We appreciate your support so much, here are a few updates on our efforts:
We are using Pets Detectives. The police are aware, on the lookout, and even have several retired NYPD officers who have volunteered their time to help us. We are procuring/reviewing any surveillance video we can get our hands on. We are checking every imaginable place, and speaking with every imaginable delivery guy, doorman, courier, street vendor, taxi driver, etc… in NYC. Thank you so much for your suggestions.
Thank you to all who have contributed, passed out, printed, posted and gave suggestions to #FindSugarNYC campaign. 💛 pic.twitter.com/x51evVKS1c
— FindSugarNYC (@FindSugarNYC) March 1, 2015
MAN ALL HANDS 121 ST MARKS PL, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE ON 4TH FLR,
— FDNY (@FDNY) March 1, 2015
MAN ALL HANDS 121 ST MARKS PL, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE ON 4TH FLR, UNDER CONTROL
— FDNY (@FDNY) March 1, 2015
SEARCH PARTY + Any information leading to a rescue will be REWARDED. Please RT.
New Tel 949-887-0283. #FindSugarNYC pic.twitter.com/M85pZ9Qcnf
— FindSugarNYC (@FindSugarNYC) February 28, 2015
"McSorley's is the oldest continuously operating bar in New York City, and it’s the most authentic — hands down. What you are looking for is authenticity and not age.
"It's a fine bar," he said of Neir's. "So is the White Horse and Fanelli's and P.J. Clarke's. It’s not easy making a go of it in this city."
van Dalen uses a portable model of his house as a staging ground for telling the story of the East Village. Employing a rotating selection of miniature cut-outs, stencils and props, Van Dalen narrates the history of the neighborhood from the 1970s (when he moved to Avenue A) until the present. The performance centers on Van Dalen’s Avenue A rooftop pigeon coop he has nourished for more than 25 years; a source of pride for Van Dalen who began raising pigeons as a child in the Netherlands. There he flies a flock of white pigeons that circle around the storied tenements that housed generations of immigrants, like himself, witnessing the neighborhood’s gradual gentrification.
Avenue A Cut-Out Theatre was first performed in 1995 at the University Settlement House on the Lower East Side and toured throughout the United States and Europe. The performance has been shown at numerous institutions including The Drawing Center, the Museum of Modern Art, and The New York Historical Society.
In general, the pair say their goal is to bring back as much of the early-20th century material and look as possible, while removing some mid- and late-20th century fixtures – like the front display cases and shelves behind them. “We discovered beautiful old brick walls behind there,” Bernamoff said. He asserts that the tin ceiling, hand-cut wall tiles, round “penny tiles” on the floor (which aren’t made anymore) are all staying – but where those elements are missing or damaged, they will not be replaced with facsimiles.
“It’s better to leave what’s there than try to recreate it,” Bernamoff said. “We want to have it feel old, and have it feel historic … If we try to recreate [vintage elements], it will take away the specialness of some of what is there. We don’t want to create confusion. We want people to recognize that the space is 110 years old.”
NYC Council Members Rory Lancman and Rosie Mendez announced the introduction of legislation to crack down on tenant harassment from illegal hotel conversions. Their bill would expand the definition of harassment to include illegal conversions of residential units, and create a new civil penalty for landlords who use Airbnb and other illegal hotel companies to harass and push out tenants using illegal conversions.
"Airbnb and illegal hotels destroy the quality of life of those around them and pose a grave threat to New York's affordable housing supply. This bill lets tenants take landlords to court to win injunctions against illegal conversions and impose fines that support the city's housing enforcement efforts. We need to call out illegal hotel conversions for what they really are — tenant harassment," said NYC Council Member Rory Lancman, Chair of the Committee on Courts & Legal Services.
“I am proud to co-introduce legislation with Councilman Rory Lancman that would enable tenants to sue their landlords in housing court for renting out residential apartments, contrary to the law, as hotel units,” said NYC Council Member Rosie Mendez.
Tenant harassment complaints in Housing Court have nearly doubled since 2011, and complaints of illegal hotels in New York City have also greatly increased in recent years. In 2014, there were 1,150 illegal hotel complaints, a 62 percent increase since 2013. 883 inspections were performed in response to those 1,150 complaints and 804 violations were issued. Unsurprisingly, the growth of illegal hotel activity in New York City has matched rapid growth of online short-term rental websites like Airbnb.
There are currently over 28,000 residential units being listed for transient hotel use on Airbnb. This represents a 5,800 percent growth in units from 2009, when Airbnb first began allowing New Yorkers to list their residences online. A report published late last year by the New York State Attorney General analyzing Airbnb bookings in New York City from January 1, 2010 through June 2, 2014, found that nearly 75 percent of Airbnb’s listings were in violation of state law.
Furthermore, a new data tool – www.insideairbnb.com — launched by an independent software developer that collects all public data points from Airbnb’s website showed:
• The value of 77 percent of Airbnb listings comes from illegal rentals of entire apartments;
• Nearly 60 percent (16,000) of Airbnb listings offer the entire home/apartment (in violation of state law), and those units are available for rent an average of 247 days (68 percent of the year); and
• Nearly one-third of Airbnb listings come from hosts with multiple units, such as commercial landlords, not regular New York tenants.
Currently, the definition of what constitutes legally actionable harassment does not include illegal conversions. If passed, this new expanded definition of harassment would allow a court to impose a civil penalty against a landlord of between $1,000 and $5,000 for every unit in which the court finds a tenant who is lawfully entitled to that unit has been harassed (through the existence of an illegal conversion).
Just last week, Governor Cuomo, Attorney General Schneiderman, and Mayor de Blasio announced the launch of a joint enforcement task force, titled the Tenant Harassment Prevention Task Force, to investigate and bring enforcement actions – including criminal charges – against landlords who harass tenants. The task force will confront the rise in complaints that landlords are using a variety of tactics, including disruptive and dangerous renovation and construction projects, to force tenants into vacating rent-regulated apartments.
Under the Lancman/Mendez tenant harassment bill, illegal hotel conversions would be included in the definition of harassment, and therefore could fall under the jurisdiction of the Tenant Harassment Prevention Task Force and be subject to its investigations and enforcement actions.
Well...to all our customers for so many years I'd like to thank you for coming to Benny's Burritos East
— Benny's Burritos (@BennysBurritos1) February 26, 2015