Today is the last day for the Essex Card Shop before a move up the block

Essex Card Shop closes after today at its longtime home at 39 Avenue A... ahead of a move less than a block away to between Third Street and Fourth Street...



As previously noted, the eclectic shop is moving one block to the north to the now-vacant storefront at 47 Avenue A (the former Essex 99-Cent Store owned by the same folks).

We also noted how much we liked the shop's sign and pleasantly cluttered exterior.

The storefront has also caught the fancy of local artists, including Delphine le Goff ...



... and Joel Holland ...



As for the sign, a shop regular says that the owners are keeping the sign, but it likely won't be hanging above the new location.

Ralph’s is hiring on Avenue A

As first noted back in early March, an outpost of Ralph's Famous Italian Ices & Ice Cream is coming to 145 Avenue A and Ninth Street.

And this location is hiring... kind of difficult to see, but there is a handwritten sign on the front window with an email address to use if you're interested in a job here (RalphsIcesEastVillage@gmail.com)...



The business dates to 1928 when Ralph Silvestro started selling Italian ice (or water ice) from his truck around Staten Island. The first retail store opened in 1949 on Port Richmond Avenue in Staten Island. In recent years the company has franchised out, expanding to other parts of NYC as well as Long Island, New Jersey and Westchester County.

No word on an opening date yet for Ralph's, which takes over the storefront from Gelarto.

Tuesday's parting shot

A familiar summer scene on 10th Street near Avenue A ... thanks to the reader for the photo!

Primary Day with Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street

😻

Previously

A letter about racial profiling and harassment in a residential building on 14th Street

[Emily and Logan]

East Village resident Emily Rems shares a letter that she sent to her building's management company after her partner was a victim of racial profiling and harassment in the lobby this past Friday.

To the Managers of 230 E. 14th St., NYC,

My name is Emily Rems and I have lived in your building for 17 years. For the last 15 of those years, I have been living here with my partner Logan. I am white and Logan is Black. And unfortunately, over the years this has meant that we have not always been treated equally as residents of your building.

The latest example of this disparity happened last night, ironically on the evening of June 19th (aka Juneteenth). Logan was coming home in the evening after running some errands, and he found himself entering the building behind a young white man with a mustache who is unknown to us, and a young white woman who was with him.

The man with the mustache stopped Logan before he could climb the stairs and demanded to know if he lived here, stating that he was asking “because a lot of stuff is getting stolen here.” Further aggression and hostility followed when Logan refused to engage.

Please understand, we are well aware that mail theft is a huge issue in our building. Logan and I have both had our packages stolen from the lobby of this building and we understand how frustrating that can be. It is my understanding that this is the reason security cameras have recently been installed near our mailboxes. But for a white tenant to corner one of the only long-term Black tenants still living in this building and demand some kind of proof of residence is to create a hostile and racist community environment. It is harassment, plain and simple, and I think management should address it in a letter to everyone who lives here.

When it came to management’s attention last year that new residents were renting out their apartments as illegal Air B&Bs, cease and desist warnings were sent to everyone living here multiple times, and signage went up in the lobby in two places letting everyone know this behavior was unacceptable. I think what happened to Logan warrants the same type of action.

I am confident that you will be sensitive to this situation. Let your residents know what actions you are taking to safeguard our property. Let us all know how you would like us to contact you in the event that our property is stolen and we need someone to check the security camera footage on our behalf. But most importantly, please remind everyone living here that you will not tolerate any harassment among tenants.

I look forward to hearing back from you about your plans to address this issue and thank you in advance for hearing me out. I believe that if this were happening to a member of your family, you would feel equally outraged and would want to speak up on their behalf. And we know this is not the type of environment you want in your building.

Sincerely,

Emily Rems
Managing Editor of BUST Magazine &
Long-Time Tenant of 230 E. 14th St.

There has not been a response yet from the management company.

How Henry Street Settlement is helping neighbors in need during the COVID-19 crisis

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

I’d never been to the Henry Street Settlement’s Boys & Girls Republic on Sixth Street between Avenue D and the FDR.



So when Jon Harper, the acting director of emergency response food distribution, invited me I was eager to see what he and his team of workers and volunteers were doing to help support the community through a food initiative.

I visited twice, first on a Monday afternoon to watch the food arrive (some via a partnership with UPS) and get sorted and packed into bags, and then again the following morning to accompany folks as they delivered the packages to local residents in need.

Afterward, I spoke with Jon about the history of the organization, the assistance process and how those interested can get involved.



Can you speak a bit about the Henry Street Settlement program? How did it come to be at the Boys & Girls Republic location on Sixth Street?

Henry Street Settlement has been around since 1893. It was started by Lillian Wald as the Nurse’s Settlement, and has been responsible for an incredible amount of work on the Lower East Side.

Henry Street Settlement serves more than 50,000 people each year with programming in employment and education, health and wellness, transitional and supportive housing, and arts and humanities. Lillian Wald was very active in NYC’s response to the 1918 pandemic! So it’s only appropriate that we are stepping up now to provide critical services to folks on the Lower East Side and East Village who need them.

Boys & Girls Republic is a youth community center that Henry Street took over in 1997. Formerly called Boys Brotherhood Republic, it was created in the 1930s with a special emphasis on youth citizenship and self-government, which Henry Street carries on. Because congregate youth programming was suspended due to the COVID-19 crisis, this building was available to open the food pantry.







How did this food initiative start? How and where do you receive goods and perishables, and how many individuals and families are you providing supplies for?

Henry Street has several food initiatives that were already in place: a large Meals on Wheels program and daily meals for several hundred older adults through our senior center.

This emergency food initiative started because of the acute need that surfaced almost from the start of the COVID-19 crisis. Ninety percent of the calls to Henry Street’s new helpline are from people facing food insecurity — primarily because they are seniors or immunocompromised people who cannot leave their homes, or because they’ve lost their livelihood.

Another nonprofit that provides extraordinary service to the Lower East Side, the grassroots organization Vision Urbana, reached out to us because their client base was growing quickly due to the crisis, and after some discussion we started up a partnership with them.

Currently almost all of our food comes to us through their relationship with the Food Bank For New York City. We are currently distributing that food to over 400 households.

What is the process, from how someone applies for assistance to receiving the packages?

People can contact the Henry Street Settlement helpline at 347-493-2787. A case worker will talk to them about food as part of a broad range of needs that Henry Street might be able to help them with. Right now, we are working to rapidly expand our delivery capacity so that we can provide food to the growing number of people who are requesting this service.

Then, every Tuesday, we send a wonderful set of volunteers and staff out to deliver each bag of groceries to the recipients. It’s important that it be delivered instead of picked up so that we can maintain social distancing, and also let our recipients stay in their homes where it is safer for them.







How can people get involved? Is there a way for folks to donate funds, goods, and/or volunteer their time?

There are several ways that people can get involved! The fastest way, of course, is to donate money through our website. Just go to www.henrystreet.org and click on the “donate” popup that comes up.

We are not currently accepting donations of food — unless of course you can donate an entire pallet of something! We also are very lucky to have and very reliant upon an amazing set of volunteers for the actual deliveries. Come join us! It’s 9 a.m. on Tuesdays, and usually we are done by noon, though if you can only come for an hour or two that’s still useful. If you’re interested in volunteering, please contact Deanna Sorge at dsorge@henrystreet.org.





This is already a major undertaking and a large-scale program. What’s next for this project?

The need for help with food insecurity is enormous, especially in our neighborhood. We are working very hard to identify more sources of food so that we can turn this from a two-day-a-week on-site operation into a full-time operation; sending food out multiple days every week. We have the people and the space to expand, we just need the food to be able to distribute, and the funds to make it happen!



H/T to Christine Koenig for her help in setting up this interview.

Phase II dining, here we go

[Photo at Tallgrass Burger on 1st Avenue by Sonya]

Phase 2 commenced yesterday, and with that, bars and restaurants with permits for Phase 2 open space are now OK to serve food and drinks on newly created sidewalk, and in some cases, street spaces. (No indoor dining yet!)

As Gothamist reported, as of yesterday morning, there have been 3,192 applicants for additional Phase 2 outdoor space, per the Mayor's Office and city's Department of Transportation.

Here's a sampling of East Village establishments and what they're doing to make outdoor dining available... there are tables in the parking spaces adjacent to the bike lane and roadway on Second Avenue between Fifth Street and Sixth Street outside Local 92 and Frank... via EVG regular Lola Saénz...




[Tarallucci e Vino, 1st Avenue at 10th Street]




[Tatsu Ramen, 1st Avenue]

... these photos are all from Steven...


[Miss Lily's, 7th and A]


[Mudspot Café, 9th Street]


[Kitchen Sink, 5th Street at 2nd Avenue]




[St. Dymphna's, Avenue A]


[Tacos Cuautla Morelos, 9th Street]

Elsewhere... Lucien has a few socially distant tables here on First Avenue ...



... and Rosie's on Second Avenue at Second Street already had ample outdoor space...

... and on Second Street between Avenue A and Avenue B, Il Posto Accanto has sidewalk and curb seating...


[Via @ilpostoaccanto]

We'll have an update later this week as more restaurants get their outdoor seating together...

The city released guidelines (document here) for safely dining out ... here's a recap via Grub Street:

Customers themselves are advised to limit their exposure by making reservations in advance and looking at menus online, practice social distancing and hand hygiene; to also wear coverings; and stay home if they are either sick or vulnerable to the coronavirus. The guidelines don’t account for how these rules will be enforced across the city, and there is the issue of whether customers and business owners actually comply.

And check out Eater's explainer on Phase 2 dining here.

Reminders: It's Primary Election Day

Polls are now open from 6:00 a.m. to 9 p.m. Visit nyc.pollsitelocator.com to find your poll site and use this site for other questions.

A small business SOS

Save Our Storefronts, a coalition of East Village merchants and community members, recently launched a petition that will help lobby for fair rent relief for NYC small businesses.

We are facing the catastrophic loss of thousands of small and micro businesses, the economic and social cornerstones of our communities.

New York is on PAUSE, but the bills have not paused. The rent has not paused. NOTHING has paused except our ability to survive. Without rent relief, untold numbers of storefronts will shutter. For good. Communities will lose vast numbers of jobs, essential services, vitality and more.

We will lose the very fabric of our city.

You can learn more and sign the petition at this link.

Monday's parting shot

A new era for haircuts. Photo on Avenue A by Derek Berg.

[Updated: never mind] New police barricades arrive on Avenue B

As promised, the NYPD brought in new barricades for Avenue B... EVG contributor Stacie Joy took these photos...



The barricades along the Avenue (from Sixth Street to 14th Street) to indicate the Open Street had taken a beating in recent days.


[Photo by Dave on 7th]

Updated 6/23

A walk along Avenue B today... there are barricades up on 14th Street, 13th Street, 10th Street and Sixth Street. The other intersections didn't have any barriers — they were either lying on the ground, shoved off to the side or missing altogether...

Noted

Also on Avenue B. A longtime reader had a 2010 EVLambo flashback...

Now entering Phase II

[East 14th Street]

The city officially enters Phase 2 today, which allows for the reopening of outdoor dining at bars and restaurants, in-person retail, hair salons and barber shops (though excluding personal care services like nail salons and spas) ... and more office jobs, with less capacity and mandatory COVID-19 safeguards in place like social distancing and facial coverings.

Of particular interest is how, exactly, the outdoor dining portion will work. Mayor de Blasio unveiled the plans back on Thursday. Here are excerpts from the city's press release:

The City’s Open Restaurants program ... allows qualifying restaurants and bars to expand outdoor seating on sidewalks, curb lanes, backyards, patios, plazas, and Open Streets as New York City begins Phase 2 of reopening. The City has established an expedited approval processes by allowing restaurants and bars to self-certify their eligibility for curb lane and sidewalk seating using a new, streamlined application process at NYC.Gov...

Open Restaurants gives dining establishments five new options. Beginning in Phase 2, restaurants can implement seating in curb lanes and sidewalks. Phase 2 allows reopening and use of as of right outdoor space in backyard and patios. Restaurants can also work with their local Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) to establish seating in plazas. Beginning in July, restaurants can offer seating on Open Streets on nights and weekends.

Sidewalk seating will be in effect until the end of October. Curb lane seating will last through Labor Day. DOT will work with community groups and partner agencies to identify additional seating within full streets closures in July. Restaurants can work with their local BID and DOT to request additional seating in plazas by emailing Plazas@dot.nyc.gov.

Customers are not permitted to gather outside of establishments. Businesses that repeatedly fail to comply will have their Open Restaurant authorization revoked by DOT, and will be referred to the SLA.

This NYC.gov link has more details on how the Open Restaurants scenario will work.

I haven't heard yet of any plans to close East Village streets for outdoor dining. (If you have, then please let me know!) Closing off Avenue B as part of Open Streets hasn't exactly been a success.