Sunday, June 24, 2012

Memorial grows for Roxana Sorina Buta on Union Square


[Bobby Williams...click on image to enlarge]

Roxana Sorina Buta was returning to her East Harlem home from her job as a waitress at Bar 6 on Sixth Avenue and 13th Street on May 24. She was reportedly crossing Broadway at East 14th Street when a dump truck struck and killed her. She would have been 22 last Thursday.

According to DNAinfo, Buta's family's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, said police are questioning a Department of Transportation driver about the hit-and-run.

Per Tacopina: "They're still investigating and determining whether to charge [the driver] with a crime or not. The city is being incredibly derelict in resolving this issue."

Said Roxana's mother, Cristina Oprea, of her only child: "Nothing will bring me peace ever again. I need justice for my daughter."

Mystery Lot Book Club

Week in Grieview


[Above Avenue C yesterday]

Cabrini Center closing Saturday on Avenue B and East Fifth Street (Friday)

Rumors about the future of the Bowery Poetry Club (Thursday)

Video: Summer in the East Village circa 1991 (Wednesday)

Dangerous intersections on the Bowery (Monday)

'Boardwalk Empire' films on East 12th Street (Wednesday)

Jane's Sweet Buns is closed for now (Monday, Thursday)

No urine for this tree (Thursday, 18 comments)

Starbucks sidewalk cafe reopening on Second Avenue (Tuesday)

Last night at Nice Guy Eddie's (Monday)

Rentals at 219 First Ave. hit the market (Friday)

Tahini closed for good on Third Avenue

[June 2]

Back on June 1, the DOH temporarily shuttered Tahini on Third Avenue at St. Mark's Place. According to DOH records, the city issued 79 violation points, including for:
• Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided.
• Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service

The restaurant never reopened.... and this morning, we spotted workers cleaning out the space...



The supervisor confirmed that Tahini was closed for good.

As you may recall, back in January, Eater reported that Michael "Bao" Huynh was taking over the Tahini space ... and opening an "Old School Style Philly" cheesesteak place called — Mikey's Cheese Steak. However, the Tahini owners followed up later saying that they had no plans to close.

Perhaps the new Bao concept is back in play then.

The Amazing Spider-Man



Above the Bowery and Great Jones this morning...

Sassy



Spotted along the wall outside the Stone on East Second Street at Avenue C...

And the Observer had a much better photo of this last week...



And the background about what all these means is at WWD.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Reader report: Man arrested for carrying machete on Avenue A



Earlier this afternoon, several readers noted an arrest on Avenue A near Sixth Street... two of the residents claimed that the man who the NYPD arrested was carrying a machete. Shawn Chittle, who took this photo, was on the scene and noted that the police were not saying what happened...

Annual Anthology Film Archives benefit happening Monday night

From the EV Grieve inbox...


[Bush Tetras photo by Laura Levine via the Anthology]

Anthology Film Archives will hold its Annual Film Preservation Honors and Benefit on Monday June 25, from 7-10 pm at The Standard, New York in the High Line Room + Terrace, 848 Washington Street at West 13th Street

The benefit will feature cocktails, hors d'oeurves, and a performance by the Bush Tetras with special guests Richard Barone and Felice Rosser. The event also includes raffle to win prizes including a visit to the set of BOARDWALK EMPIRE; VIP tickets to the COLBERT REPORT; and a private screening at Anthology. Winners will be announced at the event; ticket purchasers do not need to be present at the event to win the raffle!

Ticket information right here.

Each year Anthology Film Archives honors those who have made important contributions to our collective film heritage at its Film Preservation Honors and Benefit, which also supports Anthology’s ongoing film preservation and public screening programs.

For its honorees this year, Anthology is very pleased to honor Cinetech, The Women’s Film Preservation Fund, and Richard Pena for their work in the field of film preservation.

All proceeds from the benefit support Anthology Film Archives, which has been dedicated to preserving, presenting, and promoting independent, non-commercial, and avant-garde cinema for over 40 years.

Still dog life in Tompkins Square Park

From the Tompkins Square Park Dog Run via EVG regular peter radley...



Marshal seizes Cozy Lounge on East First Street

EVG reader William Klayer spotted marshals trying to enter the Cozy Lounge on East First Street near Avenue A yesterday ...



Not sure what all they were doing here. But the they did leave behind this Legal Possession notice...

Breaking: Workers remove tarp from second tower at St. Brigid's

Earlier this week, workers removed the construction tarp/netting around the church's tower on the north side at East Eighth Street ... this morning here on Avenue B, workers took down the tarp on the south tower...







No way that's fitting into the dryer.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A reader offers details about the restoration of St. Brigid's

Sinkhole repairs continue on Seventh Street

Workers are still on the scene this morning between First Avenue and Second Avenue... repairing the sinkhole and what not on the block...





Meanwhile, when I went outside to drop an extra safety flare into the sewer, people reported smelling gas on the block. The FDNY was on the scene, did some inspecting, and gave it the all clear.



So let's try the free screening of the French thriller tonight in Tompkins Square Park


Well, the rain and threat of rain KO'd last night's free screening of the French thriller "The Axe" in Tompkins Square Park. So! The organizers will be showing it tonight at 8:30...

Find out more about the 2005 film here.

At the start of the annual NYC Drag March

The marchers all gathered last night around 7 at Tompkins Square Park for the annual trek across town to the Stonewall Inn...

"The very first Drag March happened 19 years ago as an (unofficial) part of the Stonewall 25 commemorations - the organizers of Stonewall 25 didn't wish leather or drag at their event thus our event was propelled into being..."
~Drag March Co-Founder Harmonie Moore of the NYC Church Ladies for Choice

Melanie from East Village Corner shared a few photos with us... (She has more at her site here.)







...and via @emmsape ...





Friday, June 22, 2012

Work continues on East Seventh Street sinkhole

EVG reader MP let's us know that work continues tonight on the sinkhole that formed on Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue earlier today...





Per MP: "Apparently there was mass car towing by nypd making for unhappy residents and very unhappy bridge and tunnelers."

Storm Center





Cooper Square during one of today's storms... photos by Bobby Williams.

Reader report: Woman injured in fall on under-construction staircase at 86 E. Fourth St.

Late this afternoon, emergency crews responded to a report of an accident inside 86 E. Fourth St. at Second Avenue...





Per reader @kxd8053, who took these photos ... "woman fell through a marble staircase smashed by construction workers."

According to a notice that the DOB issued today:



"FDNY REPORTS 3RD FLOOR LANDING COLLAPSE WITH ONE INJURY."

We don't know the extent of the injuries yet... more information to follow as it becomes available.

As we've been reporting, RURU & Associates purchased the building last fall ... residents have said that the new owner and management — ID'd by multiple readers and tipsters as the (Oheb)Shalom family — are declining to offer new leases as current tenant leases expire.

Find further coverage of 86 E. Fourth St. here.

Have other tips or photos about the situation here? Please send them our way via the EV Grieve email

Zapped!

These photos from earlier this afternoon are by Gregory Patrick... looking downtown from Third Street and Avenue B...





'Hearts' of darkness



The Crocodiles with "Hearts of Love" from 2010. It's all fun at the beach until the 2:38 mark, when the gratuitous violence begins!

And the band will play Maxwell's Wednesday night...

Looking at (the former) Nice Guy Eddie's this afternoon



As BoweryBoogie noted this morning, workers have quickly gutted the former Nice Guy Eddie's space on Avenue A at Houston/East First. Workers have scrubbed the Eddie's name from the exterior. The 16-year-old bar closed last Sunday, and will be converted into a restaurant serving American comfort food.

And kiss the mural goodbye?

Previously on EV Grieve:
How do we feel about the Kiss mural outside Nice Guy Eddie's?

Moving truck stuck in East Seventh Street sinkhole

We heard reports late this morning about police activity on East Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue... including the presence of crime-scene tape...

Turns out that it's for this moving truck, whose rear wheel got lodged in a sinkhole (or, perhaps, caused the sinkhole...)

Thanks to EVG reader @Knickerbock4Lif for the early accounts and these photos...







... and via another reader...







...and EVG reader Ryan...





And not the first time a moving truck has been nearly swallowed by a sinkhole in the East Village.

2 hours until Germany-Greece at Zum Schneider



Around 12:45, some 30 people were waiting for Zum Schneider to open at Seventh Street and Avenue C. Euro Cup 2012 quarter-finals this afternoon — Germany-Greece at 2:45.

Previously.

Rents going up, duh

The Rent Guidelines Board met at Cooper Union last night to vote on increases for rent-stabilized apartments in NYC.

And? Could have been worse!

Per Curbed, which has a nice summation of the evening:

The RGB voted 5 to 4 to approve an increase of 2 percent or $20, whichever is greater, on one-year leases, and a 4 percent or $40 increase on two-year leases. The owner members had wanted 5 percent and 9 percent, while the tenant members wanted a complete freeze.

Cabrini Center patients out by the end of today; closes for good June 30



Following up on our post from yesterday about the awning coming down at the Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on Avenue B and East Fifth Street ...

We asked Patricia Krasnausky, president and CEO of Cabrini Eldercare, for more details on the closing. Via email yesterday afternoon, she noted that Cabrini took down the awning (and other signage) because they were worried that the new owner "might handle it badly."


[Via Twitter]

As for the closure: "All of the residents will be moved by the end of this week, and then the rest of the employees," she said. "We will turn it over [to the new owner] on the 30th. We had a closing liturgy and reception last Friday."

The last resident is moving out today. The man, a former garment worker for Montgomery Ward who has lived on the Lower East Side Side since 1953, will be transferred to a facility in Borough Park in southwest Brooklyn.

There isn't room at a facility anywhere closer. He's on several waiting lists. In a message last night, his daughter, who grew up with her mom and dad on Clinton and Delancey, said that "staff and families have been crying all day. I'm so angry right now."

As previously reported, developer Ben Shaoul, the building's new owner, will convert the health care facility for elderly patients into residences, either condos or rentals. Plans to sell the Center to a for-profit operator never materialized.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Ben Shaoul is the new owner of Cabrini nursing home, will convert to condos

Report: Local politicians reach out to Ben Shaoul as re-sale of the Cabrini Nursing Center seems likely

More details on Cabrini's closing announcement

Q-and-A with Patricia Krasnausky, president and CEO of Cabrini Eldercare