All hands on deck at dawn

Echo & the Bunnymen from 1983. Blindingly obvious in these circumstances. But a lovely track nonetheless.

Everyone is getting on the Hurricane Irene marketing wagon

"possibly hurricane-proof"?

EV Grieve reader faces spotted this on Avenue C at 14th Street.

In the Associated water aisle

A few minutes ago at the Associated on 14th Street near First Avenue. By Shawn Chittle.

And at the Food Emporium Union Square...

Via @mattlehrer — There's a fair amount of water left @ Food Emporium Union Square but fewer carts and baskets than shoppers.

Water! Water! GET HIM!

Unloading in front of the 99-cent store on First Avenue near Fifth Street. Good, now I won't have to boil my urine for drinking water.

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In case you haven't had enough of Irene, you can head over to Twitter to read about lines at various local stores and other insights...

Go right here. We'll be here all weekend. Now off to find some shotgun shells...

Zone A residents told to evacuate by tomorrow at 5 p.m.

Mayor Bloomberg said the city would start a mandatory evacuation of residents in Zone A areas. (Gothamist)

Borrowed this map from BoweryBoogie... Zone A is the area in orange.

That's a fairly wide area... starting at Houston... East of Avenue D to the East River ... north along Avenue D to East Ninth Street, then west on Ninth Street to Avenue B then north on B to East 14th Street...

Seward Park High School and Baruch College are the nearest evacuation centers.

Per Mayor Bloomberg via Gothamist:

Technically, not heeding the mandatory evacuation order would be a violation of the law that could get you fined and sent to jail. But Bloomberg assured New Yorkers today that "nobody is going to get fined and nobody is going to go to jail, but if they don't evacuate they could die."

He also said: "From 9 p.m. tomorrow to 9 p.m. Sunday please, stay indoors. It is dangerous when the winds are this high and the rains are so heavy."

Yes, but we need photos.

O, had I but followed the arts! Shakespeare in Tompkins Square Park

FringeAL FRESCO production of "Much Ado About Nothing" right now in Tompkins Square Park. Photo via EV Grieve reader Rita.

MTA shutting down the whole damn system starting tomorrow at noon

The MTA — including bus and subway service — will begin to shut down starting tomorrow at noon, Gov. Cuomo says.(Daily News)

Tupelo is missing

Via EV Grieve friend Bayou.

Sinkhole sinking on Second Avenue

At Second Street. Maybe the storm water will all drain down here? Via RyanAvenueA.

Noted

At one of the Duane Reades in Lower Manhattan... via Shawn Chittle. Anyone see signs like this yet in the East Village?

Meanwhile, in other news today, there's Hurricane Irene

So far, depending on your news source, we are all gonna drown or get a really nice rainstorm.

The latest forecast that EV Grieve IreneWatchCenter© has seen is 8-12 inches of rain with gusts of wind up to 80 mph. And the ugliest of Irene's wrath will be mid-day Sunday through 3 or so. But that could all change.

Meanwhile, there is a lot of discussion about Zones.

So let's map this out for you:

Oh, right sorry. Here it is, via WNYC.

It's possible that Zone A could face an evacuation. starting at Houston... East of Avenue D ... north to East Ninth Street, then west on East Ninth Street to Avenue B then north to East 14th Street...

Here is a link to the city's hurricane zone finder. I typed in an address in Zone B. According to nyc.gov, my evacuation center is Hunter College on Park Avenue between 68th and 69th Streets. May be tough to get that far north if the city shuts down the public transportation grid.

A Tompkins Square Park rat(s) update

[Reader submitted dead rat photo]

An EV Grieve reader asked city parks officials what they were doing about the rat overpopulation in Tompkins Square Park. Here is part of the response that the reader received via email:

1). Parks has removed the garbage bags from the rats.

2). All garbage bags, once removed from garbage drums, are taken off-site. Bags are not left overnight in the park.

3). Parks is working with a garbage bag distributer MINT-X and using their rat-resistant garbage bags in the park.

4). Parks are using rat snap traps inside plastic boxes to kill rats, without the use of posions.

5). Tompkins Square Park has a red tailed hawk that frequents the park regularly, so Parks does not use rat poison.

6). Parks has reached out to the organizations that feed the hungry and homeless in Tompkins Square Park to minimize littering of food in the park.

7). Park night Crew cleans every night to sweep up around garbage drums, removes food from the ground and in garden beds, and removed garbage bags from the park.

8). Undesirable plants and shrubs, that offer rats harbage have been reoved from the park.

9). Parks is continuing to use non-poisonous methods to reduce rat population in the park.

Per the reader: "I think they deserve some credit ... also, it shows that going through the 'proper channels' ocassionaly works!"

We also hear that 20 more of the snap traps are on the way... Plus, well, there's some talk that the deluge on Sunday may drown a few of the rats...

Bob Arihood notes that "Inside Edition" returned to film in the Park... and, once again, the rats didn't disappoint. Read his report here.

Forces of nature: Hurricane Irene forces NYU to change dorm move-in day to Monday

NYU students were originally scheduled to move into the dorms on Sunday. However, as I exclusively reported, Hurricane Irene is also expected to arrive around the same time.

So, NYU officials pushed the date back. Per the NYU statement:

NYU has changed Move-In Day to Monday, Aug 29; while this may cause some inconvenience, we believe this is the course that will best ensure the safety of our new and returning students. Students will not be allowed to move in before Monday, and should make appropriate adjustments in their travel schedules; services usually provided to students beginning Sunday will not start until Monday.

So, Monday would be a good idea to avoid the Third Avenue Dorm Region... not to mention Trader Joe's, Bed, Bath and Beyond ... Surprise Surprise ... to name a few... You may add other locales in the comments..

The best part of NYU move-in day, maybe

You get the chance to see the full battalion of NYUmobiles! Such as...

Muzzarella Pizza ... and what the East Village is not

Eater is running a new feature in which the editors solicit some non-foody, farm-to-table foodapalooza restaurant suggestions from readers, who have the chance to highlight the essential, unglamorous places that we need more of here and everywhere ...

Yesterday, an Eater reader gave props to Muzzarella Pizza on Avenue A just south of 14th Street. It soon became less of a restaurant review and more of a battle cry... thought it was worth noting... in part:

The East Village that I know and love is not the glitzy $15 cocktails and $20 two-bite snacks. ... It’s not a happy-hour hangout for Murray Hill finance investors. It’s not a place for mommies with strollers sipping $7 lattes. It’s not a high-rise glass tower blocking my sunlight. Muzzarella Pizza is everything that the East Village used to be and is losing at an alarming rate.

Muzzarella's pizza never quite gets that kind of response from me... but I appreciate and understand the sentiment. I have those moments more often than I'd like.

Read the whole post here.

Belated announcements: TenEleven has reopened

Um, sorry... I meant to note this much earlier than this. Anyway, TenEleven is back open on Avenue C... The bar had to temporarily close while waiting for its liquor license renewal... The CB3/SLA committee refused to renewal the bar's license due to some complaints last month... You can read about that here.

Anyway, the SLA renewed TenEleven's license.

Meanwhile, we're glad that a good bar has returned...

And now, a word from the East Fifth St. Tree Committee

Between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Photo by Bobby Williams.

Good luck getting around on Saturday

Well, by public transportation anyway. The city is planning to shut down the entire transportation system on Saturday in anticipation of Hurricane Irene's arrival, officials revealed today. (The Daily News) What, no curfew?

And how are we supposed to get to our designated city shelters? Pedicabs?

Image via.