Dear neighbor,
135 Bowery, between Grand and Broome, needs your help. In June, this 1817 Federal-era rowhouse was designated an individual landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) but the future of the building is still uncertain. The next step in the process is tomorrow's City Council vote.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Call Councilmember Margaret Chin's office and tell her to support landmark designation. The community wants it and the City has deemed the building a landmark!
Councilmember Margaret Chin
212-587-3159
Please attend the hearing tomorrow, September 15, at 11 AM, 250 Broadway, Committee Room, 16th Floor. Be sure to bring valid ID.
If you're attending the meeting, please let me know. If you're unavailable, please pick up the phone and call Councilmember Chin's office right away.
Sincerely,
Kurt Cavanaugh
Managing Director
director.evccnyc@gmail.com
If St. Mark's Books is forced to close due to unyielding rent, whatever business moves into their space at 31 Third Avenue will be boycotted and protested by the thousands of people who read this blog and all the blogs connected to it. Nothing will thrive there--no bank, no cupcake shop, no kitten adoption center.
Peter Cooper himself was all about giving back to the community. Peter must have long ago tired of spinning in his grave over what has become of his life's dream, free higher education for the working class. How many ways can Cooper Union spell "betrayal"?
The NYU students have their own bookstore, filled with all the books they need and more than they can handle. As for the rest of the neighborhood, this place is a youth destination for children of means, not an intellectual or countercultural destination anymore. It's heart is commerce now, not anarchy. Freedom must be purchased, and it exacts many prices.
The city sheds its skin every day; Mom & Pop are always getting the boot. Manhattan now has 186 Starbucks, which is eight per square mile. There are more Starbuckses than subway stations. You might think that 186 stores on one small island is the functional equivalent of everywhere, but it turns out not to be, in Starbuckian terms, enough: outlet No. 187 is opening Friday in Times Square, and sometime early next year, No. 188 — or so — will be hanging its shingle on Third Street, right down the block from the world headquarters of the Hell’s Angels
Starbucks has a public relations firm in New York City that issues statements on behalf of the company, but does so anonymously, a peculiarly disembodied form of human communication.
Asked about the plans for Third Street, the company issued this statement: "In many of the markets that we have entered, we found that the local coffee culture is greatly enriched and invigorated by our arrival."
It was after the third “act of violence” at Ninth Street Espresso in the East Village that owner Ken Nye held a staff meeting. The strict policies of the coffee shop — including the refusal to sell espresso to go — had so enraged one customer that he threw a tip jar across the store in protest.
Now, the to-go espresso “is not a die-hard rule — it’s just a very strong suggestion,” says Nye
