EVG Etc.: Cuomo extends street and sidewalk dining; Blondie recalls the 'Rapture' video

First Avenue between the downpours yesterday afternoon 

• The Office of Nightlife at the NYC Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment issues its first report, a 162-page document that includes almost two dozen recommendations for the future (Official release) ... the one-page section on potentially creating 24-hour entertainment districts in the city has received the most attention (Crain's New York ... The Associated Press) 

• Gov. Cuomo says restaurants will be able to use sidewalks and streets for outdoor dining into mid-2022 (Gothamist) 

• More people are returning to NYC, and finding apartments is getting difficult (NBC New York) 

• ICYMI: Eric Adams wins the New York City Democratic mayoral primary (Reaction, analysis: City Limits ... The New Yorker ... Politico) 

• About Mark Levine, the likely next Manhattan Borough President (Gotham Gazette) 

• Rats are overwhelming the Baruch Houses on the Lower East Side (PIX11) 

• An address book from 1997 that belonged to Jeffrey Epstein was originally found on an East Village sidewalk (Insider) 

• The 40th anniversary of Blondie's "Rapture" video (The Post)

... and the free LES Community Music Fest set for East River Park this afternoon will now be at Nublu, 151 Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street ... still free and from 3-7 p.m.

 

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[Updated]: E-cyclist killed by speeding hit-and-run driver on East Houston at Avenue B

A 24-year-old man riding an e-bike was struck and killed in a hit-and-run collision last night on East Houston at the Clinton Street-Avenue B intersection. 

Police sources told ABC 7 that the e-cyclist, identified as Borkot Ullah, was hit while attempting to cross East Houston — from Clinton to Avenue B — around 11 p.m.

The black Subaru Outback was traveling eastbound. The driver did not stop and was later seen heading northbound on the FDR, ABC 7 reports.

Streetsblog reports that Ullah would be the 14th cyclist or e-bike rider killed so far this year.

In previous years, EVG readers have expressed concerns about this intersection.

Updated 1 p.m.

Here's part of the coverage from Gothamist that highlights how dangerous the streets have become thanks to reckless drivers...

The deadly incidents come amid a spike in fatalities on New York City streets. At least 131 people have died in crashes so far this year, the highest total to-date since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office in 2014.

City officials have attributed the growing death toll to a nationwide increase in reckless drivers, who took advantage of empty streets at the height of the pandemic, and have kept up the deadly habit.

An increase in hit-and-run incidents, however, dates back to before the pandemic. According to Transportation Alternatives, there were 36,000 hit-and-run incidents in 2013, compared to an average of 45,000 in the last three years.

Updated 5 p.m.

Streetsblog has surveillance video of the collision. 

A video from the scene showed clearly that the cyclist had the light and that the driver swerved around stopped traffic to run the red light and strike Ullah. After the crash, the driver is seen racing away at a high rate of speed as two cops in an unmarked police car — which was right behind the hit-and-run driver and might have been pursuing the driver before the crash — pulled over to check on the victim.

Streetsblog also has more about Ullah, who was a member of Desis Rising Up and Moving, an undocumented workers' rights group.

There is a GoFundMe campaign set up to help Borkot's family both here and in Bangladesh whom he supported financially through his food delivery work.

Top image via the Citizen app.

A memorial chalk out Sunday in honor of Hash Halper, aka New York Romantic

The family of Hash Halper is inviting his friends and followers to the New York Romantic Memorial Chalk Out in Washington Square Park on Sunday. The chalking will start at 9 a.m. 

Halper, known as New York Romantic, was the artist who helped beautify streets by drawing chalk hearts on the sidewalks around the East Village and other parts of the city. He died on June 11. According to published reports, he took his own life by jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge. He was 41.

It was estimated that Halper drew over 300,000 chalk hearts in downtown NYC since 2014. 

He told The New York Times in February 2018 that he draws the hearts "because he feels New York is losing its romance, with people holding phones instead of looking at each other." 

Halper got his heart start in 2014 while working at Kossar's Bagels & Bialys on Grand Street. "The reason I started drawing hearts all over the city is because I fell in love with a woman."

Despite his desire to spread positivity, he harbored his own struggles, his family told The New York Times in an article published on July 4.

He was recently preparing for a solo exhibition of his work. 

But, his family said, his paintings were destroyed during an altercation with someone who attacked him in his Lower East Side apartment. Rattled by the incident, he took to the streets and was seen two days later walking barefoot in SoHo.

"He didn't tell people that he was troubled because it was dissonant with his public persona," his brother Omkar Lewis said. "He was the heart guy, so he couldn't reveal his problems to the world, because he was the guy carrying other people's pain."

During Sunday's event, his family is also planning on raising awareness of mental health, homelessness and drug abuse.

If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text TALK to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources. 

Details on the East Village Swap & Shop on Saturday

The organizers behind Nexus Flea are hosting an East Village Swap & Shop tomorrow. (Saturday!) 

They are billing this as a double event. You can find vendors selling vintage clothes, homemade jewelry, etc., outside 26 First Ave. at Second Street. And across the Avenue at 89 E. Second St., there's a clothing swap. 

Per the Instagram invite ... "How it works: bring clean, gently used clothing (women's or men's) you'd like to donate and take something in exchange from the swap table..." 

Anything left from the swap will be donated to the House of Good Deeds. 

Hours: noon to 6 p.m.

Thursday's parting shot

In the rain today... with more rain expected overnight courtesy of tropical storm Elsa... photo by Derek Berg...

RIP Thomas McIntyre

Thomas McIntyre, known to friends as Irish, collapsed in the heat on June 30 and died. He was 55. 

His friend Saori Tsukada has posted a fundraising page to pay for his funeral expenses:

It was in the middle of the heatwave on June 30, 2021, Thomas McIntyre a.k.a IRISH was sitting on one of the porches on E 3rd street just like any other day when his heart failed. The ambulance was called and took him to Beth Israel but he did not come back. 

It was so sudden that it is still hard to comprehend that he is really gone. In the meantime, his surviving wife Lisa, is desperately trying to give Irish a proper funeral service in the neighborhood that he loved. I am one of the neighbors who had the opportunity to get to know him better over the years and I am helping to make that wish come true.

Find the GoFundMe link here. 

H/T Felton Davis  

5th Street tenants speak out against construction as harassment and lead exposure

Tenants in two buildings on Fifth Street spoke out last week against construction as harassment and potential lead exposure on the block between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

The residents from 216 E. Fifth St. and 236 E. Fifth St. were joined by the Cooper Square Committee and Lead Dust Free NYC Coalition as well as a handful of local elected officials. 

In a statement from the Cooper Square Committee:

Residents of both (pre-1960) buildings have reported work performed outside of the parameters of Local Law 1 of 2004, with disregard for tenant safety. Tenant complaints include work performed by contractors without proper EPA certification, without air scrubbers running or zip covers installed on doors, nor were other measures taken to control the dispersion of construction dust from units where demolition took place.

Public records show that the Sabet Group purchased No. 236 in early 2019. 

A member of the 236 E. 5th St. Tenants Association said that the landlord "has been engaged in ongoing demolition and renovation of over 15 units, without complying with the lead dust regulations of the Tenant Protection Plan (TPP) ... thereby exposing tenants to dangerous levels of lead." 

Meanwhile, No. 216 changed hands in a sale recorded last August, public records show. Tenants identified the landlord as NYU student Caspar Moll-von der Wettern. 

Members of the tenants association "recounted clouds of dust and debris circulating throughout the buildings, neglected repairs, unlawful solicitation of buy-out offers and unresponsive management." (There are numerous recent complaints on file with the DOB here.)

"These two buildings on East Fifth Street, just a stone's throw from one another, tell a story which will resonate for many tenants around this city: a continuous battle for their safety and security in the face of hazardous building renovations," Yonatan Tadele, a housing organizer at the Cooper Square Committee, said in a statement. 

The Lead Dust Free NYC Coalition released video highlights from the rally on June 30...

 

Evil Katsu bringing the sandos and sets to 9th Street

You may have noticed the recent arrival of the Evil Katsu signage at 435 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

This will be the first brick-and-mortar space for the quick-serve restaurant that offers various katsu sets, sandos (aka Japanese sandwiches) and sides. 

Three East Village residents — Asher Sendyk, Chris Wagenlander and Hai Oliveira — are behind Evil Katsu, which got its start late last year as a pop-up ghost kitchen providing takeout and delivery on the Lower East Side.

The three hospitality veterans found themselves out of work during the pandemic last year and decided to start their own business on a month-to-month lease with the hopes that it would catch on. (It did.)

You can read our interview with Sendyk from December right here. You can follow them on Instagram for opening updates.

Thanks to Steven for the photo and to Vinny & O for also sending along some pics.

Chinatown mainstay Dim Sum Go Go opening an East Village outpost

Looks like Michelin- and Zagat-rated Dim Sum Go Go is opening an outpost at 221 First Ave. between 13th Street and 14th Street. 

According to the @TradedNY account, the popular Dim Sum Go Go signed a lease late last month for the 1,600-square-foot space. This will be their second NYC location outside the 21-year-old flagship space at 5 E. Broadway in Chinatown. 

The First Avenue address was previously Punto Rojo, the reasonably priced bakery-restaurant that served traditional Colombian food here until late 2019. 

H/T Upper West Sider... photo by Steven

Wednesday's parting shot

A Citi Bike scene on Avenue A today via Derek Berg...

Details about an East Village Gallery Crawl tomorrow evening

East Village resident Scott Orr has organized a Gallery Crawl for tomorrow (July 8) evening from 6-9 featuring two small spaces: The Phatory on Ninth Street and EV Gallery on 11th Street. 

"I'm doing it because I love art and I love the neighborhood and these two fantastic galleries are in dire need of help right now," Orr said. "We're hoping the East Village Gallery Crawl will become a tradition and that it will be expanded to include others."

Here are more details via the EVG inbox...

Just two blocks apart, The Phatory at 618 E. Ninth Street and EV Gallery at 621 E. 11th St., both between Avenues B and C, will be featuring the work of two exciting and innovative artists. 

And if the travel burden becomes too much, Lucky on B, at 168 Avenue B, is exactly halfway between the two venues and will be offering drink specials all night and hosting an after-party for art lovers.

The Phatory is re-opening its show of the work of Korean-born artist Eung Ho Park while EV Gallery is featuring photographer Lane Diko.  

Organizers say the event is only for vaccinated residents. Masks are required inside the galleries. 

A lobby note on 7th Street

An EVG reader shared this note from a lobby in a building along Seventh Street... where a resident is asking neighbors about a missing delivery — an air conditioner. 

The resident added on to the original note, stating that the A/C was left in the vestibule. 

In answer to the question, Anyone know what happened to it? ... someone else wrote: 

Well, let's see... 

• A big box with the words "air conditioner" all over it 

• Visible from the street on a hot day 

-- Maybe aliens beamed it up?