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[Photo posted on Flickr]
"For years -- back when the laws in New York were a little less rigidly enforced -- a block resident named Mattie made sculpture installations there, and he'd let neighborhood kids in to play basketball. Since Mattie's death, the rat population has exploded and the pavement is riddled with burrows. The only purposes it serves these days are to skeeve block residents and to horrify the block's restaurant patrons (which might be amusing, but their horrified screams are obnoxiously loud). First Street Green (a group that includes block residents, artists, and others) has tried going through the proper channels to develop the lot into a simple sculpture park, with no success: Parks funds are nonexistent (Parks leaves rat poison once a month, and that's about it); the City isn't interested in setting aside money to develop it into a park because of its low profile; it can't become a resident-run Greenthumb garden because it's owned by the Department of Parks and Recreation. So we have two choices: It can stay like this forever, or we can raise the money ourselves to develop it."
Although we reporters are usually loath to admit this sort of thing, the release got my attention. It heralded a “barbershop and lounge mash-up,” casting the enterprise as “the ultimate experience in multitasking.”
“Not enough hours in the day for that much needed haircut?” it asked. “Has yet another social obligation cut into your grooming time?” Enter the Blind Barber, where you can socialize and groom simultaneously, or at least in rapid succession, under one roof. Get buzzed while getting buzzed. Combine hygiene with high jinks.
We were walking up the Bowery - m4w (East Village)
Date: 2010-06-24, 9:04PM EDT
and I asked you if you knew where to get a good burger. You smiled and said you didn't know that area. You seemed friendly as if you would have and maybe wanted kept talking to me, but I got shy... and watched you walk away regretfully.
Just before midnight Monday, Gov. David Paterson signed legislation that vastly expands the law protecting residential loft tenants. A last-minute deal was worked out with the Bloomberg administration to exclude 13 of the city's 16 Industrial Business Zones from the law, which legalizes the residential use of buildings in industrial areas.
The research consisted of a survey of business owners/managers on 9th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues which sought to prioritize business concerns. Two retail use surveys were also carried out in order to provide information on the types of businesses located on Avenue A and 9th Street. Additionally, a shift-share analysis was conducted to determine the change in the growth of local retail and accommodation & food service establishments relative to Manhattan and New York City between the years 2002 and 2007. The fellow also examined CB3 commercial retail rents relative to other neighborhoods.
The fellow’s research revealed that taxes were reported to be the primary concern for business owners/managers and utilities were the second largest concern. Additionally, the research revealed that retail did not experience the same favorable growth as the accommodation & food services sector in Community Board 3 despite being relatively better off than Manhattan and New York City in terms growth of establishments. Lastly, the surveys provided a basis from which to continue to examine the issues of retail diversity and rents in the community.
1. Inform local businesses about existing services available to help them negotiate leases with favorable provisions on taxes
2. Encourage "on-bill financing" of energy efficiency improvements for businesses as a means to achieve cost savings
3. Incorporate research on retail diversity and options to address the issue, like formula zoning, as an ongoing project for future community board fellows
4. Continue to explore the issue of retail rents in the neighborhood and possible ways to address this concern through programs such as tax abatements
To build a replica of the old marquee, Live Nation hired Ken Lubin, a graphic designer who specializes in signs for Broadway theaters. (He removed the original Irving Plaza marquee in 2007 when he installed the new one for the Fillmore, which he made.) It wasn’t easy, Mr. Lubin said, because the old one had been left in an alley behind the club, with chunks of it missing. But there was just enough to serve as a model for its stainless-steel letters and red neon lighting.
“They wanted it to have the look and feel of what it was prior to changing it over to the Fillmore,” Mr. Lubin said.