Reader mailbag: Has the city cited you for having gas meters in the hallway?

A member of an East Seventh Street co-op board writes:

We got cited recently by the NYC Environmental Control Board for having some of our gas meters in the common hallways ... contrary to a code augmentation memo dating from 1975. We are trying to argue that we are grandfathered to get around the big expenses of moving meters into apartments or the basement ... we've also heard a rumor that many other buildings in the neighborhood are getting hit. This violation is currently causing us grief in renewing our insurance, and could cost us many thousands to cure, so we want to try and band together if there are others in our situation.

So… Any other co-op members have information to share? Have you been cited by the ECB? Have you successfully navigated moving the meters?

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We often get reader queries ... asking for help with, say, donating clothes or books ... or finding an East Village-based caterer... If you have a question for the masses, then try the EV Grieve email...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader mailbag: Places to eat that have that old East Village vibe (45 comments)

Reader mailbag: What do I do about my new neighbors who smoke pot all the time? (52 comments)

Reader mailbag: Where is a good place to get a cup of coffee in the East Village before 6 a.m.? (25 comments)

Reader mailbag: Do you have any suggestions for East Village-related holiday gifts? (22 comments)

Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin Robbins combo remains closed for renovations on East Houston

The Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin Robbins combo located in the Shoppes at Red Square on East Houston between Avenue A and Avenue B remains closed for renovations. The doughnut/ice cream dispensary has been closed since Dec. 2. (BoweryBoogie noted this on Monday.) Signs on the door point to a reopening yesterday.

However, as these photos by an EVG reader from last evening show, work remains on the space, which looks suspiciously gutted…





While it wouldn't be the first time a Dunkin' Donuts closed around here, the reader who spotted the above work yesterday noted that it looked more like an upgrade than a demolition….

Rooftop Santa baby

Avenue C and East Sixth Street via Bobby Williams...

Afternoon video break: 'Online Mating'

Hila Perry, aka "HiLa tHe KiLLa", who is behind such EVG favorites as "White Girl Wasted" and "NYU Film Rap," returns with a new video... "Online Mating," in which she teams up with Ethan Kaplan for... this.

Ev Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[East 4th Street yesterday via Derek Berg]

Manhattan rents drop again, though don't get too excited (Curbed)

Watchmaker on the Bowery calls it quits after 65 years on the job (The New York Times)

The best in LES food (The Lo-Down)

Slush/snow images from Tompkins Square Park yesterday (GammaBlog)

Hookah Bar Temple of Ankh relocating to East 2nd Street (BoweryBoogie)

The "East River Bridge" (aka Williamsburg) in 1912 (Ephemeral New York)

Dinner at the Stage (Gog in NYC)

Rally against privatization at Washington Square Park (Washington Square Park blog)



The Wall Street Journal is the latest media outlet to write about Empire Biscuit (The Wall Street Journal, subscription required)

Alex gets faked out at Sounds (Flaming Pablum)

The death of a block (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

GoldieBlox vs. Beastie Boys redux (Gothamist)

...and tomorrow... via the EVG inbox...



Starts at 11 a.m. at the Third Street Music School Settlement, 235 E. 11th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue...

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: Santo Mollica
Occupation: Owner, The Source Unlimited Copy Shop, Musician
Location: 9th Street between 1st and 2nd Ave
Time: 11 am on Monday, December 9

I’m from the South Bronx, born and raised on Morris Avenue. It was a working-class neighborhood with tenements. I lived in the Bronx until I was 17 and then I came here. I was going to Hunter College and I met a lady and moved in with her up on 11th street. I lived above Russo’s Cheese Market.

I met my wife at Hunter College and then we got this place. It’s a mixed-use space. We’ve been here since 1979 and we opened the shop in ’82. In the mid to late 1970s there weren’t too many stores on the street. Most of the stores were live-ins. There wasn’t much in the area except for the drugs, which was the big industry down here at the time.

When the store first opened up there wasn’t too much happening in terms of the store itself. I was playing a lot of music in different clubs and came out with a few albums. I was doing the musician thing and working a lot of odd jobs. I was delivering tip sheets for this guy who used to handicap race horses for Belmont. In the morning I would deliver them to different newsstands for him. He would crank them out in his apartment and I would deliver them and then come here and open the store. I mean, you could live down here cheap. There was a lot of energy going on and it wasn’t all focused on making money because you didn’t have to make a lot to live here.

I was also doing layouts for people and then I would go to places to get them printed. At that time, the copy business wasn’t really an industry yet. The industry itself was more for printing than for copying. Once I had the space I figured I’d try it myself and then it took a life of its own. I advertised in the Voice and would do freelance work. We just kept it going and things took off.

The copy business is interesting because you always see different people. It’s the same but different all the time because of what’s involved. People are always coming in with something, where you’re like, I don’t even know what this is? Nowadays we get more students. The focus when we started was mostly for the two of us to have a job because I was giving the music a shot. I had some good notoriety with some of my albums, charted on college stations, some light touring. Mostly at that time I was doing guitar, vocals, some percussion and then I shifted over to percussion. Now I back people up as a percussionist. I do some jazz, some folk-rock, whatever the call is really. That’s where it’s at for me.

I used to play a lot of these, I guess they were squats. People would have shows there. These were places where they’d give you a bucket to go into the bathroom and you’d have to pour the water in, or the lights were coming in from the lampposts. They would string electricity from the lampposts. They were co-ops in the purest sense. It was guerilla construction. They made it livable and habitable. It was them who made the neighborhood what it is now because they started living here. It wasn’t just a drug block anymore. It became a viable and livable place.

Around the early to mid 1980s a lot of the art galleries started coming in and the area became more commercial, for better or for worse. There were always the cafe society people and the artists and writers but more people started coming around when more stores started opening up. The galleries took some of the danger out since there were more people coming around. That was when things started changing and the landlords started getting wise to the fact that they could get more money. Before that they were like, ‘Please, take my place.’ Or they were just abandoning them. The values started rising and people started to realize the value but there was also no residual effect in the neighborhood from the galleries. You would see the limos pull up, you’d see the people get out, go to the gallery, do whatever they were doing, get back in the limo, and then they were gone.

The same thing happened in Williamsburg and in Bushwick. We kind of wrote the book on that and everybody followed it after that. Get the artists in here and get them in here cheap. You think one thing is happening and it’s not. I remember Red Square on Houston Street. When that came in everybody was like, 'this is bad news.' It was one of the first luxury places but before they got the Blockbuster and Fedex in there they just had the buildings up and they wanted some notoriety, so they’d have art shows, where the Sleepy’s is. It was like we did in the squats. We played there at an art gallery opening and it was all cinder blocks and it was cold. I didn’t realize at the time what was going on.

I’m old school and have been through the battles. There ain’t too many people left that can say that. But we’re here now and we’re doing stuff and trying to keep it going forward. We’re trying to retain a little bit of the old school but meanwhile be conscious of now and not be living back then. I’m not big on the way things were and that kind of stuff, because things were a certain way before I got here. I was the new guy so I can’t begrudge other new guys.

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

Previously on EV Grieve:
Honors for one of the most unique shops in the East Village

Oh, thank God — the new phone books have finally arrived

Actually they arrived maybe a week ago on my block. (Shocker: They are still sitting in front of my building, unopened.) But I noticed a few hundred thousand of them were waiting on stoops this morning along East Seventh Street...



Seriously — will anyone actually use one? (And not to, say, prop up a table, build a bookshelf or burn.)

It's OK if you do use one — just curious.

Early reaction...

@evgrieve Wasteful! When I need a phone number I just log on to AOL with my 2400 baud modem.

— Pinhead (@EVPinhead) December 11, 2013

Report: Hells Angels in legal fight for rights to their East 3rd Street clubhouse

[EVG file photo]

Members of the Hells Angels are reportedly locked in a battle over the rights to their longtime NYC clubhouse on East Third Street, according to the New York Post.

The story dates back to 1983, when then-New York Chapter president Sandy Alexander changed the building's deed to name himself and his family as rent-free tenants. Members of the Hells Angels are now suing Alexander's remaining heirs to prevent them from possibly taking over the building. (Alexander died in 2007.)

Per The Post:

A source told The Post that the members have no immediate plans to sell 77 E. 3rd St. — which is on the periphery of New York University's $6 billion expansion plan and in a once-crime ridden neighborhood where one-bedrooms now rent for $3,500 a month — but they wanted to clear up the "cloudy deed."

The decades-old agreement, obtained by the Post, says that Sandy's heirs 'shall receive half of the proceeds" from the sale of the six-story building that has around 10 apartments on the top five floors.

The U.S. government unsuccessfully tried to seize the building starting with a drug bust in 1985. The feds charged that the clubhouse was used to make drug deals. However, a jury ruled against the forfeiture in February 1994, per The New York Times.

The Hells Angels have lived in this building since 1969.

NYPD's Interactive Map lets you track crimes block by block

In case you haven't seen the interactive map that the NYPD released this past weekend…

As Gizmodo noted:

The map sticks to the major New York State felonies: Murder and Non-Negligent Manslaughter, Rape, Robbery, Felonious Assault, Burglary, Grand Larceny and Grand Larceny Motor Vehicle. Though the site uses data available on the NYPD website, it was developed by Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications.

You can check out the map here for overall trends in crime by Precinct … and by address…

Here's a snapshot of our own 9th Precinct from January through October of this year…



The map also has a zoom-in to see where, roughly, each crime was committed…



Overall, according to 9th Precinct statistics, crime is down in the major categories by 76 percent from 1990 to 2012. (Find that PDF of the stats here.)

[H/T to EVG readers Creature and RyanAvenueA]

Holiday benefit for Trinity's Services and Food for the Homeless

Via the EV Grieve inbox...

The annual Cool Yule raises funds to support SAFH (Trinity's Services and Food for the Homeless) which operates a soup kitchen, community pantry and referral center that serves the homeless population of lower Manhattan.

Your $40 donation includes admission, a terrific open bar and gourmet hors d'oeuvres.

SAFH, located on East Ninth Street and Avenue B, "is a separate non-profit 501(c)3 organization with its own budget and board established to provide emergency food and services to the homeless and low-income residents of New York City. In 2012 we served nearly 200,000 meals.

Find ticket info here.

Noted

An EVG reader passed along the above photo of the Pub Crawl Santa suit, noting with suitable disgust — "Fuckin' Ricky's!" (The photo is from the Sixth Avenue location. Both East Village stores have the suits in the window as well.)

Anyway, for a bargain price of $25 at Ricky's you can get yourself a genuine Pub Crawl Santa suit — hat, beard, pants, etc.



Of course, there's no price on your reputation...

Mind the flash, please

EVG reader olympiasepiriot spotted this red-tailed hawk lounging around a fire escape this evening on East Ninth Street… the hawks usually reserve the photo opps for Tompkins Square Park…

Winter wonderland, pretty much

Early this evening in Tompkins Square Park… photo by Bobby Williams

The story about the city shutting down Jerry's Newsstand on Astor Place actually gets worse

[Photo via Jeremiah Moss]

As we reported earlier today, the city shut down the newsstand that Jerry Delakas has operated on Astor Place since 1987.

Jeremiah Moss walked by today to find Jerry standing, rather bewildered, in the snow outside the newsstand.

He showed me the broken padlock he found and said, "I just got here. I thought someone broke in." Someone did. It was the city that broke Jerry's lock and put on a lock of their own so he could not open for business today.

Jerry has 11 days to appeal the recent ruling that he vacate his space.

As mentioned earlier, the Department of Consumer Affairs decided in November that in order to have the license, Jerry has to pay $37,000 within a month. Has the city considered that it might be difficult to make that payment if he can't open for business?

Head to Jeremiah's Vanishing New York for more on this development.

Early indications show that local weather forecasters may be right about some snow today

A little while ago on East 10th Street.

Photo via Bobby Williams

City shutters Jerry's Newsstand on Astor Place for 'operating illegally'

The city continues its assault on Jerry Delakas and the newsstand that he has operated on Astor Place since 1987. The latest: The city shut it down yesterday for "operating illegally."



You probably know the back story by now: He has operated the stand here for 25-plus years. However, he's not the legal license holder. He has been subleasing the newsstand from the family who held the license. Per previous published reports, it was the dying wish of the woman who held the license to allow him to operate the stand and designated him as heir.

But that has never sat well with the city, who has spent a lot of money arguing over and over again that Delakas isn't a family member, so he doesn't have succession rights.

According to a Nov. 26 post at the Save Jerry page on Facebook:

I just received bad news ... unfortunately [the Department of Consumer Affairs] decided that in order to have the license Jerry has to pay $37,000 within a month.

Back in February, he was denied his license again by the State courts. They granted him the right to remain at the newsstand until the end of this mayoral administration.

That is now looking less likely.

Update: Ugh. Here's some more on the story.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Expect to see Jerry's Newsstand on Astor Place through Mayor Bloomberg's last term in office

Someone is vandalizing the glass at 51 Astor Place

The other day, EVG regular Terry Howell noticed that workers were gluing sheets of clear plastic to the ground-floor windows on the Fourth Avenue side of the currently empty 12-story office building ...

"I asked them what's the purpose of the sheets, thinking that maybe the owners wanted to tone down the blinding glare and reflections from the building," said Terry, learning that "nothing civic minded was going on."

Turns out that people are scratching graffiti and what not on the windows. The sheets are a "protective covering" to prevent such acts from happening again in the future...







Apparently the abandoned building look isn't really in fashion here…

SantaCon organizers tweet helpful hints about being a good Santa (spoiler: 'No means no')

SantaCon is fast approaching (Saturday!) … and the SantaConning organizers have been taking to Twitter to remind participants of the proper decorum while staggering around dead-ass drunk enjoying the festivities.

The tweet advice included!

Dirty ol' Santa or Ho Ho Ho, just remember No Means No. #TheSantaCode #NYCSantacon

— santacon (@santacon) December 9, 2013

And!

Don't fuck with KIDS. Don't fuck with COPS. Don't fuck with BAR STAFF. Don't fuck with NYC! #TheSantaCode #NYCSantacon

— santacon (@santacon) December 7, 2013

And!

You better not puke. You better not pee. You better be good on the streets of NYC! #TheSantaCode #NYCSantacon

— santacon (@santacon) December 7, 2013

Helpful? We'll find out! The group is reportedly starting SantaCon this year in Tompkins Square Park at 10 a.m.

[H/T Eater]

Here's how you can apply to be a community board member

Do you like long meetings? Do you enjoy having your name or photo appear on local blogs? Do you like neighborhood block associations? Then do we have a job for you!

No, no — we kid because we love… here's your chance to be part of your local Community Board … and be "representative voices" of your community.

From the EVG inbox yesterday...

The Manhattan Borough President's Office is currently accepting applications for community board membership. Community boards represent their neighborhoods on crucial issues such as development, land use, historic preservation and city service delivery. Serving on a board is an incredible opportunity to be at the forefront of sound community-based planning.

To find out more about Manhattan's community boards, learn how to apply for membership, or download an application, click here. Applications are due by February 1, 2014.

Sincerely,

Scott M. Stringer
Manhattan Borough President

Reader report: East Village Shoe Repair relocating to former home of David's Shoe Repair

East Village Shoe Repair closed for good at 1 St. Mark's Place last month.

However, a closure may be short-lived. Proprietor Boris Zuborev told a reader that they would reopen in the space that housed David's Shoe Repair on East Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue… high rents chased the 35-year-old David's to Midtown back in the spring...



As for the former East Village Shoe Repair… next-door neighbor Unique Collection has taken over the space on St. Mark's near Third Avenue...