Lower East Side volunteer needs

Via Hope for New York ...

• Help unload truck and distribute goods to those in need on Lower East Side Saturday 11/3 and Sunday 11/4. Meet @ 10th St & Ave D anytime after 8:30AM. Just show up!

Donation Needs

The Father's Heart
Need: Donations of 1) Bottled Water and 2) Fresh fruit & veggies all day Saturday 11/3. Bring donations directly to The Father's Heart at 545 East 11th St anytime between 8:30-2:30PM.

Bowery Mission
Need: The Mission is in great need of gasoline to power their generators, blankets, and sweatshirts. Please drop off any of these items at 227 Bowery, New York, NY, 10002 OR the administrative headquarters on Madison and 31st. Find more Bowery needs here.

There are plenty more ways to help citywide. Go here for more details.

Thanks to C-Squat

[Dave on 7th]

There are a lot of people to thank for their efforts following Hurricane Sandy... Many residents who I've talked with were particularly grateful of C-Squat residents.

You may have seen the free food and BBQ going all week outside the building at 155 Avenue C. Per Dave on 7th: "C-Squat feed more people [in the East Village] than the city did." The first sign of any kind of coordinated relief via the National Guard arrived Thursday evening to East 10th Street and Avenue D.

In addition, 155 Avenue C is home to MoRUS, where Time's Up! charged cell phones and other items with the stationary bike-powered generator.

To boost spirits: A post-Sandy parade for Avenue C

From the EV Grieve inbox...

Alphabet City got really hammered by the hurricane. To boost spirits: a parade. Let's play a parade on Saturday at, say, 12:30 up Avenue C from Houston to C-Squat/MoRUS at East 10th Street.

We need musicians to RSVP — please let us know your instrument or section. Also circus friends, stiltwalkers, jugglers, and others, please come add festiveness and spectacle!

Please bring fruit and other supplies to give out, too. Zines, comics, and activity books make great throws for homes without power! Here's what to do with your dusty library...

[Image by Nicolina Art]

And now, the line for gas

Even before the power returned late this afternoon, cars convened at the Mobil station on Avenue C at East Houston.

EVG reader Krikor Daglian took the following photos.

Per Krikor:

Cars started lining up at the newly-powered Mobil on Avenue C and 2nd, despite the fact that the owners weren't there and the place was closed. Police came by and told everyone to leave. Just walked by again and it looks like the owners have arrived but the police are still blocking it off. Not sure what will happen next. People are pretty antsy to get gas. The traffic is horrendous.

Meanwhile, this gas station is set to close next month and become a new development of some sort.

Chapter 1

The opening scenes from Woody Allen's "Manhattan" circa 1979...

[Updated] The power is on

And the crowd goes wild ...

Updated:

Here's the scene on East 10th Street and Avenue D just after 5... via @johnblack

Zombie alert tonight

"Shaun of the Dead" plays tonight at 7 in front of the St. Marks Church-in-the Bowery. East 10th Street and Second Avenue. Per the invite: "Bring radio, chair, blanket and hot beverages."

Free hot meal at the Wayland on Avenue C

At East Ninth Street... starting now...

BBQ tonight at Matilda

BBQ Friday 2night! At Matilda 11th St at Ave C. Come support the East Village w/food & bev! 6-11pm! PLEASE RETWEET @boweryboogie @evgrieve

— Daily Food & Wine (@DailyFoodnWine) November 2, 2012

Noted on Avenue C

People are siphoning gas out of abandoned cars on Avenue C

— Zach Mack (@zmack) November 2, 2012

More scenes from outside Key Food yesterday

Where the dumpster was set up for employees to pitch produce and other items... I've heard varying accounts of the scene here. (I didn't see this.) A few news accounts painted this as an apocalyptic scene.

Here's the view from London at the Daily Mail:

Shocking images captured groups of residents sifting through garbage outside a Key Food supermarket at Avenue A and East 4th Street in the East Village yesterday.

Families, elderly people and young residents were seen climbing into the dumpster hunting for whatever they could find to eat.

Here are photos from Edward Arrocha, who noted via Facebook:

Outside of Key Food, a trip. Kudos to C-squat for liberating the food... but shame on the horders who took so much more then their fare share in spite of hungry neighboors... share, repost, let the world see New York...

And C-Squat residents later cooked up the food for any hungry neighbors...

Food trucks at Astor Place, Tompkins Square Park until 4 today

Via the New York City Food Truck Association... Food trucks will be out today in the city ... including:

Astor Place

- Rickshaw Truck

- Toum

- Wafels & Dinges

Tompkins Square Park

- Sweetery Truck

- Mexico Blvd.

Landlord serves eviction notice during Hurricane Sandy blackout

An EVG reader on Essex Street shares this stunning story. The 5-story tenement the longtime East Village-LES resident has lived in was recently sold. And the new landlord, named as Essex Funding LLC, is not offering new leases to any current tenants. Workers are planning a gut renovation.

OK. But then.

Per the reader:

I was in our apartment Wednesday afternoon when someone knocked. Our hallway is pitch black, so I wouldn't open the door. A guy on the other side had "paperwork" for me to "sign." It was a 30-day notice of termination of tenancy!

They also had a bunch of guys collected outside the previous morning with a dumpster to demolish and gut another apartment in the buiding. There is no light in the halls. It was impossible and completely unsafe ... and they didn't work, thankfully for them.

Dr. Dave Ores providing free food, medical care again today on East Second St.

for LES residents: free sandwiches & coffee at 1pm, FREE MEDICAL CARE from 1-6pm. @drdaveores's office: 189 e 2nd at ave b. (cc @evgrieve)

— lia bulaong (@lia) November 2, 2012

He provided this yesterday too.

Also, Dr. Ores could use some help today making sandwiches if anyone is interested...

Free spaghetti at the Cardinal starting at 1 p.m.

Per Grub Street ... the Cardinal is at 234 E. Fourth St. near Avenue B

EVG on Twitter

Posting and updating at the EV Grieve Twitter account today too...

One of the 777 drivers on Ave. C told me he waited 7 hours in line for gas last night.

— evgrieve (@evgrieve) November 2, 2012

There is a light that never goes out

On the northeast corner of East Seventh Street and First Avenue via @silviakillings

Energy bikes at ABC No Rio today

From the EV Grieve inbox...

Time's Up! will continue to provide free bike-powered assistance on Friday, Day 4 of power outage, from noon - 6pm on the Lower East Side

WHAT: Time's Up! will be setting up their energy bikes to continue offering downtown residents, left without power now for 4 days, a place to charge their cell phones and laptops. Food will also be offered by ABC No Rio Community Center.

WHEN: Friday, November 2, 2012, from noon - 6:00pm.

WHERE: In front of ABC No Rio, 156 Rivington Street, between Clinton & Suffolk in the Lower East side.

NEW YORK, NY (November 2, 2012) -- On Friday, November 2nd, Time's Up! will be setting up their energy bikes to continue offering downtown residents a free place to charge their cell phones and laptops, in front of ABC No Rio Community Center from noon - 6pm. Volunteers pedal the Time's Up! Energy Bikes to produce electricity that directly powers the charging stations. The energy bikes have been assisting New Yorkers without power since the first full day of the blackout.

The Time's Up! Energy Bike, that was previously used to power Zuccotti Park for Occupy Wall Street, was on display at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) in the East Village.

"The tidal surge flooded the basement of the MoRUS museum, but we were able to use the energy bike that was on display to power the water pump and drain out the basement," said Keegan Stephan, one of the designers of the Time's Up! Energy Bike.

"Time's Up! wanted to do our part to help our neighbors in need with the resources we have available, bicycles and eager cyclists ready to pedal all day to juice up cell phones so people without power can stay connected. Two energy bikes were set up outside on Avenue C for East Village residents affected by the storm. Today, Nov 2nd, we will head over to pedal on the Lower East Side," said Time's Up! volunteer Barbara Ross.

From C-Squat this week...

NEVER MIND Report: Con Ed says power back on to all of Manhattan by the end of today

Per Bloomberg News this a.m.:

Manhattan, slowed by power outages, flooded subways and closed markets since Sandy struck Oct. 29, should have electricity fully restored by the end of today, Consolidated Edison Inc. (ED) spokesman Robert McGee said.

UGH!

Bloomberg has a follow-up story saying:

Mike Clendenin, a spokesman for the New York-based utility, corrected another company spokesman who told Bloomberg Radio this morning that all of Manhattan would be restored today.

Heading back home

I tried to do the Grieve today from the neighborhood, but it wasn't working... spotty Internet access... it was just taking too long to get anything posted. So instead of roaming around, I zipped up to Lightsville for a good portion of the morning and afternoon to be more productive. Will likely do the same tomorrow. I'd much rather stay put... Meanwhile, if you have any Sandy-related stories to share, please send them to the EV Grieve email.

Be well tonight.