RIP Kelly Hurley

[Photo via Facebook]

Kelly Hurley, who was struck by a box truck while biking on First Avenue at Ninth Street on April 5, has died from her injuries. She was 31.

Hurley, who lived on the Lower East Side, was riding in the northbound bike lane around 7:20 a.m. According to published reports, a box truck driver, also traveling north, made a left turn onto Ninth Street and struck Hurley, who had the right of way. The Daily News reported that she "skidded to try and avoid the truck, but it slammed into her."

The driver remained at the scene. He has not been charged. The investigation is ongoing.

This past Sunday, a friend said that, despite her significant injuries, doctors had been optimistic that she would recover. However, there were complications from one of the surgeries, the friend said. Doctors removed her from life support on Tuesday, DNAinfo reported.

For the past two-and-a-half years, she worked as the senior studio manager of training and development at SoulCycle. Hurley was a 2007 graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

She was also the co-founder of the Movemeant Foundation, an organization that provides "body-positive, self-confidence building tools, resources and experiences" for girls and women.

On Tuesday evening, a group of 12-15 cyclists placed flowers at the scene where the collision took place.


[Photo from Tuesday]

Reactions to Kelly Hurley's death

Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, released a statement yesterday about Kelly Hurley's death.

It reads in part:

The crash happened in one of the so-called “mixing zones” where drivers are allowed to make careful left turns from First Avenue as cyclists are going straight through intersections with the green light.

Mixing zones only work when motorists yield. Time and again, New York City motorists have proven incapable of exercising basic care, with deadly results. As with pedestrian crossing phases that similarly rely on the hope of motorist compliance, this deadly traffic signal design flaw must be corrected so that there is a clear unambiguous right-of-way signal phasing for bicyclists, pedestrians and motorists alike.

The NYPD is making a mockery of the data driven principles that undergird Vision Zero. As they have done in the wake of other recent tragedies, the NYPD unleashed a ticketing blitz on cyclists shortly after the preventable crash that killed Kelly. Yet data show the majority of bikers and walkers are killed not by their own mistakes, but by speeding, unyielding and lawless motorists.

Of the 18 cyclist fatalities in 2016 for which details of the crash are known, 13 were caused directly by the criminal or reckless actions of a driver — including failure to yield, driving while intoxicated or under the influence of drugs, speeding, and ignoring red lights. As the DOT upgrades design to account for widespread lawless driving, the NYPD must redirect enforcement towards the real killers on our streets.

As mentioned in the above statement, officers from the 9th Precinct were ticketing cyclists yesterday for a variety of infractions on First Avenue at 10th Street — one block from where the collision occurred last week.

Per Streetsblog:

Red light running has nothing to do with the crash that claimed Hurley’s life. She would have had a green when the truck driver ran her over, since the intersection design requires cyclists and turning drivers to negotiate the same space at the same time.

And here's @NYPD9Pct one block north right now. pic.twitter.com/opjGDa8XnK

— Brooklyn Spoke (@BrooklynSpoke) April 13, 2017

A cyclist was killed by a driver who failed to yield in @NYPD9Pct so Captain Vincent Greany told his officers to ticket cyclists because...

— Jessie Singer (@jessiesingernyc) April 13, 2017

The driver of the box truck who struck Hurley remained at the scene on April 5. As The Village Voice reported yesterday, the NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad investigated the crash, "but he was not charged with failure to yield, or failure to exercise due care, or any other crime." The collision remains under investigation.

Ravi DeRossi's Coup opens tonight; profits go to organizations threatened by Trump White House

[Photo from the other day]

Ravi DeRossi debuts his latest bar tonight on Astor Place.

Coup joins his local bar-restaurant empire that includes Death & Company, Mother of Pearl, Avant Garden and Cienfuegos.

The idea for Coup came about in the wake of Election 2016.

Per The New York Times:

“For the few weeks after the election, I couldn’t get out of bed,” he said. “It was all I could do to read the news.”

So, to snap himself out of it, he did what he does best: open a bar.

And...

“One-hundred percent of the profits are going to organizations that are either being defunded by the current administration or need money to fight the current administration, like Planned Parenthood and the A.C.L.U.,” he said.

Gothamist has more on how all this will work:

The space features two bars, one of which will host a rotating lineup of the city's best bar talent, who will choose a cause of their choice to which that evening's bar sales will be donated. The list of signed on talent is impressive, including Best American Bartender of the Year for 2015 Ivy Mix of Leyenda, Jim Meehan of PDT, Joaquin Simo from Pouring Ribbons and Alton "Good Eats" Brown himself. Each will create specialty cocktails for their shifts.

At the other bar, guests are given a wooden token with each beverage purchased, which they'll drop into jars bearing the names of different charitable organizations. The donation groups will rotate on a day-to-day basis. The dollar amount from the tokens in each jar will be calculated, the total of which will be donated to said charity by Coup.

Cocktails and glasses of wine are $20 each; beer and cocktails are $15. Coup is also gratuity free. You can find the drink menu at the Coup website here.

The space at 64 Cooper Square was previously home to DeRossi's Bergen Hill.

So long to the BeerStore signage

Lions BeerStore closed on the northeast corner of Second Avenue and Sixth Street last month.

Not sure where the BeerStore signage had been stored since the place became Wall 88 ... but it emerged today...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

... where it was up for grabs in the trash on the curb...




[Bottom 2 photos by Vinny & O]

Sneak preview at Che Cafe tonight on 7th Street

Che Cafe is holding a free tasting tonight from 6-8 at 86 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

This quick-serve venture is via Mark Merker, who started Harry's and Benny's Burritos in 1987. Che specializes in empanada pouches aka Chechenitas.

Come on in a taste our Che's. Free tasting tonight. Thursday from 6-8 pm

A post shared by Che Cafe (@che_cafe_nyc) on Apr 12, 2017 at 9:32pm PDT

The small space was home until last fall to Abraço, who moved across Seventh Street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Che Cafe bringing empanada pockets to 7th Street

Fruit vendor returns to 1st Avenue and 6th Street

As the headline implies, the fruit vendor is back in action on First Avenue at Sixth Street after a winter hiatus from this spot... EVG reader Riley McCormick, who shared the top photo, said the stand returned here yesterday...

And a reader-submitted photo from this morning...

Report: David Schwimmer looking at new East Village homes

Actor David Schwimmer, who had a historic townhouse demolished to build a single-family home on Sixth Street, is now reportedly looking for new digs in the East Village.

The Post reports that Schwimmer was spotted checking out at a unit in the almost-finished condoplex at 64 E. First St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. (Maybe he will be neighbors with Seth Rogen.)

This sighting comes following the announcement last week that he and his wife Zoe Buckman are separating.

Per his spokesperson: "He is always looking at interesting investment opportunities in New York." (Interesting!)

The Post's Jennifer Gould Keil recaps the Sixth Street Schwimmer timeline:

He destroyed the 19th-century home at 331 E. Sixth St. months after the city told him it was slated for landmark status ... The property had, in fact, been one of the oldest on the block. Schwimmer paid $4.1 million for the old house in 2010.

In 2011, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission sent him two notices stating that it could get landmark status by 2012. But Schwimmer razed the home in the fall of 2011, earning him the wrath of neighbors and preservationists.

Noted not cool.


[Photo from August 2013 via EVG reader Marc]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Is David Schwimmer the 'Friends' star who now owns the demolished 331 E. Sixth St. townhouse?

Outrage over total demolition of historic East Sixth Street townhouse

Here is David Schwimmer's East Village home

Report: David Schwimmer's surveillance footage helps NYPD in male prostitute stabbing

Cherin moving to a larger space next door on 6th Street

Brick Lane Curry House moved from East Sixth Street to 99 Second Ave. between Sixth Street and Fifth Street in August 2014. Now it appears Brick Lane's former space finally has a new tenant here between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

It will be a short move for Cherin Sushi, which is directly next door. Ownership plans to relocate to the larger adjacent space ... and expand their menu offers to including ramen. They will be going by Cherin Sushi N Ramen.

According to materials (PDF here) on file at the CB3 website ahead of tonight's SLA committee meeting (they are seeking a new beer-wine license), the more-spacious Cherin will accommodate 27 tables for 66 seats and a small service bar. The proposed hours are 5 p.m. to midnight during the week, and until 2 a.m. on Friday-Saturday. They will remain closed on Sunday.

There's no word on when the move may occur... a look inside the under-renovation space last week shows plenty of work left before the new Cherin can open...



Thank you to Vinny & O for the photos and tip!

History of La Plaza Cultural now on display

A new exhibit just debuted titled "La Lucha Continua The Struggle Continues: 1985 & 2017."

Here's more about it:

In 1985, Eva Cockcroft, founder of Artmakers Inc., gathered together 34 “artists of conviction” to create 26 political murals on four vacant buildings overlooking the then neglected La Plaza Cultural Community Garden. Known as La Lucha Continua The Struggle Continues, the murals addressed six political issues: gentrification, police brutality, immigration, feminism, and opposition of U.S. intervention in Central America and apartheid in South Africa. Today, the garden is thriving, the issues remain of grave concern, and only two of the murals still exist, the paint cracked and faded.

The exhibit, which debuted last Saturday, is up through June 30 at the Loisaida Center, 710 E. Ninth St. just east of Avenue C. The exhibit is open Thursday through Saturday from noon to 6 p.m.

Danny Meyer's incoming pizzeria looking for CB3 approval for a 4-table sidewalk cafe

One more quick note about tonight's CB3-SLA committee meeting... as previously noted, Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group is opening Martina, a pizzeria, at 198 E. 11th St./aka 55 Third Ave.



They are on this month's docket to get approval for a four-table (eight seat!) sidewalk cafe ... here's a rendering (PDF) via the CB3 website... showing off that Mmartina lettering...



The street-level pizzeria proposes to operate the outdoor seating Sunday-Wednesday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Thursday 11 a.m. to midnight, and Friday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.

CB3 OK'd the beer-wine license back in November. Apparently this didn't include the sidewalk cafe. Not sure!

The CB3-SLA meeting is tonight at 6:30 in the Thelma Burdick Community Room, 10 Stanton St. (corner of the Bowery).

Previously on EV Grieve:
Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group planning Martina for 55 3rd Ave.

Baron's Dim Sum slated for 6th Street

Coming soon to 518 Sixth St.: Baron's Dim Sum. The signage arrived this week here between Avenue A and Avenue B ... a few storefronts away from Josie's.

We don't know any more about the operation other than what's on the sign. Perhaps it will be a good, inexpensive to-go option.

On this topic of dim sum and dumplings, I've found the food at Carma East, which opened back in September, to be solid. Never eaten in the dining room, just had it to go or delivered.

As for No. 518, it was last home to a psychic... and an organic dry cleaner/cafe.

Ciala signage arrives on 2nd Avenue

[Photo by Vinny & O]

The new restaurant called Ciala has announced its arrival at 77 Second Ave. between Fourth Street and Fifth Street.

As you can see, Ciala will serve "Georgian Gourmet Cuisine." No sign just yet of a restaurant website or any social media presence.

The previous tenant here, Ballaro, which served Italian coffee and pastries during the day, and beer, wine and small plates in the evening hours, closed after seven years in February 2016.

A moment with Andy Golub

EVG correspondent Derek Berg spotted (hard to miss with that shirt-car combo!) Andy Golub, the street artist, on Cooper Square and St. Mark's Place this afternoon... his canvas is usually the human body.

Cow wash at Paul's Da Burger Joint

A little cow spring cleaning today at Paul's Da Burger Joint on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place... EVG regular Daniel shared these photos...