Saturday, March 3, 2018

Report: Contractor charged in 2nd Avenue gas explosion illegally renovating Harlem apartments


[The former 119-123 2nd Ave. from Feb. 15]

Dilber Kukic, the contractor charged with manslaughter and negligent homicide in the March 2015 gas explosion on Second Avenue, is gut renovating four apartments at 303 W. 154th St. without permits, according to the New York Daily News.

Per the News:

“We have rented to almost everyone currently living in these properties and I am concerned for their safety,” whistleblower Jerry Leazer said.

Leazer worked as a broker for the six-floor, 54-unit building through his company, Apartments Expert, until last month.

“It’s a dangerous situation,” he said, adding he’d become concerned about legal liabilities due to the off-the-books renovations.

Leazer’s complaint says Kukic, 42, and other workers have removed walls and rewired the apartments without permits.

Kukic’s attorney, Marc Agnifilo, told the paper: "His probation officer knows. He’s allowed to work. As long as the company is licensed, my understanding is he can work there as an employee."

In an unrelated case in 2015, Kukic pleaded guilty to bribery, a felony, according to published reports at the time.

Per the Daily News: "He admitted to handing off $600 to an undercover officer in the investigator's car in an effort to get violations cleared from a pair of buildings he owns on W. 173rd St. on an expedited basis."

As for the Second Avenue case, Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance's office charged Kukic, landlord Maria Hrynenko and her son, Michael Hrynenko Jr., along with plumber Jerry Ioannidis, with manslaughter in the second degree, criminally negligent homicide and assault in the second degree.. (The final defendant, licensed plumber Andrew Trombettas, was charged with offering a false instrument​,​ for allegedly lending his name and license number to paperwork.)

Kukic is due back in court on March 23 — almost three years to the date since the explosion leveled 119-123 Second Ave.

Dora after yesterday's storm

The red-tailed hawk watchers were curious to see how Dora would fare in yesterday's nor'easter with her rehabbed wing... Steven spotted her this morning in her nest in Tompkins Square Park ...



...looking pretty relaxed...

In crane news today



There is crane action happening now on Avenue B between Third Street and Fourth Street.

B is closed here for now.

There were unconfirmed reports that this was to install a new vape-smoke sign. Wrong side of the Avenue though.

Anyway! A few different views via this Live Team Coverage...









In all likelihood, per the cranewatchers on the scene, workers are dropping off, so to speak, an air conditioner or HVAC atop 43-47 Avenue B.

According to the posted sign on Avenue B, this will only take 11 hours.



Report: A book of Lou Reed's unpublished poetry set for April release



In case you missed this news (via Pitchfork and The Guardian)... on what would have been Lou Reed's 76th birthday yesterday, Anthology Editions announced a new book of his unreleased poetry.

Per Anthology:

In August of 1970, a 28-year-old Lou Reed quit the Velvet Underground, moved home to Long Island, New York, and embarked on a fascinating alternate creative path: poetry. "Do Angels Need Haircuts?" is an extraordinary snapshot of this turning point in Reed’s career.

Gathering poems, photographs and ephemera from this era (including previously unreleased audio of the 1971 St. Mark’s Church reading), and featuring a new foreword by Anne Waldman and an afterword by Laurie Anderson, this book provides a window to a little-known chapter in the life of one of the most singular and uncompromising voices in American popular culture.

The book is due out next month.

Friday, March 2, 2018

Friday's parting shot



It was so windy today that the umbrellas were calling 911.

Photo on Second Avenue and Fourth Street by Lola Sāenz...

Wind claims part of the Avenue C Pharmacy awning



Today's high winds (#windmaggedon!) brought down the awning alongside the Avenue C Pharmacy between 11th Street and 12th Street. The awning fell in the grassy area to the south of the shopping complex where there weren't any pedestrians.

Thanks to @evan_kapitansky for sharing the photo.

Here on 'Earth'



Members of the Horrors, the Black Angels, Elephant Stone and the Earlies formed Mien ... the track here, "Earth Moon," is from their first record out on April 6.

Being the butt of something

Via a crime story in Town & Village today:

A man arrested for selling loosies in Union Square wound up facing far more serious charges when he didn’t do a good enough job hiding his stash and almost 60 envelopes of heroin fell from his butt crack when he bent over to be searched, police said.

Checking in on Winter Storm Riley undergoing bombogenesis



In other words, it's really windy. That's the weather forecast for now. Photo today on Second Avenue by Derek Berg.

Matthew Kenney's PlantMade teams up with Pure Green on 2nd Avenue



Pure Green is getting a new roommate in its space on Second Avenue between 9th Street and 10th Street.

PlantMade, a cafe via plant-based chef Matthew Kenney, whose bio says that he is "crafting the future of food®," will be serving "artisanal coffee and plant-based pastries" inside the Pure Green space.

The Pure Green-PlantMade combo debuts today after a week of renovations...



Pure Green, which has multiple NYC locations, sells cold-pressed juices, smoothies and various bowls of açaí, opened last March in this new storefront. They originally shared space with Greecologies, whose menu included a variety of grass-fed yogurts as well as desserts, coffees and teas.

Kenney is also involved with 00 + Co. and Bar Verde a few blocks to the south on Second Avenue.

H/T Steven!

Previously on EV Grieve:
152 2nd Ave. storefront to yield a combo Greek yogurt and smoothie shop

Joe and Pat's signage arrives on 1st Avenue (above the Lanza's)



Joe and Pat's, the Staten Island-based pizzeria, looks ever-so-close to opening... the signage recently arrived here on First Avenue between 10th Street and 11th Street.

The sign for Lanza's, the previous tenant here, remains intact above the doorway. And Jeremiah Moss recently noted that Lanza's antique murals seem to have survived the gut renovation.

Speaking of renovations, it has seemingly taken awhile to get the space in Joe-and-Pat's shape. (The coming soon sign arrived in April 2017.)

This location of Joe and Pat's, whose first branch opened on Staten Island in 1960, will serve their signature thin-crust pies as well as a variety of pastas and salads. No word on when they may open.

Lanza's closed for good back in July 2016. The Italian restaurant had been in the space since 1904.

PokéVillage is the EV's first poke casualty



A commenter mentioned this on the Poke N' Roll post from Wednesday... PokéVillage has closed on 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. A for rent sign hangs in the window. (Thanks to EVG reader Shiv for the photo!)

The Pokésters opened here in December 2016 toward the end of the Great Poké Rush of 2015-16. This marks the first closure of a poké-serving restaurant in the East Village during this time.

The address was previously home to Saving$ Paradise, which merged with I.Q. Decor in the spring of 2016. IQ Decor just went out of business following a rent increase.