Nice townhouse for sale of the day: 301 E. 10th St.

This fine townhouse at 301 E. 10th St. hit the market this week... along an equally fine block between Avenue A and Avenue B...





Details per the listing at Garfield:

Set in between several row houses, 301 East 10th Street was originally built in the late 19th Century by architect Joseph Trench in Italianate style as a single-family home. This property was later altered in a fine interpretation of Queen Anne style with raised ceiling heights, changed lintels, sills, and cornice into a multi-family home.

Currently configured as five, gracious floor-through units, four that can be delivered vacant. Ceiling heights range from 9’ to 13’ at Parlor level. Unobstructed, sunlit views overlooking Tompkins Square Park in front, 360 degree unobstructed Manhattan views from the roof including the Cooper Hotel, the Williamsburg Bridge, and the Freedom Tower to the South and the Empire State, Chrysler, and New York Life buildings to the North. Large, north-facing garden and terrace in rear abutting a historic carriage house on 11th street.

First public offering in over twenty-five years with endless opportunities to renovate and create a strong rent roll, create a 2,700 garden duplex or an upper duplex with fantastic roof deck. Property is currently under built by approximately 3,300 square feet.

Asking price: $7.5 million.

Now will Extra Place become Extra special?

[ Image via Forgotten New York]

Extra Place has been a fairly popular topic here through the years... about six to be exact.

We first heard of the plans the developers of Avalon Bowery Place had for the former alley that ran behind CBGB six-plus years ago ... Extra Place would become "a slice of the Left Bank, a pedestrian mall lined with interesting boutiques and cafes."


Sure!

To date, nothing has really worked. The latest casualties appear to be sister restaurants Extra Place and Heidi. And across East First Street Veselka Bowery was never a good fit. Other businesses have come and gone. It didn't help that it took four years to finally replace the roadway with a sidewalk and to add lights to Extra Place.

It was still Extra Place though.

Now some big names will give it a whirl. The Times reported that Momofuku Ko will move from First Avenue to Extra Place. And Eater heard that restaurateur John McDonald has signed a lease for a steakhouse/oyster place in the former Veselka Bowery. (Grub Street confirmed it.)

Add this two places to the seemingly popular Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken and L'Apicio nearby in Avalon Bowery Place... an instant upscale dining destination?

As we've asked before about new places coming to Extra Place: Is this all enough to ward off the ghosts of the Bowery's past?

Previously on EV Grieve:
With new restaurant opening, will Extra Place finally become a dining destination?

Extra Place now officially a Dead End

Extra Place and Heidi currently 'closed for renovation' in Extra Place

You have a little longer to get gas on Avenue C

[EVG file photos]

Last fall, The Real Deal reported that the Mobil station on Avenue C and East Houston been sold to a brokerage firm for $8 million.

Existing zoning allows for 43,000 square feet of residential development on the parcel, which has 120 feet of frontage on Houston Street, according to The Real Deal.

We all figured the station would be a goner soon enough.

Apparently not that soon.

The Times had a piece yesterday titled Manhattan's Vanishing Gas Stations. The piece offered a few more details on what's next here.... and when.

[A] rental building will rise on the site when the station’s lease expires in two years, according to HPNY, a development firm that is a partner in the project.

The 12-story rental building will encompass 43,000 square feet of apartments, as well as 6,000 square feet of ground-floor stores, which will wrap three sides, HPNY said.

So two more years here.

And it is not your imagination that gas stations are disappearing around the city.

In October, there were 117 stations in Manhattan, down from 207 in 2004, or a 44 percent decrease, according to the city’s Bureau of Fire Prevention. The city as a whole has 35 percent fewer stations than it did a decade ago, according to the data.

And I'll repeat this from a previous post:

Now I'm not lamenting the loss of gas stations... I don't have a car... and, even with an occasional rental, have never used either East Village gas station... I'll echo the sentiments of Jeremiah Moss on the matter: "And while I'm not a fan of oil, I like gas stations for their smudgy, blue-collar existence, and their vanishing from the face of Manhattan is worth noting."

Previously on EV Grieve:
How much longer will the East Village have gas stations?

The East Village will soon be down to 1 gas station

The Mobil on Avenue C is still going strong — for now

Report: CB3 won't reverse its suspension decision about the L.E.S. Dwellers

Despite criticism from Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Community Board 3 will not reverse its decision about the suspension of block association group the L.E.S. Dwellers for the remainder of the year, The Lo-Down reported.

During its full Board meeting last night, Chairperson Gigi Li reportedly said that she would convene a group to draft new policies governing how the board works with block associations.

Per The Lo-Down:

[B]oard member Chad Marlow proposed a motion to reverse the suspension and to mandate that future actions against block associations must be approved by the full board. But a vote never took place because, through the use of a parliamentary maneuver, the board voted instead on an alternative motion to table the original proposal, which if it had passed would have represented a public embarrassment for Li. Only Marlow and one other member, Julie Ulmet, opposed the “motion to table.” Three others abstained.

Find more details on the meeting over at The Lo-Down.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Breaking Badly: LES Dwellers demand impartial investigation of Community Board 3 (33 comments)

More details about the new Russ & Daughters Café coming to Orchard Street

Word came down last month that the nearly 100-year-old smoked fish and herring store on East Houston was going to open a 65-seat café space around the corner at 127 Orchard St.

Today, The Daily Meal published a Q-and-A with fourth-generation co-owner Niki Russ Federman about the new space. Federman offered up several details, such as if the new space will have that counter culture of the mothership:

That is so critical in how we’re designing the space, trying to bring that counter experience and that human interaction to the new café. So there will be an open slicing area where you can watch the slicing happen, and actually you’ll be able to see it better than you can in the store. Right now you have to peek down poke around, There, we’ll have a slicing counter [and] an old-school soda fountain making our egg creams. There’s going to be almost like a luncheonette counter where you can sit down as you’re watching all the food come together, and you still have that over-the-counter interaction.

The Russ & Daughters Café is aiming for a mid-February opening.

Meanwhile, in other news about LES institutions, BoweryBoogie has a recap of the gallery opening at the The Space At Katz’s.

Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.



By James Maher

Name: Tom Kopache and Chia
Occupation: Actor
Location: 5th Street between 1st and 2nd
Time: 5:50 on Friday, Oct. 18

My family moved a lot but I did a lot of my growing up on the West Coast. Then, after college and grad school I joined a theatre company that went to Europe. After Europe, I came here thinking I was only going to be here a year or two, but I ended up staying till now. I moved to the Upper West Side in 1976 and to East 3rd Street in 1983.

I’m an actor. It’s what I majored in in college and grad school. I work in theatre, film and TV, when I get the work. It’s an up-and-down profession but it’s been alright for me. I’ve been able to earn a living. I worked at La MaMa for many years. I worked at the Manhattan Theatre Club when they were in their old space. I did a couple of Broadway Shows and then TV and film work.

My favorite roles that I’ve played were a few from Shakespeare ... I played Macbeth at La MaMa and "Measure for Measure" when I was in Europe. And I’ve enjoyed some of my TV parts, but those parts were predicative.

I have to say, I’m glad a lot of the changes have taken place here. It was a rough area in the ‘70s and ‘80s. The drug scene was out of hand and the buildings were really run-down. There was a high crime rate. You had to watch yourself. Back then I was a young guy. I was a tough guy so I held my own.

I remember a girlfriend came to visit me on 3rd Street and she came up to my apartment. We had a nice time together and she said, “I will never come here again. If you want to see me you come up to the Upper West Side.” It was that kind of place. That relationship didn’t last very long. I liked my neighborhood, but I knew what she meant. It was tough and she wasn’t used to that kind of scene.

Some of the gentrification has gone a little overboard and [the neighborhood has] lost some of its character, but the streets are better. I like a lot of the changes. The arts are still here. I heard somebody say that the artists were leaving but there’s theatre here and a lot of little theatre companies. There’s a lot of painters and dancers. All-in-all it’s cleaned up a bit, but I think for the better. And there are good restaurants and coffee shops. Every block has got something. It didn’t used to be that way.

I’m heading to Social Tees right here. I’m a volunteer. They rescue animals, they adopt, they do fostering, and they take volunteers to do things like this, walking dogs. They’re a community-oriented group and they care about the community and taking care of the animals.

This is Chia. He’s an old guy. He’s been a shelter dog for awhile, but he’s a very gentle, sweet dog, and he’s up for adoption — if anyone’s looking for a nice, friendly little, I think you call him a Terrier mix. He’s low key. Not a yapper.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

'Potential townhouse conversion' a possibility at residential building now for sale at 58 E. 7th St.

58 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue recently hit the market. The listing at Eastern Consolidated mentions that this is a "potential townhouse conversion."

More details:

The Property is a five-story-over-full-basement, circa 1900, walk up apartment building containing ±6,792 square feet of above-grade building area divided into (5) five apartments. Each apartment contains approximately 1,300 square feet and has 3 bedrooms, a spacious eat-in kitchen area, a living room and one bathroom.

There's certainly precedent for townhouse conversion on this very block... just a few numbers to the east at No. 64.



64 E. Seventh St. was sold as a single-family townhouse several years ago... and gut rehabbed into a luxury, 13-room mansion. It seems likely that history will repeat itself on the block. (Read this post at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York for more on the fascinating past of No. 64.)

Con Ed making strides so that the East 13th Street substation doesn't explode again

[14th and C last Nov. 4 via faces]

On Monday, Con Ed officials unveiled the repaired substation on East 13th Street nearly a year after Hurricane Sandy.

As you'll painfully recall, the storm surge caused a relay station inside the substation off of Avenue C to explode, leaving the lower half of Manhattan eating peanut butter, drinking warm beer and [______] in bags, among many other things worse than that.

Con Ed issued this video to show their improvements to its systems as part of a $1 billion plan to fortify critical infrastructure from major storms. Per Con Ed officials: Overhead equipment is now tougher and more resilient. Substations have new walls and raised equipment. Gas and steam infrastructure also is protected with water-proofing measures.

And here's WABC with a report... Last November, Fortune published an inside look at the Con Ed's Sandy experience. Find that here.

Here's Golden Cadillac, the '70s-nostalgic bar' opening at the former Boca Chica space

Boca Chica, the inexpensive Latin American restaurant on First Avenue at First Street, closed its doors back in February.

By April, we learned about the bar-restaurant called Golden Cadillac that was in the works for the space... it's the latest venture from Giuseppe Gonzalez, a bartender who has worked at places we've never been before like PKNY, Clover Club, Dutch Kills and Flatiron Lounge.

Eater had more details on Golden Cadillac yesterday...

The food from Miguel Trinidad, the chef behind Maharlika and Jeepney:

[T]he food menu ... consists of variations on New York classics that have been 'inspired by vintage editions of Gourmet Magazine.' A few of those dishes include knish fondue, a Monte Cristo, and hunters stew for four.

The drinks:

There's "a menu of 'classic' 70s-era cocktails like the grasshopper and the Miami Vice (that's a pina colada topped off with strawberry daiquiri)."

The decor:

The bar's aesthetic takes its cues from the "sad glamour" of a seedy late-70s dive bar, furnished inside with wood paneling and patterned wallpaper mixed with mirrored surfaces.

The opening date is set for Nov. 6. And this isn't the first time that we've heard about Golden Cadillac. Time Out reported in November 2011 that the bar was opening on East 13th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. But that never materialized, for whatever reasons.


[The mural on the rolldown gate from the other week]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Boca Chica apparently won't be reopening on First Avenue; and the return of Golden Cadillac

So is this what James Renwick, Jr. had in mind when he designed 27 Stuyvesant St. in the 1860s?

Via Curbed, we learn that the Anglo-Italianate townhome at 27 Stuyvesant St. is back on the market for $5.25 million. (Original asking price was $6.7 million.)

It's a beautiful townhousehome — especially from the outside. And, per the listing, it was designed in 1861 by James Renwick, renowned architect responsible for the Smithsonian Institution and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, among other renowned structures.

And this inside? It has been staged to sell...





Not sure how to describe this decor — Early 21st Century Real Housewives Revival?

Today's fall shot

Tompkins Square Park in the late afternoon via Bobby Williams...

Noted

I read about this last week... but just saw it for myself tonight... last Thursday, Uniqlo opened a pop-up shop selling puffy jackets and non-puffy parkas in the Union Square subway station ... part of a new MTA program to bring businesses into vacant retail subway spaces.

From the official MTA news release:

The shops will receive month-to-month leases from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for small retail spaces that are temporarily vacant while the agency is arranging long-term leases.

And!

The pop-up store initiative allows small entrepreneurs, online businesses and established corporations to rent space in generally “as-is” condition to provide high visibility exposure for products or services where the emphasis is on displaying merchandise as much as actually conducting on-site transactions. In some cases, retail customers would be encouraged to make their purchases online or at larger stores off site.

And!

“Pop-up stores will provide a fresh and beneficial element to our stations while also improving the image and desirability of retail space in the subway,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Prendergast. “This is another example of the MTA working to make better use of its real estate portfolio and improving the subway environment for customers at the same time.”

The store will be open through the December holidays...

Soooo... what kind of pop-up shop would you like to see from the MTA in the future? (To get you thinking about it...) Egg shop? Zine store?

Roseland Ballroom makes closure official

On Saturday, we posted the scoop from Billboard about the Roseland Ballroom's closure... at the time of Billboard's report, there hadn't been any announcement from Roseland's ownership.

They made the it formal today with the following release received via the EVG inbox...

NYC’S ROSELAND BALLROOM SCHEDULES CLOSING IN 2014

Today, Roseland Ballroom announced that it will cease operations in April 2014. Roseland Development Associates, LLC, owners of Roseland, issued the following statement in response to media reports about the venue’s closure next year:

“The owners of 239 West 52nd Street have operated the Roseland Ballroom for over three decades. Managing Roseland has been a labor of love, which is why we have deferred major changes for all these years. Plans to redevelop the property are now underway and will be made public when they are finalized. Roseland will cease operations at the end of April 2014.”

Live Nation, the world’s leading live entertainment company, which has had an exclusive music booking agreement with Roseland Ballroom since 1990, issued the following statement:

“We enjoyed being a part of the history of the Roseland Ballroom and we will continue to celebrate its rich history with an unparalleled closing run of shows. One of the best things about New York is how our city continues to reinvent itself and we look forward to sharing our tremendous plans for live entertainment in the city for 2014 and beyond.”

The space was a sentimental favorite for me... and I agree with an anonymous commenter's thoughts on the Roseland:

Lets face it, the audio was awful and the air conditioning was worthless.

But you could get up close if you felt like it and the mosh pits were great.

One of my favorite places to see a show and I will miss it.

Image via Frankie Gale Photo Gallery

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[On East Seventh Street via Derek Berg]

Why an East Village widow's bankruptcy case poses risk to rent-stabilized tenants (The New York Times)

Lunch at the Stage (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Who's next at the Houston/Bowery mural wall (BoweryBoogie)

Claim: Airbnb is a boon to the NYC economy (Curbed)

Soho House decision day on Ludlow (The Lo-Down)

Despite CB3 and resident objections, Sweet Chick signs lease at former Max Fish space (Grub Street)

Looking at the great Carl Fischer Music building (Off the Grid)

Cooper Square at the turn of the last century (Ephemeral New York)

When Andy Warhol painted Debbie Harry on an Amiga computer (Dangerous Minds)

Remembering some more lost record stores (Flaming Pablum)

Borough President Scott Stringer voices concern over CB3's suspension of the L.E.S. Dwellers

As we first reported yesterday morning, neighborhood group The L.E.S. Dwellers are demanding an impartial investigation into their recent suspension by Community Board 3.

Upon their suspension, the group submitted a formal complaint to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, whose office oversees the city's Community Board governance.

Stringer responded to CB3 Chairperson Gigi Li and District Manager Susan Stetzer yesterday. A tipster shared a copy of Stringer's letter.


[Click on image to enlarge]

As he wrote, "the decision to exclude an organization ... under these circumstances does not serve the interest of community board transparency and democratic representation."

And later:

"While I understand the view that the organization may have detracted from community input by influencing certain applicants to withdraw from the Board's process, I do not believe a 'suspension' of the organization is the most effective response to such a concern. The act of suspending a community organization for lawful conduct from a program promoting community input without a fully deliberative process has implications for the transparency and fairness of community board governance. For these reasons, I ask that the Board reconsider its current policy of excluding organizations . . . to ensure that its mission of representing and responding to community concerns remains fully transparent and open to public scrutiny."

The L.E.S. Dwellers have been active in opposing new liquor licenses on the Lower East Side, including the proposed SoHo House on Ludlow Street ... and the ongoing battle with the DL on Delancey. CB3 first recognized the L.E.S. Dwellers as a block association in October 2012.

The CB3 suspension is to last the remainder of 2013.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Breaking Badly: LES Dwellers demand impartial investigation of Community Board 3 (33 comments)

Construction watch: 45 Great Jones Street

Plans have been in the works at least back to 2007 to add extra floors of residential above the landmarked 45 Great Jones St., the longtime home to the Great Jones Lumber Corp., between the Bowery and Lafayette.

There are demolition plans on file dated from Thursday. Per the usual all-cap DOB style: "DEMOLITION OF THREE STORY STRUCTURE. PER LPC, FRONT FACADE TO REMAIN."


[Photo via Goggla]

The Landmarks Preservation Committee OK'd enlarging the Romanesque Revival building by five floors back in July 2012, as Curbed reported.

These are older plans from June 2012 (we have not seen the final renderings) ...


[Via Curbed]

Building owner Joseph Lauto also ran the lumber business. (He worked at the lumber yard as a kid dating to the late 1940s.) In March 2012, he told The Local that the changing landscape of NoHo contributed to his decision to develop the building.

"One of the reasons we merged the businesses was because forklifts and trucks moving lumber had to stop because of baby carriages," he said. "We never had that before."

The ground floor will remain a commercial space while the subsequent floors and penthouse will be residential. The plan is still waiting approval by the Department of Buildings, who last passed along a "disapproved" in July, according to city records.

Built in 1893, 45 Great Jones served as the home of Great Jones Lumber Corp. from 1934 to June of 2008, when the company merged with Michbi Doors Inc. of Long Island, per The Local.

Never-ending battle over additional floors at 515 E. Fifth St. promises to keep being never-ending

The saga of developer Ben Shaoul's additions to 515 E. Fifth St. continues. This was on the docket for this month's CB3 Land Use, Zoning, Public & Private Housing Committee meeting, but Shaoul's reps reportedly rescheduled it at the last minute for another month.

A quick recap to a really long story: The Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) had previously ruled that Shaoul needs to remove the 6th and 7th floors. However, his attorneys had requested that the city grant a zoning variance to "permit the constructed enlargement, minus the penthouse, to remain."

Now the Tenants Association of 515 East 5th Street, who has been fighting all this for years, passes along word of yet another delay to any resolution in the near future. Shaoul's attorneys have apparently filed an Article 78 petition to get the New York State Supreme Court to compel the BSA and DOB to reverse their decisions in the vesting case.

We'll report back to you when this is all resolved in 2023.

(You can read more about the history here at the Post, Curbed, DNAinfo and The Villager.)

Previously on EV Grieve:
Never-ending battle wages on over additional floors at 515 E. Fifth St.

CB3 hearing on illegal rooftop additions at 515 E. 5th St. re-scheduled for another month

Vella Market remains closed on Avenue B

We're getting close to the two-week mark for the Vella Market being closed on Avenue B and East Fourth Street... One reader heard the owners were in a dispute with the landlord over back rent.

Meanwhile, another reader passes along a bad sign... there is a ConEd notice on their front gate — the store's power has been shut off... according to the notice, the store owes a total of more than $12,000 to ConEd...



As we said earlier, we like Vella Market, which just opened in April at the former home of Kate's Joint.

Ronald McDonald and Banksy visit the Lower East Side

So this happened late this afternoon outside the McDonald's at Delancey and Essex... EVG Facebook friend Edward Arrocha shared these photos of Banksy's "All City – McDonalds" traveling sculpture show ... featuring a fiberglass statue of Ronald McDonald getting his clown shoes shined by "a real live boy," per the British artist's website.



The audio guide (Animal NY has it here) from Banksy's website says that this can be read as "a critique of the heavy labor required to sustain the polished image of a mega-corporation."



The Lo-Down reports that five police cars responded to the scene... though, with the crowd apparently on Banksy's side, the NYPD allowed the shoe shine to continue through to its conclusion...



...and there were rumors that the fellow carrying Ronnie off into the night was Banksy himself...

Today's hawk-on-rat action in Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Bobby Williams

Updated 10-22
Goggla has some more photos here.

Today's Blue Jay

On East Sixth Street via Bobby Williams

That's a lot of kale! Thieves take Whole Foods Bowery for 26K, cops say

Three Whole Food Bowery employees transporting $26,000 in a grocery cart to a second-floor office were robbed at gunpoint last night, the Post is reporting.

Per the paper:

A store worker said that the robbery may have been an inside job, noting that a coworker saw the perps leave through the receiving door.

“They ran from the receiving door which no one outside the store knows about,” the worker said. “They know parts of the store that we only know.”

He also said that his co-worker claimed to see one of the men casing the store a few weeks ago wearing the same “dreadlocks and bad, fake beard.”

Updated 10:22
The NYPD is now saying that the thieves got away with $60,000.

File photo of three women posing with the Whole Foods Bowery pickle bar sign.

Today in photos of the FangVan on Fourth Avenue

Just a reminder that your rent is due soon! Spotted late this afternoon by EVG regular William Klayer...

Playing spot the hawk in the puddle

Today in Tompkins Square Park... via The philosophical zombie.

New look revealed for the former 9th Street Bakery space

[The 9th Street Bakery in 1960, courtesy of Mort Zachter via the Voice]

The gut renovation of the former 9th Street Bakery is apparently winding down... today, workers removed the plywood to show off the new exterior that will purportedly house a juice-smoothie shop...



[Photos via William Klayer]

A big rent hike KO'd the 9th St. Bakery, which closed June 9 after 87 years in business.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader report: 9th St. Bakery is closing after 87 years

Breaking Badly: LES Dwellers demand impartial investigation of Community Board 3

Earlier this month, in a highly publicized move, Community Board 3 notified the neighborhood group The L.E.S. Dwellers that it was suspending it as a recognized block association for the remainder of the year.

As The Lo-Down reported on Oct. 7:

In a letter that was sent not only to the Dwellers but to members of CB3′s SLA Committee, Chairperson Gigi Li wrote, "it appears that the group has been working as its own entity” and acting as a 'shadow community board.'"

(Read more about this at BoweryBoogie and DNAinfo, who first reported the story.)

The L.E.S. Dwellers have been active in opposing new liquor licenses on the Lower East Side, including the proposed SoHo House on Ludlow Street ... and the ongoing battle with the DL on Delancey. (CB3 first recognized the L.E.S. Dwellers as a block association in October 2012.)

The group shared the following letter calling for an investigation of CB3 with us.

The recent suspension of our group, L.E.S. Dwellers (“LESD”), by Community Board #3 (“CB3”) is an attempt by a few members of CB3 — without board approval — to limit our participation in the process. The tactics to gerrymander our boundaries and impose an unlawful suspension where we are relegated to speak as individuals not as an organized group before CB3, applicants, existing businesses and the hundreds of residents who have taken various forms of action alongside us, is a blatant suppression of our First Amendment rights of free speech, assembly and to petition the government. Essentially, CB3’s self-determined jurisdiction over the way the LESD can dissent and demonstrate is a community board’s version of a gag order.

The purposeful narrowing by CB3 of free speech rights through sanctioned limitations that purportedly serve to protect the very rights that are being suppressed treads on treacherous First Amendment waters. This sets a standard for what community board’s can demand of neighborhood organizations and constituents. In CB3, or anywhere, the entity charged to hear the concerns of the residents and act as the liaison with government agencies, will now have the tacit authority to determine the propriety and delivery of those concerns.

Through the seemingly arbitrary and capricious nature of decisions made by certain members of CB3, there is a preponderance of evidence to suggest that our rights have been threatened for some time. For six months, CB3 has systematically challenged the legitimacy and representation of the LESD. The 58-minute conversation outlines the exact rationale for the suspension, including a selection of information not reported by Ms. Li in her formal letter. Overall, it reveals the unedited delivery of CB3’s ruling against LESD.

The audio presents an opportunity to understand the ongoing challenges we have endured from the community board, the reasons for the suspension, the manner in which it was decided, and other particularities about the inconsistent operations of the board. CB reps repeatedly overstep their bounds in the conversation and admit that while they may not approve of the manner in which LESD has acted, we have behaved lawfully and within our rights.

If community boards are permitted to impose limitations and suspend community groups absent of procedure and just cause, then the influence over government policy through protest and demonstration is severely hampered if not diminished all together. The result increases government agencies' influence over their own agendas without necessary checks and balances.

This is why, upon our suspension, we submitted a formal complaint to Manhattan Borough President (“MBP”) Scott Stringer. The complaint included an audio recording of the entirety of the conversation between the L.E.S. Dwellers and Board Chair Gigi Li and District Manager Susan Stetzer, in which LESD was told of the suspension and the reasons therefore, as well as the Community Board suspension letter and response letter from the L.E.S. Dwellers, including 81 pages of supporting supplemental material.

We then followed up with written request (CB3 Special Task Force: LESD Suspension Letter) on October 10th to CB3 chair Gigi Li to convene an independent, internal panel (“Special Task Force”) to investigate the facts and events surrounding the suspension of the LESD. We asked that the Special Task Force be charged with investigating two matters. First, did the LESD engage in any unlawful or inappropriate conduct that would warrant a suspension by CB3? Second, did CB3 Chair Gigi Li, CB3 District Manager Susan Stetzer or any other member of the CB3 Executive Committee engage in unlawful or inappropriate conduct in suspending LESD?

Further, we requested to maintain independence and neutrality, the Special Task Force should be made up only of rank-and-file members of CB3, not members of the Executive Committee, including any current committee chairs. Additionally, we asked that our letter be distributed to all members of CB3, not just the Executive Committee, and requested during the course of the investigation and until the report is released, the suspension of LESD should be held in abeyance. In return, LESD would agree not to take legal action against CB3 or any of its officers or employees until the report of the Special task force is released.

As to date, CB3 has not responded to our request.

Diem Boyd
Founder of the LES Dwellers

The group shared the entirety of the nearly 60-minute conversation between them and Board Chair Gigi Li and District Manager Susan Stetzer from Sept. 27. The Timestamp link is suggestion only of particular parts of the conversation that they were concerned by or felt deserved special attention and/or consideration.