Tuesday's parting shot

EVG reader Vigilant EVer shared this photo from the new condoplex rising at 11 Avenue C (the former Mobil station) ... where someone hung a Soviet flag to the scaffolding on the property...

[Updated] Report: Landlord makes eviction case against tenant with the Confederate flags

The drama continues over the flags on Eighth Street and Avenue D. DNAinfo reports that the landlord has filed a lawsuit against the tenant and is seeking to have him evicted.

Per DNAinfo:

William Green's glowing display of two Confederate battle flags in the windows of his top-floor apartment at 403 E. Eighth St. have posed a "clear and present danger" to the building and the surrounding community by sparking violence and mayhem, says the complaint filed Saturday by property owner 113 Avenue D, LLC in New York State Supreme Court.

Green, a rent-stabilized tenant with a lease dating back to 1996, is in violation of both the "Objectionable Conduct" clause of his lease and the Rent Stabilization Code because the flags are a nuisance burdening other tenants in the building and he should be evicted as a result, the lawsuit states.

Green has reportedly been out of town.

He said that he "found the sudden anger about the flags 'suspicious,'" according to emails included in the court papers.

Previous reports noted that Green was one of three non-market-rate tenants left in the building. According to Streeteasy, there are 23 units in the building. The previous listings show an average monthly rent of $2,395. Streeteasy does show any active rentals right now.

Per the listing:

This east village walk up building features beautifully renovated units and live-in super. The M14D bus stops right outside, and there is a citibike station across the street. Easy walking distance to the L, J, F, and M trains. There is a convenient dry cleaner downstairs as well as many bars and restaurants on Avenue C just a block away.

Public records show that No. 403 is managed by Yassky Properties. The building last changed hands for $865,000 in September 2000.

Updated 1:40 p.m.

Here's more from the Daily News:

Yassky’s attorney, Robert Gumenick, said he was not currently seeking Green’s eviction.

“Once the tenant realizes the extent of the problem, we’re hopeful the tenant will cooperate,” he said.

One longtime resident of the building, who did not wish to give her name, said the controversy was complicated by the fact that Green may be mentally ill.

“Obviously I don't want to live in a building with Confederate flags in the window,” the resident said. “(But) I don't know if he understands what that flag represents.”

Updated 8/22

The Post reports that the landlord has withdrawn the case.

“At this point, he feels it would be better to work it out with the tenant,” said Robert Gumenick, the lawyer for building owner Charles Yassky.

Gumenick declined to comment further except to say that Yassky no longer wanted to pursue the matter in court.

Updated 8/23

The Daily News has a short interview with Green.

“Absolutely not,” a defiant William Green told the Daily News on Tuesday when asked if he would classify himself as a racist.

The 43-year-old said the association of the rebel flag with secession and slavery is just a tale being told by select media outlets.

“That’s a fad, something that’s being created by MSNBC,” he told The News.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Anger over Confederate flags on 8th Street and Avenue D

[Updated] Workers place tarp over flags on 8th Street and Avenue D

[Updated] Flags — and tarp — have been removed from building at 8th Street and Avenue D

[Updated] Flags — and tarp — have been removed from building at 8th Street and Avenue D

[Image via @visionsofmatty]

This afternoon, the Confederate and Israeli flags were removed from the windows of the top-floor apartment at 403 E. Eighth St.

As we first reported yesterday, workers hung a tarp from the roof to cover the flags from view on the street below.

It's unknown exactly how long the flags had been in the windows (five months to a year, per different media accounts) in the corner building at Avenue D. However, it wasn't until after last weekend's deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., when people started taking notice. (DNAinfo reported yesterday that a pair of the German Naval flags emblazoned with the iron cross were in the windows for roughly a decade before they were replaced by the Confederate flags some time last year.)

Police have been on the scene since a man threw rocks at the windows on Wednesday morning. There is also an unconfirmed report of an the NYPD arresting a man last night for throwing a rock at the windows.

Previous media accounts reported that both the building's property manager and the NYPD had asked the tenant, a 43-year-old male who has lived here for 12 years, to remove the flags.

Will update when more information becomes available about what transpired here today.

Updated 3:15 p.m.

DNAinfo has more on last night's arrest.

Darren Keen, 34, yelled and broke a window at 403 E. 8th St. around 8:40 p.m. before fleeing, according to the NYPD. He was arrested roughly 30 minutes later.

Keen was charged with criminal mischief, given a desk appearance ticket and released.

Updated 8 p.m.

NY1 was actually first to report on Keen's arrest last night.

Police say officers heard the sound of broken glass at a building on East 8th Street near Avenue D.

When they went to investigate, the NYPD says they found a trail of blood leading to the next building and up to Keen's apartment.

Police say Keen admitted to breaking a window and was taken into custody.

He spoke exclusively with NY1 hours earlier and told us he was upset about the flags.

"Everything to make that guy's message go away is good. And I'm going right now to the hardware store and I'm going to pull those tarps up and I'm going to paint a giant Wu-Tang logo on those tarps right now," he said.

It's still not clear who actually removed the flags. Keen is taking credit for it via an Instragram post (breaking the window gave reason for the police to enter, and they took down the flags). Per an updated DNAinfo post: "An NYPD spokesman denied that police entered the apartment and took the flags down, saying that it was freedom of speech."

Other sources have claimed that the building's management entered the apartment and removed the flags. There hasn't been any report of where the tenant is.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Anger over Confederate flags on 8th Street and Avenue D

[Updated] Workers place tarp over flags on 8th Street and Avenue D

[Updated] Workers place tarp over flags on 8th Street and Avenue D

[Reader-submitted photo]

This afternoon, workers dropped a black tarp from the roof over the windows on Eighth Street displaying the Confederate and Israeli flags.


[Photo via @zmack]

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the tarp — building management or concerned neighbors. Both the property manager and the NYPD had reportedly asked the tenant to remove the flags.

As of now, one of the Confederate flags is still in view. Not sure if workers plan on adding another tarp. [Updated: See below]

The flags had been on display here at Avenue D for months, according to various published reports. (The amount of time varies from five months to a year, depending on the source.) As The Daily Beast noted, "It was only after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend that the whole neighborhood took notice of Confederate flags across from their homes."

Multiple sources in published reports described the tenant, a 43-year-old male, as mentally ill.

Per the Daily News:

The head of an East Village block association says the clamor to evict a local resident for displaying two Confederate flags is completely misguided.

“This is not someone whose intent is to inflame passions or anything like that,” said Michael Schweinsburg, president of the Eight B C D Block Association. “He is a mental health concern. So no, eviction is not something I would welcome or support.”

And The Daily Beast: "The flags, according to several neighbors who know their owner, might be as much a product of mental illness as they are of racism."

Police have been on the scene since a man threw rocks at the windows on Wednesday morning.

Updated 3:15 p.m.



Updated 4:45 p.m.

DNAinfo reports that the top-floor windows "showcased a pair of the German Naval flags emblazoned with the cross for roughly a decade before they were replaced by the Confederate flags." A neighbor also said that the tenant "routinely shouted racial slurs out his window several times a week until about four years ago."


[Reader-submitted screengrab from Google Street View]

Updated 8/19



There's an unconfirmed reader report that a man was arrested last night for tossing a rock or some projectile through one of the windows...

Updated 2 p.m.

The flags have been removed.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Anger over Confederate flags on 8th Street and Avenue D

[Updated] Report: Anger over Confederate flags on 8th Street and Avenue D

Several flags drape the windows of an apartment on the top floor of a building on Eighth Street and Avenue D.

There are two Confederate flags, several Israeli flags and what appears to be an American flag with 13 stars...



The Post reports that the flags have been hanging in the windows for several months. (Updated: The Daily News says that the flags have been there for a year.) However, after the weekend's deadly violence that erupted at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., people are now taking notice of these flags.

According to the Post, people threw "rocks and bricks" at the windows yesterday.

“They’re scary, we don’t know who we are dealing with in the neighborhood. I feel uncomfortable because that represents evil. I see the protests in the news and I come home and see this,” said local Louise Abddhal, 56, as a chorus of others yelled at the window.

Residents had turned a blind eye to the offensive banners in the past, but started getting mad after Saturday’s rally in Charlottesville ...

“It’s been there forever and no one said anything. Now it’s going crazy. Virginia is bringing more light and attention too,” said longtime resident Janet Brown.

At night, the flags are illuminated in the windows.

Buzzfeed Senior Editor Matt Stopera tweeted this Saturday night...

Ave d and 8th street in NYC right now. If you think awful racism isnt everywhere then wake the fuck up! pic.twitter.com/eHGCeb5j1T

— Matt Stopera (@mattstopera) August 13, 2017

Police responded to the rock tossing, though no arrests were made, the Post reported.

Updated 5:25 a.m.

The Daily News filed a story overnight about the flags. The also posted a video showing a man on the corner throwing throws at the sixth-floor windows.

Last night around 11, police had blocked off the area outside the building and were attempting to speak with the tenant. (The Post reported that the leasing agent had reached out to the tenant as well.)

"We don’t want a riot here," Michael Schweinsburg, the Eight B C D Block Association president, told the News.

Schweinsberg said he hoped that the cops can convince the tenant to take down the flags — for the sake of the neighborhood.

“The cops went up there, there was absolutely no response to repeated knocks on the door,” he added. “So the idea now is that they’re going to reach out to the landlord and ask for something to be hung from the roof to cover it up. That way hopefully he will communicate.”

The NYPD said that they will keep a patrol car on the scene "to monitor the situation."


[Photo from last night at 7:30]

Updated 10:30 a.m.

The Daily Beast has more details, including that the tenant has lived in the building for 12 years.

The flags, according to several neighbors who know their owner, might be as much a product of mental illness as they are of racism.

The apartment building’s superintendent Ruben Vargas told The Daily Beast that the flags have been up for five months.

Until then, the tenant had been a building nuisance. Two neighbors were scared of him, Vargas said, and a third had moved out “because he goes off on a rampage inside the apartment throwing things around.” Multiple people described the tenant as mentally ill.

“Some days he’s talking to you, then you see him again and he’s out cursing and saying racist words. ‘Heil Hitler,’ all these things,” Vargas said.

Updated 11:30 a.m.

Here's a statement from City Councilmember Rosie Mendez...

Recently, I was made aware that confederate flags were hung in the windows of an apartment building in my district. It saddens me that a symbol of hate and oppression would be displayed in my district — a multi-ethnic district that is comprised of and embraces its racial and economic diversity. More troubling is that these flags remain in display after the tragic and fatal events that occurred in Charlottesville this weekend.

I am concerned as I am hearing that local community residents are upset by the display and are taking some matters into their own hands. There have been reports made to my office of counter actions taking place at the residence that are alarming and illegal. You can voice your displeasure, but you cannot throw objects at the windows, to the building or block anyone’s entrance or exit to the building.

While this display may be offensive to many of us, please know that each and every one of us has rights and protections under the United States Constitution. We all have a First Amendment Right to Free Speech. Displaying a flag, in and of itself, is not illegal and there are no legal actions that can be taken to have this individual remove the flags from his/her windows.

However, there are limitations to our First Amendment Right to Free Speech and if this individual steps outside of those limitations, then local law enforcement can take the next necessary steps.

I want to remind everyone that this is a multiple dwelling building. Many other individuals, families with children, live in this building and are probably equally offended by the display. I ask that you please respect and support your neighbors who reside in this building and who unfortunately live next to this individual.

While I do not know nor do I have any contact with this individual, I respectfully request for everyone’s safety that s/he take down this flag — a symbol that is so offensive to the surrounding community.

To my neighbors, I hope you continue to exercise your First Amendment Right as we traditionally do in this community, but we must do it within the letter of the law. Please do not exceed or violate what is permitted expressions of free speech.

Lastly, my staff and I have been in contact with the local precinct and we have been informed that the situation is being monitored.

Updated 8:30 p.m.

Earlier this evening, 12 to 15 people were gathered on the southwest corner. Some of them had signs with them that read "End Racism," and other messages. No one was actively holding them up at this time. There was one police vehicle parked on Avenue D. There weren't any news crews at this time, though there were two photographers on the corner.





The Daily News filed a second story earlier today that names the resident.

Updated 8/18

Workers have dropped a tarp over the windows. Read that story here.

Updated 8/19

The flags have been removed.

The flags of East Seventh Street

As I first reported, today marks the 2013 Presidential Inauguration in Washington, D.C. ... Uh. Anyway, Dave on 7th notes the patriotic spirit on East Seventh Street... even if one of the flags is being held by a plastic snowman.

[Flashback on Seventh Street in December, via Bobby Williams]