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The most intriguing concept of the night came from the team behind “Dans Le Noir,” the “blind dining” franchise from Paris. Having just flown in from France yesterday, the owners walked community board members through an impressive proposal for the former “Tonic” space on Norfolk Street. The idea, they said, is simple: “Diners eat in the pitch dark and are served by blind people, creating an interesting sensory experience.”
Dans Le Noir co-founder Etienne Boisrond, elaborating on the concept, said, “you become the blind and they (the servers) become your eyes.” It’s a fusion menu with french accents. The owners noted that 10-percent of the profits go to charities around the world.
There are few certainties in this changeable city. But on Avenue A and Sixth Street, a place that has been convulsed by change in recent years, one thing has remained constant through the riots and real-estate booms: Merlin, a 41-year-old homeless man who uses only one name, has made the intersection's southeast corner his residence for eight years. Neither blizzards nor blistering heat have routed him from atop a set of wooden pallets in front of a Con Edison substation.
"People move in and out of the neighborhood, but I never budge," he said last week, lounging beneath a pair of tattered umbrellas, his only guard against the sting of the sun. A stroke has left him partly paralyzed, and frostbite cost him several toes three winters ago.
To strangers, he is but another intrusion on the East Village's gritty streetscape, a reason to avert their eyes. But to many local residents, he is a cherished asset: a timekeeper, a message center, a town crier and a source of good, solid conversation. "Merlin is a social hub," said Tatiana Bliss, 25, a local artist. "If you're looking for someone, Merlin probably knows where they are. If you want to leave something for a friend, he'll make sure they get it. He makes this crazy city feel like a small town."
NEW YORK (CBS 2) – The NYPD is on a ticket blitz, giving cyclists more than 15,000 violations so far this year. Many pedestrians say it’s about time and fear the city’s push to get people pedaling has led to danger on the streets and sidewalks. Some have even dubbed it “bike bedlam.”
The Big Apple is racing to become the bike capital of the world and the Bloomberg administration has added more bike racks, paths and lanes.
However, as CBS 2’s Tony Aiello found out, spending a few minutes along the new bike lane on First Avenue makes clear that plenty of New Yorkers have little liking for the biking.
“It would be one thing if the bike riders obeyed the lights and things — they don’t,” Lower East Side resident Amber Rogers told Aiello.
In a recent 20 minute period at First Avenue and Sixth Street, CBS 2 counted 17 bike riders running red lights and more than two dozen riding the wrong way and against traffic.
Live and work in this huge, open loft . Facing Tompkins Square Park, on Avenue B, in the most incredible landmark East Village building. 12 foot ceilings and huge windows, this 2 bedroom corner loft apartment is every hipster's dream! Live totally "outside the box" in every way and wow your friends as they enter this one-of-a-kind space. Corinthian columns. Great south and west light. Steps to the best of the East Village. Nothing else like it. Video intercom system. Sorry no shares.
... at the beach right now in fact!
Still undecided in regards to landlord's generous buyout proposal (he really wants a neighborhood restaurant for space)... adjourned till September. Got to roll, surf is calling!
"At one point, a couple went into the bedroom right off the living room and closed the door. Like the living room, the bedroom didn't have any blinds or drapes.
"The girl foraged through a dresser and grabbed a silky top. She was changing when the guy, who was probably her boyfriend, whipped off his khakis and underwear, threw his arms up in the air and started air thrusting. She doubled over laughing."
Greenberg is quick to credit his staff for keeping Tompkins clean. Actually, the number of his workers has shrunk over the years, forcing him to do more with less. In 1990, he had 15 permanent workers in Tompkins Square Park, and also managed part of Parks District 3, which is contiguous with the East Village and Lower East Side’s Community Board 3. Today, he only has four permanent workers for Tompkins, who also have to maintain 34 other sites in a portion of the district, such as the planted islands on East Houston St., for example.
Although there are drugs in the park, it used to be far worse. Plus, Greenberg noted, “What park doesn’t have drugs?”
“I used to come to this park early in the morning, and there were drug dealers and hookers. Now it’s normal people,” he said, though adding with a laugh, “They could be hookers and drug dealers.”
Magic The Gathering... - m4w - 27 (East Village)
I want you to tap my mana till I'm all tapped out. Be my Exalted Angel, I'll be your Dark Confidant. Take my Rod of Ruin deep into your Karplusan Forest.
Come on, baby. Let's make some magic.