New City Council legislation aims to protect tenants from construction as harassment

[Photo Wednesday via @RosieMendez]

On Wednesday, City Council passed comprehensive legislation as part of the “Stand for Tenant Safety” package that aims to provide greater tenant protection.

Per DNAinfo: "The bills range from increased fines for landlords, requiring a 'Safe Construction Bill of Rights,' stricter preventative measures to address construction as harassment, and the creation of an Office of the Tenant Advocate inside the Department of Buildings."

City Council member Rosie Mendez introduced the "Safe Construction Bill of Rights" legislation, which requires landlords to notify tenants before undertaking significant renovation projects.

Mendez shared this statement:

For far too long some of the city’s worst property owners have used devious, despicable tactics, as well as construction renovations to harass and intimidate tenants. Tenants living in buildings that are undergoing substantial construction usually do not know where to turn.

Therefore, the passage of the “Safe Construction Bill of Rights” legislation would require landlords to provide tenants prior notice of significant construction projects and periodic updates about the status of such construction projects. I believe this is common sense legislation and its passage will demonstrate that New York City will ensure that construction is safe with tenants in place and that tenants will be informed. The overall impact of this legislative package is that New York City will be the best and safest place to live.

Read more about the legislation in the City Council press room here.

A little more about Limited to One, a new collectible record store on 10th Street

Limited to One opened its doors on 10th Street back on July 29.

I asked the store's founders, Kristian Sorge and Nichole Porges (a couple outside the store as well) a few basic questions about Limited to One.

Why open a record shop?

It definitely started out as a passion project for both of us. One day we looked at our life and realized that our day jobs weren't something that we built on our own, and that was really important for us, to make our mark.

We also realized that there was a "hole" in the record market, so to speak, for records we were buying and interested in. After a few months of careful planning and asking all of our friends/other record nerdz what they wanted in their dream shop, we decided Brick-and-mortar was the way to go verses an online store. Kristian has lived in the East Village for over a decade, so the East Village was the perfect spot for us to open our shop.





What can people expect at the shop?

People can definitely expect a friendly, clean, and organized environment. We also love chatting with everyone who comes in!

Our store focuses on rare/limited/out-of-print records in the following genres: Punk, Rock, Indie, Alternative, Emo, Metal, as well as Hip-Hop. A few of our favorite titles in the shop right now are: an original Stooges pressing of their self-titled record from 1969, an original pressing of Saetia, The XX - self titled special edition limited to 500 copies with hand-signed prints, a 1977 original Ramones "Rocket to Russia," an original pressing of Dr Dre "The Chronic"... Just to name a few!

What about pricing?

While most of our records are collectible, that doesn't mean they are always expensive. Some of our favorite bands have records that are in the $10-$30 range. We are record collectors ourselves and know what it feels like to be over charged for records. We really strive to make sure our records are reasonably priced.



The store is located at 221 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. You can find them on Instagram here. They are also part of the RecordNerdz podcast.

Reminders: Summer Streets return tomorrow (Saturday!)

[Photo of Lafayette and Great Jones from last Saturday at 1 p.m.]

The second Saturday of Summer Streets takes place tomorrow (Saturday!) from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Around here, the vehicle-free zone includes Lafayette, Astor Place and Fourth Avenue.

In addition, there are all sorts of activities at the Citi Rest Stop in Astor Place, including Smellmapping Astor Place:

DOT Art and the Village Alliance have partnered with designer Kate McLean to produce a Smellmap of the Astor Place neighborhood. Three smellwalks were hosted over the past few months with local residents and stakeholders to gather smell data/information. Participants were asked to explore the environment strictly through their sense of smell by smell catching (receiving smell info), smell hunting (searching for smell info) and lastly free smelling (a mini smell research project). Mclean has collected all the smell data and visualized the findings as a colorful smellmap. McLean will be on-site to lead two walks at 9 am and 11 am to continue building on this research and invites participants to incorporate their findings into a large-scale smellmap available on-site.

What does Zoltar smell like anyway?

Some #NYC #smells to #sniff if you're joining @NYC_DOT @AstorPlaceNYC #smellwalks this weekend #CitiSummerStreets pic.twitter.com/V0gEE86fo8

— Kate McLean (@katemclean) August 2, 2017

Visit the Summer Streets site for more details.

Let's talk about rats (some more)

Via the EVG inbox...

Neighborhood rat reduction plan

A public info session with Q-&-A

Aug. 15, 6:30 pm
East Village Community School at 610 E. 12th St., between Avenues B and C.

Join senior officials and experts from the Health, Sanitation, Parks Departments and NYCHA to learn about:
-New state of the art trash cans in your community
-New investments in NYCHA developments to prevent rats
-More frequent trash pickup
-Better Waste Management Practices for Landlords or Enforcement of rat-related violations by landlords

Co-sponsored by: Borough President Gale A. Brewer, U.S. Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, State Senator Brad Hoylman, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh, Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou, Council Member Rosie Mendez, Council Member Margaret S. Chin, and Community Board 3.

A Starbucks sneak peek on St Mark's and Avenue A

A look inside the plywood on St. Mark's Place at Avenue A...



Back in July, DNAinfo reported on what to expect from this location:

A Starbucks spokesman said the company was designing the new store to reflect the unique character of the “Lower East Village.”

“We are proud to bring a new Starbucks store to the Lower East Village later this summer,” said the spokesman, who would identify himself only as Jonathan. “In addition to offering employment to more than 20 partners (employees), this store will provide a gathering place for the community and will be designed to reflect the uniqueness of the neighborhood.”

The spokesman added that the company’s partners are “involved in community service” and that the store donates all leftovers through its FoodShare program in partnership with Feeding American and City Harvest.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Starbucks confirmed for Avenue A

At the 'Not Another Starbucks Rally'

Thursday's parting shot

Still waiting, though not sinking. Eighth Street and Avenue B entrance to Tompkins Square Park...

...previously here ... and here.

Today in sidewalk sales

If you are on Second Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery this afternoon... EVG reader Daniel shared these photos from a sidewalk sale...



...to help someone move on with his or her life...

Today in books returned after 38 years

Via @tompkins_square_library:

This book was casually returned today — only 38 years late! 😄 The book, "The Woman in the White House" by Marianne Means, describes the contributions of 12 First Ladies.

Report: LPC signs off on expansion for the Anthology Film Archives

On Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission OK'd the long-time-coming expansion of the Anthology Film Archives on Second Avenue and Second Street.

DNAinfo's Allegra Hobbs was at the hearing. She has more background on the expansion, which has been in the works for years:

The landmarked structure operated as a courthouse until 1979, when Anthology Film Archives bought it to renovate and convert into a theater and archive space. Anthology moved into the building from its original Wooster Street location and reopened there in 1988.

But the renovation carried out by renowned architect Raimund Abraham remained incomplete for decades, said [co-founder Jonas] Mekas and architect Kevin Bone, who said at the hearing there had been many proposals for the completed project before the final one.

"We did all we could to get the Anthology doing what the Anthology did best, which is to start showing the great art works of the independent cinema," he said of the initial renovation, which he undertook as an architect with Abraham. "So here we are, now 35 years later."

The design from Bone/Levine Architects includes an additional story that will house the Anthology's library as well as a cafe on the ground floor, archival storage space and an elevator.

To help pay for the $6 million expansion, the Anthology staged a fundraising auction back in March featuring donated works by Cindy Sherman, Robert Frank and Chuck Close, among others. In addition, as artnet reported, Maja Hoffmann’s LUMA Foundation pledged $3 million toward the library.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Checking in on the 'completion project' at the Anthology Film Archives

The Living Gallery Outpost is a new exhibition and event space on 4th Street

[Image via Facebook]

The empty storefront at 246 E. Fourth St. (on the ground-level of the colorful tenement on the corner of Avenue B) has been transformed into a community/gallery space.

The Living Gallery Outpost is an offshoot of the Living Gallery, the Bushwick-based event and exhibit space. Here's more about the Living Gallery and what to expect on Fourth Street (via the Living Gallery website):

The Living Gallery BK was founded in 2012 by artist Nyssa Frank as a welcoming place where artists and creators could manifest their dreams into reality. Since then the venue has hosted art shows, film screenings, spoken word nights, concerts, community events and much more. It was there that the now married couple Joseph Meloy and Alexandria Hodgkins first met. It was their dream to someday open a similar space but they assumed it would have to be someplace outside the city and when they were older and had more financial stability.

The Outpost will have a similar model to the original Bushwick location but with a slant for intimate and special events.

The first event is Sunday with an event called B.Y.O. Art!



Other ongoing events include a vinyl listening party the third Tuesday of every month... plus...



Find more info on the Outpost here. The small space is also available to rent for pop-up shops, exhibits and workshops. Details here.

New photo exhibit celebrates the neighborhood's storefronts

[Click for a better view]

East Village-based photographers James and Karla Murray are curating a new exhibit at the Theater For The New City Gallery starting on Monday evening.

Per the Murrays, whose books include "Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York" — "The purpose of the exhibition is to act as an artistic intervention helping draw attention to and raise awareness of the importance of preserving the small shops whose existence is essential to the unique and colorful atmosphere of the city’s streets."

Here's a short summary of the workshops and exhibition:

Experience activism and community through the lens of 30 photographers, as they display their work from two free 2017 workshops with photographers and award-winning authors Karla and James Murray. In two sessions at the Neighborhood Preservation Center, the duo taught participants how to use photography and oral history to raise public awareness, build community, and encourage advocacy. Participants learned to create their own powerful photographs of neighborhood storefronts and to connect with the proprietors through personal interviews.

Also, we would like to note that two of the storefronts that participants photographed for the workshop, and were chosen by us to be printed for the exhibition are now closed — Cup & Saucer on Canal Street and the Golden Food Market on First Avenue at East 7th Street. So in the short time that we held the 2 two free workshops (between April and June of this year) and began printing the photographs participants took, we have lost 2 small businesses, both affordable eating establishments. We hope that after people see the photos and read the interview excerpts, that they will help support these small mom-and-pop businesses by actively dining and shopping at them.

The opening reception is from 6-9 p.m. on Monday at the Theater For The New City Gallery, 155 First Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street. The exhibit will be up through Sept. 18.

Updated: Cheers Cut bringing Taiwanese fast food to St. Mark's Place

Renovations have been ongoing behind the brown-papered front windows at 36 St. Mark's Place.

A worker there recently told EVG correspondent Steven that the new business will be selling fried chicken... and a sign noting "fried chicken and seafood" recently arrived on the front door...


[Photo by Steven]

Something deep fried makes sense given that the previous tenant here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue was Friterie Belgian Fries, which closed back in January after nearly 18 months in operation.

The previous tenant, Fasta ("Pasta Your Way"), lasted less than six weeks in business. Before that, it was the $1.50 branch of 2 Bros. Pizza, which closed in February 2015.

Updated 9 a.m.

Thanks to @NameCantBe for passing along that this will be a Cheers Cut location.

Here's their official description:

Our Taiwanese-inspired cuisine features flavorful, fresh dishes that deliver an unforgettable experience to your taste buds. We revolve our business around the goal of providing our customers with quality food and service. The menu features a variety of selections, including our famous crispy fried chicken and seafood dishes cooked to perfection, as well as other recipes ranging from bento boxes to noodles. Made with fresh, local ingredients and carefully hand selected and tested, our food will guarantee quality to provide our customers with the best experience possible.

Eater named it as a top spot for fried chicken in NYC:

The monster fillet at this new Elmhurst Taiwanese fast food chain that specializes in chicken and squid has been heavily crumbed and fried to perfection, and is delivered in its entirety — so bring a pocket knife. Crowds line up to get these fillets, and four sweet dipping sauces are offered. The cartoon superhero motif is an added plus.

Report: Landlord and partner sues Root & Bone chefs for spending profits

Chefs Jeff McInnis and Janine Booth, who run Root & Bone on Third Street at Avenue B, face a lawsuit for allegedly using $286,500 in profits from the Southern-themed restaurant for personal ventures, according to multiple published reports.

The lawsuit was filed by Richard Freedman, their business partner who also owns the building. He claims that the chefs, who live above the restaurant, spent some of the Root & Bone profits on a $135,000 apartment renovation and side projects such a like-minded pop up in Puerto Rico.

Per the Daily News:

"McInnis and Booth have assured Mr. Freedman that the restaurant is 'doing fine' but that it was not making much, if any, profit," the suit says.

McInnis, however, said the matter is nothing more than "bookkeeping confusion.”

“There's really no validation of any kind of lawsuit. I wish the guy the best," McInnis said.

And...

Freedman seeks an order that McInnis and Booth have violated their lease. He also seeks damages to be determined at trial.

Eater has published a copy of the 17-page complaint here.

The restaurant opened in June 2014.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Mama's Food Shop closes after 15 years; 'the community nature of the neighborhood has all but vanished'

Rumors: 'Top Chef' alum Jeff McInnis will help revamp former Mama's Food Shop space

Root & Bone announces itself on E. 3rd St.

Out and About in the East Village

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



By James Maher

Name: Puma Perl
Occupation: Writer/Poet/Performer/Former Social Worker
Location: Avenue A between 4th and 5th Street
Date: 2:30 pm on Aug. 3

I’m from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. One of the things that drew me here, which drew a lot of kids, was the cheap rent. The bottom line is that I just needed somewhere to be and it seemed possible. It had nothing to with wanting to meet artists or making any kind of scene. It was more like Gravesend was death and the Lower East Side was life.

But I also remember when I was in high school, and this is probably something that drew me here, somebody took me to what turned out to be the Electric Circus and the Velvet Underground were playing. I always say that changed my life forever.

You just did not know what you were walking into. One time the super of my building on 10th Street said to me, ‘Walk me to Club 82. I gotta do a pickup,’ and I walked in and there were the New York Dolls. I was like 'What the Fuck?' You could walk into the New York Dolls, into a whole new culture that was starting, but then you’d walk the other way and Tito Puente was playing in what’s now La Plaza Cultural. There was this feeling of community. You could feel like you had everything you needed here, on every level.

My son’s father, Jon Grell, and some of my still surviving friends were in the Motherfuckers. Before I met him, he was in prison, because the Motherfuckers used to do a lot of brilliant things like load firearms into a car on Houston Street... He was a kid and he was very enamored by Sam Melville, who was a brilliant radical guy. [Melville was from another collective and not affiliated with the Motherfuckers.] But the bottom line was that there was a provocateur that nobody should have believed and somehow he got in with these guys, and there were some bombings. Jon had nothing to do with it, but they figured that he was a loudmouthed kid, we’ll turn him, so he did a couple years for basically being a young asshole. That’s his story.

Eventually I went upstate for a year because things got really hard down here. I used to get picked up for being a runaway all the time even though I wasn’t. Jon got out and his probation didn’t allow him below 96th Street. So a mutual friend brought him to outside Ithaca where I was living and that’s how I met him. Then we came back down to the city in the 1970s when his parole ended.

First I lived on this 5th-floor walkup in the back, bathtub in the kitchen, police lock. The building caught fire. My apartment was actually untouched, and I can remember there was a woman next door with two kids and it was four in the morning and I took one kid and she took the other kid and we ran through the flames down five floors. I moved next door to the 6th floor and there were adjoining roofs, so I threw my furniture over the roof.

We moved to 10th and B, and at that time we used to call Avenue B the DMZ, but it was just innate — you just did it. You walked down the middle of the street. You know, you didn’t stop doing anything. I loved 10th Street. It was this Puerto Rican neighborhood. It was this family neighborhood where if your kid fell down someone was going to pick him up – kids on the street all the time, block parties, the social club was down there. I have a million poems about 10th Street.

[Later on], I was living on 7th Street between A and B when the Nuyurican Poets Café opened, which I credit with anything I do, because it was so inclusive that even someone like me from Brooklyn, not an artist — where I grew up in Bensonhurst, it wasn’t even like you were going to the city, you were going to NEEW YOORK — so it wasn’t something that I thought was accessible to me. Everybody was going to this place for poetry - totally incredible.

It came a little later, my being able to conceive of myself as an artist, but that was the start. I mean one of the things that I did there was have a baby with the bartender a couple years later, Eddie Gomez — they knew him as Eddie Piñero, and his brother was one of the three who started the café.

My daughter read her first poem in the café when she was 4 — it was about hot dogs. Growing up with that gives you a place where you know you can go somewhere. I didn’t grow up knowing I could go somewhere. I really credit the Lower East Side, the arts, and the café [to her development]. By that time I was a single mother and I didn’t have the wherewithal to send her to college, but she came into her own.

I have a history of addiction, so when I got clean it was basically about putting a life together. I moved to Brooklyn at that time, so I wasn’t around here a lot during a certain period. I raised my kids, I went to school, and I was so amazed that I tested HIV negative that I wound up becoming a social worker. I had no education when I started, doing outreach for like $2 an hour, going into shooting galleries before this was legal, doing harm reduction.

Then I went to college, and then I became the director of social work organization for people with HIV. People I supervised were asking me for letters of recommendations so they could become social workers. So then I became a social worker — I said well I may as well do it, and I did that for 20 years.

During that time I got back, so I started putting my name on every possible list and I wound up getting Mitchell-Lama Housing on Water Street. During that time is when I really started believing in myself. I started writing. I have four solo collections of poetry, and my first book, "Belinda and Her Friends" was published in 2008 about 10th Street.

Then I wound up becoming a poetry performer with a band, Puma Perl and Friends. We have a regular show at the Bowery Electric called Puma Perl’s Pandemonium. The next show is Sept 15, the day before my birthday. It will be my five-year anniversary.

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

A look at 'Carole Teller’s Changing New York' (and changing East Village)

[Astor Place circa the early 1980s by Carole Teller]

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) has an addition to its online Historic Image Archive – a collection titled "Carole Teller’s Changing New York." (View it here.)

Here's part of an email Monday via GVSHP Executive Director Andrew Berman:

Carole is an artist who has lived in the East Village since the early 1960s, who has generously donated to GVSHP over 500 photographic images she took of Lower Manhattan and all of New York from the early 1960s to the early 1990s.

[T]hey show an incredible story of change in New York over the last half century. Carole had a keen and prescient eye catching things on the verge of change, erasure, demolition, restoration, or renewal. All her pictures capture slices of New York that are both familiar and foreign, since every one of these images captures a scene which in one way or another no longer exists, at least as portrayed.

Berman shared a sampling of Teller's photos... (all reprinted with permission)...



Bocce Court at First Park, from First Street west of First Avenue looking to south side of East Houston Street ... circa 1963...

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50-52 Second Ave, southeast corner at Third Street ... circa late 1970s...

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36 St. Mark's Place, south side, just west of Second Avenue, next to Gem Spa ... circa early 1980s...

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St. Mark's Place, just west of Second Avenue ... circa 1980...

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Second Avenue, west side between Second and Third Streets, looking south ... circa 1969 ...

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...and an undated photo of 113 Avenue A near Seventh Street — Ray's Candy Store...

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Prints of all these images are available for sale through the website, with proceeds benefitting GVSHP.

Mayahuel has closed

Last month, Mayahuel, the Mexican-themed cocktail bar on Sixth Street from the Death & Co. team (Ravi DeRossi), announced that it would be shutting its doors after Aug. 8.

Per ownership: "Our lease has come to an end, and renewing wasn't an option."

As we noted on July 18, an applicant was on the July CB3-SLA docket for a new liquor license. The operators include Keith Siilats, a founder of an e-commerce company for financial-service firms, who also happens to own the building.

Siilats told Eater last month that he plans to open a similar bar in the same space.

And there was more background:

Siilats says DeRossi and co. hadn’t been paying rent for a while — a fix that he says was solved after he bought the business from the prolific East Village restaurateur and bar owner. DeRossi acknowledges that they hadn’t been paying Siilats directly, but only because they had sued him years ago for illegal construction that was impacting business, such as flooding the space when it rained. Their attorney had recommended that they keep the cash in escrow, according to DeRossi.

“After years of fighting with Keith in court it came time to renew our lease, as we could not come to an agreement with him we all just decided to go our own ways,” DeRossi writes.

Anyway, Mayahuel closed after service last night. There were some tributes on Instagram.

No word yet on when the new establishment might open here. CB3 approved the application last month. (A PDF with the minutes of the meeting is here.) The venture was described as a "a full-service Moroccan and Mexican fusion restaurant."

Former Eye Beauty Spa for rent on 4th Street

The Eye Beauty Spa closed a few weeks ago at 199 E. Fourth St between Avenue A and Avenue B following nearly 15 months in business.

The Eastern Consolidated listing says that all uses will be considered for the 500-square-foot space, which has an asking rent of $4,500 per month. (The storefront previously housed Salon Champu until December 2014.)

This building was one of six on Fourth Street that the Kushner Companies bought for $49 million from Ben Shaoul’s Magnum Real Estate Group and Meadow Partners back in 2013.

Dr Smood to call on the LES

Been meaning to note the recent arrival of coming-soon signage (it has been up for several weeks) on East Houston and Orchard, where another location of the health-minded chainlet Dr (no period after the r!) Smood is opening shop in part of the old American Apparel space...



Here's more about the operation via a profile in June at Well+Good:

The idea came to Danish business developer Rene Sindlev and his wife, Patrizia Manici Sindlev, when they were living in Denmark and feeling frustrated by the lack of healthy, grab-and-go restaurants. So, they decided to not only open their own—in Miami—but to also make it healthier than anything they’d seen before. Step one? The couple recruited holistic nutritionist and healer Dr. Etti Ben-Zion to spearhead the menu.

“The concept was for everything to be anti-inflammatory,” Dr. Ben-Zion says. “That means 80 percent of your diet should come from plants, which is why our products are 80 percent plant-based.” That’s not all: From juices and salads to sandwiches and snacks (all organic, natch), they wanted every menu item to be as nutrient-dense as possible.

If this sounds too preicious then you can walk one more block to the east to Katz's.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists & the Make-Up headline the Seaport Music Festival

Via the EVG inbox today...

The Seaport Music Festival is proud to announce its 15th anniversary celebration in partnership with The Village Voice and South Street Seaport Museum ...

In addition to live music, Seaport Music Festival will feature film screenings, comedy and dance.

This year’s lineup includes performances by:

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, who’s self-releasing his first album since 2010 called "The Hanged Man." At this year’s festival, Ted curated a special lineup which includes: comedic, musical and visual artist Jean Grae, heavy-beat minded electronic duo Azar Swan and NYC rock’n’rollers Big Huge.

New York Night Train DJ Jonathan Toubin has also been invited to curate a line-up, which features The Make-Up, who announced highly anticipated reunion shows this year. The line-up also includes Martin Rev (the surviving half of one of the most important bands of all time, Suicide), James Chance & The Contortions, The Wolfmanhattan Project, Death Valley Girls, Surfbort and Warm Drag.

The free Festival takes place at the South Street Seaport from Sept. 7-10. For more details go here.

[Updated] So long to those spiky structures outside Cooper Union

[EVG photo from March]

Workers today started to disassemble the representations of John Hejduk's pair of architectural structures, "the House of the Suicide" and "the House of the Mother of the Suicide," that honor the Czech dissident Jan Palach.


[Photo by Lola Sáenz]


[Photo by Lola Sáenz]

Hejduk, a Cooper Union graduate, was the founding dean of The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at Cooper Union.

Known as the Jan Palach Memorial, which was permanently installed in Prague in 2016, this was the first public exhibition (via Cooper Union and the Department of Transportation) for the recently revamped Cooper Square plaza.

These were part of a month-long exhibit featuring Hejduk's work that started in March. The sculptures were expected to remain up through June 11.

Given how challenging they were to erect, maybe Cooper Union decided to keep them here longer.

Here were details from Curbed about the project from a post in March.

Over two weeks the Cooper Union team, using power tools and socket wrenches, assembled 400 pieces into both sculptures. They used a wooden yoke to carry each of the 98 spikes onto the roof of each structure, which is 12 feet off the ground. The spikes — which weight about 100 pounds a piece —then project another 12 feet into the air. The framing of both sculptures is made of cedar timber, while the spikes are made out of sheet metal welded together.

Updated 8/9

An EVG reader shares these photos from this morning ... showing what remains...