City Council hosting public hearing on permanent outdoor dining legislation today

Top photo from Washington Square Park Saturday by Jeremiah Moss 

Updated 2/9

Per the Post: Julie Schipper, head of the city Department of Transportation's Open Restaurants Program, told City Council yesterday that the dining structures that popped up in the summer of 2020 won't be allowed to remain standing after the COVID-19 pandemic eases.

"We don't envision sheds in the permanent program. We are not planning for that," she said. "What would be in the roadway [are] barriers and tents or umbrellas, but not these full houses that you're seeing in the street."

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City Council will hold its lone (remote) public hearing today on the city's Open Restaurants program. 

City officials are looking to make then-Mayor Blasio's no-fee emergency measure launched in June 2020 when indoor dining was prohibited a permanent part of the dining landscape. The Department of Transportation (DOT) would oversee the new program with updated policies and procedures for sidewalk and curbside service. (The Open Restaurants text amendment entered a public review last June.)

Per an article on the hearing via the Post:

Under the current proposal, eateries seeking licenses to operate outdoor dining would have to shell out $1,050 each and then pay a $525 renewal fee following a yet-to-be-determined time period. It also sets up various safety measures and other restrictions for the pop-up, al fresco dining spots to follow, including prohibiting use of advertising signage. 

A permanent outdoor dining program drafted by the de Blasio administration was approved by the Planning Commission last November, but it never reached the Council for a vote before the term-limited mayor left office at year's end.

Streetsblog has a comprehensive preview of the hearing at this link.

According to various estimates in media accounts, the city claims about 100,000 jobs were saved through outdoor dining allowances during the pandemic. 

City Council will hold a final vote on the measure at an unspecified date later this year.

Meanwhile, there is opposition to these plans. This past Saturday, the Coalition United for Equitable Urban Policy (CUEUP) — an alliance of neighborhood and block associations, including several in the East Village — held a march and rally called "Chuck the Sheds" in the West Village to speak out against making the Open Restaurants program permanent. 

In the invite for Saturday's rally, the group noted:

Open Restaurants ... serves us noise, mounds of trash, rats, fire hazards, blocked sidewalks. Ambulances and fire trucks can't access our homes from these narrow and cluttered, impassable streets. The problems were there from the beginning for all to see, yet the Mayor and the City Council chose not to look or listen.

And from the group's website:

CUEUP supports our neighborhood restaurants, and wants them to not only survive, but thrive. However, we oppose making permanent the Open Restaurants and Bars program. Policies regarding the future of restaurants also directly impact the lives of residents and small shops, who must be part of the decision-making process. The top-down process that created the permanent program was unjust and undemocratic.

Nearly 100 people, including several local elected officials, such as District 1 City Councilmember Christopher Marte, attended the rally. You can find coverage at the Post ... Village Sun... and Bowery Boogie.

As part of the public review process, the DOT presented its proposed plan to all 59 Community Boards last year. (Find reaction from CB3's meeting from July here.) As Streetsblog pointed out: "The city's zoning dashboard makes it clear that there’s a lot of controversy. About 30 community boards rejected the city’s proposal; about 22 supported it or at least did not oppose it."

Meanwhile, we continue to hear complaints about the abandoned dining structure on Sixth Street at Avenue A. (Previously here and here.) This structure belonged to August Laura, which officially closed in mid-December. Neighbors say the space has become "a 24-hour shooting gallery."

One resident, who filed a complaint on Dec. 23, shared the 311 service request... and is still waiting for the city to do something about the abandoned structure.

In a tweet, the DOT says the structure has been scheduled for removal, though it didn't say when this would happen.

We've had discussions with other residents about the street eateries that belonged to restaurants that either closed or moved away, such as Ahimsa Garden on 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. The Indian restaurant decamped for Midtown East in November. Their former outdoor space remains boarded up on the street... a for rent sign is on the empty storefront...

Residents have asked who is responsible for this now. Should the restaurant have taken this down before moving? Is it the landlord's duty? Or does this fall to the DOT?  

Previously on EV Grieve:

Reports from CB3's public review of the Open Restaurants program

A look at '340 E. 9th Street' on 2nd Avenue

You likely noticed the new mural going up on the north-facing portion of 128 Second Ave. just south of St. Mark's Place several weeks back.

At first glance, we figured it would be some sort of ad.

However, this turns out to be the first commission of this space by the Swiss Institute next door at 38 St. Mark's Place ...

The work is titled "340 E. 9th Street" by East Village-based artist Megan Marrin. 

Here's more via the Swiss Institute:

"340 E. 9th Street" is a painting of a photograph that accompanies an article published in the April 29, 1968 issue of New York magazine about the spread of public art across New York City. In the image, the building located at the titular address is shown in profile, adorned on its windowless side with a mural by pop-surrealist Allan D'Arcangelo (1930-1998). D'Arcangelo's untitled mural, completed in 1967, precipitated the formation of City Walls: a nonprofit, artist-led, city-spanning public arts initiative established in New York later that year. 

Facilitated by urban planner David Bromberg, City Walls murals came to fruition through direct conversations with building owners, who supplied participating artists with paint and access to walls. 

The resultant murals, made by artists including Richard Anuszkiewicz, Tania, Jason Crum and Knox Martin, in addition to D'Arcangelo and several others, share a vibrant color palette across playful, occasionally psychedelic, abstractions. As of January 2022, one mural produced by City Walls remains intact [on West Third Street W. between Mercer and Broadway]. 

Marrin is interested in the shifting intentions behind public murals in New York City, often questioning for whom these images and messages are created. D'Arcangelo's 1967 commission, a vertical roadway featuring plants, clouds and directional signage, is a quiet yet consequential entry into this history of public art. 

In 340 E. 9th Street, Marrin resurrects and recasts D'Arcangelo's work as a hybrid of what she considers the two predominant modes of contemporary mural making to now be: memorials and advertisements. 

The mural will be on display here until Sept. 1.

Top photo via the Swiss Institute. Allan D'Arcangelo’s 1967 mural appears courtesy of the Estate of Allan D'Arcangelo, licensed by VAGA and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York.

Monday's parting shots

Thanks to Daniel Efram for these shots from the steamy SE corner of Third Avenue and 13th Street...

'Law & Order' creates a new tent city for Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Steven 

As previously mentioned, crews for "Law & Order" will be filming along Avenue A and in and around Tompkins Square Park tomorrow. 

Ahead of that, a handful of tents were erected along the Park's Seventh Street entrance between Avenue A and Avenue B ...

The long-running show seems to be keeping with the "ripped from the headlines" approach to the plot... late last summer, a dozen makeshift tent encampments arrived in this same general vicinity... a Department of Homeless Services-led entourage, featuring the Department of Sanitation, the Parks Enforcement Patrol and the NYPD, conducted a "clean-up" in and along Tompkins Square Park in early November. 

Several unhoused people are still sleeping in tents in portions of the Park... not too far away from where the filming will take place... 

And this isn't the first time a film crew has recreated a tent city in Tompkins.

East Village artist Tom Manco opens a gallery-studio on Avenue B

East Village-based artist Tom Manco recently debuted a new studio/gallery space at 199 Avenue B between 12th Street and 13th Street. 

Inside, you'll find custom artwork and hand-painted sneakers, among other items...

In December, he had a "Sneakers and Swag" art show in the space. 

The hours are a little varied — especially this week, where a work commitment will keep him away... he expects to be in the gallery for several hours after 4 p.m. For the week of Feb. 14, he hopes to be there daily from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

You can follow him on Instagram for updates... as well as details on some upcoming Thursday-evening art openings. 

Last year, Manco unveiled several upcycled cardboard creations in Tompkins Square Park.

 Images via @mancostudio

Farewell to Dress Shoppe II

For the first time in 20-plus years, 83 Second Ave. is without retail tenant Dress Shoppe II. 

The storefront was cleared out last week... with the signage coming down on Friday. (H/T Lola Sáenz.)

As previously reported, the Indian clothing boutique closed on Jan. 30 ... wrapping up a challenging few years for owner Saroj Goya, who did her best to keep the shop going after her husband of 50 years, Purushottam Goyal, died in September 2019. 

There were some well-reported financial challenges, and thanks to the efforts of Humans of New York and New York Nico, there was an outpouring of support to help Saroj make arrangements on the back rent and to take care of herself as she underwent treatment for breast cancer. (In the previous post, you can read more about the closing and the financial arrangements with the landlord, the Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association II.)

The business dates to 1978, first starting on Broadway, per this 2016 feature in The New York Times.

Moving forward, you can still find Dress Shoppe II's unique offerings via Etsy (link here).

 Here are a few photos of the warm, colorful shop from a previous visit by EVG contributor Stacie Joy...

Hopefully, Cooper Square will find something just as unique to fill the storefront ... (we're good on smoke/vape shops!) ... 

Eileen Fisher has apparently closed on 9th Street

Updated Feb. 17: The closure is now official.

Since late August, the Eileen Fisher store at 314 E. Ninth St. has been closed between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

According to an outgoing message on the shop's phone, this is a temporary closure for "building maintenance." (One local said it was related to a mold issue.) Rumors were circulating late last week that this shop has closed for good. This location is not listed on the Eileen Fisher website, and Google notes it as permanently closed. 

This was Fisher's first location, opening in 1987 (per this New Yorker feature on her from 2013). Her brand grew to 50-plus shops around the country and sales in various department stores.

Manhattan Sideways wrote this about the Ninth Street outpost: "[I]t is not even owned by the larger corporation behind the other shops, but rather by Eileen Fisher herself. Sample garments are sold here – some that never made it into production. Many of the pieces found here are different from what is in the rest of the line each season." 

Thanks to Steven for the photo

For rent signs for the empty storefronts on the SW corner of 14th and 3rd

After nearly 10 years on the SW corner of 14th Street and Third Avenue, 5 Napkin Burger closed in mid-January ... joining sister restaurant Tamam Falafel, which shuttered at the end of 2021. 

You can't help but speculate about the future of this high-profile corner with single-story structures — seemingly ripe for development. (As mentioned before: Not sure what kind of air rights there might be with the newer 21-floor 110 Third Ave. on one side and NYU's 17-floor Palladium Hall on the other.)

Anyway, for now, there are low-key for-rent signs on both retail spaces...

And yes — BRING BACK DISCO DONUT.

A Dream Lounge for 13th Street

Several readers noted this recent arrival to 100 E. 13th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue... a space called Mocha Dream Lounge...

Its Instagram account describes this "Private Room" as "Where we make your culinary dreams." This space is an outpost of Mocha Red Steakhouse + Mixology Bar ("A Tulum meets Wynwood experience"), which opened around the corner on Fourth Avenue last summer...

100 E. 13th St. was previously the nail salon Côte.

Sunday's parting shot

Today is wheatpasting... photo on Seventh Street and Second Avenue by Derek Berg...