#eastvillage Twitter friends: what is happening 9th & A? Tons of police w/riot gear
— Celia Alicata (@CeliaAlicata) March 3, 2016
Tenants of 118 East 4th Street in the East Village appear back in Manhattan Housing Court on Thursday March 3rd at 9:30 AM as part of ongoing litigation against their landlord, Jared Kushner. Tenants are calling for the immediate restoration of essential services and for living conditions to be rectified.
The tenants have recently endured bouts of no heat, mounding trash, and have been without cooking gas since October 2015. Con Ed shut down all gas for the building and Jared Kushner has yet to take the necessary procedures with the city to restore it. This comes on top of the landlord’s failure to repair a multitude of potentially dangerous conditions in the building, including:
• No cooking gas
• Collapsed ceilings
• Questionably safe electrical systems
• Mounding trash
• Deprivation of heat
• Apartments entered without notice
• Blocked mail delivery
• Vermin
The tenants filed an HP Action for repairs and services in January to seek a remedy for these unsafe conditions. The landlord received a default judgement at the first court appearance on February 4th as Kushner failed to appear in court to address matters – a sign the tenants interpret as further disregard for the issues they face. At the time of a previous court appearance, the building had a total of 17 open violations with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, including 4 considered “immediately hazardous.” The current violation count is now 35 in total with 8 class “C” immediately hazardous violations. A motion was recently filed in court to hold Kushner in contempt of court due to the lack of restoration of services.
Woke up this morning to 7 degrees, its now 14 degrees outside, and no heat at 118 East St. Through some communications with the other tenants, it seems the heat is on in one line of the building. That line contains the market rate tenants. There are 2 other heat lines that are off and those lines contain the majority of rent stabilized tenants, including some senior citizens in fragile health. I think one or two market rate folks are getting the frozen treatment if they are unfortunate enough to reside above or below a rent stabilized tenant. Calls to the Westminster office provide no results as usual. There seems to be a Westminster person living in 118 at the moment. A call put into him goes unanswered and he has no voice mail set up on his phone. The same goes for the "Super". No answer. No voice mail set up on phone.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., New York City Police Department Commissioner William J. Bratton, and Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced a new initiative to change how individuals who commit low-level offenses are processed in Manhattan.
Beginning on Monday, March 7, 2016, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office will no longer prosecute most violations or infractions, and the NYPD will no longer arrest individuals who commit these offenses – such as littering, public consumption of alcohol, or taking up two seats on the subway – unless there is a demonstrated public safety reason to do so.
This initiative will enable the NYPD to devote its resources to investigating serious crimes, while further reducing the backlog of cases in Criminal Court. The issuance of summonses instead of arrests is expected to result in the diversion of approximately 10,000 arrests that would be prosecuted in Manhattan Criminal Court.
[EVG file photo]
Attention all of our guests!
Hakata Hot Pot and Sushi Lounge will move from 58 Saint Marks Place to 31 Saint Marks Place from March 1st.
Hakata Hot Pot had started 1983 as NATORI Restaurant.
Unfortunately we lost our lease in this place, and now we are going to join our sister restaurant Zen 6 since 1985 on the heart of Saint Marks Place between 2nd and 3rd avenue.
Zen 6 is Ramen restaurant, and we will add new Japanese Hot Pot on the menu.
Our new restaurant name is Hakata Hot Pot & Zen 6.
Please visit feel free to our new location and enjoy our authentic Hakata style izakaya food.
Thank you for your patronage.
owner
Hideyuki Okayama
Prior to opening the sales office, the rare luxury 32 unit condo property is already 50% sold to date as a result of early buzz generated by a daring marketing campaign featuring nearly nude models painted to blend into their surroundings. 100 Avenue A is set to break countless records, including the highest residential price per square foot achieved in the East Village for a non-penthouse unit, with residence 7C already going into contract for $2,685 per foot.
Today we officially close our doors....As overwhelmingly unfortunate as it is, it's always important to look on the...
Posted by Stage Restaurant on Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Dear wonderful and loyal customers, fans, friends, and neighbors,
It is with bittersweet emotions that we at Stage Restaurant are announcing that we are closing our doors permanently after 35 amazing years. The events of the year have been overwhelmingly devastating on us and we have decided to close the Stage’s door. Over the past year, we have resolved our dispute with the landlord and Icon Realty Management. Stage Restaurant never engaged in any wrongdoing; however, after our prolonged closure and because of the cost to make the repairs and expenses of reopening, we are sad to say that the Stage cannot reopen.
It has been our great honor and pleasure to serve and truly be a part of the community over the past 35 years. We are so grateful to all who have made the experience of running this restaurant in such a vibrant, and supportive area of this great city a remarkable and unforgettable journey for us. We will greatly miss our staff, many of which have put as much care and effort into the business as our family has. We would like to thank all of the customers we have had the pleasure of meeting for your business and friendships. Thank you all for your support, your signatures, your donations, and especially your kind words. We could not have realized our passion and love for nourishing and providing a place of comfort and gathering to the community without you all. Your loyalty, support, kindness and love have been a true blessing, and something we will never forget. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.
Roman Diakun
By James Maher
Name: Annie Ju (left) and Melissa Scott
Occupation: Owners, an.mé /ahn-may/, Boutique for Kids and Families.
Location: 9th Street between 1st and 2nd Ave
Time: 11 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 26
Melissa: I was born in Flushing, Queens. I’ve been down here in the East Village since 2004, with my husband. I now live two blocks over. When we first moved into Manhattan, we moved to the Upper East Side because of my job, but both my husband and I hung out down here prior to that, and so we said, ‘Hey, let’s try it,’ and now we’re raising our child here.
Annie: I’m from Taiwan and I live in Queens. I came here in August 1995, right to high school. I came here for English and for design school. I have always been in retail. I have always been working in boutiques. That’s what I’m most comfortable in — nothing corporate, always small business. I did this, but I did it for other people. This is our first venture together.
M: We worked together prior to this, over 10 years ago. We worked together for six years.
A: We wanted to have the shop here. Melissa lives here and we always loved this area. We were looking and then this space became available, because the previous owner had to cut his lease short, and we jumped on it over a year ago. We were like, now or never.
We both like the physical store, because we had a vision for how we wanted it to look. A lot of people said, ‘You should do it online. That’s what it’s all about right now,’ But we like the interaction with people. We like to create a place where people can come in comfortably with their kids and pets and they can touch things and feel things before they make a purchase. That was the whole idea behind it. We want the toys to bring people in and to come to the neighborhood. Then chances are they’re going to shop with us and then go next door. We feel like it’s a group effort.
M: This block is great, and we hope there will be more stores opening up that will be mom and pop. We’re for the young and for the young at heart. Most of the clothing is all new and we source globally. Then the toys, some are vintage throwback toys, and some are new.
A: People can come in at all ages and relate to a certain part of the store. We have a lot of big people coming to buy our toys.
M: You mean adults.
A: Big people!
M: We have a whole bucket of 1980s GI Joes. It’s always funny, the mom will drag the family in, the dad will sigh, ‘another shop,’ and then he’ll see it and be like, ‘Yo, I had those!’
A: I’m a collector, so I collect a lot of stuff along the way. I have a little bit of a problem. It’s a good problem to have… I’ve been told.
Aside from going to trade shows and finding new brands, we also support a lot of local artists, and mostly East Village-based artists. They’ll come, ‘I design cards, would you be interested,’ or bibs, dolls. We are always open to look to purchase from local designers. We work with quite a few.
M: It has been a lot of work, but it’s been a slow and steady progression, and we’ve had a lot of return customers, which is great. I think that’s what sets us maybe apart from others, is that we’re both shoppers. We like to go out and see what’s happening. We like to visit other stores. We see other kids.
We try to find what people want, and be unique in a sense, because we don’t need to compete with Amazon. We also pride ourselves on if you come in with your child, the next time we’ll remember you, and we’ll remember their size. Even from when we started, people who came in with their newborns who are now walking, it’s a progression and we hope to stay with them.
A: That’s also the biggest reason why we wanted a physical store. That relationship with people. [Compared to] big box stores, that’s why I feel like it’s so much harder to have a brick-and-mortar shop, because you need to work so much harder just to find a special something, because that’s what people want.
We also create events for parents. Halloween is going to become a tradition because that was around the time that we opened the store. Last Halloween was awesome. We had gift bags for the kids and wine for the adults, so everyone was happy. And once in awhile we hold events in the store to promote local artists and designers.
M: We just had a book signing with a local mom, a friend of mine who just illustrated her first children’s book. We had the signing here and all the kids came and were running around. We also try and we reach out to all the local schools, or as many as we can. They come in and they ask for donations for their school auctions. We try to donate and give back as much as we can. We also work with NYC Mama’s Give Back.
A: They usually have events at the Henry Street Settlement, where they distribute goods to the moms in need.
M: In this neighborhood, it’s phenomenal raising a kid, because there’s such a sense of community here. My son went to EV Tots and we met a great group of people. Now he goes to Children’s Workshop School, and we’ve continued on with that great group of people. We rely on each other almost like a family. ‘Can you pick up this person,’ you know. It’s nice to be able to. Sometimes we have other parents who come like, ‘I just need to rush to the butcher can you just watch my kid for two minutes?’ We always joke that we’re a boutique slash daycare. We like having the kids in here.
We also always joke that my son is a good salesman, because he’ll come in and start showing people products. I actually had a woman leave after having a 10-minute conversation with my son, and I was like ‘oh man,’ and she came back and was like, ‘He sold me. I’m going to get this.’
At the time, Daniel O’Connell-Kirwan, the manager of McSorley’s, invited Ms. Shaum to be the first woman through its doors.
“Danny called me and said, ‘Barbara, would you come over and be the first one in?’ ” she recalled. “I said, ‘Well you got Sara on the other side,’ ” referring to another local shopkeeper, Sara Penn.
And so it was that she, and then Ms. Penn, became the first women let into McSorley’s. “I put on a big straw hat, and I walked in on Danny’s arm,” she said. “It was a big milestone.”
She wanted to be known for her own principles, for her impassioned stands on equal pay for women, on affordable rents for small businesses. She was an activist. Encouraged by Councilwoman Miriam Friedlander, she and other Lower East Side small business people of that era struggled hard against rising rents, nevertheless losing ground year by year.
Barbara Shaum has contributed to the quality of life in the East Village through her creativity and her determination to keep her small business alive and thriving for more than half a century...
It is located in an R8A zoning district with an FAR of 6.02 (approx. 15,941 SF) or up to 7.2 FAR with Inclusionary Housing designated area bonus (approx. 19,066 sq. ft.) This prime development site is across the street from Hamilton Fish Park and a branch of the New York City public library, offering unobstructed southern exposures.
A new development would enjoy sweeping views of downtown and midtown Manhattan, Williamsburg, LIC and more.
The lottery will give as many as 15,000 applicants a spot on a waiting list for affordable apartments in the complex, according to a spokeswoman for Blackstone, the firm that purchased the twin housing complexes last year.
Prices for the affordable apartments vary widely based on unit size and household size. The cheapest option is a studio apartment for $1,210 per month for people making between $36,300 and $48,400, while the priciest is a five-bedroom apartment for $4,560 for families of five to 10 members making a total of between $136,800 and $210,870 per year.
Introducing The Calyx, one of the finest full service condominiums to ever emerge within the colorful maze of streets known the East Village. Built in 2010 and recently converted to luxury living, The Calyx captures the best of old vintage vibes and blends them with modern and stylish living. The building rises 10 stories and sits on Avenue C, an East Village strip lined with tasteful restaurants and cafes and located only a few blocks away from Tompkins Square Park and popular nightlife scenes.
Designed by OTL Enterprises—the same firm whose passion and vision were behind The Blue Building of the Lower East Side—The Calyx offers 35 residences dressed with groomed interiors, a fitness facility, and a rooftop lounge boasting panoramic views of Manhattan. Pairing sophistication with the vibrancy of the East Village, The Calyx is a captivating proposition for first time buyers and veteran real estate investors alike.
The Calyx is for those seeking to capture the energy of an evolving neighborhood, to experience the edge of the city’s past and the shimmering promise of its future.
I live directly behind demolition on 13th street. The other day I was approached by a pollster for fairway market asking me a bevy of questions about my thoughts on a new fairway on the corner of 14th and Ave A.
The company is saddled with $267 million in debt and on the brink of bankruptcy, and its stock price, which once peaked at $28 per share, is selling for roughly 30 cents. The collapse has been swift and brutal. "Lives have been totally changed and ruined," says one former buyer for the chain. "What happened was an injustice."
[A]lmost everyone agrees that a confluence of issues — including an overly aggressive and poorly executed expansion plan and rising competition in the quality-produce business — are the reasons Fairway is now in crisis. "It was a perfect storm," says a former executive for the company.
