came across a pile of about 12-14 syringes scattered in the dugout. We called 311 and they didn't give us much confidence that they would clean that up. I am horrified. We need to make people aware that this is happening in places where children play and that 311 isn't terribly concerned.
And in news you likely read about yesterday, Mayor de Blasio announced that the City's Open Restaurants program will be extended year-round and made permanent. The extension also applies to Open Streets: Restaurants, which provides restaurants expanded space on 85 car-free streets citywide on certain days.Here are some particulars from the city's press release about how restaurants will able able to protect diners from the winter-time elements:
Heating
As cooler weather arrives, the City will allow restaurants to incorporate heating elements into their outdoor dining setups. Electrical heaters will be allowed on both sidewalk and roadway. Propane and natural gas heaters will be allowed on sidewalks only; they will remain prohibited in roadway seating. Propane will require a permit from FDNY and compliance with FDNY regulations for outdoor use, handling and secure outdoor tank storage overnight. Official guidance on what will be considered approved installation and use of heating elements will be released before the end of September, and restaurants are prohibited from installing heating elements until guidelines are released and followed.
Tents
Restaurants will also be permitted to use tent enclosures to keep diners warm. In partial tent enclosures, at least 50 percent of the tent’s side wall surface area must remain open and electrical heaters are allowed. In full tent enclosures, the tent’s side walls may be closed but occupancy limitations will be capped at 25 percent of capacity, and indoor dining guidelines must be followed; electrical heaters will also be allowed. Enclosed structures, such as plastic domes, will be allowed for individual parties and must have adequate ventilation to allow for air circulation.
It's that lovely time of year when neighbors get together to celebrate the cultural vitality of their community in our beloved Tompkins Square Park.In addition to speakers, information tables with local crafts, we will have the following musical talents:
> The Acute
> Evil Kim Evil
> Acorn Slim (with Dead Dean)
> Jennifer Blowdryer Soul Experience
> Skitzopolis
> SEWAGE (with Spike Polite)
> The Love Pirates
> Grace The Enemy
> Ruckus Interruptus
> Soul Cake
> Rebelmatic (with surprise guest CV)
AND: Seth Tobocman (WW# Illustrated) will do a slide show with Eric Blitz and John Wagner.
Local resident Harkness Granger is hosting a comedy show "for the plants and the people" this afternoon at the 11th Street Community Garden, 422 E. 11th St. between First Avenue and Avenue A.
The show is at 4 p.m. There's a suggested donation of $5. And masks are mandatory for the limited capacity event.
Early this morning, State Sen. Brad Hoylman spotted this moving truck with anti-Semitic graffiti parked on First Avenue between Third Street and Fourth Street.
Just saw this on the west side of 1st Avenue between 2nd and 3rd streets. Sickening. The perpetrators must be found and held accountable.
— Senator Brad Hoylman (@bradhoylman) September 25, 2020
Go to hell, Nazis. pic.twitter.com/VzrRZ5Urns
It's 2020 and we are all stuck inside somewhere ... This year's festival is dedicated expressing our situation through art ... sharing the reality of what is going on in our lives
All the exhibits will take place behind the garden fences with the audiences on the sidewalks.
The audience will be moving, fluid. The art stationary. We want to foster our wild variety of sentiments through our art. We are all politically bent, given the times and election. Vote with your ART too. Let people know how you feel.
This as an Art exhibit and the gardens are the Green Museum.It's perfect for touring audiences to visit and enjoy our community gardens.
Nomad, a North African and Mediterranean restaurant in the East Village, shut down in March after the pandemic engulfed New York City, leaving its owner unable to pay the full $11,500 rent for months.
After opening for outdoor dining in June, the owner, Mehenni Zebentout, has struggled to pay 70 to 80 percent of the rent. But he had to cut his staff from nine full-time employees to four part-time workers. And his landlord still wants Mr. Zebentout to pay what he owes from the spring.
"We're just hoping for some miracle," he said. "I believe, according to my experience, two out of three restaurants will close by December, and I'll be one of them if there's no help from the city or the government."
Protests broke out around the city — and elsewhere in the country — yesterday after the news that none of the three officers involved in Breonna Taylor's death were charged with her killing. 
You can catch a livestream of Cults on Oct. 1 from (Le) Poisson Rouge. Find the details here.
As many of you know, the city and the Parks Dept. have had massive budget cuts. Recently I have been assigned to work many other locations, leaving Tompkins vulnerable to trash and weeds.
So with that being said, we are hoping to gather as many folks as we can for Saturday, Oct. 10. We will meet at the main office in Tompkins at 11 a.m., have some coffee and donuts, and then concentrate on areas of the park together. Bring a mask and gloves. Feel free to bring any gardening supplies you prefer —otherwise we will have tools and such.
Eliza's Local has closed at 2 St. Mark's Place just east of Third Avenue.
An all-too-familiar set of circumstances are behind the bar-restaurant's closure: "Unfortunately, we had no choice with the current situation, our landlord and no inside dining," a rep told us.
Eliza's had been open in the early days of spring, selling beer to go (and giving away bread). They later had some expanded outdoor dining space with the closure of St. Mark's Place on weekends for Street Feast. Still, it wasn't nearly enough volume to overcome the drop-off in business.
The bar, which opened in December 2018, was named for Elizabeth Hamilton (aka "Eliza") co-founder and deputy director of the first private orphanage in New York City. She was the wife of Alexander Hamilton. She lived next door at 4 St. Mark's Place in what was later known as the Hamilton-Holly House.
EVG regular Lola Sáenz shared these tributes to the late Supreme Court Justice... as seen at the Modern Love Club on First Avenue between Ninth Street and 10th Street (above) ... and on the Bowery...
After a day spent painting, I toured the completed works with the artist as she answered some questions about her name, her tag, and why she loves the neighborhood.
In some positive-for-a-change local restaurant news, the owners of Foxface recently started renovations at their new storefront at 189 Avenue A between 11th Street and 12th Street.
East Village residents Ori Kushnir and Sivan Lahat, who opened the hit sandwich shop at Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place in late 2018, will keep that outpost.
At 189 Avenue A, they're planning on Foxface Provisions — a smokehouse, tasting room and preservation commissary. (Read more about it here.)
During the start of the renovations, Kushnir reported finding some remains of a previous tenant — Vampire Freaks (RIP 2012)!
Most recently, 189 Avenue A was home to Harry & Ida's Meat and Supply Co.
On August 31, investigators with the state's multi-agency task force observed in excess of eight patrons standing, drinking and congregating in front of the licensed premises. Inside, investigators observed three patrons sitting and drinking at the bar and one patron standing inside with a drink in his hand, all in flagrant violation of the Governor's Executive Order in place since March 16, 2020.
Updated 11 a.m.: Several readers have noted that Black Emperor had previously announced plans to temporarily close the bar after service on Aug. 31.
Meanwhile, two other East Village bars-restaurants that had their licenses suspended by the SLA last month are back in service.
Maiden Lane on 10th Street and Avenue B resumed service with alcohol and expanded food offerings on Sept. 10. (They did reopen after their license was suspended in early August for food orders and a non-alcoholic drink menu.)
The Hairy Lemon, 28-30 Avenue B between Second Street and Third Street, also had its license reinstated after nearly six weeks of closure.
From Houston and Clinton...
As you likely know, the previous tenant, the five-screen Landmark Sunshine Theater closed Jan. 21, 2018, after 17 years in business.
The property consists "of 6 one-bedroom and 2 two-bedroom apartments. The property is built 25 feet by 63 feet and sits on a 25 foot by 93.92 foot lot with approximately 7,990 gross square feet. The property is zoned R8B allowing for approximately 1,409 gross square feet of available air rights.
And with one dream coming to fruition, another one comes to a pause. Our NYC locations of Ghost Donkey, The Poni Room and Saxon + Parole are temporarily closed due to COVID-19. It has been a pleasure serving you, and we hope to do so again soon.
S+P opened here in September 2011, replacing the company's Double Crown restaurant.
Pandemic is one of the local bands on the regular circuit in Tompkins Square Park in recent months... EVG contributor Stacie Joy shared this clip from yesterday of the band, whose members are Luis Ayala, Papote Jimenez, Carlos Acevedo and Zoilapianista.
The band plays every Tuesday and Sunday at 5 p.m. in Tompkins.
In case you haven't been by the Second Avenue F stop at Houston... FL00D and Stänzi have collaborated to create "Project Stun," described as "a hybrid street art and animated experience," on view (and digitally here) through September.
Paying homage to local culture and creativity from decades past, "Project Stun" emits hope upon the streets of New York City. These words hold power — letter by letter, chaotic expression seeps through in philosophies of NYHC, iconic musical influences (Bad Brains, CBGB) and signature motifs from the creators' archives.
[Aljerjari with manager Mahammad Fofana]
Posts
All Comments
