EV Grieve

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Gleaming the 2 Coop

You have to be a little creative around Cooper Square these days since Cooper Union officials placed metal spikes on its ~~skateboard ramp~~ fancy design thingee last July.

Anyway, just down the way, 2 Cooper Square, with its roof pool and $20,000 apartments, is filling the void...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Gleaming the Coop

Also at 2 Cooper Square

Skateboarders aren't the only people making use of 2 Cooper Square's currently vacant retail sidewalk space... some less-fortunate souls are also finding refuge here...

The Blarney Cove has a (fake Zagat rated) menu!

Never noticed this before... a reader sends along a photo of the Blarney Cove menu... mini burgers ($3), knishes ($1.50), pizza ($1.50) and quesadillas ($2.50). The photo is a little blurry... but you can see that someone has written in "Zagat rated."

Anyway, add a beer to these four menu items and you have the five food groups represented, of course ...

Warming up to RCN's blue wall on Avenue C

Last Tuesday, we pointed out that the first tags had appeared on the RCN building on Avenue C at Sixth Street since workers painted over Chico's murals last November...

And now... a few more appear...

Monday, February 14, 2011

Not the Icicle Audi

We received an e-mail from a reader yesterday noting that the ice-free Icicle Audi was parked again on East Second Street...

Sure, it's an Audi, but it's not the Audi.

In fact, there's no more Icicle Audi! The Post had an article earlier today about the Icicle Audi owner trading in his Icicle Audi for a new car.

And a quick look back at the VERY FIRST photo of the Icicle Audi taken on Jan. 23 ... courtesy of RyanAvenueA ...

And I still have the Icicle Audi ice for sale...

You could buy this or an old Staten Island Ferry.

Towing alert

Dunno why marshals are towing cars....

Sixth Street, 8:20 p.m., Feb. 14

Via @kashhill

Smelling smoke above Diablo Royal Este

EV Grieve contributor Bobby Williams noted that fire crews responded to the report of smoke this afternoon around 3:50... they were looking at the space above Diablo Royale Este on Avenue A... There weren't any reports of anything amiss, though.

Bowery balloons

In time for Valentine's Day?

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

Workers with axes going at 35 Coop's roof (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Thor-Grim reacts to the Post's Hell Angels article at Ray's (Nadie Se Conoce)

New coffee shop on Allen Street (BoweryBoogie)

A 3-bedroom house on Avenue B with a nice yard?! (Blah Blog Blog)

Still thinking about going out to eat tonight? (Eater)

More on wine sales in grocery stores (Runnin' Scared)

Couples spend Valentine's weekend doing volunteer work on Avenue D (DNAinfo)

Graffiti on East 10th Street in legal battle over 'Pop Rocks' dish (The Post)

And EV Grieve reader Michael passes along of a First Avenue bicycle lane barrier from earlier today...

'For sale' sign snaps, prompts FDNY visit

EV Grieve reader Alex R. passes along these photos from East Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue ... "A (long time) for-sale sign finally snapped while I walked by today. The wind was sending it swinging wildly. Heavy sheet metal — could have seriously hurt someone if it fell!"

"FDNY showed up and promptly took it down before the other hook could snap. Thanks guys!"

City OKs demolition at 35 Cooper Square

That was fast. The demolition permits were just filed this morning. Here's the application.

Breaking: Demolition permits filed for 35 Cooper Square

This news comes via Andrew Berman at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. As he writes: "While they have not been approved yet, as I understand this is simply a matter of filing all the appropriate paperwork; these are sometimes granted as quickly as the same day." Here's the filing.

What we know about 35 Cooper Square right now

Let's get caught up on what's happening at 35 Cooper Square... On Saturday, crews were on the scene to remove asbestos, according to one of the workers who wasn't wearing any protective clothing...

And here's the scene on Sunday....

So the official word from the developer is they're simply removing asbestos. So, let's take that at face value... So where are the notices for asbestos removal? Such as the one here when workers removed asbestos at St. Brigid's?

And where's the asbestos-safe dumpster like the one on the scene last summer outside the Tisch School for the Arts on Second Avenue?

And according to a comment by @Roger_Paw:

I talked to one of the workers [Saturday]. He was locking up the outer shed. I asked him if it were true that they were removing asbestos. He said yes. I asked if the building was going to be demolished and he said yes, in a week. I wanted to make sure I understood so I asked, "OK, so asbestos removal now, demolition in a week?" and he said yes.

So does anyone believe what's going on here? Per commenter Rob: "So even if it's an asbestos abatement it may be a prelim to demolition, and it looks like they haven't complied with the law anyway."

Why APizzA closed

Last week, we noted that ApizzA on Avenue A had closed...

Turns out the DOH was behind the closure...

According to the DOH:

Sanitary Violations
1) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F.
2) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation.
3) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.
4) Appropriately scaled metal stem-type thermometer or thermocouple not provided or used to evaluate temperatures of potentially hazardous foods during cooking, cooling, reheating and holding.
5) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility's food and/or non-food areas.
6) Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Meanwhile, the ApizzA bike is still on the scene.

Commentary at the Mars Bar

The mural at Houston and the Bowery 5 years ago

On Friday, we posted a photo from a mere five years ago of the wall at the Bowery and Houston... Here are two more shots from 2006 via Fresh Paint NYC....

Air Bloomberg

The Wall Street Journal examined Mayor Bloomberg's flight records of his fleet of private planes ... Per the article:

The planes flew to Bermuda, where Mr. Bloomberg owns a home, 16 times last year and 54 times in all from 2007 through 2010, according to Federal Aviation Administration records reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. On 41 trips, the aircraft left New York and spent all or part of the weekend in Bermuda. One overnight trip there coincided with the December blizzard, according to flight records.

The records also show that the Bloomberg fleet has been the single largest user of scarce slots allocated to private aircraft at La Guardia airport.

The flights continued apace even after the mayor two years ago called for curbs on small commercial planes at La Guardia and other area airports to reduce congestion.