EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[On East Seventh Street via Derek Berg]

Why an East Village widow's bankruptcy case poses risk to rent-stabilized tenants (The New York Times)

Lunch at the Stage (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Who's next at the Houston/Bowery mural wall (BoweryBoogie)

Claim: Airbnb is a boon to the NYC economy (Curbed)

Soho House decision day on Ludlow (The Lo-Down)

Despite CB3 and resident objections, Sweet Chick signs lease at former Max Fish space (Grub Street)

Looking at the great Carl Fischer Music building (Off the Grid)

Cooper Square at the turn of the last century (Ephemeral New York)

When Andy Warhol painted Debbie Harry on an Amiga computer (Dangerous Minds)

Remembering some more lost record stores (Flaming Pablum)

Borough President Scott Stringer voices concern over CB3's suspension of the L.E.S. Dwellers

As we first reported yesterday morning, neighborhood group The L.E.S. Dwellers are demanding an impartial investigation into their recent suspension by Community Board 3.

Upon their suspension, the group submitted a formal complaint to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, whose office oversees the city's Community Board governance.

Stringer responded to CB3 Chairperson Gigi Li and District Manager Susan Stetzer yesterday. A tipster shared a copy of Stringer's letter.


[Click on image to enlarge]

As he wrote, "the decision to exclude an organization ... under these circumstances does not serve the interest of community board transparency and democratic representation."

And later:

"While I understand the view that the organization may have detracted from community input by influencing certain applicants to withdraw from the Board's process, I do not believe a 'suspension' of the organization is the most effective response to such a concern. The act of suspending a community organization for lawful conduct from a program promoting community input without a fully deliberative process has implications for the transparency and fairness of community board governance. For these reasons, I ask that the Board reconsider its current policy of excluding organizations . . . to ensure that its mission of representing and responding to community concerns remains fully transparent and open to public scrutiny."

The L.E.S. Dwellers have been active in opposing new liquor licenses on the Lower East Side, including the proposed SoHo House on Ludlow Street ... and the ongoing battle with the DL on Delancey. CB3 first recognized the L.E.S. Dwellers as a block association in October 2012.

The CB3 suspension is to last the remainder of 2013.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Breaking Badly: LES Dwellers demand impartial investigation of Community Board 3 (33 comments)

Construction watch: 45 Great Jones Street

Plans have been in the works at least back to 2007 to add extra floors of residential above the landmarked 45 Great Jones St., the longtime home to the Great Jones Lumber Corp., between the Bowery and Lafayette.

There are demolition plans on file dated from Thursday. Per the usual all-cap DOB style: "DEMOLITION OF THREE STORY STRUCTURE. PER LPC, FRONT FACADE TO REMAIN."


[Photo via Goggla]

The Landmarks Preservation Committee OK'd enlarging the Romanesque Revival building by five floors back in July 2012, as Curbed reported.

These are older plans from June 2012 (we have not seen the final renderings) ...


[Via Curbed]

Building owner Joseph Lauto also ran the lumber business. (He worked at the lumber yard as a kid dating to the late 1940s.) In March 2012, he told The Local that the changing landscape of NoHo contributed to his decision to develop the building.

"One of the reasons we merged the businesses was because forklifts and trucks moving lumber had to stop because of baby carriages," he said. "We never had that before."

The ground floor will remain a commercial space while the subsequent floors and penthouse will be residential. The plan is still waiting approval by the Department of Buildings, who last passed along a "disapproved" in July, according to city records.

Built in 1893, 45 Great Jones served as the home of Great Jones Lumber Corp. from 1934 to June of 2008, when the company merged with Michbi Doors Inc. of Long Island, per The Local.

Never-ending battle over additional floors at 515 E. Fifth St. promises to keep being never-ending

The saga of developer Ben Shaoul's additions to 515 E. Fifth St. continues. This was on the docket for this month's CB3 Land Use, Zoning, Public & Private Housing Committee meeting, but Shaoul's reps reportedly rescheduled it at the last minute for another month.

A quick recap to a really long story: The Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) had previously ruled that Shaoul needs to remove the 6th and 7th floors. However, his attorneys had requested that the city grant a zoning variance to "permit the constructed enlargement, minus the penthouse, to remain."

Now the Tenants Association of 515 East 5th Street, who has been fighting all this for years, passes along word of yet another delay to any resolution in the near future. Shaoul's attorneys have apparently filed an Article 78 petition to get the New York State Supreme Court to compel the BSA and DOB to reverse their decisions in the vesting case.

We'll report back to you when this is all resolved in 2023.

(You can read more about the history here at the Post, Curbed, DNAinfo and The Villager.)

Previously on EV Grieve:
Never-ending battle wages on over additional floors at 515 E. Fifth St.

CB3 hearing on illegal rooftop additions at 515 E. 5th St. re-scheduled for another month

Vella Market remains closed on Avenue B

We're getting close to the two-week mark for the Vella Market being closed on Avenue B and East Fourth Street... One reader heard the owners were in a dispute with the landlord over back rent.

Meanwhile, another reader passes along a bad sign... there is a ConEd notice on their front gate — the store's power has been shut off... according to the notice, the store owes a total of more than $12,000 to ConEd...



As we said earlier, we like Vella Market, which just opened in April at the former home of Kate's Joint.

Ronald McDonald and Banksy visit the Lower East Side

So this happened late this afternoon outside the McDonald's at Delancey and Essex... EVG Facebook friend Edward Arrocha shared these photos of Banksy's "All City – McDonalds" traveling sculpture show ... featuring a fiberglass statue of Ronald McDonald getting his clown shoes shined by "a real live boy," per the British artist's website.



The audio guide (Animal NY has it here) from Banksy's website says that this can be read as "a critique of the heavy labor required to sustain the polished image of a mega-corporation."



The Lo-Down reports that five police cars responded to the scene... though, with the crowd apparently on Banksy's side, the NYPD allowed the shoe shine to continue through to its conclusion...



...and there were rumors that the fellow carrying Ronnie off into the night was Banksy himself...

Today's hawk-on-rat action in Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Bobby Williams

Updated 10-22
Goggla has some more photos here.

Today's Blue Jay

On East Sixth Street via Bobby Williams

That's a lot of kale! Thieves take Whole Foods Bowery for 26K, cops say

Three Whole Food Bowery employees transporting $26,000 in a grocery cart to a second-floor office were robbed at gunpoint last night, the Post is reporting.

Per the paper:

A store worker said that the robbery may have been an inside job, noting that a coworker saw the perps leave through the receiving door.

“They ran from the receiving door which no one outside the store knows about,” the worker said. “They know parts of the store that we only know.”

He also said that his co-worker claimed to see one of the men casing the store a few weeks ago wearing the same “dreadlocks and bad, fake beard.”

Updated 10:22
The NYPD is now saying that the thieves got away with $60,000.

File photo of three women posing with the Whole Foods Bowery pickle bar sign.

Today in photos of the FangVan on Fourth Avenue

Just a reminder that your rent is due soon! Spotted late this afternoon by EVG regular William Klayer...

Playing spot the hawk in the puddle

Today in Tompkins Square Park... via The philosophical zombie.

New look revealed for the former 9th Street Bakery space

[The 9th Street Bakery in 1960, courtesy of Mort Zachter via the Voice]

The gut renovation of the former 9th Street Bakery is apparently winding down... today, workers removed the plywood to show off the new exterior that will purportedly house a juice-smoothie shop...



[Photos via William Klayer]

A big rent hike KO'd the 9th St. Bakery, which closed June 9 after 87 years in business.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader report: 9th St. Bakery is closing after 87 years

Breaking Badly: LES Dwellers demand impartial investigation of Community Board 3

Earlier this month, in a highly publicized move, Community Board 3 notified the neighborhood group The L.E.S. Dwellers that it was suspending it as a recognized block association for the remainder of the year.

As The Lo-Down reported on Oct. 7:

In a letter that was sent not only to the Dwellers but to members of CB3′s SLA Committee, Chairperson Gigi Li wrote, "it appears that the group has been working as its own entity” and acting as a 'shadow community board.'"

(Read more about this at BoweryBoogie and DNAinfo, who first reported the story.)

The L.E.S. Dwellers have been active in opposing new liquor licenses on the Lower East Side, including the proposed SoHo House on Ludlow Street ... and the ongoing battle with the DL on Delancey. (CB3 first recognized the L.E.S. Dwellers as a block association in October 2012.)

The group shared the following letter calling for an investigation of CB3 with us.

The recent suspension of our group, L.E.S. Dwellers (“LESD”), by Community Board #3 (“CB3”) is an attempt by a few members of CB3 — without board approval — to limit our participation in the process. The tactics to gerrymander our boundaries and impose an unlawful suspension where we are relegated to speak as individuals not as an organized group before CB3, applicants, existing businesses and the hundreds of residents who have taken various forms of action alongside us, is a blatant suppression of our First Amendment rights of free speech, assembly and to petition the government. Essentially, CB3’s self-determined jurisdiction over the way the LESD can dissent and demonstrate is a community board’s version of a gag order.

The purposeful narrowing by CB3 of free speech rights through sanctioned limitations that purportedly serve to protect the very rights that are being suppressed treads on treacherous First Amendment waters. This sets a standard for what community board’s can demand of neighborhood organizations and constituents. In CB3, or anywhere, the entity charged to hear the concerns of the residents and act as the liaison with government agencies, will now have the tacit authority to determine the propriety and delivery of those concerns.

Through the seemingly arbitrary and capricious nature of decisions made by certain members of CB3, there is a preponderance of evidence to suggest that our rights have been threatened for some time. For six months, CB3 has systematically challenged the legitimacy and representation of the LESD. The 58-minute conversation outlines the exact rationale for the suspension, including a selection of information not reported by Ms. Li in her formal letter. Overall, it reveals the unedited delivery of CB3’s ruling against LESD.

The audio presents an opportunity to understand the ongoing challenges we have endured from the community board, the reasons for the suspension, the manner in which it was decided, and other particularities about the inconsistent operations of the board. CB reps repeatedly overstep their bounds in the conversation and admit that while they may not approve of the manner in which LESD has acted, we have behaved lawfully and within our rights.

If community boards are permitted to impose limitations and suspend community groups absent of procedure and just cause, then the influence over government policy through protest and demonstration is severely hampered if not diminished all together. The result increases government agencies' influence over their own agendas without necessary checks and balances.

This is why, upon our suspension, we submitted a formal complaint to Manhattan Borough President (“MBP”) Scott Stringer. The complaint included an audio recording of the entirety of the conversation between the L.E.S. Dwellers and Board Chair Gigi Li and District Manager Susan Stetzer, in which LESD was told of the suspension and the reasons therefore, as well as the Community Board suspension letter and response letter from the L.E.S. Dwellers, including 81 pages of supporting supplemental material.

We then followed up with written request (CB3 Special Task Force: LESD Suspension Letter) on October 10th to CB3 chair Gigi Li to convene an independent, internal panel (“Special Task Force”) to investigate the facts and events surrounding the suspension of the LESD. We asked that the Special Task Force be charged with investigating two matters. First, did the LESD engage in any unlawful or inappropriate conduct that would warrant a suspension by CB3? Second, did CB3 Chair Gigi Li, CB3 District Manager Susan Stetzer or any other member of the CB3 Executive Committee engage in unlawful or inappropriate conduct in suspending LESD?

Further, we requested to maintain independence and neutrality, the Special Task Force should be made up only of rank-and-file members of CB3, not members of the Executive Committee, including any current committee chairs. Additionally, we asked that our letter be distributed to all members of CB3, not just the Executive Committee, and requested during the course of the investigation and until the report is released, the suspension of LESD should be held in abeyance. In return, LESD would agree not to take legal action against CB3 or any of its officers or employees until the report of the Special task force is released.

As to date, CB3 has not responded to our request.

Diem Boyd
Founder of the LES Dwellers

The group shared the entirety of the nearly 60-minute conversation between them and Board Chair Gigi Li and District Manager Susan Stetzer from Sept. 27. The Timestamp link is suggestion only of particular parts of the conversation that they were concerned by or felt deserved special attention and/or consideration.

Taking another look at the all-new East 14th Street

On Friday afternoon, we got the first look at what a good chunk of East 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B might look like a few years from now ... via this conceptual rendering from an RKF retail listing ...



To date, eight parcels consisting of 222 Avenue A and 504 - 530 E. 14th St. (excluding No. 520) were leased for a 99-year period. Per the retail listing, this will be a seven-story residential and retail development.

The post drew 57 comments... ranging from better than what's there now (several commenters noted the corner space is currently housing a handful of people) ...




... to could have been worse... to ugly, boring, suburban ...

So we're trying to get an idea of how large this "residential and retail development" will be... The red lines (where are the arrows?!) outline the parcels that were sold...




[Click image to enlarge]

And one thing that we didn't mention Friday: The listing says that there will be a "loading dock located on the East 13th Street side of building."




So what will go on East 13th Street to make this loading dock a reality? (And is this quiet stretch of East 13th Street really loading-dock friendly?) Our best guess... whatever this thing is on the block...



And from the air...



And it seems like that fire on Avenue A and East 14th Street was a really long time ago already...

[EV Grieve reader Sergey]

The three-alarm fire wiped out the corner on May 12, 2010... taking with it neighborhood favorites Stuyvesant Grocery and Pete's-a-Pizza.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East 14th Street exodus continues

The disappearing storefronts of East 14th Street

[Updated with correction] 8-lot parcel of East 14th Street primed for new development

East 14th Street corridor now nearly business-free ahead of new development

Here is the future of East 14th Street and Avenue A: 7 stories of residential and retail

Crêpes for First Avenue?

The plywood is down at 135 First Ave. near St. Mark's Place... a tipster says that the space will be a cafe specializing in crêpes (and they look to have a to-go window) ... the address was previously home to Iconic Hand Rolls, which closed in April after 10 months in business.

The Grace Memorial House is nice and clean now on Fourth Avenue

Over at 92-96 Fourth Ave. at East 11th Street, the construction netting is off the historic Grace Memorial House (part of the Grace Memorial Church complex) ... It had been under cover for months receiving some kind of scrub down... As EVG reader Terry Howell noted, "The cleaned building is a lovely warm creamy color. I was so accustomed to the NYC grime gray color."



The James Renwick, Jr.-designed (and landmarked) building dates to 1881...



A little more history about the address via the 1977 NYC Landmark Designation Report:

No. 94-96 Fourth Avenue, Grace Memorial House, once known as the Day Nursery, was reputedly New York's first day care center. Given to Grace Church by the Hon. Levi P. Morton, vice president of the United States under Benjamin Harrison, in memory of his wife, it was designed by James Renwick, Jr., to accord with the architecture of the 1846 rectory on Broadway ... Renwick added a Gothic revival facade and made other alterations to the two earlier Greek Revival houses on the site.

When Grace Memorial House was reopened in 1927 to house low-salaried young women and female students, it was named Huntington House in honor of rector William Reed Huntington. In 1953 it became a rehabilitation center for girls, and in 1957 it was closed.

Something cool on Avenue A

Headline and photo via @fnytv

Can't we just enjoy Halloween first?

At Gem Spa today.

The 'No 7-Eleven' campaign gains first celebrity endorsement

Alan Cumming stopped by today's "No 7-Eleven" rally on Avenue A and East 11th Street.

[Photo via @No7ElevenNYC]

Updated 10-21



Here's a group photo via Grant Shaffer...

Week in Grieview

[On Avenue C via Mark White]

Here is the new residential complex for East 14th Street (Friday, 57 comments)

BBQ and more still in the works for the former Lucky Cheng's space (Monday)

Reader mailbag: Places to eat that have that old East Village vibe (Friday, 38 comments)

Out and About with Seth Tobocman (Wednesday)

The "Mayor of Avenue D" busted for alleged drug operation (Wednesday)

More dessert for the East Village (Thursday)

More tacos for the East Village (Monday)

More Thai food for the East Village (Thursday)

Memories of the former Di Bella Bros. on First Avenue (Tuesday)

East Village resident creates Puppydog Poop Mitts (Wednesday)

So long to Banksy's "Concrete Confessional" on East Seventh Street (Saturday)

Pulino's is closing on the Bowery (Thursday)

Neighbors come together to help restore La Plaza Cultural (Tuesday)

128 Second Ave. was sold (Thursday)

The lone tenant at 338 E. Sixth St. (Tuesday)

A discussion on the new health-insurance exchange (Thursday)

123 E. 10th St. Sarkozy-Olsen "love nest" in contract (Tuesday)

20 years at the Odessa (Friday)

A lighting store for East Seventh Street (Monday)

Bike rack news (Friday)

Now, if you can, go outside. It's nice and bright...