The Wall Street Journal checks in today with a piece titled "New Crowd Descends on East Third Street."
Let's jump into it!:
A once-seedy slice of the East Village is turning into a new night-life Mecca, drawing crowds of late-night revelers to increasingly trendy nooks.
The stretch along East Third Street between Avenues A and D has long appealed to culinary and night-life entrepreneurs. Now, the area is teeming with newly opened bars and restaurants, more of which are venturing farther east toward the grittier Avenue D.
Surely there are repercussions from this new-found popularity?
"The rents have gone way, way up, so that the people who made this community vibrant in the first place can't afford to live here," said Susan Stetzer, district manager of Community Board 3, who lives on East Third Street.
Still, it's good that Nuyorican Poets Café is doing well. But there's always a but.
Despite those signs of success, some ponder the impact of the changing demographics on the neighborhood.
"It's a weird vibe when people come here for events who have no context of the economics or politics of the Lower East Side—they just come for events." said Steve Cannon, a poet, playwright, novelist and retired professor at City University of New York, who founded A Gathering of Tribes in 1990.
Next week... East Fourth Street!
[Image via The Wall Street Journal]
6 comments:
and they can dine at poliana
""The rents have gone way, way up, so that the people who made this community vibrant in the first place can't afford to live here," said Susan Stetzer, district manager of Community Board 3, who lives on East Third Street."
She allegedly went on to say, "So you can see, Bloomberg's Community Board has done its job, its a win win for everyone."
IT'S STILL SEEDY!! Come to Idle Hands Bar underneath Billy Hurricanes for bourbon beer and rock in a rock and roll speakeasy.
ask for REV
"The rents have gone way up" because the "Community" Board ("managed" by the unelected Susan Stetzer who serves at the pleasure of Councilmember Rosie Mendez) rubber stamps anything developers want to do, from liquor licenses for those who pay the right price, to zoning variances that allow "luxury" housing projects that are out of scale and character with the neighborhood.
The "Community" Board's policies attract monied transients (Euro trash and the businesses that cater to them) that displace long term lower-moderate income residents and locally-owned businesses.
Don't be fooled: Aspiring politician Susan Stetzer, whose election strategy appears to be following the Antonio Pagàn model of dividing the community against itself, is part of the problem, not the solution.
It's funny that the WSJ describes this as a new phenomenon. From what I can tell, the people who live there have been trying to fight back this proliferation for years and years, to the point that they have sort of given up all hope.
Chris- I know your feelings about Susan, but to be fair in this particular case, she doesn't have a vote on the Community Board, and there are others on the SLA Committee more directly responsible for what has happened here than she is, namely the bar owners who support and promote their transfer policy that rarely allow a liquor license to be denied in this process, creating the sale of liquor licenses as a hot commodity, earning hundreds of thousands for bar owners and landlords in key money.
Jill: You're right -- I was just pointing out the absurdity of Stetzer making such an obvious statement when the "Community" Board for whom she is employed as a "manager" (she has to maintain a majority of board member votes in order to keep her job) is part of the problem she claims to be opposed to.
I NEVER trust aspiring politicians with corrupt connections!!!!
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