A few hours later on First Avenue...

Via EV Grieve First Avenue correspondent Blue Glass ... following up on this post from earlier today....

ConEd provides this morning's entertainment

Dunno if the photos and video do this justice... on First Avenue between 10th Street and 11th Street...

ConEd laying cable on Avenue B

Swung by 7B for a drink tonight... and Avenue B between Seventh Street and Sixth Street is closed right now... A ConEd worker said they were "replacing cable." I had a tough time finding a place to park my car because of this.*


*Kidding, Jesus! Kidding about driving, that is. I mean, ConEd is really working there.

Tree that ConEd killed disappears

For months, ConEd had been working on 11th Street just east of First Avenue ... In late June, ConEd finished up the job... leaving behind a dead tree where the steampipe was working...



Now, as EV Grieve First Avenue correspondent Blue Glass has recorded, workers have removed the dead tree...



...and started up the work again....



Previously on EV Grieve:
ConEd kills a tree

This week in First Avenue bike lane hazards

ConEd is still working on First Avenue near Ninth Street after last week's little manhole mishap... St. Mark's was closed yesterday between Second Avenue and First Avenue...



First Avenue correspondent Blue Glass went by later last evening as work continued... the reflection makes it seem as if ConEd is working with a giant laser..



...and despite the noise, some folks are still choosing to rest here under the sidewalk shed on the Ninth Street corner...

Yesterday's First Avenue manhole explosion, the movie

Many thanks to EV Grieve reader Jason B. for this video...

A few highlights:

• The onlooker in the beginning eating a banana
• The firefighter dragging the Voice box out of harm's way (32-second mark)
• The young man crossing the street right in front of the smoking manhole and getting yelled at (46-second mark)

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated]: Explosion, fire on First Avenue and Ninth Street

This evening on Ninth Street at First Avenue

Just checking in on the scene on Ninth Street and First Avenue following the explosion this afternoon... There are several ConEd crews on the job... and it looks like a few businesses and residents on the north side of Ninth Street just west of First Avenue are without power...







Here's one comment from earlier...

HippieChick said...
I heard the initial big boom, then nothing until I started smelling the horrible smoke. FDNY made a silent approach, for never a siren did I hear.

Then the lights started flickering on 9th Street. Badly flickering. I turned my computer off at once, and everything else too, and went down to see what the hell. FDNY just standing around and told me Con Ed wasn't expected for 20 minutes, as there continued to be small explosions and lots of smoke.

Eventually Con Ed showed up; there's still trucks on the block at this, but the lights have been steady since about 2 pm.

It's always something.

Indeed.

Don't be alarmed if you a really loud siren this morning

Notification issued 10/24/10 at 3:00 PM. There will be an evacuation drill at the Con Edison East River Steam Plant late tomorrow morning, October 25, 2010. A siren will sound and plant employees will assemble on Avenue C between East 14th and East 16th Streets. This is only a drill.

Public nuisance... or art?

EV Grieve contributor Blue Glass wonders if the eternal ConEd smokestack/roadblock on First Avenue and 10th Street will ever go away....



Meanwhile, another reader helpfully notes that this is actually an art installation by Paul Richard!

A memorial for Merlin

There's now a tribute to Merlin here on Avenue A at Sixth Street by the ConEd substation.... marking the anniversary of his death.





Per the Times:

There are few certainties in this changeable city. But on Avenue A and Sixth Street, a place that has been convulsed by change in recent years, one thing has remained constant through the riots and real-estate booms: Merlin, a 41-year-old homeless man who uses only one name, has made the intersection's southeast corner his residence for eight years. Neither blizzards nor blistering heat have routed him from atop a set of wooden pallets in front of a Con Edison substation.

"People move in and out of the neighborhood, but I never budge," he said last week, lounging beneath a pair of tattered umbrellas, his only guard against the sting of the sun. A stroke has left him partly paralyzed, and frostbite cost him several toes three winters ago.

To strangers, he is but another intrusion on the East Village's gritty streetscape, a reason to avert their eyes. But to many local residents, he is a cherished asset: a timekeeper, a message center, a town crier and a source of good, solid conversation. "Merlin is a social hub," said Tatiana Bliss, 25, a local artist. "If you're looking for someone, Merlin probably knows where they are. If you want to leave something for a friend, he'll make sure they get it. He makes this crazy city feel like a small town."

[Thanks to EV Grieve reader Anna for the photos]

ConEd back on 11th Street; ditto for 10th Street

We recently noted that ConEd had wrapped up its work on First Avenue and 11th Street... and just like that, the steampipe is back ...




ConEd has also been working day and night on 10th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue....apparently there are (or were) a few buildings and other other assorted apartments without power...




Thanks to EV Grieve reader Blue Glass for these two photos...

ConEd kills a tree

Speaking of First Avenue... I honestly meant to post this about a month ago... So, there was that steam leak at the northeast corner of First Avenue and 11th Street... went on 24/7 for months...(ConEd told nervous residents that there was no asbestos here...)



In late June, ConEd finished up the job... leaving behind a dead tree where the steampipe was working...



[Above photos via EV Grieve reader Blue Glass]

Here's what the tree used to look like...

You can say this about ConEd: They don't skimp on the barricades

First Avenue near First Street.

How many ConEd pylons does it take to change a lightbulb?

Avenue A and Sixth Street.

A view toward the Williamsburg Bridge circa 1913

Was poking around Shorpy.com when I found this photo... Summer 1913. "Bird's eye view of N.Y.C. from roof of Consolidated Gas Building." George Grantham Bain Collection.

It's looking to the south east... if you click on the image, then you can see some familar landmarks...such as Tompkins Square Park and the two old steeples at St. Brigid's...I keep staring at it and finding something different...

Videos that I never got around to posting: Things that I find oddly comforting

That hummmmmmm at the ConEd substation on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.

Something strange about this ConEd Building photo...

Right. No dorms or other high rises around it... Anyway, I always appreciate the archival items that EV Grieve reader Mykola (Mick) Dementiuk finds and sends along...such as this shot of the ConEd building via 1957 (from Life magazine).



And this rooftop shot in the EV of Steve McQueen and Natalie Wood from 1963's "Love With The Proper Stranger."

ConEd repairs treacherous sidewalk

Near 130 First Ave. and St. Mark's Place. Just five days after a woman fell and smashed her face last Friday evening.




Previously on EV Grieve:
Accident waiting to happen happened

The accident waiting to happen happened

ConEd has been doing some work on First Avenue near St. Mark's Place.



With the metal plate and uneven surface, you can't help but think someone could take a nasty fall on this...



Well, unfortunately, such an accident happened early Friday evening. A woman tripped on the plate and plopped down. She was not injured. However, a woman walking directly behind her tried to stop, but got tangled up and fell. She smashed her face on the sidewalk.




Several people stopped to help. A chair was produced for her. She leaned back in the chair with a handkerchief covering her bloodied nose. Someone called for an ambulance. Someone called the woman's husband. Photos were taken of the uneven surface. Business cards were exchanged. Someone also called 311 and ConEd to complain.

The ambulance arrived and the dazed woman was treated for her injuries.





As of Sunday afternoon, the sidewalk remained as it did at the time of the accident.