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Last evening at 5:30, a group of residents, small-business owners and activists gathered on St. Mark's Place and Avenue A to speak out about the incoming Starbucks coming to this corner as well as the proliferation of chain stores in the East Village.
EVG regular Peter Brownscombe shared these photos...
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At the rally, participants called for the approval of a Special Retail District that would limit the size and number of chain stores and promote retail diversity that is currently under consideration by Community Board 3 and draw attention to the need for a City Council hearing on the Small Business Jobs Survival Act.
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The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, East Village Independent Merchants Association, and the East Village Community Coalition organized the event.
City Council candidate Carlina Rivera attended the rally, and said that she supported a special zoning district for the neighborhood.
As reported by Bedford + Bowery: "It’s an important step for us to show that we are done," Rivera said, adding that local residents "want to keep our neighborhood authentic and we want to make sure that how it remains authentic is having the local mom and pops that you know."
In an article published yesterday morning, DNAinfo's Allegra Hobbs spoke with a few East Village business owners who are concerned about "the impact the chain’s move eastward will have on their operations, the local economy and on the neighborhood’s broader culture."
Photos below via Steven...
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There was also free coffee courtesy of Mud over on Ninth Street...
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"[T]his is one of the most special, unique neighborhoods around," James Armata, Mud's general manager, told Patch at the rally. "It keeps on getting less and less so with constant chains moving in. It could be Starbucks, it could be anything."
Previously on EV Grieve:
Steve Cuozzo: 'A new Starbucks will make the thriving East Village an even better place to live'
A look the incoming Starbucks on St. Mark's and Avenue A, site of a rally on July 13
Public forum set to discuss special business district in the East Village