This should be a photo of the Empire State Building

Still working out the kinks of the new Blogger platform. (Please see the earlier posts today. I would link to them, but...) Over the next few days we will be testing the new platform and working out the kinks of the HyperText Markup Language (HTML). 

Anyway, the new uploading system is a little screwy... So please excuse our appearance while we're under re-construction. There will be a few more (pointless than usual) posts for testing purposes in the hours and days ahead.

Monday's parting shot

A little shade and a breeze today along the East River Park under the Williamsburg Bridge...

Efforts continue to rename the Williamsburg Bridge after jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins

[Image via Instagram]

Back in the spring, Lower East Side resident Jeff Caltabiano launched the Sonny Rollins Bridge Project with the purpose of renaming the Williamsburg Bridge to commemorate the jazz saxophonist. (This April feature in The New Yorker has the full story.)

And now, Brooklyn City Councilmember Stephen Levin (apparently with the support of Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams) has introduced legislation to rename the Williamsburg Bridge the Sonny Rollins Bridge. (Rollins turned 87 last month.)

Here's more background from a news release yesterday via the EVG inbox...

“I first listened to Sonny Rollins at the age of 13. His music and his story has stayed with me to this day,” said Councilmember Stephen Levin, the bill’s sponsor.

“Looking around New York City you’ll see plenty of monuments to politicians,” he added. “You won’t see many monuments to cultural pioneers that embody the spirit of the city.”

In the summer of 1959, Rollins, who was 28 years old and at the height of his musical career, stopped performing and recording, and for two years would disappear to the pedestrian walkway of the Williamsburg Bridge, not far from his home on the Lower East Side.

It was on the bridge that Rollins, a native son of New York who lived in the city over seven decades, would practice for up to 16 hours a day.

“Playing against the sky really does improve your volume, and your wind capacity,” Rollins wrote in The New York Times in 2015. “I could have just stayed up there forever.”

During his sabbatical, Rollins also began practicing yoga, started exercising, quit smoking, and worked on improving himself. After two years on the bridge, Rollins became a better, more confident player and a better human being.

Rollins’ decision to retreat from the jazz scene — essentially taking a vow of artistic silence — was considered an extreme act. The only place one could hear Rollins play music was up on the bridge.

When Rollins finally returned to playing in public in November 1961, he was a changed man; a more confident and refined player, but also a radical humanist. He went on to create music for another half century, playing many of the world’s great concert halls and releasing many more albums.

Rollins’ work, part of his life-long pursuit of self improvement, exemplified by his time on the bridge, has provided inspiration for people of all walks of life around the world. He is considered one of the living legends of jazz, the greatest improviser in the history of recorded music, and an artist whose influence transcends music.

You can find more info at the Sonny Rollins Bridge website.

The light, light show

Photo from last night by James and Karla Murray. Anyone happen to know what was happening here beyond the Williamsburg Bridge?

It was probably something top secret like this, but I could be wrong.

Under the Williamsburg Bridge: Bloomberg's robot army or bike-share docking stations?

Oh, it's a photo of the docking stations for the city's bike-share program... stored for now under the Williamsburg Bridge before hitting the streets this spring ... The photo is from Saturday night via @finitor, who really wanted these to be Bloomberg's secret robot army.

Meanwhile, the photo reminded @lehrblogger of a scene from a movie ...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Here are your East Village bike share locations, probably

Report: Citi Bike share back on track for a May debut, probably definitely

The East Village is in the 1st rollout phase of the bike-share program this May, probably for sure

Breaking! (Sort of!): Here come the bike-share docking stations

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

[The Bowery and East Third Street]

Live coverage of Occupy Wall Street's M1NYC (Runnin' Scared)

The last night at the Lakeside (The New York Times/City Room)

The Living Theater tries to stay alive (The Lo-Down)

Another specialty shop closes on Eighth Street (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

The Lower East Side Heritage Film Series continues at the Seward Park Branch Library (BoweryBoogie)

Off-duty NYPD officer arrested for DWI after crashing car on Second Avenue and East 11th Street (Daily News)

The New York of the Psychedelic Furs (Flaming Pablum)

An 'End of Chelsea Hotel' art bash (Living With Legends)

And via Gothamist, the trailer for "The Dark Knight Rises," in which the Williamsburg Bride blows up at the 50-second mark...

Per Gothamist: "At least we still have the L train!"

[Updated] Overturned car shuts down part of Williamsburg Bridge

In case you are wondering why all the news copters are hovering over the Lower East Side at the moment...

According to multiple reports, there's an overturned car on the outbound lanes of the Williamsburg Bridge ... the Bridge is partially closed at the moment...

[Photo via @agreatbigcity]

Updated:

The Lo-Down has more photos and info here.

[Updated] Reports: 12-year-old girl struck and killed walking across Delancey

The tragedy happened this afternoon around 2:30 while the girl, who attended Castle Middle School on Henry Street, crossed Delancey Street from the south side at the base of the Williamsburg Bridge, according to multiple reports.

A friend of the 12-year-old girl told Gothamist: "We were crossing the street and the light changed real quick. She started going, and then she stopped, but she tripped. The van hit her twice. The first time it hit her, then when it stopped and realized that it hit her, it hit her again."

The driver of the van has not been charged. As DNAinfo put it, "no criminality" is suspected.

Updated 6:19 p.m.
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer just released a statement:

Tonight, New York City mourns the senseless death of a sixth grade girl who lost her life while crossing Delancey Street today. This devastating loss is only the latest in a string of tragic accidents that have occurred on Delancey - numbering into the hundreds over the past decade. In both May and August of last year, New Yorkers lost their life navigating this intersection. Between 2008 and 2010, 523 motor vehicle accidents occurred at Delancey and Essex.

The City must act now and not wait a second longer. We can no longer go about its daily business with the knowledge that one of our central intersections is irrefutably perilous.

Updated 1/14:

The dailies provide more details on the tragedy. The victim is 12-year-old Dashane Santana who lived in the Jacob Riis Houses. The girl's mother told the Post that her daughter dropped a bookbag while crossing Delancey Street. When she turned to pick it up, the minivan hit her. She was with friends on her way to Dunkin' Donuts.

The Post also reported that Dashane had just applied to Juilliard.

Earlier reports:
Gothamist

DNAinfo

The Lo-Down

BoweryBoogie

[Image: Christopher Robbins/Gothamist]