Storm cat

The stray kitty of Tompkins Square Park... photographed yesterday by Bobby Williams.

This morning

I took a long walk this morning. It seemed like a holiday weekend Sunday morning. Not many people around. Some businesses not open.

Tompkins Square Park reopened yesterday. There was some damage, but not as extensive as after Hurricane Irene. The Tompkins Square Park Green Market is up and running on Avenue A.

From the outside, it almost looks like business as usual anywhere west of Avenue B. Of course, some restaurants lost all their produce during the blackout. For instance, there's a sign on Prune on East First Street saying as much. They hope to reopen tomorrow night.

The line for the BP station on Second Avenue at East First Street stretches north to St. Mark's Place. But it seems to be moving quickly. The NYPD is directing traffic there. A cab driver near the front of the line said that he had been waiting a little more than an hour. (It was not apparently as orderly yesterday, per some reader photos. Will post those later.)

Around 9:30, the NYPD stood watch as the gas arrived at the Mobil station on East Houston at Avenue C. (Photo above). The cars waiting extended east to Avenue D and north on D past East Third Street.

You can start smelling the moldy air around East Sixth Street between D and midway between B and C. This is where you see the most visible damage. Piles of wet, ruined furniture and clothes from flooded apartments and basement. Some of the hard-hit businesses include Zum Schneider, Associated, Arcane and The Yankee Deli, to name just a few.

Meanwhile, I'll pass along any relevant information via the EVG Twitter account or Facebook page. My Internet access is still out. Not a big deal. I could easily go somewhere with WiFi, but I need to be at home to manage a few storm-related items. I'll likely post again later today.

Anyway, it's a really beautiful fall day out.

The latest updates will be on the EVG Twitter account

With lost produce & revenue, #EastVillage businesses need our support. Eat & shop local.

— evgrieve (@evgrieve) November 3, 2012

Follow along here.

MoRUS needs help drying out on its basement on Avenue C

From the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, 155 Avenue C:

The museum is racing against time to dry out its basement. Please, please, please share extra fans, dehumidifiers and heaters with us and spread the word that we need help. The space will be open all day today following the Alphabet City parade, which meets at 12:30 p.m. at East Houston Street and Avenue C.

Assessing the damage to businesses along Avenue C; Associated may be closed for 1 month

[Dave on 7th]

New York Natives takes a look at some of the storm-damaged businesses along hard-hit Avenue C. Things are particularly bad at the Associated at East Eighth Street. Per NYN:

[A]t The Associated Supermarket, flooding effected an entire basement and half the general floor with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of food completely spoiled. A supervisor estimated they would be closed for at least a month as he threw out sealed but still contaminated boxes of lettuce.

Help clean up local parks

Many city parks are reopening this morning... The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation sent out the following:

New Opportunities to Volunteer
Many of New York City’s parks and playgrounds were impacted by Hurricane Sandy. If you would like to volunteer with NYC Parks to aid in clean-up and recovery, please review the list of parks and playgrounds below that are in need of assistance and go here to sign up.

Manhattan
East River Park
Saturday and Sunday
10am – 1pm
meet-up: East River Track Building located at E. 6th St.

Sara D. Roosevelt Park
Saturday and Sunday
10am – 1pm
meet-up: Hester Street and Sara D. Roosevelt Park

Here is a list (PDF) of the parks that remain closed.

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...