More about saving Jerry's Newsstand

Over on Astor Place outside the downtown 6, Jerry Delakas remains businessless. As we first reported last Tuesday, the city shut down the newsstand he has run the past 26 years for "operating illegally." (Long story. Find a good recap here.)

East Village resident Kelly King and Community Board 2 member Marty Tessler have been helping organize support for Jerry. Last night, a "Save Jerry's Newsstand" Facebook page arrived … and there's another rally tomorrow afternoon from 4:30-6 p.m.

However, time is running out. Word is Jerry has until Saturday to pay the city $37,000 to keep his newsstand … or he will have to permanently vacate the space. Of course, the city shut down his newsstand 11 days ahead of the deadline, preventing him from making any revenue.

NY1 had a report on this situation last night:

“We're about to file our appeal when they slapped the padlock on, and as far as we're concerned he was entitled to stay here until his appeal was decided, we think it's a violation of his due process rights,” said Delakas’ lawyer, Arthur Schwartz.

Councilwoman Rosie Mendez says Delakas deserves to keep operating, this is his only source of income and he's the sole provider for a sick brother.

“In this great city, one of the things we're known for I think, is sort of having compassion and looking at when there is an exception to policy, I think this would be the case,” said Mendez.

Meanwhile, there are rumblings that some residents who live in the building above Starbucks want the newsstand to go away. There are also stories of a female resident who rips down the signs of support from Jerry's Newsstand every night.

East Village resident holding rally this morning in support of Jerry's Newsstand on Astor Place

Late yesterday afternoon, East Village resident Kelly King put up these signs on the currently shuttered newsstand that Jerry Delakas has operated since 1987 next to the downtown 6 at Astor Place.

As we first reported on Tuesday, the Department of Consumer Affairs shuttered the stand for "operating illegally" following an ongoing legal battle. He has a little more than a week to appeal the ruling that he fork over $37,000 or vacate.

Delakas was unaware that the city was going to seize his stand, as Jeremiah Moss learned. As Jeremiah noted, Delakas saw the broken padlock, and initially thought that he had been robbed.

So King is taking it upon herself to hold a rally this morning at 11 outside the newsstand. (She says that Delakas will be there as well.)

"He is not a fancy type to have the deep legal education to fight corruption off — he is a newsstand man. He is a villager. He is one of our own," King told me via Facebook. "I am going to stand up for him. I am going to give what I have to give."

And she hopes that some other residents will also be able to to stop by to show support for Delakas today...



EVG reader dbs shared these photos from last night...

City shutters Jerry's Newsstand on Astor Place for 'operating illegally'

The city continues its assault on Jerry Delakas and the newsstand that he has operated on Astor Place since 1987. The latest: The city shut it down yesterday for "operating illegally."



You probably know the back story by now: He has operated the stand here for 25-plus years. However, he's not the legal license holder. He has been subleasing the newsstand from the family who held the license. Per previous published reports, it was the dying wish of the woman who held the license to allow him to operate the stand and designated him as heir.

But that has never sat well with the city, who has spent a lot of money arguing over and over again that Delakas isn't a family member, so he doesn't have succession rights.

According to a Nov. 26 post at the Save Jerry page on Facebook:

I just received bad news ... unfortunately [the Department of Consumer Affairs] decided that in order to have the license Jerry has to pay $37,000 within a month.

Back in February, he was denied his license again by the State courts. They granted him the right to remain at the newsstand until the end of this mayoral administration.

That is now looking less likely.

Update: Ugh. Here's some more on the story.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Expect to see Jerry's Newsstand on Astor Place through Mayor Bloomberg's last term in office

Taking this disk for a drive on the 6 train

Yesterday, while waiting for the downtown 6 at Astor Place, EVG contributor Derek Berg talked with this gentleman holding the giant disk… he is a veteran computer guy who was transporting this hard disk (the IBM 2302?) from the late 1960s to his new office…



Perhaps this held the battle plans for 51 Astor Place?

Today in free ads for Microsoft

Just a quick note from Midtown South, where this checkmark arrived early this morning at Astor Place...





The checkmark, plugging a new Office product, points (heh) out that "This is the intersection where oddball and original meet." Perhaps it should say met instead of meet?

People miss the trees at the Astor Place subway plaza

As we noted the other day, workers, for whatever reasons, removed the trees from the Astor Place subway plaza ahead of the Astor Place-Cooper Square revamp... most readers here and on Facebook were pretty much WTF about it... EVG regular Terry Howell shared this shot of the trees as they looked in January 2011... Anyway, plans show about eight trees will be planted here in the revamp...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Revamped Astor Place subway plaza apparently won't need its existing trees

Five years later, Astor Place apparently ready for its 2-year reconstruction project

An updated look at the all-new Astor Place

Workers chopping down the trees at 51 Astor Place

Revamped Astor Place subway plaza apparently won't need its existing trees

[Image via Curbed]

As you know, the long-awaited revamp is happening at Astor Place and Cooper Square these next two years... The plan includes enlarging Cooper Park, streamlining the street grid and creating new permanent pedestrian plazas. Not to mention adding 60 additional trees. Also among the changes: a new-look subway plaza with raised flower beds, more seating and wider sidewalks... and trees ... per the rendering above...

Unfortunately, the existing trees here were either in the wrong place or just not fit for the new-look Astor Place. Several readers were shocked to find that workers had chopped down the trees (Birch?) along here...


[Photo via @EVPinhead]

To echo what @EVPinhead put on Twitter about this: #WTF

Updated:

Here's another view via EVG reader John M.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Five years later, Astor Place apparently ready for its 2-year reconstruction project

An updated look at the all-new Astor Place

Workers chopping down the trees at 51 Astor Place

This is what it might be like living inside the Alamo on Astor Place

Per the clip that appeared Monday on YouTube:

Dave is a creative writer who lives inside the iconic Astor Place Cube in New York City. The cube's 8X8 panels add up to 64 square feet which adds up to 512 cubic feet. For Dave, who is 5'8", that is plenty of space to move around, write, cook, sleep, work out and even play guitar. Dave uses a bicycle generator to power up the lights and a handful of electronic gadgets.

Cute enough, though it's not for real... per Business Insider:

The video appears to be an elaborate advertisement for WHIL, a company that promotes meditation in the business community, started by Lululemon Athletica founder Chip Wilson and his wife Shannon (a logo for WHIL appears at the end of the video.)

Noted

@evgrieve someone took a poop in front of Chase at Astor Place this morning & it was certainly human pic.twitter.com/Zw9PNmtmSg

— Bomarr Blog (@bomarrblog) September 28, 2013

Officials confirmed that this is not part of the Astor Place reconstruction.

Five years later, Astor Place apparently ready for its 2-year reconstruction project

You've likely sign on the signs of pending reconstruction around Cooper Square and Astor Place...



...where the long-discussed two-year (right!) project is set to start...





Among other things, workers have cleared the bike racks from the area around the Alamo ...



... and moved the Citi Bikes docking station from outside Cooper Union to...



...East Seventh Street and Taras Shevchenko Place ...



We heard about the plan back in 2008... By now, we completely forget what is actually happening here (well, the sign above lays it out...)...So we'll go to Curbed, who reported on this Monday, for details:

The four-part plan will enlarge and revamp the plazas around the Alamo and the uptown 6 subway stop, as well as widen the sidewalks near Cooper Square and freshen up Cooper Park. The biggest change will ease the jumbled intersection of Cooper Square, Fourth Avenue, the Bowery, and 5th Street with creation of the 8,000-square-foot Village Plaza. Every section will see new trees and more plantings, new seating, and new lighting, and construction will last for two years.

And here is the official PDF with the plans and stuff.



Any thoughts on what is about to happen here...?

[H/T EVG reader Wally J.]

Another mysterious bike rack removal at Astor Place

EVG reader 8E points out the arrival of "no bike parking" tags this week near the Alamo on Astor Place... the signs note that the city has scheduled to remove the bike racks tomorrow...





Similar signs also appeared in July 2012... and that turned out to just be a temporary removal ahead of a Summer Streets activity here. Nothing else so sinister. (Of course, some people find Summer Streets sinister.)

So. What now? Is the city finally ready to break ground on the new pedestrian space here?

Burnt bus in tow

This morning, we noted that an idling MTA bus caught fire on Astor Place... Bobby Williams happened by when the stricken vehicle was going off to the burnt bus farm... Mind the skateboarders!

Report: Maps show that Midtown South does NOT include the East Village/Astor Place

[770 Broadway as seen in the reflection of the Death Star]

As various media outlets reported this week, Facebook is moving its NYC HQ to 770 Broadway at East Ninth Street.

And various media outlets noted that this was the latest tech company to move to Midtown South.

Right!

Sydney Brownstone at Runnin' Scared was as confused — and annoyed! — by this as anyone else around here.

When did the area immediately surrounding Astor Place (i.e. the Village) become Midtown South? Was it when 51 Astor birthed that terrifically lame office building? Did Midtown suddenly annex the rest of the world, turning Brooklyn into Midtown East and Canada into Midtown North?

We weren't the only ones surprised by the characterization of the 'hood.

"I am fairly certain that Astor and Broadway are not considered to be within our boundaries or even generically considered as Midtown South," wrote John Mudd, president of the Midtown South Community Council, in an email to the Village Voice.

And the Voice helpfully posted this map from Midtown South Community Council:



Meanwhile, some EVG reader reaction:

Richard Bensam said...
We have to fight this. No, I don't mean Facebook moving in -- we have to fight the "Midtown South" label. Slapping a classy-sounding new name on a neighborhood can be worth millions in real estate. This name is a big deal to them. Deny them this victory. Don't use it. Don't let the developers colonize and gentrify our very language and thoughts the way they do our streets and buildings.

And!

Alex in NYC said...
What the fuck? They call it MIDTOWN because it's in the MIDDLE OF TOWN. Astor Place, meanwhile, is DOWNTOWN, because it, by its very geography, is SOUTH (i.e. DOWN) from the MIDDLE OF TOWN.

So no. Midtown South.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Facebook is moving into the neighborhood; Midtown South expands its boundaries, apparently

Rough night at the Alamo?

Spotted this morning on Astor Place via our friends at MoRUS ...







As for the Cube... I recall Scouting New York referring to it this way a few years ago: "(aka The Big Black Cube That Has Never Actually Been Called The Alamo By Anyone Ever Other Than The Artist’s Wife Who Named It)."

Things people do in the Starbucks on Astor Place

Hunker down to play some MLB 2K11 ... via a reader who stopped by to use the bathroom.

[Updated] Looking at the Astor Place Citi Bikes docking station

... that arrived Tuesday... Via an EV Grieve Vine...





I recommend muting this... and don't stare at it for too long... ... I removed the Vine ... and replaced it with photos...

Citi Bikes docking station arrives at Astor Place

On the west side of the Death Star... photo from Twitter via @buttermilk1

A call to permanently drain Lake Astor Place

You've likely noticed the draining issues on Astor Place after any rain or snowfall ... specifically on the sidewalk adjacent to Jerry's Newsstand and the entrance to the downtown 6 ...



The lake (pond?) has made it to SeeClickFix, the website where residents can report problems in their communities using an app and connect with neighbors and local governments to get them fixed. (I never heard of SeeClickFix until a reader prompted me to it the other day.)

In any event, per the person who posted the complaint on Saturday:

"That area has high foot traffic and is difficult to navigate around the flood without dangerously stepping into the road."

Expect to see Jerry's Newsstand on Astor Place through Mayor Bloomberg's last term in office

[Via Jerry's Newsstand on Facebook]

You know the story of Jerry Delakas, who has been running the newsstand at Astor Place since 1987. As the Daily News put it in April 2011: "The city is booting Jerry Delakas, 62, .... because he's not the legal license holder. That decision contradicts the dying wish of the woman who held the license, happily allowed him to operate the stand and designated him as heir."

In the eyes of the city, this is an illegal arrangement. Last fall, the city retained — for free — the services of powerhouse international law firm Proskauer Rose for the eviction process. Previously, the city used a Law Department attorney. "The lawyer handling the matter worked on it while part of the city’s Public Service Program for young attorneys before she left to go into private practice," a city spokesperson told the Post last September. "It made complete sense for her to continue on the case given that she’d worked on it since its inception."

From the Daily News in 2011:

Outraged neighbors say the chain-smoking character with a thick Greek accent and heart of gold has become a neighborhood institution. "Jerry's here rain, snow, sleet, blistering heat," said Larry Schulz, 68, who lives across the street. "He's just a real important part of our community. We think the world of him."

We haven't heard much since then about the situation. In the comments the other day, EVG reader BT mentioned that Delakas suffered a serious hand injury last fall.

Here's the latest on the situation with the city, based on information passed along by director Nicole Cimino at a Feb. 9 screening of "The Paperhouse Report," a 25-minute documentary about Delakas.

In short: He was denied his license again by the State courts. They granted him the right to remain at the newsstand until the end of this mayoral administration. He and his lawyer are planning on contacting the next mayor's administration to see if they have any desire to see Jerry keep his newsstand.

So Bloomberg is out at the end of the year... so you can expect to see Delakas here for perhaps the next 12 months at the very least... And he is on his third physical newsstand now... the one that he had starting in 1987 (his brother Aris is pictured in the photo directly below...)





The one that he upgraded per city requests in 1993 ... (which he says cost him $55,000)



And his current home, which the city Cemusa'd in 2007...

[Photo by James Maher from January 2012. Find more photos here]

Read more about Jerry's situation at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York. You can watch the documentary at Vimeo here. Like Jerry's Newsstand on Facebook here.

[Archival newsstand photos via "The Paper House" website]