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Photo the other day on Avenue A by Grant Shaffer
Winter Storm Warning in effect from 7 pm this evening to 6 pm EST Monday.
The National Weather Service in New York has issued a Winter Storm Warning for snow, sleet and freezing rain, which is in effect from 7 pm this evening to 6 pm EST Monday.
Locations: The New York City and New Jersey metropolitan areas, northern Nassau and Northwest Suffolk Counties, and southeastern coastal Connecticut.
Hazard types: snow, sleet and freezing rain.
Accumulations: snow accumulation of 4 to 8 inches, along with around one quarter of an inch of ice.
Winds: northeast 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 25 mph.
Temperatures: in the upper 20s.
Visibilities: one quarter mile or less at times.
Timing: tonight through Monday.
Impacts: hazardous travel due to reduced visibilities and significant snow, sleet and ice accumulations.
Just landed at LaGuardia. Here's the Brooklyn fire from the air. Smoke trails forever pic.twitter.com/NOjGjOWkZn
— Gary He (@garyhe) January 31, 2015
If gardeners have their way, Community Board 3 (CB3) will soon be the recipient of a Community Gardens District that will include all 46 remaining community gardens located within its boundaries; a plan spearheaded by the Coalition to Establish a Community Gardens District. They aren’t talking about the manicured version associated with the New Orleans Garden District but, rather, the home grown, gritty version we all know and love that’s particular to everything East Village and Lower East Side!
On Thursday night, CB3 voted overwhelmingly in favor of establishing of this plan with a vote of 28 to 1.
The Coalition says community gardens have a deep rooted history in CB3 and the distinction of having the very first one in the City started in CB3 by resident and visionary environmentalist, Liz Christy, in 1973. Christy’s name is legendary in the national and international greening movement. She reclaimed and repurposed hundreds of vacant lots through her leadership and work with the Green Guerillas, which she co-founded and is the City’s oldest gardening organization, and the City’s Council on the Enviornment, which she founded and headed and is now known and branded as Grow NYC.
Once there were over 60 community gardeners in Community Board 3 but only 46 remain. Of those owned by the City, the Coalition says none are permanent or receive dedicated budgets to address infrastructure needs. Gardeners and their growing list of supporters, want CB3’s community gardens mapped and designated as park land — which would then take an act of the state legislature to be used for any other purpose; designated as a special district to acknowledge their unique and well-earned place in the City’s history; and management left in the hands of community based volunteers which has proven to be a successful model of operation for over 40 years.
Mahmoud Gamaa, the owner of Sahara East, said he has been in business for 25 years, making him one of the first to introduce hookah bars to New York. Originally from Cairo, Gamaa said Sahara East, also a restaurant, is a place where people come to relax. "We're about hospitality, cleansing and being with friends," he said.
"These 13 hookah bars are knowingly flouting the law by serving tobacco-based shisha," Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said in a statement. "We will not tolerate this willful disregard of New York City's smoke-free air laws and have already taken steps to revoke the permits of these establishments."
Diana Silver, an associate professor of public health at New York University, said she arranged for six of her students to go undercover in the hookah sting after having worked with the health department on studies. She said the students were excited to do field work and would be giving depositions to be included in legal proceedings.
"They learned it's one thing to pass or imagine a law, but compliance and enforcement are complicated," she said.
Tomorrow night is the final night of Terroir in the East Village. Don't fret -we'll be back Wednesday, 2/4 with a new name & new menu items!
— Hearth Restaurant (@HearthNYC) January 30, 2015
The Bowery Mission has close to 200 people sleeping there — every space is being used. They served 1,000 meals [on Wednesday]. If you have cans or blankets you can spare please drop them off. With more snow and subzero wind chills imminent they need help. They operate 24/7/365. They fall off the radar after the holidays but this is when they need help.
Rent-stabilized tenants in the building have had their electricity limited thanks to landlord Stone Street Properties. We don’t have the same wattage/volts as other apartments since November.
For example, one tenant has to turn off all his lights to microwave food. Another tenant’s lights kept going out when the fuses blew out on Thanksgiving. The solution? We must call or text our super to go down to the basement to reset the circuit breaker. The poor guy has to do this several times a day. One tenant has fainting spells and had her chin cut open a few weeks ago (from fainting in her bedroom), so having to walk around in a dark home has caused her anxiety. The same tenant can't use a space heater when it's cold out because the fuse blows.