[Updated] Drunken driver arrested after crash on Houston and 1st Avenue; pedestrian dies

Photos via @Bentsen23 

Raife Milligan, the pedestrian struck by the drunken driver, has died from his injuries. He was 21. Milligan, a native of Jasper, Ind., was a junior studying BioChemistry at NYU. There's a GoFundMe to help his family pay for expenses.

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Police are investigating a collision involving two cars and a pedestrian on Houston Street at First Avenue that reportedly sent three people to the hospital this morning just before 3.

NBC 4 reports this:

A man in his 20s was seriously hurt when a driver hit him as he crossed a Lower East Side street early Monday, authorities said. The man was crossing East Houston at First Avenue around 2:45 a.m. when cops say a driver, possibly behind the wheel of a Camaro, swerved in an effort to avoid him. The driver hit the pedestrian anyway, then careened into a Honda.

Police have the intersection blocked off this morning... the mangled Camaro remains at the scene in the westbound lanes...

An EVG reader emailed us the following: "The sound of the car speeding down Houston — rapidly upshifting through the gears — was so loud it woke me up." The reader then went to the intersection. "There were witnesses who were extremely upset — it was awful." 

NBC 4 reports that two people in the vehicles were taken to a hospital "for complaints of pain, but they weren't believed to have suffered serious injuries." 

There wasn't an update on the condition of the pedestrian, who EMTs transported to Bellevue.

Updated 11:30 a.m. 

The Post reports that the driver of the Camaro was suspected of being drunk.

The paper lists the victim in critical condition.

Updated 6:30 p.m.

The Daily News reports that the driver, Michael de Guzman, 49, of Astoria, was taken into custody by police and charged with drunken driving.

Although the license plate is mangled in these photos, there was a visible shot in another media outlet. As a reader noted, the driver has received four camera-issued speeding tickets since December.

The crash involving a reckless driver occurred hours before Mayor Adams unveiled a new safety campaign titled "Speeding Ruins Lives, Slow Down."

Headline updated

Milling and paving continues along Houston ahead of bike lane upgrade

City workers have resurfaced eastbound lanes on Houston Street from Second Avenue to Suffolk Street...

As first reported last Monday, the DOT is upgrading the existing bike lanes on Houston Street between Second Avenue and the FDR. Crews still have the roadway from Suffolk Street to the FDR left to do ...

Here's a recap of what is happening with the improvements in the days/weeks ahead: 

• Resurfacing of Houston between Second Avenue and the FDR
• Installing parking-protected bike lanes on Houston between Forsyth and the FDR 
• Installing delineator-protected and curbside bike lanes on Houston between Second Avenue and Forsyth .. and between Ludlow and Essex
• Creating painted pedestrian islands along Houston between Ludlow and Avenue C 
• Installing new bicycle parking on Houston at Orchard and Avenue D 

Plans for protected bike lanes along this corridor date to the fall of 2020 ... and put into place to provide cyclists a safer passage on city streets with the closure of the East River Park Greenway until 2026. 

This Houston Street work comes four months after the $1.45-billion East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) project shut down bike access along the East River starting at Montgomery Street. 

The DOT pointed out the work in a tweet from late last week...

Work has begun on protected #BikeNYC lanes on E Houston St (FDR Dr to 2nd Ave) in #Manhattan. This work will:
🚴‍♂️ Install Protected Bike Lanes
🚶‍♀️ Add Pedestrian Space
🚗 Organize and Calm Traffic
🚦 Improve Signal Timing pic.twitter.com/D4RqG3dq9U

— NYC DOT (@NYC_DOT) April 1, 2022

Up next: Milling, then paving the westbound lanes along the same Houston Street corridor...

Based on the posted notices between Avenue A and Avenue C, it looks as if work will start here tomorrow (Tuesday) evening ...

Bike-lane upgrade underway on Houston

Work continues along East Houston Street as the DOT is upgrading the existing bike lanes on Houston Street between Second Avenue and the FDR...

Workers last week milled the eastbound lanes of Houston between Second Avenue and Avenue A. The crew will continue on toward the FDR starting this evening, per the posted warnings...

Here's what is happening with the improvements in the days/weeks ahead: 

• Resurfacing of Houston between Second Avenue and the FDR
• Installing parking protected bike lanes on Houston between Forsyth and the FDR 
• Installing delineator-protected and curbside bike lanes on Houston between Second Avenue and Forsyth .. and between Ludlow and Essex
• Creating painted pedestrian islands along Houston between Ludlow and Avenue C 
• Installing new bicycle parking on Houston at Orchard and Avenue D 

Plans for protected bike lanes along this corridor date to the fall of 2020 ... and put into place to provide cyclists a safer passage on city streets with the closure of the East River Park Greenway until 2026. 

This Houston Street work comes four months after the $1.45-billion East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) project shut down bike access along the East River starting at Montgomery Street. 

The city installed new bike lanes for Avenue C late last summer.

Report: Police shoot at man threatening people with a knife on Houston and the Bowery

According to published reports, police shot at a man threatening people with knives during the morning rush (8:45) along the Bowery at Houston. 

Media accounts described the suspect as an "emotionally disturbed man." 

Per PIX11: "According to police, the officer fired one round but missed the man." 

The Daily News has more of the narrative:

Starting around 8:40 a.m., the unhinged man cut a bizarre path from outside the Butcher's Daughter, a cafe on Kenmare St., to the Bowery and then to the corner of Elizabeth and Grand Sts., cops said. He allegedly threatened to stab people along the way. 

Cops found the man at the corner of Houston St. and Bowery. Officers first shot the man with a Taser, but it didn't work, police said. A cop from the 9th Precinct fired off one shot as officers tried to subdue the man, but no one was hit.

The suspect was taken into custody without further incident. 

EVG reader Robert Miner, who shared these photos, reports that the Bowery is closed from Houston to Bleecker ... other parts of Houston are also said to be currently closed to traffic... 

Updated 10:46 a.m.:

And a report via CBS 2...

 

[Updated]: E-cyclist killed by speeding hit-and-run driver on East Houston at Avenue B

A 24-year-old man riding an e-bike was struck and killed in a hit-and-run collision last night on East Houston at the Clinton Street-Avenue B intersection. 

Police sources told ABC 7 that the e-cyclist, identified as Borkot Ullah, was hit while attempting to cross East Houston — from Clinton to Avenue B — around 11 p.m.

The black Subaru Outback was traveling eastbound. The driver did not stop and was later seen heading northbound on the FDR, ABC 7 reports.

Streetsblog reports that Ullah would be the 14th cyclist or e-bike rider killed so far this year.

In previous years, EVG readers have expressed concerns about this intersection.

Updated 1 p.m.

Here's part of the coverage from Gothamist that highlights how dangerous the streets have become thanks to reckless drivers...

The deadly incidents come amid a spike in fatalities on New York City streets. At least 131 people have died in crashes so far this year, the highest total to-date since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office in 2014.

City officials have attributed the growing death toll to a nationwide increase in reckless drivers, who took advantage of empty streets at the height of the pandemic, and have kept up the deadly habit.

An increase in hit-and-run incidents, however, dates back to before the pandemic. According to Transportation Alternatives, there were 36,000 hit-and-run incidents in 2013, compared to an average of 45,000 in the last three years.

Updated 5 p.m.

Streetsblog has surveillance video of the collision. 

A video from the scene showed clearly that the cyclist had the light and that the driver swerved around stopped traffic to run the red light and strike Ullah. After the crash, the driver is seen racing away at a high rate of speed as two cops in an unmarked police car — which was right behind the hit-and-run driver and might have been pursuing the driver before the crash — pulled over to check on the victim.

Streetsblog also has more about Ullah, who was a member of Desis Rising Up and Moving, an undocumented workers' rights group.

There is a GoFundMe campaign set up to help Borkot's family both here and in Bangladesh whom he supported financially through his food delivery work.

Top image via the Citizen app.

Traffic lights for the East Houston-FDR-East River overpass

Work began at the FDR overpass at East Houston Street back in January 2016 ... and one of the most critical elements of this overhaul has finally been addressed with the recent arrival of traffic lights. (The previous Yield signs at the busy intersection seemed to be widely ignored.)

EVG contributor Edmund John Dunn shared these photos from Friday. Now, he notes that you can enter-exit East River Park with some certainty, although the walk time is very short ...



As BoweryBoogie reported in January 2016, the $10 million project called for rehabilitating both the entrance and exit ramps to the FDR Drive and introducing traffic lights in the “half-rotary” traffic pattern.

At the time this was considered a rather temporary fix, with the post-Sandy "Big U" project on the horizon. However, that is all on hold at the moment.

As for the rest of constantly delayed East Houston Reconstruction project that started during the Coolidge administration, the estimated completion is now Jan. 15, 2018, per the DDC's weekly bulletin.

The DDC started this project in June 2010, reconstructing/replacing combined sewers, trunk main, water mains, catch basins, fire hydrants, sidewalks, etc., etc., along East Houston Street, from the Bowery to the FDR Drive.

A 4-vehicle pileup on East Houston

An EVG reader shared these photos from yesterday afternoon... showing a four-vehicle pileup on East Houston at Attorney...



Per the reader: "Guy in the black coupe tried to pass westbound cars stopped at the Attorney Street light by going in the bike lane. He hit the parked white SUV, which hit the Smart car, hitting another SUV."



And there is some surveillance video showing the impact of the crash...





The crash reportedly drew an emergency response that included four fire trucks, four police cruisers and three ambulances. According to the reader, the westbound lane of Houston was closed for several hours.

"People in the black coupe were ambulatory, but taken to the hospital by EMS," said the reader. "The traffic coming off the FDR is so fast. People think it's a highway when the speed limit is 25 mph."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reports: 73-year-old East Village woman struck and killed by van while crossing East Houston

More accidents on East Houston Street

Reader report: An assessment of the dangerous East Houston-Avenue B/Clinton Street intersection

Resident: July 4 collision highlights dangerous East Houston-Avenue B/Clinton Street intersection

When there was a bank building in the middle of East Houston at Avenue A

EVG reader Steph Romeo was watching "The Naked City" from 1948 when she spotted this...



...and a view from East Houston near Norfolk looking west to Essex and Avenue A... a thin building in what is now the middle of East Houston...



On the left, you can spot the Provident Loan Society Building, which is still there today (not for long, though) on the southwest corner of Houston and Essex...



Steph look further, and found this image from the comprehensive digital collections at the NYPL... here's a shot of the building's front entrance circa 1929 ... showing the Community State Bank (not another bank branch!) and a dental office in the address that is listed as 2-4 Avenue A aka 240 1/2 E. Houston. ...


[Via NYPL]

I didn't have a chance to do any further research to find out when the building was razed ... it's also a good reminder to rewatch "The Naked City" and the subsequent TV series inspired by the film, which has many Lower East Side locations. I've haven't watched any of that in more than 10 years.

A few more details on the East Houston condoplosion

The New York Times yesterday checked in with a piece on the luxury boom along the East Houston Horridor Corridor...

East Houston was once dotted with gas stations, parking areas and weedy lots.

And now? Let's ask developer Ben Shaoul, who's putting in the Katz's-adajecent condos at 196 Orchard St.

“It’s evolving into more of a luxury neighborhood from a grungy neighborhood,” Mr. Shaoul said. “But it’s still a very cool, very hip spot.”

The article offers more details on the million-dollar condos coming to 287 E. Houston St. between Clinton and Suffolk.


[Rendering via Familiar Control]

For starters, the development is a joint project between "Hogg Holdings and Vinci Partners USA, a firm with a Brazilian parent company that is undertaking its first American project."

Likewise, the master baths will have marble slabs or tiles on every surface but the ceiling. Originally, [Vinci rep Jose Antonio] Grabowsky said, the stone was to be deployed much less extensively.

Other features of the apartments include floor-to-ceiling windows, in a building that will stand above most of the surrounding blocks, courtesy of a 2008 rezoning that allowed taller structures on major streets and avenues.

Previously on EV Grieve:
(More) Condos coming soon on East Houston

11 stories of condos to join the growing East Houston residential corridor

On East Houston, empty lot awaits million-dollar condos

An abandoned car in an empty lot that will soon yield a 13-floor residential building

Resident: July 4 collision highlights dangerous East Houston-Avenue B/Clinton Street intersection

An EVG reader, who lives near East Houston and Avenue B/Clinton Street, has again expressed concerned about the intersection following a collision on July 4.

According to the reader, a Zipcar heading north on Clinton Street ran a light ... a westbound cab hit the car, sending the rental up onto the curb, hitting a pedestrian and then crashing into the Banco Popular at 1 Avenue B.



The reader said that the pedestrian, a male in his early 30s, sustained a leg injury. The passengers in the rental — a man, woman and three children — were all taken to the hospital. It wasn't believed that their injuries were serious.

Given the holiday and demands on the NYPD, it took officers 75 minutes to respond. Several witnesses stayed to give statements, though the driver of the cab left the scene.





Per the reader:

"Only a handful of cars can make the right off the Williamsburg Bridge before the light changes ... and many try to run the light at Houston and Avenue B because they've been waiting 15 minutes to get from Delancey to Houston. On top of that, you've got people coming off the FDR westbound onto Houston still doing highway speeds.

This is an incredible dangerous intersection. [The city] should reverse the direction of Clinton Street."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reports: 73-year-old East Village woman struck and killed by van while crossing East Houston

More accidents on East Houston Street

Reader report: An assessment of the dangerous East Houston-Avenue B/Clinton Street intersection

11 stories of condos to join the growing East Houston residential corridor

[Via Google Street View]

A new residential project has been in the works for East Houston between Clinton and Suffolk going back to late 2014. (BoweryBoogie and NY Yimby had the coverage.)

Plans call for 11 stories of condominiums at 287 E. Houston, at the site of this now-vacant two-story building. (Previously it housed a tax-preparation business; a landscaping business also used part of the property.)

And yesterday, NY Yimby got the first look at a rendering for the development (in two pieces)...




Here are the details via NYY:

The 120-foot-tall building will hold 28 apartments and slightly more than 29,000 square feet of residential space ... The boutique development will have two to four apartments on each story, including two duplexes on the first and second floors and a penthouse duplex on the top two floors. The plans indicate that the penthouse will have a private roof deck, and the rest of the residents will have access to a shared terrace. The apartments will range from one- to three-bedrooms, and asking prices will start at $1.1 million and go up to $5 million, according to PR reps for the development.

To date, though, the plans are awaiting city approval. There is a teaser site up to register for more residential info.

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Maybe this is a good time to do an East Houston new residential development recap...

The Adele at Avenue D...



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Jones LES between Attorney and Ridge...



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179 Suffolk St. ...


[Old photo!]

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PROPOSED!

255 E. Houston between Suffolk and Norfolk...



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223-225 E. Houston St. at Essex...



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TK TK TK

196 Orchard. St. ...



And under TK maybe. There are also plans for a new development at the former Mobil station property at East Second Street and Avenue C...this is the last rendering we've seen... from November 2014...new building plans still await city approval ...

Cruise control

Second Avenue at East Houston by jdx

Reader report: An assessment of the dangerous East Houston-Avenue B/Clinton Street intersection

[EVG photo from yesterday]

Early this past Sunday morning, an EVG reader who lives near East Houston and Avenue B/Clinton Street said that a young man was struck by a silver SUV in the right eastbound lane while he was trying to cross from the southeast corner of Houston and Clinton to the northeast corner of Houston and Avenue B.

Per the reader: "The SUV was badly damaged. The hood was bent into a V. I’m surprised the pedestrian survived."

It is the same intersection where East Village resident Meipui Chow Leon, 73, was struck and killed on Aug. 23, 2013, by a Whole Foods van while walking north in the crosswalk from Clinton Street to Avenue B.


[Photo from 2013]

The EVG reader lives nearby and has observed how dangerous the intersection can be. The reader offers an assessment and a partial solution. It starts with traffic exiting the Williamsburg Bridge and turning north on Clinton Street.

Drivers coming off the bridge are always trying to run that light to make a right on Houston, and get onto the FDR. Clinton Street backs up a half mile onto the bridge during rush hour. Only about 4-5 cars can make it through that light before it changes. There is a car accident or pedestrian strike at least once every three months at this intersection. If we had protected bike lanes, a curb extension or if they would reverse [the traffic flow on] Clinton, that intersection would be so much safer. Seems like all the pedestrian strikes happen going eastbound. Westbound is more fender benders. Drivers are still doing highway speeds coming off the FDR.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reports: 73-year-old East Village woman struck and killed by van while crossing East Houston

More accidents on East Houston Street

Report: Ben Shaoul takes condo neighbor to court to build his new development on East Houston

[EVG photo from July]

Demolition continues along East Houston and Orchard, future home of Ben Shaoul's 10-story retail-residential complex with an Equinox gym.

Apparently there's a snag of sorts in moving forward.

To the Commercial Observer:

Mr. Shaoul wants the Supreme Court of the State of New York to grant him a limited license to get into the six-story condo at 179 Ludlow Street, which abuts the southeast corner of his project on Orchard Street between Houston and Stanton Streets and to be known as 194 Orchard Street.

“The access consists of a non-invasive pre-construction survey, installation of monitoring devices and access to maintain and then remove those devices, and any other code-required protections that serve to protect [179 Ludlow Street] occupants and property,” legal papers indicate.

Apparently the board at 179 Ludlow hasn't responded to any calls or emails made by Shaoul's reps in recent weeks, per the the Commercial Observer.

Making way for Ben Shaoul's new retail-residential complex on East Houston

The demolition of the one-level row (except for Katz's!) of storefronts along East Houston between Ludlow and Orchard started back in early May, as BoweryBoogie first noted.

We were walking by the other day and checked in on the progress…





And EVG favorite Bereket remains in ruins…



As previously reported, workers are clearing all this out to make way for Ben Shaoul's 10-story residential building that will include an Equinox gym.

And it will look something like this…