Thursday, January 28, 2021

Curbside dining space removed outside Lucy's on Avenue A

Earlier this week, we noted that someone had taken up residence in the unfinished curbside space outside Lucy's on Avenue A between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street.

Yesterday, the Department of Homeless Services posted a notice stating that the city will clean up this space beginning today. Well, not only did someone clean up the structure, they also just removed the entire thing, as Steven noted...
Lucy's has been closed of late... but a lot of money did go into the unfinished structure for a business struggling to stay afloat these past 10.5 months. No word on who ordered it to be removed.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wonder if the landlord had it removed. I do wonder who gets fined when something like this happens--is it the business or the owner of the building the business rents from?

Neighbor said...

Wtf? Those things are not cheap. I sincerely hope that Lucy's was reimbursed for this.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully they fine De Blasio.

Choresh Wald said...

@anon 7:58 it is the business owners responsibility, the building owner has nothing to do with it. Lucy’s invested hundreds of dollars in this structure, the city put a notice that they will clear the belongings of the encampment but instead stole the whole structure. Just gross.

Anonymous said...

Funny how different rules for different circumstances apply.The structure was built with wood longer than four feet. The department of sanitation will not take wood unless it is four feet or less and bundled. I know from personal experience of having a truck pass by my place which had bundled wood longer than four feet. The worker told me the rule and I had to chase the truck down the street carrying wood. Thankfully the truck stopped for me. And two evenings ago a sanitation truck was parked outside Horus Cafe on Ave A and 10th, sitting there while employees of the restaurant loaded the truck up with loads and loads of wood and plywood, looked like from a street structure. It was there for at least ten or more minutes! Obviously there was some incentive for breaking the rules !

Anonymous said...

I can't wait until everything is safe again for us to be inside and all of these structures are gone. People who don't live near them love them. It's no fun for the neighbors near a lot of them. I give Lucy credit for not putting speakers in hers and blasting music all day and night.

Neighbor said...

Hate to break it to you @11:28am but the plan is for these things to stay. Hopefully a balance can be found between taking away a means for restaurants to capture revenue they've lost and the noise. I think there is, and should be, a middle ground.

Anonymous said...

To !2:16: I would be fine with the outdoor structures staying if there was a ban on music being played outside the restaurants. That's what's driving everyone around these joints out of their minds. We're trying to work and sleep and survive too. And a lot of us were here before all these trendy restaurants.

Anonymous said...

I disagree. It’s til 10pm. That’s reasonable. And yes I live near one and it’s festive without being obnoxious.

Anonymous said...

seconding and thirding the no music because there is no middle ground and no enforcement even if there was anyone who finds the music outside charming needs to live above it for a summer and have to work in a hospital morning shift stop being so selfish these sheds are a covid moment thing and should not be made into anything else unless it's housing for the homeless!

Anonymous said...

Covid is of course a catastrophe for nearly everyone except Jeff Bezos etc.
While completely sympathetic to restaurants, the street structure "solution" is beyond problematic.
1. It only helps restaurants that are well-situated (eg wide storefront, not by a bus stop etc) and popular with "cool" people.
Tax and rent decreases for ALL restaurants would have been equitable.
2. It does not help stores - only restaurants. In fact it hurts stores.
3. Impacts on garbage and rat problem.
4. Reduces street/road space. Yes reduction of street/road space is a problem - it is hard for truck drivers, service workers, delivery people, buses etc. Also impacts on ambulances, fire trucks. BTW the real way to reduce traffic would be to stop overdevelopment and drastically reduce e-commerce/Amazon etc delivery. (Disamying to see all the upscale cyclists in my building who get virtually everything delivered!)
Not only have so many local shops closed but the focus on dining feels like more demographic stratification.

Anonymous said...

Music shouldn’t be allowed. The restaurant next to our building plays it all afternoon until they have to close at 10 pm. No one can living next to it can get work done or sleep or even have a moment of peace. It is unbelievable that none of our elected officials are doing anything.