HBD Marty Rev

 

Martin Rev, the keyboardist and one-half of the influential duo Suicide, turned 74 today. Enjoy the clip of "Ghost Rider" from 1980.

Also HBD to Keith Richard (No. 78), who has several ties to this neighborhood as well (here and here and here, for instance).

Testing, testing

As you are likely well aware, the rise of COVID cases in the city has spurred lines for testing as people prepare to travel for the holidays... or simply just want to get tested.

There have been social media reports (#CityMD) of 2-3 hour waits at CityMD. (The above photo is from this morning around 8 as the line outside the 14th Street CityMD outpost stretched halfway down the block between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.)

Some knowledgeable/trustworthy sources online have reminded people about free city-run test sites. Find that list here. And this site has the wait times for NYC Health + Hospitals COVID-19 testing locations. And here's a list of free mobile testing units. You'll have to travel a little bit for this — none of the locations are in the East Village.

The city is reportedly expanding testing sites, distributing masks and giving away at-home test kits... though, as many people have pointed out in news articles on this winter surge: 20 months in, it shouldn't be so difficult to get a test. (And this article at The City reports: "De Blasio Shut Down 20 City-Run COVID Testing Facilities Ahead of Omicron Surge.")

Also: The city's Vaccine Command Center is here.... the COVID-19 and Flu Vaccine Finder is here.  

A holiday concert at the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer

Photo this month by Stacie Joy 

The Church of the Most Holy Redeemer celebrates the season with a candlelit carol concert tomorrow (Sunday!) afternoon at 4. The event is free (you can register here). 

Proof of vaccination is required, and attendees must wear a mask. Organizers say that there will be enough room in the church for people to remain socially distant.

Westville East on Avenue A is closed for renovations until Jan. 3

In case Westville East on Avenue A at 11th Street was in your dining plans for the remainder of the year... Per the notices on site, the restaurant is now closed for renovations until 5 p.m. on Jan. 3.

On Avenue B, we're seeing firsthand what happens when the city disbands the DOT proofreaders

Updated 12/20: The city has fixed the MHP-MPH errors!

On Thursday, city workers put down the roadside markings on the recently repaved Avenue B.

EVG reader Krikor Daglian first pointed out the transposed letters in MPH < MHP.

Vinny & O (and several others!) then pointed out that the MHP is on the entire length of the Avenue, from Houston to 14th ...

Perhaps the DTO DOT intends this to mean Minimum Horse Power. (H/T John G. for that one!)

First! (aka Saturday's opening shot)

We have an early participant here on Avenue A at Ninth Street for MulchFest in Tompkins Square Park ... the two-day event is set for Jan.8-9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

And not to be scoldylocks, but you're supposed to remove all lights, ornaments, tinsel and stands before dropping off your tree.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (finally) in Tompkins Square Park

After a few attempts... the Tompkins Square Park holiday tree is now LIT! ALL OF IT. Not just the top part.

Still, we had a nice time at the tree (half) lighting this past Sunday. xo

Photo by Steven

Relive your 'Feelings'

 

A favorite track/album from 2021... London-based Dry Cleaning with "Strong Feelings" from their debut release New Long Leg.

The Community Holiday Feast in Tompkins Square Park is now taking place on Sunday

Here's an update to our previous post on the Community Holiday Feast in Tompkins Square Park. Given the threat of rain tomorrow, the Feast will take place on Sunday, Dec. 19.

As a reminder of what this is about: A group of East Village residents, including author Jeremiah Moss and EVG contributor Stacie Joy, is hosting a Community Holiday Feast in Tompkins Square Park. 

From 2-4 p.m., volunteers will be serving free hot meals provided by East Village businesses and residents. 

The following businesses have volunteered food and other products for the event: the Bean, C&B Cafe, East Village Vintage Collective, Food for Life, Mary O's, Rossy's Bakery & Café, San Loco, S'MAC and Subject NYC. The local volunteer group East Village Loves NYC will also donate. 

Organizers could still use some volunteers to help out during the event. Interested residents can use this email to contact the group.

Gallery Watch: Bockhaus’s Anti Christmas Special by Ryan Bock at Ki Smith Gallery

Text by Clare Gemima 

Images by Roman Dean

Bockhaus’s Anti-Christmas Special, by Ryan Bock

Ki Smith Gallery, 197 E. Fourth St.

Ryan Bock’s signature black, grey and white paintings usher viewers into a circus-y soiree hosted by an East Village favorite and locally celebrated space, Ki Smith Gallery. 

Bockhaus’s Anti-Christmas Special presents a reactionary narrative storyboarded through gouache and acrylic compositions on paper. 15 works created during the early stages of the pandemic showcase themes of anti-establishment, anti-celebration and anti-consumerism…. (although nearly all of the work has already sold).

Bock’s post-traumatic and politically activated pieces reflect the sinister and Scrooge-like disdain of all matters celebratory occurring in 2020, most especially from the perspective of an American audience. These imprecise paintings express the torturous moments that we were lucky to have survived during our last year. 

By combining cubist methods, historical/religious pictorial references and a personal opposition to conforming to the idea of “Christmas,” Ryan has depicted his own take on the undeniable (and sobering) socio-political heist of COVID-19’s zeitgeist. 

Many of the self-described “divisive” artist’s paintings in this show would usually operate as drawing studies or preparatory sketches for larger scaled work. Having walked past Ki Smith Gallery on a night before the opening, I watched Bock paint the outside of the building with huge black, grey and white Christmas tree-like iconography. His sensibility in using huge brushes to tidy, tight, graphic corners was so technical and blatant, even in the dark. For the most part, the pandemic circumstantially forced Bock to work to a tighter and smaller size. 

For a creative that welcomes a street-art and muralistic vocabulary, Bock has masterfully worked against his restrictions to present a body of work that is limitless, both in practicality and scale. On the contrary, these paintings are even more special because they are original one-offs with zero editions. No reproduction, runs or re-monetization. An artist who (finally) does not know how to depend on (or use) photoshop and is voluntarily and conceptually opposed to the commercial nature of bureaucratic bullsh*t. 

Some of the work is visually derivative of historical moments, such as the Jan. 6 domestic terrorist attack (Navigating the Halls of History, 2020) ... or pop cultural moments that are now memes (McMahon Gets a Haircut From There then-Future President and Friends Circa 2007, 2020) ... and from older but just as bizarre cinematic moments (Christ Handgun, 2020). 

For me, the takeaways from Bockhaus’s Anti Christmas Special are found in the magical moments in the works themselves. Convoluted forms reference horrific lived moments while exposing the artist’s comprehensive knowledge in rendering refracted, cubistic gestures. Forms collapse, undulate and oscillate so many times over and over again.. it is difficult to digest that the work, which also transforms a zillion times depending on the viewer’s proximity, has been made merely with two shades and one color. 

Perhaps there is something festively holy about it after all…

Bockhaus’s Anti-Christmas Special is up through Dec.23 at the gallery, 197 E. Fourth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. Hours: Wednesday-Sunday from 12:30 to 6:30 p.m. Alternative times are available by appointment.info@kismithgallery.com.

~~~~~~

Clare Gemima is a visual artist and arts writer from New Zealand, now based in the East Village of New York. You can find her work here: claregemima.com

A rally in support of the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project; activists lose appeal

1) This morning, a group of self-described LES stakeholders are holding a rally supporting the $1.45-billion East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR), currently underway along East River Park. 

According to a media advisory, representatives from the Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES), NYCHA TA Leadership, Coalition for a District Alternative (CODA), an independent political organization, and members of the Frontline Communities Coalition will be in attendance. 

Their media statement includes:

ESCR is one of many critical life-saving infrastructure projects needed to protect NYC residents from the devastating impacts of climate change. Without the completion of ESCR to provide flood protection, a resilient park, and improved drainage systems, Lower East Side including NYCHA's infrastructure will remain susceptible to deterioration, putting the future of residents at great risk of loss of life, evacuation, and potential loss of homes. 

And:

Frontline Communities Coalition refutes the misinformation campaign specifically targeted to play into the fears of people of color and the residents of public housing. ESCR is about saving lives and in doing so it will also save the homes and East River Park itself for future generations. 

This morning, the rally takes place at 11 on Sixth Street at FDR Drive between the Jacob Riis and Lillian Wald Houses.

2) Yesterday, the state Court of Appeals denied activists' bid to hear their case. 

As NY1 reported:

In a terse, 20-word ruling, the court rejected allegations that the city side-stepped state law by not seeking a vote approving the plan in the state legislature. Judges in earlier phases of the suit had already ruled in the city’s favor twice. 

The court also rejected the activists' motion to hold the city in contempt of court, after the city continued to cut down trees in the park following a judge's order in the case, issued last week that appeared to require the city to pause construction.

A lawyer for the activists, Arthur Schwartz, told the Post that the whole process "has been shameful."

"It has never been necessary to destroy the park in order to get flood protection for the people of the Lower East Side," Schwartz said. "Tens of thousands will lose a local park for the next 5 to 7 years, maybe more."

In an Instagram post, East River Park Action, which had been fighting the city over this version of the plan to stormproof the park, said:

This is truly a sad day, not only for us but for all parkland. This decision sets a terrible precedent for all parkland... All they have to do now is tack on some park-related excuse to whatever they're doing and it will not need to go through alienation or state oversight. They could put a building in a park and say it's for environmental research for the park and it will be ok. Thank you for your support. We are in mourning.

East River Park Action and other activists have said some alternatives could preserve much of the park and protect the Lower East Side and surrounding neighborhoods from a 100-year-flood event and sea-level rise — one that doesn't cause 1,000 mature trees to be chopped down.

In late 2018, the city surprised community stakeholders by announcing a complete overhaul of a plan discussed over four years of local meetings. As Gothamist reported: "City officials cited fears about maintaining a floodable green space, as well the disruption to motorists on the FDR Drive and potential dangers to Con Ed's power lines under the previous proposal."

The current plans call for gutting East River Park — burying the existing 57.5-acre park under fill and elevating it by 8-to-10 feet above sea level.

The city shut down East River Park below Stanton Street on Dec. 6 and has been working — sometimes around the clock — to cut down trees and remove park amenities. Workers are currently demolishing the amphitheater.

East River Park remains open above Houston Street. The city has previously estimated that work will be complete by the end of 2026.

The holiday tree in Tompkins Square Park is now completely dark

Workers were seen yesterday in Tompkins Square Park working on the Tompkins Square Park holiday tree. (Top photo by Steven!) 

As noted on Sunday, the Parks Department allegedly forgot to wire the tree before the tree lighting ceremony... and so organizers had to scramble to hire an electrician at the last minute. That work helped light two-thirds of the tree.

Now, the tree is completely dark... Merry Christmas from NYC!

[Updated] Report of a fatal fire early this morning at 118 Avenue D

Top photo via the Citizen app 

--UPDATED BELOW--

The FDNY is responding to a fire this morning at 118 Avenue D in the Jacob Riis Houses at Ninth Street, and there are early reports that one person has died.

As of 7:50 a.m., the fire, which started in an apartment on the fourth floor, appeared to be extinguished...

There is a massive FDNY response that stretches five blocks along Avenue D...

We'll update when more information becomes available. The FDNY responded to the fire at 7 a.m.

Updated noon

ABC 7 reports one fatality and seven injuries.

A 32-year-old man was discovered dead in the apartment by firefighters.

A 46-year-old woman was taken to the Cornell burn unit at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in critical condition.

A 13-year-old boy and an 18-year-old woman were treated for smoke inhalation and burns after they climbed down exterior poles of the building to safety.

Four others suffered minor injuries.

Multiple electric bicycles were found in the fire apartment, and fire marshals are looking into the possibility that they sparked the fire.

There is a GoFundMe for the residents of the apartment where the fire started. Details here.

Instagram user @jay_staccss has dramatic footage of the two teens desperately trying to escape the fire.

 

Updated 11/18

According to published reports, an e-bike battery caused the deadly fire. There were seven e-bikes in the apartment, per CBS 2. 

“These batteries, when they’re damaged or overcharged, release hydrogen gas, explode violently,” said FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro.

NY1 has coverage here. 

Making a connection with the history of this 13th Street apartment

Earlier this year, Andrea Wang moved into an apartment on 13th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

Curious about the space, she requested an official rent history of the apartment. 

As she discovered, a former tenant is writer-editor Sari Botton, who lived in this unit from 1994-2004. Botton is the editor of "Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York," and the follow-up — "Never Can Say Goodbye: Writers on Their Unshakeable Love for New York." 

Botton had written about this apartment in the first collection ("I had a lease on a marginally decrepit but livable rent-stabilized one-bedroom in a tenement on East 13th Street, for which I paid about $600 a month") as well as in The Village Voice. 

Wang contacted Botton, who now lives upstate. They exchanged photos of the apartment in its past and present condition ...

"Sari had a lot of written pieces online about her time living in New York, her apartment in New York, how she loved the city and discovered herself there," Wang told me. "I'm a newcomer to the city, and I wanted to build a connection to the history of the space I inhabited. She was in a way the perfect person to have previously lived there because her writing about her relationship to the city perfectly contextualized the connection we had, and she shared my openness and curiosity." 

Earlier in the fall, Botton stopped by the apartment when she was in the city to meet Wang and her roommate Benjy...

"When she visited, it was trippy to have us all be in the space together — felt like a collision of past, present and future," Wang said. "It felt meaningful that we had made memories in the same physical space but years apart. I moved around a lot as a kid and always wondered about the families that built their lives in those spaces before me." 

She continued. 

"It was cool when she pointed out little details about the space — shelves she had mounted that we still used, how the wall in one room had been shifted over. Apparently, she had her rent reduced one year because the bathroom ceiling caved in. She pointed out a closet in the building's hallway and said it used to be a bathroom because some of the apartments didn't have them at the time," Wang said. "Especially in a fast-paced city, our everyday interactions tend to prioritize efficiency. It was so meaningful to unearth this connection to someone who I wouldn't have met otherwise and got me wondering about the other potential shared experiences embedded in my everyday life." 

Interested in your rent history? You can visit this link to learn more.

Construction watch: 699 E. 6th St.

Workers are in the foundation stage for the new building set to rise in the long-vacant lot on the northeast corner of Sixth Street and Avenue C. 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy got a look at work behind the plywood here the other day...

As previously reported, there are approved permits for a 6-floor building with 11 residential units, a storefront and space for an unspecified community facility. 

The rendering on the plywood shows a fall 2022 completion date (along with an added message) ...

There has been development talk for this lot dating to 2003. A former gas station, this corner has been vacant since the early 1980s.

The SE corner of Avenue C and 3rd Street is now sidewalk-bridge free after 8-plus years

When we last checked in on 32 Avenue C, workers had demolished the three-floor building here on the southeast corner of Avenue C. 

In early November, only the sidewalk bridge and assorted scaffolding remained. Now, as you can see, the sidewalk is back in view... and plywood surrounds the empty lot...

As previously reported, there were work permits to "partially demolish the building," specifically the "second, third and roof floors." Apparently, workers decided to take down the first floor too. 

And as previously noted, there were development plans for this parcel... with the filing of permits with the city in July 2005 for a new 6-floor residential building. The city disapproved the plans in May 2006, and nothing more happened with the project. 

Years later, the landlord filed a permit in the fall of 2017 with the DOB to "rebuild exterior walls; replace windows and sistering of floor joists to address" the various violations on file. 

Public records list the landlord as Abraham Benelyahou of Fairfax Management Corp. In 2014, the Daily News referred to him as "Manhattan's worst landlord." 

Residents have long complained about the drug activity on this corner. This past Jan. 18, a 36-year-old man was shot and killed here. For several months after this, the NYPD parked a patrol car nearby. 

Meanwhile, there aren't any other new permits on file with the city offering a clue as to what might be next for the corner. At least the sidewalk bridge that has stood in various states of disrepair for the past eight-plus years is gone.

This is the closing date for Dress Shoppe II

As previously reported, Dress Shoppe II, the Indian boutique at 83 Second Ave. between Fourth Street and Fifth Street, is closing at the start of 2022, ending a 20-plus year run in the East Village. 

Saroj Goyal has been doing her best to keep the shop going since her husband of 50 years, Purushottam Goyal, died in September 2019. 

She recently announced a closing date: Jan. 31. There are advertised specials on items up to 50-percent off. 

Meanwhile, Vidhu Kota, a film student at Pratt, posted this video short with Goyal this past week...

 

In the previous post, you can read more about the closing and the financial arrangements with the landlord, the Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association II.

You can find the Dress Shoppe II Etsy account here. The shop is open from noon to 8 p.m. daily, with 1-6 p.m. hours on Sunday.

Wednesday's parting shots

This evening, EVG contributor Derek Berg came across a woman with a trowel digging at the base of a tree along Seventh Street. 

At first glance, Derek thought that she was planting something. Turns out she was laying a mouse to rest.

The mouse was not a pet but lived in her apartment. She and her friends didn't want to kill it. So they co-existed. Eventually, the mouse died, and she gave it a Seventh Street sendoff. 

Free the Cube!

We've fielded some queries about the Cube — aka Alamo — on Astor Place ... mainly: Why is it surrounded by barricades?

We reached out to some Astor Place folks to see what might be happening here. To be continued (maybe!). 

Photo by Steven; H/T to Ada!

Putting the heat on plans for 2 power plants in Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village

The Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association is hosting a rally tomorrow (Thursday, Dec. 16) at 11 a.m. to speak out against their property's natural gas power plants. 

According to a TA rep, the majority owner, the giant real-estate investor Blackstone Group, has built one (not yet operational) and is planning another on the 80-acre parcel.

"We've been fighting this for more than a year," the rep said via email. 

And it sounds as if they have some help. Local elected officials, including City Councilmember Keith Powers, Assemblymember Harvey Epstein, State Sen. Brad Hoylman and Rep. Carolyn Maloney are expected to attend. 

Details and background here via the Tenants Association: 

Blackstone decided to build the plants on the property to lower their electric bill with Con Ed because gas and electricity are included in our rents. The electricity would be exported to the Con Ed grid, and our buildings would get the steam as a byproduct for heat. 

A major issue is that we think this violates the zoning applying to the property. But the pollution is of concern beyond our community. The plants are CHP (combined heat and power), also known as cogen, short for cogeneration, burn natural gas (a fossil fuel), and are regarded as less polluting than other types of plants. But Con Ed will not be reducing its output, so any emissions from the plants in ST will be additive. The plant that has been built but isn't yet operational is on Avenue C between 15th and 16th Streets. 

Our neighbors to the south are already living in the shadow of the massive Con Ed plant on 14th Street. Our air is already some of the most polluted in the city with the resulting bad health outcomes.

StuyTown-Peter Cooper management previously said that "the project will significantly reduce source greenhouse gas emissions" and that the property "remains a model for best-in-class sustainability practices." 

The rally takes place on Avenue C at 16th Street. You can find more background via the TA's website here.

The TA's last rally was in June. You can read coverage of that at amNY ... and The Village Sun.