Resident report: 1 month without gas for cooking at 22 St. Mark's Place

Back in late December, Mamoun's had to close for more than a week at 22 St. Mark's Place due to a problem with the building's gas line.

Per Mamoun's Facebook page: "Con Edison shut off our gas at the Saint Marks location because of a gas leak at the building. Our line was not affected but they shut it off anyway. We cannot get con edison to come back and turn it back on because of their huge bureaucracy!"

The gas returned Jan. 4. However, the rest of the tenants in the building haven't fared as well. A resident of 22 St. Marks Place, between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, said that tenants have been without cooking gas since the end of December (they do have hot water and heat).

Per the resident: "The building is doing very little to solve the problem ... and will not answer any real questions.

Yesterday, the landlord's reps apparently said that Con Ed would be by to "fix the problem." However, the residents were told that they needed to be at home during the day so Con Ed could access their apartments.

"People organized their schedules to work from home or took the day off."

No one from Con Ed ever arrived.

Meanwhile, according to the resident, the management company — NBKM Realty Management Corp. — is providing information contradictory to that of Con Ed. And the landlord is not offering any abatement for the lack of cooking gas for the past month.

On previous posts, readers offered advice on this all-too-common problem here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
How much of a rent discount for not having gas for cooking?

Residents of 97 E. Seventh St. haven't had gas for cooking since Feb. 19

Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez apparently leaving Avenue B

[Google]

EVG reader c ryan passes along this photo ... on the door of Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez's longtime office on the southeast corner of Avenue B and 11th Street...

We haven't heard just yet if she'll maintain an office on the Lower East Side... Her newly drawn Seventh Congressional District includes the Queens neighborhoods of Maspeth, Ridgewood and Woodside, the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bushwick, Greenpoint, Red Hook, East New York, Brooklyn Heights, Sunset Park and Williamsburg and part of the Lower East Side and East Village.

Per the comments, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney now represents this area in the reconfigured 12th Congressional District...

Anyway, as for the space ... the Lower East Side People's Mutual Housing Association owns the building. And rumor is GOLES will expand into this space?

Report: Ethiopian restaurant in the works for Avenue B

Fu Sushi closed on Avenue B between East 11th Street and East 12th Street last August.

The Post reported yesterday that a new Ethiopian restaurant is set to take this space in the coming weeks. The place is called Haile Ethiopian Bistro, and owned by Menasie Haile and Gemada Hiwot.

The Post also noted that Prime & Beyond, the steakhouse at 90 E. 10th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue, is leaving to be closer to the Lincoln Tunnel and its New Jersey location. Prime opened in July 2011... The restaurant never seemed all that busy when we walked by... Did you ever try it?

[EVG file photo]

[Top photo via Yelp]

How much is the fee to use the ATM sign as an umbrella?

This morning in Tompkins Square Park via Derek Berg. (And we featured Derek in Out and About in the East Village last October.)

Remembering 2 officers slain on Avenue B and East 11th Street

Last night, EVG reader c ryan noticed police officers standing by two candles on the southeast corner of 11th Street and Avenue B...

Today, there was an explanation for the memorial...

On Jan. 27, 1972, rookie officers Gregory Foster and Rocco Laurie were gunned down here while on foot patrol. Their deaths were later reportedly tied to the Black Liberation Army.

You can read more about the officers at the Lower East Side History Project site.

Summer wishes, winter dreams

Tompkins Square Park today via Bobby Williams

[Updated] The 'insane' noise and pounding are back at 185 Avenue B

[EVG file photo from last November]

On Friday, the incessant pounding from a pile-driver returned to the construction site on Avenue B at East 12th Street, where a seven-story apartment complex is in the works. (As previously reported, Rev. Carlos Torres of the the Elim Pentecostal Church, the previous occupant here, is the owner of the site. The ground-floor will house the church and a community center. The upper levels of the new building will be designated for some combination of housing.)

On Dec. 18, the DOB issued a Full Stop Order ... and the site remained inactive until Friday. A DOB inspector found a "vertical crack between buildings 181/183 Avenue B" directly next door to the site, per DOB paperwork.

Said one reader in the comments on our last post:

My son attends the school next to this site and the noise is insane. His entire classroom shakes when they are pile driving and the teachers have to shout to be heard. I complained to the construction manager, who told me even he didn't understand why the city was permitting them to build during school hours...

Apparently all is well in the eyes of the city, as the DOB rescinded the Stop Work Order.

Meanwhile, nearby residents and parents of the school next to the site remain understandably unhappy.

Said one in an email this morning:

Parents and teachers of the school next door are *very* upset about it, as the construction noise seems to coincide exactly with school hours and is incredibly disruptive — I'm a parent and honestly it sounds like the pile driving is *inside* the classroom.

One resident posted a quick video this morning, showing just how loud the construction is. Find that here.

There have been seven complaints filed with the city since the construction restarted, records show. One resident figures the city won't do anything else until the nearby buildings collapse.

Updated 1:30

6 seconds of what the noise is like for 8 hours...

The construction noise driving everyone crazy on Avenue B. vine.co/v/bJvMgv5FjX2

— evgrieve (@evgrieve) January 28, 2013

Previously on EV Grieve:
Inside the Charles

Former landmark countercultural theater now for rent on Avenue B

7-story building in the works to replace former countercultural theater/church on Avenue B

Construction site at 185 Avenue B remains shut down for now

Report: Divorce could force closure of Lula’s Apothecary on East Sixth Street

The Post reports on the apparently bitter divorce between Derek Hackett and Blythe Boyd, who opened the popular vegan ice cream shop on East Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B in 2008. They were divorced last year.

Per the article:

[E]arlier this month, Hackett filed papers in Manhattan Supreme Court demanding the business be dissolved because Boyd is hoarding the profits for herself.

Hackett claims that his ex-wife has completely frozen him out of the business despite their equal ownership and that profits are tanking, court papers show.

“Boyd has substantially cut the hours of the retail location during the busiest season, the late spring and summer months, and as such continues to operate to the detriment of the shareholders.”

However, Boyd told the Post "that she did all the work — and that Hackett just reaped the profits and used them to pay his rent."

[Image via Joonbug]

13-story residence in the works for East Houston; fantasizing about a cabin and arts center

[July 2012]

Back in July, The Lo-Down reported that an unknown buyer has purchased the two vacant lots at 327 and 329 E. Houston St. for $8.4 million, as well as two adjoining parcels at 331 E. Houston and 163 Ridge St. for another $4 million... part of the portfolio that belonged to reclusive real-estate baron William Gottlieb ... The lot has been empty for seemingly eons ...

The Lo-Down followed-up on Friday with the news that there are plans in place for a 13-story, 78-unit residential complex on the site.

Per The Lo-Down, reps from Halpern Real Estate Ventures are...:

seeking to enter the city’s inclusionary housing program, which permits developers to build bigger buildings than normally would be allowed in exchange for adding a certain number of affordable apartments to their projects. In this case, 16 of the 78 units would enter the affordable housing program (5 studios, 8 one bedrooms, 3 two bedrooms). The developer is not seeking any city subsidy.

So that's that. And this lot was one of our favorites...

EVG Facebook friend Edward Arrocha recently posted photos from the long-abandoned laundromat next to the property, which is part of the development...

There's now a partial opening on the storefront, which provides a glimpse of what was left behind...

[EA]

[EA]

Per Arrocha: "I always fantasized of having nice cabin and arts center on that lot... with a wonderful garden and a lot community things... but I never hit the lotto!"

Bodega Walk this Saturday

[Photo from East Village Deli at 217 Avenue A last week by Crazy Eddie]

From the EV Grieve inbox... from the folks working with the 'No 7-Eleven' Committee...

Bodega Walk
Saturday February 2nd @ Noon
11th Street and Avenue A

We will start at the site with brief remarks and a poem then visit 4-5 bodegas to speak with the owners and their employees. The walk will be about an hour and will conclude at Tompkins Square Bagels.

More info on all this later in the week...

Rent hike KOs East 10th Street laundromat

Word is spreading on East 10th Street that the laundromat near Second Avenue that has served the neighborhood for so many years will be closing in the next few months.

Yep, the lease at this place where Mimi and her son have run is up and the rent is going up. Shocker. It will close in March, though we're not sure if that means at the beginning or the end of the month.

Anyway, who needs things like laundromats when we can have more noodle and dessert places to serve the students and people who don't live around here.

Noted

Via EVG regular Stephen Popkin.

A look at 154 Second Ave.'s steely backside

[November, via Terry Howell]

[Yesterday via EVG]

We had a brief update last week on 154 Second Ave., the former home of the Sigmund Schwartz Gramercy Park Chapel. We looked at the front of the incoming luxury residences with the arrival of some steel beams...

EVG reader Terry Howell now has a few observations from another vantage point...

Terry notes that all this work seems to have been done by a crew of about six guys without the benefit of much major machinery. So it might be some time before we spot any listings for the new residences...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Former funeral home looks to double in size with help from 'the controversial penthouse king of the East Village'

Redeveloped funeral home looking for a few live retail tenants

The walls come tumbling down at 154 Second Avenue

EV Grieve Eatery Etc.: Progress at Wylie Dufresne's Alder; 7 Spices for Second Avenue

The transformation of the former Plum Pizzeria at 157 Second Avenue continues... where noted LES chef Wylie Dufresne is opening a 50-seat pub that will serve "modern casual food and well-crafted cocktails," as Grub Street first noted last fall.

And do not enter...

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Reyna Exotic Turkish Cuisine quickly opened and closed last summer... the space is now back open here on Second Avenue near East Fifth street as 7 Spices... serving Turkish and Mediterranean fare...

They also deliver...

Let us know if you try it...

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...and now a few items that we meant to note much sooner... Such as! JujoMukti Tea Lounge on East Fourth Street between A and B closed some time late last year... a reader said that the owners sold most of the furniture and fixtures in mid-December...

CB3 OK'd a a beer and wine license here back in June 2011 even though the cafe is in a resolution (saturated!) area ... "after enthusiastic patrons spoke out about the venue's uniquely diverse presence and focus on a nurturing lifestyle," per Eater.

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Also meant to note that Jeepney recently filled in the rest of their sign on First Avenue...

[Last October via EVG reader @robbyohara]

Now!

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And Queen Vic, the British pub and restaurant on Second Avenue at East Fourth Street, hasn't been serving food in recent weeks...

[Updated] Inside the renovated St. Brigid's

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...and to see how far the church has come... Clayton Patterson shared these photos from a neglected church circa December 2005...

Updated 1-28

The New York Times has a piece on St. Brigid's in today's paper. The article goes into detail on the church's "daunting structural problems" and the challenges of the restoration.

A quick excerpt:

The pews were replaced and the exterior restored to resemble the original brownstone. Stained glass windows were brought from St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Harlem, which closed in 2003.

[Architect Michael F.] Doyle also restored an elaborate inscription along the top of the east wall that had been painted over in the 1960s, although there was not enough money to put the original bell back in the tower.

The parish has been merged with St. Emeric’s nearby, and the parish and the church are now known as St. Brigid and St. Emeric.

Read the whole article here.

From St. Emeric's to St. Brigid's

This afternoon, parishioners traveled from St. Emeric on East 13th Street between Avenue C and Avenue D ... to the newly reopened St. Brigid's on Avenue B and East Eighth Street...

As The Villager first reported in June, St. Emeric’s, built in 1950 at 740 E. 13th St., will close and merge with St. Brigid's.

Bobby Williams took the following photos...

St. Brigid's reopened today after more than 11 years ... in a special mass presided by Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan.

Here's the WABC report... with bonus Casey Anthony coverage tacked on...