Reader report: Bike room burglarized at Icon's 2nd Avenue residential building

A resident who lives at 152-154 Second Ave. reports that the building's secure bike storage room in the basement was recently burglarized.

Per the resident: "All the locks [were] cut and about seven bikes are gone. You need two keys to access this room. I'm not necessarily saying it was an inside job, but there wasn't any forced entry."

The theft happened some time between Aug. 18 to Aug. 23. According to the resident, several people have access to the bike storage area, including the other tenants (there are 12 units in total), cleaning staff and super.

The resident says that the building has security cameras. To date there haven't been any updates from management about the theft, according to the resident.

Landlord Icon Realty began converting the former Sigmund Schwartz Gramercy Park Chapel between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street into a residential building with three additional floors in April 2012. The rentals hit the market back in March.

At the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in Tompkins Square Park

It was a full house park Sunday afternoon for the 22nd annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival... EVG contributor was there for some of the action...




[Joe Lovano]


[Jon Batiste]


[Myra Melford]


[Michael Mwenso]


[Ron Miles]


[Rudresh Mahanthappa]

The Times checked in with a review...

[T]he festival doesn’t uphold bebop as a rigid absolute, or impose Parker’s music as a precondition. There tends to be a refreshing absence of formal tributes among the artists on the bill, and a healthy abundance of the informal kind, sometimes as fleeting and allusive as a scrap of melody shoehorned into a solo. Usually, that’s enough.

Still, there was a welcome charge in the air at Tompkins Square Park in the East Village on Sunday evening as the tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano unfurled a billowing, adroit improvisation, using elements of “Barbados,” a Parker tune. Leading a band with Leo Genovese on piano, Esperanza Spalding on bass and Lewis Nash on drums, Mr. Lovano was dipping into “Bird Songs” (Blue Note), his 2011 Parker-themed album.

Parker, who died in 1955 at age 34, lived at 151 Avenue B from 1950-54.

Tompkins Square Park will be a little less shady

Earlier today, the Community Board 3 office passed along some information from the Parks Department, who recently completed an assessment of trees in city parks throughout Manhattan.

Crews have identified some trees that are dead, decaying or structurally unsound, and need to be removed for public safety. Unfortunately, according to the Parks Department, six of those trees reside in Tompkins Square Park.

EVG correspondent Steven was in the Park this afternoon, and spotted a crew in charge of removing three trees on the East 10th Street side of the Park... one of which was pushing into a light pole...





CB3 District Manager Susan Stetzer said that complaints regarding unsafe trees have increased recently ... and that the Community Board is relaying those concerns in a timely manner to the Parks Department.

Stetzer also said that all six trees that the city removes will be replaced with new trees.

Noted

[Photo from June by Derek Berg]

More people are stealing Citi Bikes, according to the Post today.

The number of Citi Bikes stolen from docking stations and off the street has skyrocketed this year compared with 2014, with a 100 percent jump in Manhattan.

So far this year, 476 Citi Bikes have been stolen throughout the city, compared with 300 in 2014, an increase of nearly 60 percent.

There are also more bikes in circulation… anyway, according to Post:

Many riders fail to dock their bikes properly or leave them sitting on the street while they run an errand. And that’s when thieves most often strike.

“Some dope with a Citi Bike leaves it unattended while going into a store or something, and a perp comes up and steals it,” a police source said.

So, as a reminder, don't leave the bikes unattended. Or put them on a fence.

City removes Sandy-damaged willow from 9th Street Community Garden Park

An EVG reader let us know that a city crew is taking down a willow tree in the 9th Street Community Garden Park … Sandy's floodwaters killed the tree here on the northeast corner of Avenue C and Ninth …



As we understand it, the remaining willows at La Plaza Cultural across the way on the southwest corner of Ninth and C survived due to an underground stream beneath it that provides fresh water (and also makes development in that part of the neighborhood difficult). While those willows lost some branches, they remain healthy.

And EVG reader stickmanpk shared these photos…

NYPD busts the 2nd Ave. Convenience Store

Last Wednesday, the NYPD shut down the 2nd Ave. Convenience Store between East Fourth Street and East Fifth Street.

Several readers told us about it, though we didn't know the extent of the allegations.

The notice on the gate points out the following activity on the premises: Sale and possession of synthetic marijuana/Stolen property offenses…



The other day, an EVG reader came across about 50 pages of court papers (since removed) that were lying on the sidewalk out front... the reader skimmed about five of the pages, noting a sting operation involving stolen goods.

We went online to find the case.

[Click to go big]

The court documents outline the violations, which include that the store was the site of five undercover "sales" of alleged stolen property since March 25. In each case, "the sale occurred after the confidential informant informed the individual that the aforementioned property was stolen."

The items included four packs of Duracell batteries, three packs of Gillette Fusion razor blades and two packs of Red Bull.

According to the settlement, the store had to agree to a whole bunch of legalese and pay a $6,000 penalty ... but it appears the owners will be able to reopen this week.

Because bagels

In a fall (!!!!) preview over at New York magazine, Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite have a piece titled "This Will Be the Year of the Bagel."

The article includes a few more details about Black Seed's soon-to-open First Avenue location ... including menu items other than bagels...

The third (and largest) branch of this growing concern has annexed the East Village’s historic De Robertis bakery, preserving that relic’s original penny-tile floor and tin ceiling while augmenting its own repertoire with more salads, more hot bagel sandwiches, and more pastries, from rugalach to rainbow cookies, in honor of its predecessor.

The magazine lists "September" as the opening date.

DeRobertis closed here on First Avenue between East 10th Street and East 11th Street last December after 110 years in business.

Meskel Ethiopian Restaurant has not been open lately

Several readers have noted that the unassuming little restaurant at 199 E. Third St. just west of Avenue B hasn't been open the past week-plus.

Calls to the restaurant turn up a temporarily disconnected number.

Perhaps they are on a summer hiatus or closed for renovations. {Updated: Check the comments — several commenters say they will reopen after renovations.)

1st Avenue McDonald's replaces $1 menu signage; new emphasis placed on the Big Mac, large fries

[Image via Google]

Longtime McDonald's signage watchers were treated yesterday to something new… as workers replaced the familiar (and colorful and at least 7-year-old) "Dollar Menu" on the marquee here on First Avenue near East Sixth Street…


[Photo by Vinny and O]

[Photo by EVG reader Rainer]

… to an admittedly more staid look featuring a pretty big Big Mac and more fries than can actually fit into the fry box…



McDonald's is reportedly moving away from its Dollar Menu, and emphasizing new, mid-priced items.

Please leave your comments on McDonald's new approach in the comments. (Sample discussion starters: Why is the box of fries upside down?)

Report: Arthouse cinema, bookshop planned for Ludlow Street

[Metrograph rendering]

In case you missed this in the Times yesterday... Alexander Olch, who owns a high-end boutique on Orchard Street, announced his plans to open the Metrograph on Ludlow at Canal early next year.

The ambitious-sounding complex includes a two-screen theater that will feature independent and international movies as well as repertory films, plus a restaurant, café and lounge, and cinema-dedicated bookshop. (Curious how CB3 will view this liquor-license application. They wouldn't approve a full liquor license for the Sunshine Cinema in 2012.)

Anyway, here's more from the Times:

Michael Lieberman, a spokesman for the project, said the design was aimed at creating an inviting space, with a balcony in the larger theater, which will have 175 seats — the second one will have 50 — and chairs fashioned out of wood salvaged from the old Domino Sugar Factory.

Metrograph will reportedly install both digital film projectors and 35mm film.

The film programers will be Jacob Perlin and Aliza Ma. Perlin is currently programmer-at-large at the Film Society of Lincoln Center ... while Ma is a veteran of several high-profile film festivals as well as the Museum of the Moving Image.

Per Indiewire:

"Growing up in Manhattan, I fell in love with movies in theaters which are now sadly gone, like The Beekman and The Plaza," says Metrograph founder and New York-based director Alexander Olch. "To bring glamour, excitement, and prestige back to the exhibition experience has been my longstanding goal."

Visit the Metrograph website to sign up for their newsletter for updates.

Today in cow tipping posts

Last evening, very special EVG correspondent Christine Champagne noticed that the decorative fiberglass cow that resides on East 12th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue was tipped over.

For starters, the cow doesn't look like it could just fall over on its own. Did someone purposely tip it over? And who tips over cows? (Actually, DON'T answer that.)

And given that the cow is in a protected area, it would appear that this could have been an inside job.



While we speculate, we can report that someone has righted the cow today...



This cow was part of the CowParade around the city back in 2000.

St. Mark's Place down a tree

Also today, workers removed a tree on St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Man… right by The Sock Man…



Apparently it was a sickly tree … and hollowed out about 4-5 feet…



Word along here was that rats (a den? herd? pack? flock?) were living inside the deadish tree.

And how Google Street View remembers the tree…



Thanks to EVG correspondent Steven for the photos and investigative reporting...