A hard rain is falling (as you may have noticed)

Flash flood warning until 5:30. Head to your nearest docking station.

Photo by Nick Solares.

Trading places: Citi Bikes docking station making the move on East 11th Street; annoyance ensues

The Citi Bikes docking stations on the southeast corner of East 11th Street at First Avenue are on the move, as these photos by Greg Matherly of Reciprocal Skateboards show.



The docking stations are headed across First Avenue, to the northwest corner across from Veniero's on East 11th Street. No sooner than this happened did we hear that business owners on this stretch of the street are very unhappy with this move. "That is a serious business killer — especially on holidays and weekends," said one.

Of course, business owners at the previous spot of the docking station were unhappy too. Carlo Giurdanella of Bella Tile had complained that one of the new bike docks had taken away his loading zone.

"I don't know how we’re going to be able to operate really now effectively," he told CBS New York on May 1. "It's sad, dramatic negative impact."

Perhaps the move will mark the return of the longstanding Halal cart here. The made way for a truck after the docking station arrived on the southeast side of East 11th Street...


[May 4]

Preservationists call for archeological review of former cemetery at Mary Help of Christians site

[Bobby Williams]

The lot that includes Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church on East 12th Street is slated for demolition to make way for a new residential complex.

However, East Village community and preservation groups are hoping that the historic church that Douglas Steiner plans to develop can be spared. Members of the groups noted this last evening during a rally on the steps of Mary Help of Christians.

Meanwhile, there's a new development that could possibly put a hold on the production: dead bodies. According to a news release distributed after last evening's event:

The church was formerly the site of the cemetery of Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where thousands of people were buried starting in the early 19th century. This was only the third and at the time the largest Catholic Cemetery in New York. While the graveyard was moved to Calvary Cemetery in Queens in 1909, it is not known if all remains were removed and cleared from the site or if some still lie in burial underneath.

The preservation organizations have written to developer Douglas Steiner and the city’s Department of Buildings and Landmarks Preservation Commission to notify them that a very large cemetery was formerly found on this site, and calling for a complete archaeological evaluation of the site as required by law in such cases before any work proceeds, to prevent disturbance of any burial site or human remains which may remain here.

[BW]

Those gathered called upon Steiner to build upon the adjacent church yard, which lies outside of the boundaries of the former 11th Street cemetery, rather than upon the site of the church, school and rectory.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative, the Historic Districts Council and the East Village Community Coalition were all represented during the rally.

"Mary Help of Christians is certainly one of the most historic buildings in one of the most historic neighborhoods in our city and country," Lower East Side Preservation Initiative president Richard Moses said in prepared comments distributed to the press. "Starting in the early 20th century it played a central role in Italian-American history, and the building still commands a very imposing architectural presence in the neighborhood."

Early last year, preservationists submitted a request to the Landmarks Preservation Commission asking them to landmark the church. The LPC denied the request. (Read about that here.)

Specs for the retail portion of the complex mention a "140 unit market luxury rental building" for the space.

"It would be a tragic waste and shame if these beautiful buildings, so full of New York's history, were demolished for expediency’s sake," said Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation Executive Director Andrew Berman.

The church opened in 1917.


[Crazy Eddie]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Permits filed to demolish Mary Help of Christians church, school and rectory

Long-dormant East 13th Street lot is back in action; 6-floor new building next?

We haven't checked in on that long-dormant lot at 536 E. 13th St. near Avenue B in awhile ... the site became a dump (really, look) after construction on a new building here caused cracks in the foundation next door.

Now a resident on the block points out the arrival of a new fence ... and work permits at the site...



The new permits on file reads: "FOUNDATION, EXCAVATION & SHORING WORK IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE NEW BUILDING."

Approved plans for the six-floor building note proposed community facility/health care center use in the cellar with six total residences on the upper floors. David Howell of DHD Architecture and Design is listed as the architect of record. Ranga Krishna of East Village Realty is listed as the owner.

Another empty lot to scratch off our list?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Your chance to own a stalled project lot on East 13th Street

A dormant construction site on East 13th Street

[December 2009]

Report: 9th Precinct traffic safety sergeant worries about an increase in accidents with Citi Bikes

As the apocalypse© The Apocalypse® approaches with the arrival of Citi Bikes on Monday, there isn't any shortage of pros and cons to read out there about the bike-share program ... (This Curbed post from yesterday links to many of the various articles on the topic.)

Meanwhile, in an interview with DNAinfo's Serena Solomon, Amber Cafaro, a traffic safety sergeant stationed at the 9th Precinct, echoes what some people against the bike share have said: there will be an increase in accidents.

To the story.

Cafaro listed recent accidents in the East Village involving distracted cyclists talking on phones and running red lights, along with one biker who slipped on a wet roadway and wound up putting his hand through a car windshield.

"Bikers don't realize you can't do that," Cafaro said, describing behaviors that could endanger cyclists. "You have to stay off the phone, you have to stay in the bike lane and you have to stop at red lights."

The East Village recently saw a spike in reported bicycle crashes, with eight in the 28-day period ending May 19, compared to just four in the same period the previous year, Cafaro said.

Read the whole article here.

Meanwhile, at Slate, there's a "10-point resolution to end the decades-long conflict between walkers and bikers."

[Image via Citi Bikes]

Pop-up exhibit will support the 'Save Our CHARAS Community Center' movement

From the EV Grieve inbox...

The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space will host a pop-up exhibit in support of the movement to Save Our CHARAS Community Center (SOCCC).

Come celebrate and learn about the vibrant history of CHARAS/El Bohio and demand the return of this historic cultural institution. The exhibit will open tonight when community leaders, local activists and concerned neighbors will gather for a show of unity.

With guest speakers: Chino Garcia, Rosie Mendez, Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh, Senator Brad Hoylman. More guests, performers and announcements TBA.

May 23 - 31, 2013
Opening Night:
Thursday, May 23, 2013
6-9 pm

Meanwhile, here's footage from last week's rally and march from PS 64 on East Ninth Street to Cooper Union.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Rebranded P.S. 64 up for grabs: Please welcome University House at Tompkins Square Park to the neighborhood

Efforts continue to fight the dorm planned for the former PS 64 on East 9th Street

Report: The Joffrey Ballet School will lease 2 floors of the former PS 64 for student housing

For rent sign appears at David's Shoe Repair

Jeremiah and I both noted on Tuesday that a big rent hike is forcing David's Shoe Repair on East Seventh Street to relocate to... Midtown.

A reader noted yesterday that the for rent sign is now up in the front window. Didn't spot a listing for the small space online anywhere just yet. Curious to see what the landlord will be asking here.

David's last day in the East Village is May 31.

Report: Max Fish closing at the end of July ahead of move to Williamsburg

As you probably know, high rents are sending Max Fish packing to Williamsburg later this year. We were told earlier that Max Fish is eyeing an August closing date on Ludlow Street.

The Lo-Down gets the word straight from owner Ulli Rimkus that the bar will close here at the end of July. Rimkus also divulged a few other details, like "she really wants to create something new — not necessarily a replica of the LES classic."

Previously on EV Grieve:
The art evolution of Ulli Rimkus and Max Fish

From Tin Pan Alley to Max Fish

[Updated] Max Fish is apparently moving to Brooklyn; eyeing August close date

More details released about the CBGB Music & Film Festival this October

From the EV Grieve inbox...

For four decades, the name CBGB has been synonymous with all musical genres emerging from the indie and punk underground. This year, CBGB will be breaking more new ground with the expansion of the CBGB MUSIC & FILM FESTIVAL, a five-day festival/conference.

This will take place Wednesday, October 9 to Sunday, October 13, 2013 within NYC's rich and varied music venues throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. The Landmark Sunshine Theater on E. Houston St. will serve as the conference and film festival hub.

The new CBGBers haven't announced any acts yet. But that number is expected to be... 525 bands, 100 film screenings and 40 seminars ... there is ticket information, which you can find here.

And here's a snappy video about the festival...

At the Mary Help of Christians rally this evening

[Photo by Crazy Eddie]

Various community groups and residents came together for a rally tonight at Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church on East 12th Street ...

Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation Executive Director Andrew Berman (pictured) has said that there is plenty of open space on this parcel for a new residential complex, and that the existing properties "would be great candidates for adaptive re-use."

We'll have a report on the rally in the morning.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Permits filed to demolish Mary Help of Christians church, school and rectory

Tonight in walk-in specials

EV resident Rachel Borg spotted this on East 10th Street and Fourth Avenue this evening...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Photo by Derek Berg]

The East Village photography of Ann Sanfedele (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Turmoil at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum? (BoweryBoogie)

Bialystoker Building landmarked (The Lo-Down)

Revisiting "The Warriors" (Flaming Pablum)

More great photos from the Dance Parade (Gog in NYC)

"Psycho Killer" with Arthur Russell on cello (Dangerous Minds)

Some history of 17th Street and Irving Place (Ephemeral New York)

Time's Up has put together this video highlight the drama that unfolded last week at the Children's Magical Garden on Stanton and Norfolk ...



And tonight at 7, Mike Malone reads from his recently published novel, "No Never No More," which is set at the Village View apartments in 1999. "The main character, Declan Coulter, bristles when his neighborhood is called the East Village. Growing up in the Village View, it will always be the Lower East Side to him." The reading is at Dorian Gray Tap & Grill, 205 E. Fourth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Mary Help of Christians rally tonight; workers spotted taking apart rectory roof

As noted Monday, various preservationists and community groups are coming together for a rally tonight at Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church on East 12th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue...



Developer Douglas Steiner has plans filed to demolish the now-vacant parcel of Mary Help of Christians, which includes the church, school and rectory.

This morning, a reader spotted workers started to tear up part of the roof of the rectory...



"The first affected — a family of starlings nesting in the northeast corner of the roof," the reader said. "It was a sickening feeling I had when I heard those saws cutting up the roof."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Permits filed to demolish Mary Help of Christians church, school and rectory

Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.



By James Maher

Name: Edward “Eak the Geek” Arrocha.
Occupation: Coney Island Circus Performer
Location: East River Promenade, East River Park.
Time: 3:30 on Friday, May 17.

I’m a suburban kid. I was born in downtown Mexico City but I grew up in a neighborhood called Lomas Verdes, which was known to be the most ‘Fresa,’ which would be the equivalent of the word square, suburban neighborhood in Mexico City. My dad’s a lawyer from Mexico and my mom’s a professor from the East Coast. I didn’t want to be a professor or a lawyer but you don’t really aspire to be a circus performer. I actually think I was the kid who had the balls to do what I wanted to do.

It was my lifelong dream to live here. I remember going to Times Square and thinking I wanted to be there. It was perverted and cool and weird. I moved to the East Village in the early 1990s and I’ve lived in the same apartment for 20 years. There used to be dealers in the building where I live. The prostitutes would sometimes be plying their trade in the halls at 4 in the morning. I always had a soft spot for the working girls. I kind of feel that in a lot of ways they’re somebody’s sister or somebody’s mother. I used to kick them out of the building but they always were nice to me. The dealers and the junkies and the working girls, I was always nice to them and they were always nice to me for whatever reason. The ones who were really nasty were the Johns. They had paid for it and would be like, “Mind your own business,” and I would go into my apartment and walk out with a baseball bat and that was it.

My first job here was as a street vendor, selling jewelry. I moved here to make it as an artist. I really was not into being a sideshow performer. I played in bands as a vocalist. I was into weird bands, anywhere from somewhat punk and hardcore to weird art bands. I was more of a screamer than anything else. I also wrote a lot of poetry and did a lot of poetry readings. I still write poetry — it’s kind of what I do. I write everyday. I’ve never really had a straight job. I didn’t want to become the hamster in the wheel going around and around in a circle. That, to me, was perhaps the most terrifying place to end up in.

I lost my street vending job and I needed a job badly, so this woman said they needed a ticket guy in Coney Island. It was incredible. There was so much energy and so much weirdness. There was such an intense vibe. It really was a war zone, although once you got to know people it was not a bad place.

The people I worked with were interesting but the people who really intrigued me were the people who hung out there. You’d have the kite flyers, the beach walkers, the beach combers, you had the people who would sit there and watch the sun all day, you’d have some old Italians who had been there for many years, you had the people from the projects who were really nice and coming to enjoy the beach. You had a wide variety of people that made up New York. No matter that they had all these gangs, it still had this nice and laid back vibe.

There was a big difference when I tattooed my face. A lot of people get really obsessed with the tattoos and then they start talking to me and realize I’m more than just the tattoos. When I tattooed my face I had to go work inside and there was a bed of nails and I said, ‘Oh, let me go do that.’ Little did I know that I would be Eak the Geek. I was the guy who got squeezed by the bed of nails. I was the pain proof man. It was one of the classical sideshow acts.

It was always really hard, hard, gritty work. There was a time when you would do 12, 45-minute shows a day. People would get very tired and beat up from doing the shows. It was not ideal working conditions. You spent a lot of your year with the five people in the backstage, that you’d see everyday, everyday, everyday. You were kind of a dysfunctional family. There was a lot of fighting and arguing.

After 15 years, when it stopped becoming a place for me to write about, that’s when it became time to leave. It had an interesting shelf life and then it became a job. I always liked fishing but I began to fish seriously in 2007 after I left the sideshow. The sideshow took so much of my time and life that I needed something to fill in the void.

What an amazing day to go fishing.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

Countdown to Citi Bikes bike share in the East Village

The Citi Bikes bike share program will officially launch on Monday for the 8,000 or so people who bought the annual membership in the City. (We saw on Twitter that at least one East Village resident received her membership card in the mail.) For everyone else, weekly and daily passes go on sale June 2.

Ahead of this, Citi Bike officials were checking out the docking stations to make sure each rack works here on East 13th Street and Avenue A, as EVG reader Gary pointed out...



This was the docking station that someone festooned with dog poop and colorful signs last week. In fact, this post (briefly) served as the backdrop for Greg Mocker's report on Citi Bikes Sunday night on WPIX ...



Here's the segment. (Thanks to Shawn Chittle for this.)

-----

Meanwhile ... several readers noted that someone placed MasterCard stickers on the docking stations on East Second Street at Avenue B... and East Sixth Street at Avenue B... Seventh Street and Avenue A... initially we thought this might be some act of tomfoolery, though that's not the case... The program is funded jointly by Citibank and Mastercard, who paid $41 million and $6.5 million, respectively, according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek.





-----

Finally, as a refresher. For accurate (probably) information on how Citi Bikes work... here is the official information on pricing ... and here are FAQs.

Sad sale of the 9th Street Bakery continues

As you probably know, 9th Street Bakery is closing in the next few weeks. And owners Oleg and Tetyana are selling off pieces of the bakery, including the dry-curved glass showcases.

Even more of the bakery's accessories are now on Craigslist... this one is a gut wrencher — the sale of the wood-framed chalkboard noting the daily specials...



A juice/smoothie shop is apparently taking over the space.

CB3 turns down The Living Room's bid to move to East 2nd Street

Catching up with Monday night's CB3/SLA committee meeting. One item of particular interest: The Living Room's proposal to take over the soon-to-be-former Klean & Kleaner laundromat on East Second Street. (Read the background on this here.)

Living Room co-founders Jennifer Gilson and Steve Rosenthal (pictured) were on-hand to make their case, though, ultimately, to no avail. The committee voted down the applicants. Let's have BoweryBoogie pick up the action:

As it stands, this stretch of Second Street was grandfathered into a general residence district, and doesn’t allow for any performances with cover charges. There was reportedly contact with the DOB to settle this issue, but the Living Room hadn’t heard any news as of last night. And they didn’t have the luxury of laying over the application another month due to landlord/lease constraints, so a vote had to transpire.

BoweryBoogie also has news of what went down with the Soho House vote on Ludlow Street. (Spoiler: Denied, though it likely won't matter in the end.) Head on over to BB's for more details on the three-hour drama.

Eater has more on Monday night's meeting here. The Lo-Down has coverage here.

[Photo via BoweryBoogie]

Avenue A's incoming 7-Eleven loses its plywood, gains a sidewalk

[Bobby Williams]

Workers continued to pour the new sidewalks outside the incoming 7-Eleven on Avenue A and East 11th Street yesterday ... which is expected to be ready now for a November opening...



And there was someone on duty during the evening to prevent anyone from doodling on the fresh concrete...

Left behind by Treeman perhaps?

Bobby Williams spotted this today outside Tompkins Square... just one day after the Treeman sightings in these parts ...

On a sunny afternoon...

Via Ray's Candy Store on Facebook.