Report: Judge dismisses lawsuit challenging the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project

ICYMI: On Thursday, New York Supreme Court Judge Melissa Crane dismissed a lawsuit challenging the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project, The City reported.

The lawsuit, East River Park Action et al v City of New York, originally filed in February, asked to halt the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project that is scheduled to begin this fall. It also asked to declare the City Council vote last November approving the project "null and void."

Attorney Arthur Schwartz argued in a 42-page brief filed on July 20 that the city is required to seek Alienation from the state. (Alienation is the use of parkland for non-park purposes, even for brief periods.)

"Closing the East River Park, whether completely or in phases, will disproportionately affect the health and well-being and recreational opportunities of low-income New Yorkers who live in the neighborhood around the Park," Schwartz said.

As The City reported:

Crane ... ruled from the bench that the resiliency project won’t permanently alter the use of East River Park.

Closures will be staggered, and the park will be rebuilt and reopened after construction is complete. "The entire system is designed to protect the park, and to protect the neighborhood behind it," Holland said.

But Pat Arnow, a ERPA leader, said the consequences of the ruling are "dire for the park." Without the alienation process, she fears the city will not be held to account to meet their own deadlines.

"The city says the project will be done in five years. There's nothing to hold them to that schedule," Arnow said in an email. "We think there’s little chance they can complete such a big, complicated project within that time."

Tight deadlines, however, are a big part of why the project is moving ahead now. Much of the funding for the $1.45 billion project comes from post-Superstorm Sandy allocations made by the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development, which must be spent by 2022.

Last November, City Council signed off on the hotly contested flood-protection plan that will bury/elevate East River Park by eight feet as part of the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project. Construction is expected to start this fall.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Opinion: COVID-19 + Storm Surge = Catastrophe for the Lower East Side and East Village (Feb. 7)

• More details on the city's new plan to keep East River Park partially open during flood protection construction (Oct. 3, 2019)

• At the march and rally to save East River Park (Sept. 21, 2019)

• A visit to East River Park (July 10, 2019)

'Bringing Back Bowery: Public Art as Protest' extended at Howl! Happening

[Photo by Stacie Joy]

You have one more week to see "Bringing Back Bowery: Public Art as Protest" at Howl! Happening.

The exhibit, originally set to end today, will be up through Aug. 30 now.

The group show is an outgrowth of an effort organized by Bowery artist Sono Kuwayama in June. She received permission from store owners to paint on the plywood of the boarded-up businesses along the Bowery. She then reached out to some local artists to have them create murals.

These works have been preserved and are now on display at Howl!

The gallery, 6 E. First St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery, is open Wednesday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Find more details about the artists at this link.

Howl! is limiting the number of visitors at any one time, and requires masks for everyone. Guests must also register upon entering and have their temperature taken.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• A look at 'Bringing Back Bowery' at Howl! Happening

Curlie and Poo

EVG reader Bill Buchen shares these photos from Third Street of longtime resident Curlie, a familiar presence along Avenue C who plays everything from 1960s soul and funk to salsa on his vintage boombox ...

... along with his girlfriend Poo...

An art opening on 11th Street with music from Zimbabwe

East Village-based artist Nora Balaban debuted new drawings last evening with a storefront opening on 11th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. (Her work remains on display for viewing outside 526 E. 11th St.)

EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by to check out the socially distant festivities...







...which included music from Zimbabwe. Balaban ran Tribal Soundz, a community-oriented world music store, on Sixth Street for 10 years.



Stacie reports that "it was a positive and happy event."

HBD Joe Strummer

The Clash frontman would have been 68 today. The video for "Clampdown" is from 1980.

And you can check out "A Song For Joe: Celebrating the Birthday of Joe Strummer" from today right here.

A little off the top

Workers were back in Tompkins Square Park, where they removed more of the stump of the English Elm that came down at the entrance on Seventh Street and Avenue B on Aug. 3 during Tropical Storm Isaias ... (thanks to Steven for pointing this out!)

Not sure what the plans are for the rest of the stump...



... and if you want to try to figure out how old this majestic tree was...



EVG reader Bobby G. previously pointed out that this was an English Elm, not an American Elm as someone wrote, "and the only one in the park. Tons of Squirrels lived in it, and my guess is that it was one of the oldest trees in the park."

New building construction now in the obscure the Yonah Schimmel's Knish Bakery storefront phase

Construction is still in the foundation stage for the 9-story office building coming to East Houston between Forsyth and Eldridge at the site of the former Landmark Sunshine Theater.

Meanwhile, workers have gone ahead and put up a sidewalk bridge next door that obscures the neighboring business — the 110-year-old Yonah Schimmel's Knish Bakery. They’re still here at 137 E. Houston St. for your knish and Cherry Lime Ricky needs — 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Phone: (212) 477-2858.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A visit to Yonah Schimmel's Knish Bakery

Yoga to the People won't be reopening on St. Mark's Place

Yoga to the People, the studio with the pay-what-you-can fee structure, has closed all of its NYC locations, including the flagship outpost at 12 St. Mark's Place.

A simple message now greets visitors to its website:

Yoga to the People is permanently closed and will not be reopening after Covid-19.

Yoga to the People opened its first NYC studio here on St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue in 2006.

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Updated 9:45 a.m.

Thanks to readers who shared this Vice investigation from July 24 titled "Fear, Control, and Manipulation at Yoga to the People." The article interviews more than 30 people who knew or worked with founder Greg Gumucio, which "depict him as a predator with a penchant for controlling and sexually manipulating bright and often vulnerable young women."

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To date, there has been little guidance about reopening for NYC gyms and fitness boutiques such as yoga and pilates studios. Gov. Cuomo has said that gyms across the state can reopen on Monday with a 33-percent occupancy rate, but that date didn't apply in the city.

More than 1,500 gyms across New York had previously filed a class-action lawsuit against Cuomo to put legal pressure on the state to allow reopening.

Small yoga and pilates studios in the neighborhood have had to pivot to offering classes online.

Illumina East, the second-floor yoga studio at 96 Avenue B between Sixth Street and Seventh Street, closed earlier this summer.

Mister Paradise is now hibernating on 1st Avenue; blames state's full-meal mandate

Mister Paradise, the cocktail bar on First Avenue, has decided to temporarily pack it in for the near future here between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.

The bar, which does offer a food menu, had been open with curbside seating. However, ownership apparently didn't think the risk was worth whatever revenue stream was coming in during the outdoor-dining phase.

Here's part of their Instagram post from yesterday:

We are very grateful to every one of you who came to support us over the past few months, but we have made the call to go back into hibernation. The state’s mandate that everyone must have a full meal in front of them, regardless of dinner plans or if they are coming for a cocktail after a meal, has further crippled not only us, but many many bars that have been acting responsibly since day one, and are just doing their best to hang on to the frayed thread that the government has thrown our way.

H/T Vinny & O

Grant Shaffer's NY See

Here's the latest NY See panel, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around the neighborhood...

A reality check from B&H Dairy

[B&H Dairy owners Ola and Fawzy Abdelwahed in 2018]

Here's a post from B&H Dairy on Instagram yesterday that sums up the hardships of running a small food business during the COVID-19 crisis:

Dear B&H Family,

As you know we have been struggling to survive the pandemic as a business. While we are now “open,” we wanted to update you with a reality check as to our situation as of today.

B&H, like many, if not all restaurants, large or small, remains at risk of closing. That is a fact. Anyone who is under the impression that because a restaurant “open,” all is “back to normal,” is not grasping the reality of the pandemic and its consequences.

We went from serving 200 customers a day to only 20 customers a day when we first reopened for pick-up and delivery. We had to cover paying our employees, rent, utilities, and buying food for the restaurant on only 10% of our previous income.

We started an ongoing GoFundMe campaign, to which many of you continue to donate repeatedly, for which we are deeply grateful.

When we were able to reopen, we made changes, accepting credit cards and using food delivery apps for the first time, which increased our customers to about 50 a day, on a good day. Still not back to normal.

We applied for all appropriate relief loans and grants from various city and government agencies, none of which have been granted so far, except for one tiny grant early on, which covered a fraction of one month’s rent, and has since been repaid. To date, though several applications are pending, we have received no further government assistance or relief.

This weekend we adjusted our hours, now closing on Mondays, and cut staff, saying goodbye to Mike. Though he had been with B&H for 14 years, he was one of our most junior employees. Many of our remaining staff are the sole breadwinner for their families.

We are in a fight to survive. We hope that the combination of business, our GoFundMe campaign, and we pray, government relief, will allow us to ride out this storm. This has been a very stressful time for everyone at B&H, so much so, that Ola is now under a doctor’s care.

However, we have faith in B&H! We have been around since 1938, been through numerous owners, staff, closures, and disasters, such as the Spring 2015 2nd Ave. gas explosion, and yet have survived. We thank you, our B&H Family, for your continued love and support.

B&H Dairy is at 127 Second Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. Phone: (212) 505-8065.

Updated: The crowdfunding campaign for Mike is at this link.

Clay Pot won't be returning to St. Mark's Place

Clay Pot's tenure at 58 St. Mark’s Place has officially come to an end, management confirmed via an Instagram message.

The restaurant, which served Hong Kong style open-flame cooked clay pot rice, opened here between First Avenue and Second Avenue in February 2018. It had been closed since the COVID-19 PAUSE. Their Bleecker Street outpost remains in service.

Per the rep: "St. Mark's Place will always have a place in our hearts."

The tooth about this new Avenue A tenant

Another day, another [sort of] surprising new Avenue A storefront reveal. We just noted a laundromat is opening soon between Second Street and Third Street... and yesterday, the signage went up outside the vacant storefront on Avenue A at Fourth Street...



... marking a new location for Kids Dental, which is what it sounds like. A dentist for kids. The practice also has outposts in Washington Heights and Bensonhurst.



A Santander branch was here on the southwest corner until April 2018. Between full-time tenants, ChaShaMa — a nonprofit that partners with property owners for pop-up galleries — was using the space.

And here's Prince Tea House on 10th Street

[Photo by Steven]

The plywood has come down from outside 204 E. 10th St. just east of Second Avenue where Prince Tea House will be opening in the weeks ahead.

This will be the sixth NYC location for the chainlet that also serves coffee, desserts, wine and brunch.

The East Village location is currently hiring.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Prince Tea House expanding to the East Village with an outpost on 10th Street