6 minutes of the East Village from a 1986 housing crisis documentary

Here's part of the neighborhood as seen in the 1986 documentary "There's No Place Like Home: Housing Crisis, USA."

In rain, concern grows for famed Avenue A ice sculpture

There was talk of buying bags of ice at Key to stack around the sculpture to preserve it from the rain and above-freezing temps.

But it was just talk, as it sometimes is.

Also, the hydrant is in front of 79 Avenue A at East Fifth Street if the city/FDNY is reading...

Previously

Gas problem temporarily closes Thai Terminal

We heard from a reader the other day that Thai Terminal on East 12th Street was mysteriously closed... don't know if this sign has been up the whole time... anyway, it notes that a gas problem has kept the restaurant between First Avenue and Second Avenue from opening.

Hopefully this problem won't linger as it did for East Village Thai on East Seventh Street.

Thanks to EVG reader Greg Masters for the photo!

Avenue A ice sculpture growing in size, stature

Near East Fifth Street... Photo by Grant Shaffer

Previously

Report of a fire at 85 First Ave.

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

The FDNY came out in force around 1:30 to respond to a fire at 85 First Ave. just north of East Fifth Street (at the location of the former wine shop Tinto Fino).

MAN ALL HANDS 85 1 AVE,

— FDNY (@FDNY) January 17, 2015

The FDNY had things under control in about 10 minutes…

MAN ALL HANDS 85 1 AVE, 1 FRL AWNING, UNDER CONTROL

— FDNY (@FDNY) January 17, 2015

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

No word on the cause or the extent of the damage. There weren't any reports of injuries. And the fire didn't seem to have any impact on Three of Cups next door… which remained open.

This is the second reported fire along this stretch of First Avenue this past week. There was a basement fire at 133 E. Fourth Street at First Avenue on Tuesday morning.

A new mural on 12th and C that addresses gender-based street harassment

Brooklyn-based illustrator/painter Tatyana Fazlalizadeh created a new mural yesterday on East 12th Street at Avenue C ...



It's part of her ongoing project titled "Stop Telling Women to Smile," where, as the Huffington Post describes it, "Fazlalizadeh places portraits of women in public spaces, encouraging victims of gender-based street harassment to fight back."



Find more of her work on her website. And here's more about Fazlalizadeh in the Times last year ... and NPR in 2013.

Thanks to Robert Galinsky for the photos...

[Updated] Win tickets to see Marky Ramone tonight

Here is the latest clue via @MarkyRamone to the whereabouts to that golden ticket...

#NYC scavenger hunt winner still up for grabs! Find my book & win tix to my show 1/17 @GramercyTheatre MIght be here: pic.twitter.com/GSq2nG1U1i

— Marky Ramone (@MarkyRamone) January 15, 2015

Updated 1:18 p.m.

We're told that someone has claimed the tix…

Gag reflex

Jersey City's Vomitface continues their Monday night residency at Cake Shop on Ludlow Street this coming Monday ... here they are with "Sloppy Joes" ...

EV Grieve Mourning Edition

[Avenue A and St. Mark's Place]

Phase 1 of Essex Crossing revealed, and with concerns of overcrowding (Curbed)

A new development opportunity for Delancey at Clinton (BoweryBoogie)

Report: High-opportunity neighborhoods in NYC are losing affordable housing (NYU Furman Center)

Cyclist fatalities spiked in 2014 (Gothamist)

The hawks escort a surprise visitor out of Tompkins Square Park (Gog in NYC)

You can buy a T-ahirt to help support Tompkins Trees (Our Nature)

Staff revolt for unpaid wages at Food & Wine on Irving Place (Eater)

Go see something at Under St. Marks Theatre, 94 St. Mark's Place (Under St. Marks)

About the sale of 430 E. 10th St. between C and D (The Observer)

Henry Street Playhouse turning 100 (The Lo-Down)

Revisiting the Rivington School (Flaming Pablum)

When Keith Haring did animation for "Sesame Street" (BoingBoing)

RIP Kim Fowley (Pitchfork)

... and when did Zoltar get his oil lamp back outside Gem Spa????


[Photo by Goggla]

Remembering Jodie Lane, who died on this date in 2004

[Photo by Todd McCraw via Facebook]

Reposted from Jan. 16, 2014

Jodie Lane was a 30-year-old doctoral candidate at the Teacher’s College at Columbia University. During the late afternoon of Jan. 16, 2004, Lane, who lived on East 12th Street with her boyfriend, was walking her dogs. She was electrocuted on a snow-covered Con Edison junction box on the southwest corner of 11th Street at First Avenue.

The street was named in her honor in the spring of 2005. Former Councilmember Margarita Lopez joined Lane's family and friends for the street co-naming ceremony.

"The name of Jodie Lane is going to be there forever," Lopez said, "for Con Ed to remember what they did — that they didn’t care about the residents of New York City — and for it not to happen again."

As The Villager reported:

The young therapist’s death horrified the city, and brought heightened awareness to the problem of stray voltage leaking from street fixtures. With pressure from Lopez, Con Ed agreed to do annual stray-voltage inspections for all street lampposts and other electrified street fixtures.

In November 2004, ConEd agreed to pay Lane's family more than $6.2 million and to set up a $1 million scholarship fund in her name at Columbia.

Read more about the Jodie S. Lane Public Safety Foundation here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
In Memoriam: Roger M. Lane

[Updated] Report: Landlord forcing Ess-a-Bagel from its longtime home

[Image via]

Ess-a-Bagel, which has anchored the corner of First Avenue and East 21st Street since 1976, is being forced out of its longtime home.

According to Sabina Mollot at the Town & Village Blog, none of the restaurants on that corner — Ess-A-Bagel, Grill 21 and Rose Restaurant — are getting their leases renewed.

Per the article:

David Wilpon, the owner of Ess-A-Bagel said the longtime bagel joint may be moving somewhere close by but it’s nowhere near a done deal. “There’s a lot that’s up in the air,” he said, adding that he’s still holding out some hope of staying put. He’s also requesting a holdover and is in the midst of negotiations.

Wilpon said the trouble with his lease started when his aunt, Florence Wilpon, who’d founded the businesses in 1976, died. This was in September, 2013 during the midst of negotiations for a renewal. After that, while the family was dealing with the will and related issues, “They claimed we weren’t getting back to them in a timely fashion.”

The landlord, L&M Development Partners, reportedly already has a Bank of America and Tower Bagels fitted for the Ess-a-Bagel space.

And this sounds familiar: "Wilpon chalked up the impending closure as part of the pattern of the city’s landlords preferring to oust mom-and-pops in the hopes of getting a corporation that can pay more."

Head over to the Town & Village Blog for more details.

There's a second Ess-A-Bagel at 831 Third Ave. in Midtown East.

Updated 6:08 p.m.

A spokesperson for East 21 Retail LLC sent us the following statement:

"When we purchased the property, our main priority was to keep Ess-A-Bagel as a tenant. Ess-A-Bagel is a tradition in this city and we had no desire to see them leave. In the three years since, we’ve bent over backwards to come to a mutually fair agreement with Ess-A-Bagel’s owners. Our offer would have allowed Ess-A-Bagel to remain — and even gave them the option to expand — in the space they are in currently. Unfortunately, it takes two sides to make a deal, and Ess-A-Bagel’s owners repeatedly refused to meet us between their below-market rent and current market value.

We regret that Ess-A-Bagel chose to misrepresent our intentions in the press. We take our responsibility as landlords very seriously and worked diligently to keep Ess-A-Bagel as a tenant. At a meeting in September, Ess-A-Bagel confirmed they were actively negotiating a lease at a new location. We wish them the best of luck in all their future endeavors."

H/T Brian Van

Your chance to help create a Community Gardens District

[EVG file photo of Orchard Alley on East 4th Street]

Community Board 3 (CB3) member Bill LoSasso, who's a community gardener, passed along the following letter...

As you may know, a Coalition has formed to pursue permanence of the community gardens within the boundaries of CB3. Our community has an wonderful abundance of community gardens which provide numerous environmental, ecological, cultural, social, historical, aesthetic, and economic benefits, and more, to our neighborhoods.

If you believe that these gardens are valuable assets to our community that deserve every type of protection possible, please take 20 seconds to sign the petition below as we pursue the cause of having all gardens declared parklands and designated as part of a designated Community Gardens District. Once designated as parklands, it would take an act of the New York State legislature to alienate the land for a use other than open space.

Help preserve community gardens right here.

And here are more details from the petition...

CB3 is the birthplace of community gardens in New York City and New York State. In 1973, the first garden was established in CB3 by local activists who worked to reverse years of decline and neglect by public and private property owners.

At one time, there were 57 registered community gardens in CB3, and dozens more operating independently. As the neighborhood evolved, however, numerous gardens were bulldozed as development proceeded.

Today, there are still 46 community gardens located in CB3 — the highest density in New York City. Community Board 3 has been strengthened by the history of its community gardens, which provide environmental, cultural, aesthetic, ecological, economic, and artistic benefits to this community, and more.