NYC activates Heat Emergency Plan as dangerous heat grips the city

Photos by Stacie Joy

With temperatures expected to reach 100 degrees today and heat index values climbing as high as 112 degrees, NYC officials have activated its Heat Emergency Plan ahead of what could be the hottest day recorded in Central Park since July 18, 2012. 

An Extreme Heat Watch remains in effect citywide through 9 p.m. Saturday. The dangerous heat is expected to continue through the July 4 holiday weekend, with temperatures easing only slightly. 

The city says it is expanding efforts to help New Yorkers stay safe, including: 

• Opening hundreds of cooling centers across the five boroughs. 

• Deploying more than a dozen Cooling Outreach On-Location (COOL) vans to provide water, wellness checks, medical care and transportation to cooling centers or health-care facilities for vulnerable New Yorkers. 

• Expanding pop-up cooling stations with cold water, misting fans and cooling towels for outdoor workers, including street vendors, delivery workers and day laborers. 

• Displaying walking directions to the nearest cooling center on more than 2,200 LinkNYC kiosks citywide. 

Mayor Mamdani urged residents to take the prolonged stretch of extreme heat seriously (so no EVG one-liners here), stay hydrated, limit time outdoors when possible, and check in on neighbors, particularly older adults and others who may be more vulnerable to the heat.

"We're staring down what could be the hottest day New York City has seen in over a decade — and City government is taking historic measures to keep all New Yorkers cool and safe," Mamdani said in a media advisory. "Stay inside, look out for your neighbors, drink plenty of water, and watch out for signs of heat exhaustion such as confusion, nausea, and trouble breathing." 

You can find the nearest cooling center or playground spray showers by calling 311 or using the city's Cooling Center Finder via this link. 

Closer to home, cooling center options are limited, aside from the Tompkins Square and Ottendorfer library branches. Most of the options are for senior residents:

• Polish and Slavic Center, Inc. Older Adult Center 

103 E. Seventh St. 

9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday

• Meltzer Social Club, Older Adult Center

94 E. First St. 

8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday-Friday

 

• Educational Alliance Sirovich, Older Adult Center

331 E. 12th St. 

8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday

• UJCES Lillian Wald OAC Center, Older Adult Center

12 Avenue D

8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday-Friday

• Petco Union Square

Indoor - Cooling Center

44 Union Square Eaast 

9 a.m. to 9 p.m., daily

ConEd officials have also ramped up messaging...

We are mobilizing and activating our Emergency Response Center in advance of extreme heat and potential storms starting Wednesday. Our crews are working 24/7 to respond to any power issues and keep service reliable. Please use energy efficiently to stay safe and comfortable… pic.twitter.com/ZmSO2s3Yxi

— Con Edison (@ConEdison) June 30, 2026

Work is underway on Avenue B's permanent Open Street redesign

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

The Department of Transportation has officially begun construction on the permanent redesign of the Avenue B Open Street between Fourth Street and 12th Street, a project that will bring expanded pedestrian space, new bike connections, loading zones and intersection safety improvements to the corridor.

As we've been reporting, one of the biggest changes will be converting Avenue B to one-way northbound traffic for motorists between Seventh Street and 10th Street while creating a two-way bike connection along the entire corridor. 

The redesign also includes curb extensions, additional pedestrian space and other traffic-calming measures. 

The DOT will also add neighborhood loading zones at the beginning and end of each block to accommodate deliveries and reduce large-truck traffic along the corridor. Vans will continue to be permitted on Avenue B for deliveries, loading and unloading. 

Meanwhile, pedestrians can continue to use the Open Street daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

Per DOT officials in a media release on Monday: 

The agency will redesign every intersection in the project area with new pedestrian curb extensions that are protected with planters, bike corrals, granite blocks, or other elements. 

These sidewalk expansions will provide the triple benefit of creating more public space for pedestrians and shortening crossing distances while also improving visibility between crossing pedestrians and other road users. 

We stopped by yesterday as DOT crews continued installing new signs along Avenue B.

One worker pointed out the newly installed "Do Not Enter" signs on the southbound side of B at 10th Street tied to the one-way traffic pattern.

As we stood there, car after car continued driving through them. 

"It will take some time for drivers to get used to it," the DOT worker said. "That happened at 14th Street too." 

Nearby, crews were installing new No Parking/No Standing signs, while fresh spray-painted markings on the pavement offered a preview of the new street layout.

Construction is expected to continue in phases over the coming months. The DOT says the project is intended to build on the success of the Open Street, which launched in 2020, while creating a safer and more permanent streetscape for pedestrians, cyclists and local businesses.

At Night 1 of TV on the Radio's residency at Webster Hall

Photos by Daniel Efram 

TV On The Radio is back ... celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut release, Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes, with a deluxe version of the album with previously unreleased tracks. 

The Brooklyn-based band just wrapped up four nights at Webster Hall on 11th Street (Nov. 25-26, Nov. 29-30), the first live shows in five years (not counting the surprise TV Eye gig last Sunday or the Vans-Max Fish celebration in September).

Dan Efram, who shared these photos, called Monday's kick-off show a "mesmerizing, rejuvenating and affirming performance."

Here's a look at the band, including core members Tunde Adebimpe, Kyp Malone and Jaleel Bunton (Dave Sitek was not part of this residency)...

EVG Etc.: A 4th Street building aims for landmark status; Max Fish returns for NYFW

Above: A reader-submitted photo from 11th and 3rd from the other day

• The Feds raid the homes of the Mayor's inner circle (Gothamist ... Politico ... The Associated Press)

The mayor insists that he regularly reminds his appointees to “follow the law.” It never seems to occur to Hizzoner that it might be better to hire aides who don’t need a daily reminder not to commit crimes. My take in ⁦@NYMag⁩ https://t.co/YFJSstqxNm

— Errol Louis (@errol.louis on Threads) (@errollouis) September 6, 2024

• Ten years after the city passed a Paid Sick Leave Act, some of the worst recent violators in NYC are major corporations and franchises like Starbucks, Shake Shack, Chipotle and Amazon (The City) 

• 82 E. Fourth St. just west of Second Avenue up for landmark designation (Village Preservation) 

• Carnitas Ramirez on Third Street in the battle for NYC's best tacos (Eater... previously on EVG) 

• Today and tomorrow (9/7-8), screenings of a largely obscure body of 16mm films from Andy Warhol (Anthology Film Archives) 

• "Goodfellas" in 35mm Monday at the Village East by Angelika on 12th Street and Second Avenue (Tickets) 

• The 1990s LES photos of Angela Cappetta (Dazed) 

• Vans recreates Max Fish for NYFW (Hypebeast)

• Emma Stern's "The Rabbit Hole" exhibit now at the Half Gallery on 4th and B (Official site... Interview)

Astor Place gets the neighborhood's first electric charging docks for e-bikes

Last week, an electric charging dock for Citi Bike's e-bike fleet arrived outside Wegman's on Astor Place, the location of a previous docking station. (Thanks to Jacob Ford for the photo and tip!) 

This marks the first docking station in the neighborhood specifically for charging e-bikes. (These docks also accept the first-gen bicycles.) The DOT and Lyft unveiled the first two in May, with Hell's Kitchen and Greenpoint locations. 

Notably, the Astor Place station is electrified on the street, a unique feature compared to the first two stations, which were on the sidewalk. (Streetsblog has a comprehensive background on this here.)

According to DOT and Lyft officials, electrified charging stations will allow Citi Bike e-bike batteries to be charged while parked in stations instead of manually swapped out, making e-bikes more available to riders and reducing vehicle miles traveled by operations vans. 

Most e-bike batteries are charged in a warehouse and shuttled back and forth for manual swapping at the station in an often cumbersome manner...

Citi Bike riders might not realize most docks don’t charge e-bikes. It’s a surprisingly labor-intensive operation: A crew of 170, on four shifts and 69 specially equipped cargo vans, ferries the batteries to a Long Island City warehouse and back. https://t.co/FJ3Xndf1pY

— Curbed (@Curbed) June 29, 2024

According to May figures, Citi Bike has about 15,000 e-bikes in its fleet. In the first five months of the year, Citi Bike riders have taken more than 7 million trips on e-bikes.

Lyft recently announced that starting on Wednesday, Citi Bike e-bike rides will become more expensive for the $219.99-per-year annual members, rising to 24 cents per minute from 20 cents per minute. Back in January, the price went from 17 cents to 20 cents per minute.

[Updated] A look at 14th Street this morning after the triple stabbing and homicide yesterday

Updated 4 p.m.

The suspect, 30-year-old Alejandro Piedra of Brooklyn, has been charged with one count of second-degree murder — depraved indifference and two counts of second-degree attempted murder — depraved indifference, according to the NYPD and media reports.

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This morning, the NYPD Crime Scene Unit and various media vans remain on the scene along 14th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. (Previously.) 

Just before 6 p.m. yesterday, a fight broke out between several people on the block. In the end, police say, a 38-year-old man was stabbed in the neck and later died. A 51-year-old woman was knifed in the leg and taken to a hospital in critical condition, while a 32-year-old man was stabbed in the back and hospitalized. The two hospitalized victims are expected to survive, according to published reports. 

A 30-year-old man is in police custody. His relationship with the stabbing victims isn't clear. 

An employee at the cheap-slice pizzeria at 418 E. 14th St. told the Daily News that she saw a man in a cape and another waving a piece of wood start fighting outside the shop. 

"I was just doing my job and I saw a man with a 2-by-4 and a man with a cape and a knife. I was like, 'This is like Looney Tunes.'" 

Longtime EVG reader Notorious shared these photos from this long-troubled stretch of the East Village. 

A few residents told us they were shocked to see pools of dried blood and rubber gloves from the first responders on the sidewalk this morning ...

City Councilmember Keith Powers, whose district starts on the north side of 14th Street in Stuy Town, issued this statement yesterday, calling 14th Street "out of control."

Statement on today’s attacks on 14th Street. pic.twitter.com/EFgucCe2WK

— Keith Powers (@KeithPowersNYC) June 24, 2024

Updated 11 a.m.:

District 2 City Councilmember Carlina Rivera has released a statement...

Our community faces serious challenges related to homelessness + mental health. I remain committed to working with agencies and community-based orgs to ensure we're connecting people to services and investing in programs that improve wellbeing, quality of life, and public safety. pic.twitter.com/XfSaVqLRXd

— NYC Council Member Carlina Rivera (@CMCarlinaRivera) June 24, 2024

And from Assemblymember Harvey Epstein...

My statement regarding the violence on 14th Street: pic.twitter.com/GhS7WqXdZz

— Harvey Epstein (@HarveyforNY) June 24, 2024

Thursday's parting shot

Photo by Steven 

A future East Village trivia question: What was the last ad on the south-facing wall at 37 First Ave. before it was demolished? 

Answer: Little Simz for Vans.

Saturday's parting shot

Might be time to revive the Vans of the East Village series... as seen on Avenue B near 12th Street today...(thanks to Sonya for the shot!)

Report: 8 arrested in latest sweep of unhoused encampment on 9th Street

Photo from Sunday by Stacie Joy 

City agencies returned this morning to Ninth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C, where a group of unhoused residents has been living in tents under the sidewalk bridge at the former P.S. 64. 

The result: 8 arrests.

Here's more from The New York Times: 

The protest began as dozens of police officers, accompanied by a sanitation crew and a single homeless outreach worker, forced out the people living in the encampment for at least the seventh time in the last six weeks. 

[Tompkins Square Park] has become ground zero to the small but vocal movement protesting Mr. Adams's policies for addressing homelessness. "Housing is a human right, fight, fight, fight," the protesters chanted as police vans pulled up on neighboring streets around 9 a.m., and campers and supporters from a host of mutual aid and tenant activist groups taped off the tents with red packing tape. 

After a standoff, police arrested seven activists and one of the unhoused residents. 

All went willingly except Johnny Grima, 37, a homeless man who has emerged as the public face of the protests. He has been arrested three other times in the last month. 

As officers wrestled him out of his tent, then carried him toward a waiting police van, a protester shouted: "Shame on you. Is that how you treat houseless people?" 

According to city stats cited by the Times, there have been more than 700 cleanups from March 18 to May 1 — many of them of the same site multiple times — and 39 people have accepted the placement into shelters.

Unhoused residents have said that the shelter system is not safe. Read our interviews with some of the Ninth Street residents here.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Report: 2 arrested in latest East Village encampment sweep

• Standoff on 9th Street

• In Tompkins Square Park, speaking out against the city's sweeps of unhoused encampments  

Report: Relief supplies for Ukraine stolen from 2nd Avenue nonprofit

Updated 3/19: The Post published a surveillance video showing two vans and masked thieves taking boxes from the building.

Donations destined for Ukraine have been stolen from an East Village building, according to police and media sources.

The supplies, including 400 bulletproof vests, were taken from the offices of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and the Ukrainian National Women's League of America on Second Avenue between 12th Street and 13th Street. 

Police responded around 9:15 a.m. to a call of a burglary, the Associated Press reported. 

Per the AP via ABC 7: 

Andrij Dobriansky, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, said last week that the plan was for donated gear to be shipped by air to Poland and then transported into Ukraine. 

The items were most likely to be used by civilian security and medical teams, including citizens who have joined the fight against the Russian military, not Ukrainian soldiers themselves, officials said. 

The Post noted that the used vests were donated by the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office. Officials there were working to confirm the report.

Week in Grieview

Posts this week included (with a photo on Second Avenue by Derek Berg)... 

• Airbnb strike: Authorities impound vans used for overnight stays in the East Village (Tuesday) 

• To get Corey Johnson's attention, East River Park activists chain themselves to a tree at City Hall (Wednesday) 

• RIP Faith Laugier (Sunday) 

• MAJOR changes coming to the aisles of Key Food (Wednesday) 

• An early morning visit with NY1's Roger Clark (Thursday) 

• Scone mania: At Mary O's, an Irish blessing and 20,000 pounds of self-raising flour (Tuesday) 

• Volunteers needed for the Loisaida CommUnity Fridge and Pantry (Friday) 

• The Wild Son plans for daytime expansion with a lunch counter next door on 1st Avenue (Monday)

• Police looking for suspect who assaulted an Uber driver on 14th and 3rd (Friday) 

• Gallery Watch: Sei Smith — Portraits of You at Ki Smith Gallery (Wednesday) 

• Openings: Beloved Cafe debuts on Allen Street (Friday) 

• Eastanbul Gyro Kebab and Smyrna Bakery appear to have closed at 200 Allen St. (Friday)

• Metrograph and its Commissary reopen on Ludlow Street (Friday) 

• The Mayfly debuts on East Houston (Wednesday) 

• Danish coffee shop La Cabra debuts on 2nd Avenue (Thursday) 

• Looking at the new mosaics inside the 1st Avenue L stop (Monday) 

• Hellbound: Café de L'Enfer popping up on Avenue A this fall (Thursday) 

• Afternoon bringing Korean hot dogs, mochi doughnuts and croffles to St. Mark's Place (Wednesday)

• Good news-bad news for fans of Pouring Ribbons on Avenue B (Sunday) 

• Desi Stop Deli signage arrives on 2nd Avenue (Wednesday) 

• MSCHF on the Bowery (Monday)

• The new-look SW corner of 1st Avenue and 3rd Street (Wednesday)

Earlier this past week, the landlord painted over part of the mural wall (taking out three murals) on Second Street at First Avenue...

East Village Walls had been curating this spot (at no cost to the landlord) for the past six years. The landlord is apparently using the space now for an advertiser.

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Follow EVG on Instagram or Twitter for more frequent updates and pics.

Airbnb strike: Authorities impound vans used for overnight stays in the East Village

You may have noticed fewer vans parked on East Village streets. 

Late last week, the city Sheriff's office and the NYPD Document Fraud Unit discovered an "operation of alleged fraudulent and illegally registered vehicles being used as Airbnb rentals," Sheriff Joseph Fucito told the New York Post. 

Five of the seven vans, which reportedly had New Jersey plates and expired tags, were parked in the East Village.

Sheriff's Road Patrol Deputies were busy this week impounding seven alleged fraudulent and illegally registered vans being used as Airbnb rentals on various streets in Manhattan. 🛑🚦🚔 pic.twitter.com/rBZ1TBZ2xt

— NYC SHERIFF (@NYCSHERIFF) September 25, 2021

California-based journalist/video creator Uptin Saiidi recently slept in a 1999 Ford Econoline parked on Second Street — for $97 a night. 

Spoiler: He was glad he did this for a night but would never do it again...

   

As for the recently confiscated vans, it wasn't clear if the same person owned all of them. 

Back to the Post:

Sleeping overnight in a van is legal, according to the city's Department of Transportation — provided it’s not parked in the same spot for 24 hours in restricted areas. 

When parking is not otherwise restricted, no person shall park any vehicle in any area, including a residential area, in excess of seven consecutive days, the agency's rules note. 

Fines typically start at $115, the NYPD has said. The Sheriff’s office did not comment further except to say the "investigation in this matter is ongoing."

The van listings have since been removed from Airbnb, per CBS 2. 

A few weeks back, EVG contributor Stacie Joy spoke with this traveler from Toronto who rented a van on Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B for $85 a night. (Not sure if the authorities confiscated this van.)

According to Stacie, the guest was excited about this Airbnb adventure. He was not worried about the lack of a bathroom or shower. (The Airbnb host leaves suggestions for nearby businesses to use the restroom and options for showers.)

Stacie climbed in for a moment and noted that it was clean but hot and stuffy. The front seats were empty — and drapes were partitioning them from the bed in the back. The keys also did not work in the ignition.

As ABC-7 noted, authorities dubbed this impounding as — no kidding — "Operation Room Service." 

Thanks to all the readers who shared these links. Top photo via @NYCSHERIFF.

Police searching for suspect in 1st Avenue assault on Wednesday afternoon

Police are searching for a suspect they say critically injured a 59-year-old man after punching him Wednesday afternoon on First Avenue near 12th Street. (Update: Readers say it was actually 11th Street near the Islamic Council of America.)

CBS 2 has a few more details:

Police say the suspect got into a dispute with the 59-year-old victim. Things escalated, and the suspect punched the victim in his left eye. 

The victim fell to the street and knocked his head on the concrete. That left the victim semi-conscious, police said. He suffered a fractured skull and swelling of the brain, according to authorities. 

The victim was rushed to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition.

Accounts of the assault did not include a description of the suspect (he appears to be wearing checkerboard slip-ons by Vans) ... the NYPD did release this footage last evening...

🚨WANTED for an ASSAULT: On 2/10/21 at approx. 2:51 PM, at 1st Avenue and East 12 Street. The suspect punched a 59 year old male victim in his left eye, knocking him down causing him to be semi-conscious. Any info call or DM NYPDTips at 800-577-TIPS. Reward up to $2,500. pic.twitter.com/4GTu3d9w5r

— NYPD Crime Stoppers (@NYPDTips) February 12, 2021

Sunday morning around Union Square

Yesterday's peaceful protests turned chaotic in the late-night hours as demonstrators set fire to nearly a dozen NYPD vehicles around Union Square... it marked the end of the third day of protests against racist police violence in the aftermath of George Floyd's death Monday in Minneapolis.

EVG contributor Stacie Joy surveyed the scene this morning around Union Square, including on University Place where many of the police vehicles — specifically the Homeless Outreach vans — had been parked.