Late yesterday afternoon, East Village resident Kelly King put up these signs on the currently shuttered newsstand that Jerry Delakas has operated since 1987 next to the downtown 6 at Astor Place.
As we first reported on Tuesday, the Department of Consumer Affairs shuttered the stand for "operating illegally" following an ongoing
legal battle. He has a little more than a week to appeal the ruling that he fork over $37,000 or vacate.
Delakas was unaware that the city was going to seize his stand, as
Jeremiah Moss learned. As Jeremiah noted, Delakas saw the broken padlock, and initially thought that he had been robbed.
So King is taking it upon herself to hold a rally this morning at 11 outside the newsstand. (She says that Delakas will be there as well.)
"He is not a fancy type to have the deep legal education to fight corruption off — he is a newsstand man. He is a villager. He is one of our own," King told me via Facebook. "I am going to stand up for him. I am going to give what I have to give."
And she hopes that some other residents will also be able to to stop by to show support for Delakas today...
EVG reader dbs shared these photos from last night...