The new mural makes its debut tonight...
Thursday, September 19, 2013
This morning in East Village docking stations without any Citi Bikes
We've heard from a few people who mentioned that several docking stations around the East Village were without any actual Citi Bikes, like the one on East Seventh Street at Avenue A shown at (gulp) 6:18 a.m. (The bike in the photo was out of commission.)
Others mentioned an unusual lack of bikes for the morning hour, when people may be needing them, at 13th and A, Ninth and C, and Second and B.
Meanwhile, a little after 10, a truck toting a stash of Citi Bikes pulled up to Seventh and A ... where there were two immediate takers for bikes...
[Photo by Derek Berg]
The disappearing illegal penthouse of 514-516 E. 6th St.
[June 11]
On June 11, scaffolding and a sidewalk bridge arrived outside 514-516 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B... In 2010, the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) told landlord Ben Shaoul that he needed to remove the recently added (and illegal) seventh-floor penthouse. (The BSA said that the sixth-floor addition could stay.)
There was the usual legal wrangling for a few years before the crew arrived... which made some residents suspicious back in June... but as these photos from a tipster show, workers have been removing the penthouse (by hand) in recent months ... As The Villager reported in June, the rooftop addition here was never actually fully completed because the DOB hit Shaoul with a stop-work order.
[June 27]
[July 21]
[Tuesday]
[Tuesday]
Meanwhile, the nearly five-year-old battle over the one-story addition to the Ben Shaoul-owned 515 E. Fifth St. carries on... we hope to have an update on that one shortly...
Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] 5 years later, another BSA hearing on illegal rooftop addition at 515 E. Fifth St.
Is Ben Shaoul finally removing the illegal penthouse addition on East 6th Street?
A WHOOSHING AC unit update: 'We are roundly being ignored by 7-Eleven and Westminster NYC'
On Sept. 9, we reported that workers installed three AC units adjacent to the incoming 7-Eleven at 500 E. 11th St. ... placed inches away from the bedroom windows of tenants.
One neighbor told the No 7-Eleven blog:
The units make a loud “WHOOSHING” noise every 15 minutes and since all the bedrooms are located off the alley, there has not been much sleeping going on in either building.
The city investigated complaints from neighbors and issued a Partial Stop Work Order.
Any progress to note since then?
"We are roundly being ignored by 7-Eleven and Westminster NYC [the management company]," said resident Brian Katz. "Westminster is unapproachable — guarded, cold, borderline obnoxious. The [construction] workers are diligently going about their jobs... still, both inside and outside. So, the order doesn't mean much — surprise, surprise!"
As for those three AC units, Katz says they are too loud, too close to the windows, structurally unsound (due to vibrations), and they are obstructing escape routes. See for yourself.
Previously on EV Grieve:
3 new AC units at incoming 7-Eleven prompts Partial Stop Work Order
There is a now a mural of LES Jewels in Venice Beach, Calif.
Jules Muck, a longtime friend of the late LES Jewels, created this mural on Main Street in Venice Beach, Calif., this week.
"I could tell stories bout him for days," she said via Facebook.
Nearly 10 years earlier, she did this mural on St. Mark's Place in his honor ...
Previously on EV Grieve:
RIP LES Jewels (74 comments)
Photos via Facebook courtesy of Jules Muck.
Have you seen the plans for SPURA?
In case you didn't see all the hoopla announcements yesterday about "Essex Crossing," the $1.1 billion plan for that decades-long vacant lot along Essex and Delancey (The Seward Park Urban Renewal Area, aka SPURA).
And if it all happens, the area might look like this one day ...
According to the news release from the Mayor's Office:
[T]he project ... includes a 15,000-square-foot open space, a new and expanded Essex Street Market, a dual-generation school operated by the Educational Alliance, a community center run by Grand Street Settlement, a rooftop urban farm, the Andy Warhol Museum, 250,000 square feet of office space and a diverse mix of retail space. Seward Park will also become a hub of small-business incubation, with micro-retail spaces and creative and tech co-working and incubator space.
Not to mention a bowling alley.
As for the housing, of the 1,000 apartments, half will be permanently affordable to low- and middle-income families and individuals.
There are many outlets that have been covering this. Such as!
• BoweryBoogie
• The Lo-Down
• Curbed
• Gothamist
• The New York Times
And the timelines for all this? From Gothamist:
Groundbreaking on the project is expected to begin in the spring of 2015, with five buildings slated to come up by the summer of 2018, the remaining housing units finished by 2021. The entire project will be finished by 2024 — that is, unless a different mayor steps in.
Put 5 pounds and 125 years of Katz's on your coffee table
There was a big book launch (it is a big book — weighing 5 pounds with 384 pages) last night at Katz's (we were invited but declined)... Here's a little more about the book via the official news release:
This special edition features over 600 striking color photographs by Baldomero Fernandez, which provide indelible images of the storied pastrami stations, distinctive signage, well-loved dining room, and kitchen, as well as the people on both sides of the counter — cutters, servers, kitchen workers, and customers — while part-owner Jake Dell’s text reveals the deli’s rich and compelling 125-year history, including the characteristics of the traditional Jewish foods that are at the core of Katz’s culinary legend, such as the difference between pastrami and corned beef, the deli’s own unique pickling process, and more.
Boot party
Out with the Scofflaw Patrol ... Making a stop on Avenue B and East Fifth Street last night...
Photos via Robert Miner.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Anton's pigeons out for a stroll above Avenue A
This afternoon via Michael Sean Edwards ... who captured a familiar and welcome sight along here near East 10th Street — Anton van Dalen's birds...
[Updated] Park officials request removal of the LES Jewels memorial on Avenue A
[This morning]
Well, we were wondering how long the memorial for LES Jewels would stay up on Avenue A and East Ninth Street... His friends began to erect it on Saturday night... and it continued to grow the last few days.
In any event, EVG reader C. Ryan passes along this photo... noting that workers from the Parks Department asked Jewels' friends to dismantle the memorial... which they apparently did...
Updated 6 p.m.
In the comments, Chris Flash reports that the memorial has been moved to in front of MoRUS at 155 Avenue C between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street...
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