Add this to the long list of vanishing New York institutions: Jeffrey’s Meat Market.
When Jeffrey’s, believed by many to be Essex Street Market’s longest-tenured seller, vacated a couple of months ago, the owner and city officials hoped for its return.
But this week Jeffrey Ruhalter – the business’s charismatic fourth-generation owner – confirmed that he’s not coming back to the city-owned market on the Lower East Side.
“I’m leaving the Essex market,” said Ruhalter, 55 years old. “Right now, honestly I’m still numb from it. I started working there when I was six years old. We moved into Essex Street Market the day it opened and we’ve been there ever since. It’s hard to accept.”
The Lo-Down has more here.
This news prompted BoweryBoogie to ask a bold-faced question:
Seriously, what the fuck is happening to our neighborhood?
In the late 60s into the 70s I wandered in every street on the Lower East Side and it was like wandering through the shtetl in Old Europe. What a wonderful city NY was in those days but unfortunately it's become a Wisconsin or a Phoenix or any other go-nowhere city in America. And that is our future, we gave it up and can do nothing to retrieve it. Sad but it is our moronic destiny.
ReplyDeleteSAVE THE ESSEX STREET MARKET! NOW IS THE TIME FOR EVERYONE TO GET INVOLVED! THE PUKES ON LAND USE WHO PUSHED FOR THE SPURA PLAN ARE THE SAME LIARS THAT SAID THAT THE ESSEX STREET MARKET WOULD BE PRESERVED. THEY LIED! THERE IS A MASTER BLOOMBERGIAN PLAN TO TURN ESSEX STREET INTO THE BOWERY AND FOR DELANCEY STREET TO BE LIKE THE CHAMPS DE ELYSEES. THE SPURA SITES ARE CITY OWNED LAND WHICH WAS PROMISED TO PERSONS WHO WERE DISPLACED WHEN THE CITY DROVE THEM FROM THEIR HOMES AND BUSINESSES SOME 40 YEARS AGO. YOU KNOW IT"S FUNNY BUT WHEN THE SPURA GUIDELINES WERE SUBMITTED TO THE CITY - BOY THEY CAME UP WITH A PLAN REAL FAST LIKE OVER NIGHT WITH PRIVATE DEVELOPERS ARCHITECTS CITY PLANNERS WHO KNEW. CB3 CHAIR AND SEWARD PARK CO-OP OWNER DOM PISCIOTTA AND CB3 SLA MEMBER AND LAND USE COMMITTEE CHAIR DAVID MCWATER ARE DRIVING THE TRAIN KISSING BLOOMBERG'S ASS.
ReplyDeletebeware of the local council person too. lopez and then mendez brought us the market rate cooper square plan on houston and bowery - along with the "above it all" market rate condo atop the theater for a new city - the deco building once housed another city market. here was the original pete's spice, great butchers, cheese, vegetables, even t-shirts. none too expensive.
ReplyDeletethey couldn't even save the deco two story building that was included in the original design because of contractor neglect.
there soon will be little to save at essex street.
what with $90 cheese and gourmet everything the original market tenants are almost gone already.
real estate prices are going up faster then gold!
I think that the Essex Street Market is worth renovating and preserving as well as expanding into the other shuttered structures that comprise the Market. 90 percent of the people who have businesses in the market would like to remain. The pizza place, grocery shops, the tiny greek bakery, fish market, etc..
ReplyDeleteThe plan now is to relocate the markets by including them into the SPURA development plan. That means that the spaces will be new, which is not the same as a true market setting, which this is. It will end up like a mall and then people will be displaced and eventually pushed out.
There were a group of people at the last land use meeting who are from a non-profit organization that deal exclusively with markets. They worked on the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, the Pike Street Market in Seattle and markets all over the world. They have criteria for what defines a viable market. When asked about how the Essex Street market rated, they gave it a 10 and referred to it as a "gem". The Chelsea Market does not constitute a market according to them.
This market has always been a place for a diverse range of small businesses. A strong concept, including size and openness of booths,hours of operation, diversity of vendors, could make this place a great home for small businesses that can't afford commercial storefront rents.
There are members on the CB3 land use committee who support the preservation of the Essex Street Market, while other members are trying to drive
things in a direction that is pro- development which has been pre-ordained by the Bloomberg Administration.
Save The Essex Street Market!