A look at the Tompkins Square Park spray showers

Talked with a few people who didn't realize that Tompkins Square Park even had spray showers... over behind the Park office and along 10th Street ...



Photos from early this morning...

And we can build this thing together, stand in stone forever, nothing's gonna stop us now

This morning in Tompkins Square Park. By Dave on 7th.

Headline inspiration here.

Rat on the menu again in Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Reposting: New sidewalk shed at St. Brigid's brings an end to shelter for travelers

I posted this last September ... reposting part of it now after the conversation about the disappearance of Crusty Row...

Last week, to meet the demands of the continued renovations, workers put in a new sidewalk shed on the Eighth Street side of St. Brigid's... the structure takes up most of the sidewalk now...



During August, before the expanded sidewalk shed, several travelers would camp out here at night ...



Last month, I spoke with several regular East Village travelers... they all told me that the NYPD had suddenly cracked down on them like never before... and, according to them, the police said that this area by the under-renovation church was OK for them to sleep... and that Tompkins Square Park was "strictly forbidden."

There was some talk of increased gang activity... with the travelers being the target of the violence...

By now, though, most of the travelers have already moved on as usual this time of the year... just a handful remain.... In any event, the new sidewalk shed would keep them from sleeping alongside St. Brigid's...

New sidewalk shed at St. Brigid's brings an end to shelter for travelers

Last week, to meet the demands of the continued renovations, workers put in a new sidewalk shed on the Eighth Street side of St. Brigid's... the structure takes up most of the sidewalk now...



During August, before the expanded sidewalk shed, several travelers would camp out here at night ...



Last month, I spoke with several regular East Village travelers... they all told me that the NYPD had suddenly cracked down on them like never before... and, according to them, the police said that this area by the under-renovation church was OK for them to sleep... and that Tompkins Square Park was "strictly forbidden."

There was some talk of increased gang activity... with the travelers being the target of the violence...

By now, though, most of the travelers have already moved on as usual this time of the year... just a handful remain.... In any event, the new sidewalk shed would keep them from sleeping alongside St. Brigid's...

Meanwhile, I keep thinking about this image early one Friday morning in August... I was out around 6:30 a.m., and came across this young woman asleep on the front steps of an apartment building on Seventh Street... In my 10-second assessment, I could tell that she wasn't part of the travelers scene... and she also wasn't someone who got locked out of her apartment... She seemed so vulnerable ... I felt a little cheap for taking a photo... Still, I wonder what the story was...

Eastern approach to Tompkins Square Park still treacherous

There's some improvement here from yesterday. But it's still treacherous... solid ice with no clear pathway.

Parks Department apparently doesn't care if you fall on your ass on the way to the Tompkins Square Park dog run

Where the term "sheet of ice" is acceptable to use. I've heard some people grumble about this... things like, "Would it kill them to throw down a little salt over here..."

At the 2009 Unemployment Olympics

The Unemployment Olympics are under way now in Tompkins Square Park. Hard to say whether there are more contestants (athletes?) or reporters on the scene.





After waiting in line to sign up, you waited in line to take part in the first activity of the day, Pin the Blame on the Boss.





Organizer Nick Goddard had to ask the assembled reporters to move back several times...the media kept inching closer to the Pin the Tail sign, and there wasn't enough room for the participants to spin and pin.



There are other activities planned, including the Fax Machine Toss (which looks suspiciously like a phone), the You're Fired Race and a stress-relieving piñata.



All of this got old pretty quickly. The reporters got their cutesy, "aw, we're-having-fun-in the-recession!" soft news bit and started to leave. Curiosity seekers had time to gawk.



Some Pin the Blame on the Boss video:

Mulch Madness

Earlier this week, BoweryBoogie had a post on the annual discard of Christmas trees in the LES (watch out for that one in the street!)...there's a little more orderly process happening now at Tompkins Square Park with the city's annual MulchFest this Saturday and Sunday...Drag your old tree over here and the city will make some nice-smelling mulch for the park. No mattress or couches please!




Just be careful, OK?

Report: Cops interrogate Leftover Crack manager; defend using Taser during arrest

Lincoln Anderson reports in The Villager:

Following the arrest of Scott Sturgeon, 32, lead singer of the punk-rock band Leftover Crack, and four of his fans in the East Village last Friday evening, three men identifying themselves as Police Department Internal Affairs Bureau officers paid a surprise visit to Bill Cashman, the band’s manager, Monday afternoon. The three officers easily entered the building, on Avenue C near 10th St., since its front door had reportedly been left open due to ongoing construction inside.

Later in the article we hear from Deputy Inspector Dennis De Quatro, Ninth Precinct commanding officer, who defended the use of a Taser on one of the people arrested at Tompkins Square Park last Friday night.

The man was tased through his shirt on his upper torso for three seconds with the Taser being used in “touch-stun mode.” The deputy inspector noted that a Taser’s other mode is to shoot two electrically charged darts, which are attached to wires on the Taser, up to 20 or 30 feet. These darts puncture the person’s skin and leave wounds that could get infected, he said. The “touch-stun” technique — in which the Taser is manually pressed against the individual — is safer, especially at close range, he noted.

More EV Grieve Donut Social coverage here.

Friday night in Tompkins Square Park: Unity and a sitdown (and several arrests)

Details are sketchy. Here's what Mrs. Grieve saw (a little before 9). She was traveling solo at the time:

Cop cars racing down Avenue A. People hovering. Some kind of disturbance. Cops seemed over-anxious. A skinny kid picked up a chair and threatened to throw it. The cops said to put it down. He threw it anyway. Cops went ballistic. Chased after him. A crowd followed. A few minutes after, a sit down occured in front of a cop car. Lots of people gathered around in support and just watching. Cops stood emotionless as the crowd called for them to quit, commit suicide . . . and called them Nazis.





To be continued.

[Update: Bob Arihood has more details and photos at Neither More Nor Less. In short, he reports on his site: After the Donut Social, several protestors, including Leftover Crack singer Scott Sturgeon, traveled to Tompkins Square Park "to continue the music with a more intimate acoustic version of the donut concert. For some reason -- we did hear that the arrest may have had something to do with Sturgeon having hurled donuts at the cops earlier at the Donut Social -- police broke-up the gathering and arrested Sturgeon at 8:45 pm . Members of the gathering attempted to prevent the police cruiser carrying Sturgeon from leaving the park. The mini-riot that ensued resulted in 3 more individuals being arrested." ]