Dreams of a light Christmas dashed, attention turns to mysterious hole in Tompkins Square Park

The lights on the Tompkins Square Park holiday tree have been off now going on two weeks.

A mysterious hole arrived near the tree in the days leading up to Christmas Eve Eve.

That hole remains guarded by three sections of a barricade... with "Danger: Do Not Enter" signage...





Word here is an electrical issue KO'd the lights, thus ruining Christmas. Some readers are hopeful that the lights will be back on in time for Easter.

Meanwhile... please do not attempt, despite what you might see on social media...

Happy New Years! Fuck the world! pic.twitter.com/M7MH2jKajI

— EdenBrower (@edenbrower) January 1, 2019

H/T Steven!

1st day of summer and the pool STILL isn't filled on 7th Street

Apparently some water-main woes here the last few days between First Avenue and Second Avenue... the block is closed to traffic.

Hole watch 2017: Long-empty lot on 6th and C now waiting for 5-story building

Back on Friday, a section of the plywood that surrounds the empty lot on Avenue C at Sixth Street came down in the wind... providing a nice view of the 10-by-12-foot hole inside...





Seems like a good time to check in on the status of the lot, a former gas station, which has been empty since the early 1980s. There have been efforts to build on the corner dating to 2003.

There are amended plans on file with the city now for a five-story building with retail space on the ground floor and 9 residential units on the upper floors. According to the DOB, the city disapproved these plans last October. (Previous disapproved plans called for for a six-story, 14-unit building.)

As for the fallen piece of plywood, it was last seen Sunday waiting for garbage pickup...



Thanks to Steven for the photos!

Previously on EV Grieve:
Hole watch 2016: Still no sign of a new building on Avenue C and East 6th Street

Rat baiting signs, but not signs of progress at 6th Street and Avenue C

Given the recent arrival of rat-baiting signs on the long-dormant northeast corner of Sixth Street and Avenue C... an EVG reader wondered if this meant plans were moving forward with something.



Well, there has been some activity since the last time we checked in here. The city disapproved updated plans for a five-story building here in February. These updated plans show 9 residences in the floors above space for retail and a community facility, per DOB records. Plans for a six-story building were initially filed in 2012.

So for now, the hole remains the same...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Hole watch 2016: Still no sign of a new building on Avenue C and East 6th Street

Hole watch 2016: Still no sign of a new building on Avenue C and East 6th Street

Well you know the lot on the northeast corner of Avenue C and Sixth Street has been empty for as long as anyone can remember. (Early 1980s by one estimate. The property apparently once housed a gas station.)

People have been trying to develop the lot, which includes a 10-by-12-foot hole, going back to 2003.



Most recently, a building permit was filed on Dec. 6, 2012, by 13 Willow Avenue Realty Co. LLC. Plans call for a six-story, 14-unit building.

We bring all this up now because, on Tuesday, the city once again disapproved the plans for the building. Just the latest rejection going back to February 2013...



Last July, property owner Israel Rosenbaum told The Villager that — despite appearances and reports of rat sightings through the years — the corner lot doesn't pose any health hazards. "There are no issues at this property other than the long process of getting DOB approval to construct a new building,” he told The Villager.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Addition by subtraction at East Sixth Street church

There's kind of a big hole on 1st Avenue and East 9th Street

[Photo via William Klayer]

Just FYI.

Updated FYI



One of the crew members told EVG regular Steven that the sewer repair work will require a few days to complete ... so please take extra caution if you plan on skateboarding here.

Updated 9 p.m.

There's kind of a big hole on East Third Street between Avenue B and Avenue C too... and crews are jackhammering away this evening to make repairs...


[Photo by EVG reader David]