EV Grieve

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Easter greetings from Sir Gus Bear

On East Second Street between Avenue B and Avenue C... a well-known bearial ground...

Previously on EV Grieve:
A brief history of humiliating Teddy bears in the East Village

Blockbusters: ('Alleged') 'Bearial Shroud' discovered on East Second Street

Report: Reopened businesses on 2nd Avenue continue to struggle after the explosion

The NYPD yesterday removed some of the barriers surrounding the southwest corner of Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place… making it a little easier to access the businesses on Second Avenue that have been able to reopen after the explosion that killed two people and destroyed three buildings on March 26.

In this week's issue, Crain's New York Business looks at how the local merchants are struggling since reopening.

Paul's Da Burger Joint was able to starting serving again on Monday at 131 Second Ave. Here's owner Matt Wardrop:

His problems are compounded by a lack of business-interruption insurance, which would have covered losses for the days the restaurant was closed. Insufficient coverage is a frequent problem for small-business owners, who are always looking to cut what can seem like nonessential costs.

"If you're on a mom-and-pop scale, a business-interruption policy is so expensive, if you never need it, you lost a lot of money paying for it, so you take your chances," Mr. Wardrop.

Also:

But even on streets that aren't barricaded, and where stores didn't have to close for four days, the disruption of the neighborhood's foot-traffic patterns is continuing. The maze of barricades and fire trucks has cut business by 50% at New Yorkers Foodmarket, on Second Avenue between East Sixth and East Seventh streets, according to owner Michael Schumacher. That's added up to a $50,000 loss of sales during the past week.

Unlike Paul's Da Burger's insurance policy, Foodmarket's does include business-interruption coverage. But Mr. Schumacher said it doesn't extend to a slowdown in business caused by disruptions somewhere else.

The last time his store was in this much trouble was after Superstorm Sandy. But the supermarket owner says this disaster is worse.

"With Sandy, there were no businesses open, and afterwards everybody opened up at the same time," Mr. Schumacher said. "Business came right back. I don't know if business is going to come back, because people are finding other stores to go to."

Taqueria Diana, Ramen Misoya and Himalayan Visions also reopened along here last week. Meanwhile, … B&H Dairy remains closed. In a Facebook message yesterday, B&H said "we will reopen by next week." Apparently the health department gave them the go-ahead, now they are just waiting for gas service.

As for when the entire block will be open, let's go back to Crain's:

A spokeswoman for the Office of Emergency Management said that full access to [the] block — the west side of Second Avenue between St. Marks Place and East Seventh Street — will be restored once debris removal and the investigation of what is being treated as a crime scene are concluded. She could not provide a date.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

2nd Avenue update (April 4)

The latest headlines

Gas lines removed from destroyed building (Fox 5)

East Village gas explosion reveals problems in city’s inspection system (The New York Times)

Sting donates $36K to East Village explosion fundraiser, organizer says (DNAinfo)

Pommes Frites calls for donations to help reopen after explosion (Eater)

Behind the scenes of the relief effort (American Red Cross)

The resource center will be open on Fri from 9 to 5, Sat 9 to 3 and Mon & Tues 12 - 9. 59 E. 4th St CB3 will be the new center
— LESReady (@LESReadyNYC) April 3, 2015

Missing Pets

The Washington Square Park Blog continues to keep tabs on the missing pets… if we have this correct: four cats have been found safe; and four cats and perhaps one dog are still missing… among the missing cats — Sylvie…

Find the latest info here … and here is her article at HuffPost

A corner view

Here's a look at what's left of the northwest corner of Second Avenue and Seventh Street as of yesterday … via photos by EVG reader Roman Bromblin...

… and here is a look from Thursday…

According to the city, workers have removed (as of Thursday) 85 trailer loads of debris …

Noted

Spotted at 8-12 Avenue B

Friday, April 3, 2015

Tonight's photogenic moon

Somewhere over East Fifth Street via Derek Berg...

The #NoNewNYPD rally on Avenue A

[Photo via @KeeganNYC]

The #NoNewNYPD citywide rally mades its way up Avenue A this evening around 9:30 ... among other things, the various groups involved were voicing their opposition to a plan to hire 1,000 police officers... read more about the campaign here