A celebration of tenant groups this weekend

On Saturday, the Middle Collegiate Church is hosting a Tenant Empowerment Conference.

Here are the details via the EVG inbox...

The goal of the conference is to celebrate all of the great work that's been done by tenant groups in New York City over the past few years.

We will also discuss the most effective means for tenants to assert their rights in the face of misbehaving landlords, rapacious developers and greedy banks.

In attendance will be tenants who have confronted predatory equity-practicing landlords (ie., Steve Croman, ICON Realty, Renaissance Properties, Jared Kushner, Samy Mahfar, Raphael Toledano, Madison Realty Capital etc.), as well as affordable housing advocates, local small business owners who are being threatened, local press, elected representatives and other interested parties from all over the city.

The conference will last from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. There will be a welcome address and a keynote speaker. There will be three panel discussions, run sequentially.

Tenant power packs, continental breakfast and lunchtime sandwiches will be provided to attendees.

The TTC (The Tenants Coalition, formerly the Toledano Tenants Coalition) and Cooper Square Committee are the co-hosts. The Middle Collegiate Church entrance is at 50 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Here's a slide show that that the groups put together ... showing some of what tenant organizations in the city have done in the past two years:

Time for the 6th annual LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival this weekend

More than 100 events are scheduled this weekend in the neighborhood's community gardens as part of the LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival.

You can head to the LUNGS website here for a rundown of the various performances, concerts, screenings and other related events.

Wednesday's parting shot

Sunset pic by Bobby Williams ...

Updated

Here's the sunset view from Fourth Street by Maya Falmagne ...

'Also Starring Harry Dean Stanton' starting Friday at the Quad Cinema

RIP Harry Dean Stanton (1926 - 2017)

A post shared by Quad Cinema (@quadcinema) on Sep 15, 2017 at 3:40pm PDT

As you may have heard, Harry Dean Stanton died on Friday at age 91.

Back on Aug. 16, the Quad Cinema, nearby on 13th Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue, had announced a retrospect of the actor's work scheduled for Sept 22 to Oct. 3.

Per the Quad:

Few actors are as recognizable in American movies as Harry Dean Stanton. The singularly mild-mannered face of the New Hollywood, his repertoire expands to dozens of appearances in beloved studio, cult, and independent movies, with only a handful of lead roles to his name.

In a career spanning more than 60 years, Stanton’s inimitable hangdog persona revealed a distinctive capacity for harebrained agitation and laconic, low-key melancholy that prove equally disarming. Stanton has worked with many cinema greats, from Carpenter to Wenders to Lynch. On the occasion of his starring role in Lucky (opening September 29) ... the Quad is proud to present a wide-ranging selection of his most memorable roles.

Screenings start on Friday, and include "Paris, Texas," "Repo Man," "Alien," "Escape From New York," "The Straight Story" and "Pretty in Pink," among many others.

The final print edition of The Village Voice is out today

The last print edition of The Village Voice — a 176-page commemorative issue — is out today with Bob Dylan on the cover.

Facing declining ad revenues, among other factors, owner Peter Barbey (since 2015) announced the end of the print era last month.

Here's part of editor Stephen Mooallem's farewell letter in this issue:

When I talk with people about the Voice, they often refer to it as an “institution.” But I think of it more as having a constitution. By that, I don’t mean a document containing a statement of essential principles by which the Voice is governed — I mean a constitution in the way that a person has a physical constitution. If you treat it well, then it can flourish; if you don’t, then it withers. Its existence is not inevitable. It needs to be fought for. When I look at what this paper has been for the past (almost) 62 years, I see the names of many people who have done just that for the Voice, and we’ve decided to dedicate this final print issue to them. The Voice may be bigger than print and ink or any owner, editor, medium, or era, but this paper belonged to New York, and the people who have worked for it have served both the Voice and the city in exemplary fashion.

The Village Voice was founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher and Norman Mailer. It will continue on as an online publication.

[Updated] The State of New York seizes Brick Lane Curry House on 2nd Avenue

EVG contributor Derek Berg shares these photos this morning ... showing that State has seized the restaurant here at 99 Second Ave. between Fifth Street and Sixth Street for nonpayment of taxes ...



In March 2016, the State seized the other two Brick Curry locations in the city, in Midtown and the Upper East Side.

According to Eater, Brick Lane owner Sati Sharma owed nearly $350,000 in unpaid taxes "when combing all four of his NYC restaurants, including the locations of Brick Lane Curry House and an Italian restaurant in Midtown called Radicchio Pasta and Risotto, which has been closed since at least January [2016]."

The "vast majority" of owed cash at that time was from unpaid sales tax, per a spokesperson for the Department of Tax and Finance.

The Second Avenue location is the last of the Brick Lane empire in the city.

Brick Lane moved to Second Avenue from Sixth Street in 2014.

Updated 9/21

The tax issues have apparently been taken care of... Brick Lane is back open today...


[Photo by Steven]

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: Pepe Flores (who was a little camera shy)
Occupation: Retired, Daycare Teacher
Location: Avenue C and 4th Street
Time: 3:30 pm on Friday, Sept 15

I was born in Puerto Rico in 1951 in public housing near the docks in Old San Juan, but then we moved to the countryside when I was 4 years old. I was raised on the sugar cane plantation.

I went to college at the University of Puerto Rico. I got involved in the left [political movement], and I had to leave because my life was in danger. There is political persecution in Puerto Rico — it’s been going on since 1898, the minute that we were invaded. Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States, so anybody who looks for the independence for Puerto Rico, in a pacific way or in a violent way, is a threat. So I moved to this neighborhood 45 years ago when I was 20 years old.

There was a two-bedroom apartment for $90 on 3rd Street between C and D. In those days, New York was affordable, you know what I mean? There was a big Puerto Rican population when I got here. There was a barrio uptown, one in the Bronx, then one in the Lower East Side. There was a big community, working class. We don’t consider ourselves immigrants because we are American citizens. I have an American passport.

I didn’t plan to live here — it was just that I was working in a bilingual program on 4th Street and all of a sudden I found myself in this community. I met somebody who was part of the adopt-a-building program, to adopt buildings that landlords had abandoned. So I got involved with the organization and I got an apartment in there. From there I moved to 11th Street. That’s where I got involved with the homesteading, with the renovation on the building. And now I’ve been in the same apartment on Avenue C for 35 years.

This is the first place where I saw performance art, the mix between dance, music, video, and all kinds of styles of creativity. One of the famous places for that was out on the corner on 2nd Street and Avenue B where the gas station used to be. The Gas Station was the abandoned gas station. These people took over and that’s where they had their performances.

And then you had the Nuyorican Poets Café that started on 6th Street between A and B and then they moved to 3rd Street. There was another place also that I collaborated with, it was called the Nuyorican Village. It was where the Jazz Boat used to be. The Jazz Boat was a jazz club on Avenue A between 6th and 7th Street, and when it was abandoned this guy Eddie Figueroa took it over. His approach was that, because the term Nuyorican can be a little bit of a put down, he believed that it was the “New Rican,” it was a new kind of Puerto Rican — we were vegetarian, macrobiotic. It was a very vibrant cultural community here.

People tend to treat this area as a drug haven, but it wasn’t like that. There was a working-class community. The people portrayed us as living on welfare, but you know what? In my building, out of 16 units, 14 people were working people, and I don’t know anybody who used to live on welfare. We were all working-class people, and most of the people in this neighborhood, or a lot of people that I know, they used to work in the Garment District, because the Garment District had steady jobs. It was close to the people, and it had pretty good paying jobs – enough to pay rent and live a decent life.

I would associate the decay to the disappearance of the Garment Center as a place for jobs. All these people lost their jobs. All these people that come from Puerto Rico, most of the people were people who came from the countryside. Once we lost jobs, then drugs came in, heavy drugs, heroin, cocaine. Those are hard, and it turned around the neighborhood. And then AIDS — I buried so many people here who died of AIDS, young people, adolescents, children, and they didn’t care.

They knew what was going on over here. They knew. I mean, if you see at 6 in the morning on 5th Street, 80 people lining up, you’re a cop, you say coño. They’re not going to church. They were there to score, at 6 in the morning. [The city] knew the whole thing about the drug trade that was going on here. They didn’t do nothing because that was a way to gentrify the neighborhood. That was a way to get people out of here. It’s a way that the system, the powers that be use to oppressed people. When you’re doing drugs, you don’t care about housing, education. You just care about your habit and that’s it.

And then with the economic depression that turned out, the landlords, they couldn’t collect the rents, and the easy way was to burn the buildings. They would pay somebody to go and burn a building with people in it. The building that I lived in, and all the buildings, we had to have volunteers to be security at night, especially at night because that’s when people came to burn out the buildings. They wanted to get the insurance money.

Besides that, I was a daycare teacher for 30 years of my life. It used to be on First Avenue and 9th Street, where P.S. 122 is. I took care of the children of Philip Glass, Ornette Coleman. After 30 years I left, but I’m still involved in the community. The things that you have to provide for the community are housing, education and health services. I consider myself a community activist. I’ve been involved with the gardens. There is a center on 9th Street between C and D called Loisaida Center, and I’m volunteering with them. My motto is, I’m not a volunteer, I donate my time. That’s another way to look at it.

I’m still here, I have two children even though they’re grown ups now, They’re doing great. I love this neighborhood. I want to give you an example – I used to walk out of the door and before you got to the corner you say, ‘hello’ to 5 or 10 people. It’s the community, the sense of community, the sense of caring about each other. You care about the old, the young, the adolescents. There are parks, youth centers. This is my neighborhood; this is my barrio. I think that concept comes from agrarian societies – that concept of barrio, of community. For some reason, the people who moved here had that spirit of community. The gardens are an example of that. People get together — the old, the young — and plant. There are more gardens between Houston and 14th, from A to D, than in any other neighborhood in New York City – and great, incredible gardens. I don’t play favorites – I love all of them.

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

Mark Burger 'gone for now' on St. Mark's Place

The quick-serve slider-speciality restaurant with a rotating batch of craft beers at 33 St. Mark's Place is currently closed.

The sign on the front door here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue reads: "Gone for now but not for good. Thanks to the ones who still believe in Mark. Our sliders don't have an expiration date."

The sign writer says to follow along on one of the Mark's social-media properties (like Instagram) for updates. So far there isn't any mention of this closure on any of the Mark's accounts.

Mark Burger opened in the fall of 2009.

A sneak preview of the world's largest rhino sculpture, coming to Astor Place early next year

[Photo Thursday by Derek Berg]

Last Thursday, EVG contributor Derek Berg ran into a group of people on Astor Place doing some preliminary planning for "The Last Three," what is being billed as the world's largest rhino sculpture courtesy of artists Gillie and Marc Art.


[Photo by DB]

Here's more about the project, which will be unveiled on Astor Place near the Cube on Jan. 10:

We're honored to announce that in early 2018 Astor Place will become home to the world’s largest interactive rhino sculpture that you can photograph, touch and hug.

Created by internationally acclaimed monumental sculptural artists, Gillie and Marc Art, the incredible 16-foot sculpture will depict the world’s last three Northern White Rhinos, Sudan, Najin and Fatu.

The sculptures unveiling at Astor Place will officially launch the “Goodbye Rhinos” project, which aims to collect one million goodbye messages from across the globe, forming a petition to stop the poaching trade and illegal sale of rhino horn, the cause of the Northern White Rhinos imminent extinction.

After the New York City unveiling the sculpture will then visit major cities across the world to raise awareness of the rhinos plight and conservation.

You can read more about the project here.

Gillie and Marc Art are investing $150,000 of their own money for the project. (There was also a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised $50,000.) Cable network Nat Geo Wild is the main sponsor.

We would like to send out a HUGE thank you to Nat Geo Wild for sponsoring the BIGGEST project of our entire lives, and helping us bring you this exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of the world’s tallest rhino sculpture. Nat Geo Wild has been absolutely amazing to work with! We’re so excited to launch The Last Three, a sculpture showcasing the world’s last three Northern White Rhinos on this planet, in the heart of Manhattan this January to raise awareness about rhino conservation! Nobody has ever seen this footage before, and we would love to hear your thoughts… @natgeowild #natgeo #nationalgeographic @natgeo #rhino #africa

A post shared by 💛GILLIE AND MARC💛 (@gillieandmarcart) on Sep 4, 2017 at 10:52pm PDT

City moves to potentially landmark 827-831 Broadway

[EVG photo from August]

Plans to demolish 827-831 Broadway for a 14-floor office building are on hold for now as the City has decided to begin the formal process of considering them for landmark designation.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission moved yesterday to calendar the pair of cast-iron buildings built in 1866 here between 12th Street and 13th Street. "That means the commission will ultimately hold a public hearing on the buildings’ designation and subsequently vote on it (one way or the other) within one year from now," as Curbed reported.

As previously reported, Quality Capital and Caerus Group bought the parcel between 12th Street and 13th Street last summer for $60 million. The deal reportedly included 30,000 square feet of air rights.

In the late 1950s, Willem de Kooning had a studio in No. 827, one piece of the history of these buildings uncovered by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), who has campaigned the past 18 months to preserve these buidlings.

GVSHP Executive Director Andrew Berman co-authored an op-ed at the Times in early August, providing more history of the addresses and making the case for why they should be landmarked.

The buildings were designed by Griffith Thomas, called “the most fashionable architect of his generation” by the American Institute of Architects.

You can read more about the buildings and the next steps in the landmarking process at the GVSHP website here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: 14-story building planned for 827 Broadway

An appeal to landmark these buildings on Broadway

Wagamama opens Oct. 4 on 3rd Avenue

Signage is up in the windows at Wagamama, announcing an Oct. 4 opening date here on 11th Street at Third Avenue...



This is the second NYC location for the London-based restaurant that serves Japanese-inspired cuisine. (You can find their menu here.)

And here's a look inside the space the other day...





Thanks to Vinny & O for the top two pics!

Previously on EV Grieve:
A few details about the Wagamama coming to 3rd Avenue

Dr Smood is now in on Houston and Orchard

[Photo from Monday]

Dr Smood debuted yesterday on Houston at Orchard, in part of the former American Apparel space.

Here's their description, via Facebook:

Dr Smood is an organic boutique cafe offering a carefully crafted menu of performance food for mind, body, and soul. We work closely with our partners to produce the highest quality products from sustainable sources, pure water, and nutrient-rich soil.

They are also billing themselves as...

Come by and experience Probably the Healthiest Cafe on the Lower East Side! #DrSmood #NewOpening #LowerEastSide #NeverProcessed #NeverArtificial #AlwaysOrganic

A post shared by Dr Smood (@drsmood) on Sep 19, 2017 at 12:48pm PDT

This is the fifth Dr Smood location in NYC. (The company started in Miami.)

And this Well + Good article has more about the owners. Such as: "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."

Previously

Willow tree post mortem at La Plaza

Back on Friday, workers removed the rotting willow tree from the southwest corner of La Plaza Cultural on Avenue C and Ninth Street.

EVG correspondent Steven stopped by the community garden today... there is a pile of chips from the 40-year-old tree, nicknamed Cher, available to take...





Also, it appears that following the clean up after the removal, community gardeners found steps to a path inside La Plaza ...



Previously on EV Grieve:
A wake for the last willow trees at La Plaza Cultural

At the Weeping Willow Wake


[Photo from Sunday]

Final date set for Clayworks Pottery on 9th Street

Last month, Helaine Sorgen announced that she was closing Clayworks Pottery after 44 years at 332 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

"My building has been bought by a predatory landlord who will not renew my lease," she said at the time. "It's been over a two-year fight, and the time has come to close up shop." (You can read her closing letter here.)

At the time, she was unsure of her closing date — some time around Sept. 15.

Sorgen provided an update on Facebook this past weekend:

"I am sad to report that my court ordered last day at Clayworks will be September 30th. However, the exorbitant amount of money judgment levied against me doesn't quite make up for the extra week. Still, it gives me the opportunity to see many of you again and share memories and say goodbye. I look forward to seeing you all before Clayworks closes forever."

Jeremiah Moss interview Sorgen for a post that you can find here.

Storefront photo from 2009 via Facebook

7th Street townhouse once owned by John Leguizamo to be demolished for new development

In September 2016, a permit was filed with the DOB to demolish the 3-level townhouse (circa 1848) at 264. E. Seventh St. between Avenue C and Avenue D.

In late October, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) announced that they would not consider a row pastel-colored residences here for landmarking.



While the fate of No. 264 (above) remains in limbo at the moment, its neighbor two buildings to the east will be demolished to make way for a new development.

As New York Yimby first reported yesterday, the city approved a demo permit last month for the three-level 268 E. Seventh St. ...


[268 E, 7th St.]

The permits (filed on Friday) awaiting approval show that the new 7-floor structure will have 8,043 square feet of residential space divided between two units.

Actor John Leguizamo owned No. 268 starting in 1995. In February 2013, the building hit the market with a $4 million ask. However, as Curbed noted at the time:

It's unclear how recently Leguizamo lived in the place, or whether or not he even still owns it — the deed was transferred to an LLC in 2002, and the listing says that it was "Recently a single family residence; currently used as a 3-family" ...

Leguizamo watchers on the block figure that the actor moved away from here about 2001 or 2002.

According to public records, No. 268 sold for $3.65 million in September 2013 to investment banker Wilco Faessen, who's listed as the developer.

There isn't any word on when the demolition/construction might start at No. 268.

Across the way, work continues at 253 E. Seventh St., where there are approved permits for a 6-story residential building ...





Previously on EV Grieve:
City says no to landmarking row of 7th Street homes, clearing way for demolition of No. 264

Come live in John Leguizamo's former home here on 'Artists Row'

The East River Park Track is now closed for renovations; September 2018 reopening expected

A longtime East Village resident said that he was "shocked and vexed" yesterday to discover that the East River Park Track at the FDR and Sixth Street was closed without any warning "until further notice" for reconstruction.



This project has been in the works since 2013. Per the Parks Department website, "this project will reconstruct the synthetic turf soccer field and resurface the running track."

The fine print notes that the construction will start this month, and take one year to compete. There wasn't any advance communications about this seemingly sudden closure.

The note the Parks Department left on the gate lacks many specifics, such as the reopening date...



Per the reader, who's training for the New York City Marathon: "Seems like a disservice to the schools, clubs and individuals who use the track in the prime months of September and October."

[Updated] Sentencing day for landlord Steve Croman

[Image via the Croman Tenants' Alliance]

Back on June 6, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the guilty plea of Steve Croman. The landlord will be sentenced this morning by Justice Jill Konviser as part of that plea deal.

------

Updated from The Real Deal:

Steven Croman will get to spend the Jewish holidays at home instead of behind bars.

At a sentencing hearing ... Manhattan State Supreme Court Justice Jill Konviser postponed sentencing for Oct. 3.

Prosecutors in the office of state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman – who dubbed Croman the “Bernie Madoff of landlords” – opposed the motion, but Konviser granted it nonetheless

-----

Here's the original statement about the plea from the Attorney General's office...

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced the guilty plea of Steven Croman, a major New York City landlord with more than 140 apartment buildings across Manhattan, for fraudulently refinancing loans and committing tax fraud. Under the terms of his plea, Croman would serve one year of jail time on Rikers Island and pay a $5 million tax settlement – marking a significant precedent in the effort to combat landlords who base their business model on the displacement of rent-stabilized tenants.

Rarely, if ever, has a landlord been sentenced to serve time in jail for engaging in these practices. The jail time and multi-million settlement announced today send a strong message to landlords that the Attorney General will pursue anyone who engages in these types of practices to the fullest extent of the law.

“Steven Croman is a fraudster and a criminal who engaged in a deliberate and illegal scheme to fraudulently obtain bank loans,” Attorney General Schneiderman said. “He went to outrageous lengths to boost his bottom line – including falsely listing rent-stabilized units at market rates when his efforts to displace those renters had failed. Now Mr. Croman faces a year in Rikers and a $5 million settlement – and unscrupulous landlords are on notice that we’ll pursue them to the fullest extent of the law.”

The AG's office still has a pending civil case against Croman accusing him of forcing tenants from their rent-controlled apartments. His next court date for the civil case is now scheduled for Nov. 13.

Schneiderman first announced the charges against Croman in May 2016. Those charges included multiple felonies for his role in an alleged scheme to fraudulently obtain several multi-million dollar refinancing loans between 2012 and 2014.

The civil lawsuit, filed in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan and the product of an independent investigation, alleges that Croman used, among other things, the illegal tactic of pressuring tenants into surrendering their apartments by repeatedly filing baseless lawsuits against them.

Croman's real-estate portfolio includes 47 buildings with 617 units in the East Village.

Members of the the Stop Croman Coalition will be present at the sentencing, set for 9 a.m. at the New York City Criminal Court, 100 Centre St., Room 1333 (13th Floor).

Previously on EV Grieve:
Following eviction proceedings, Steve Croman's 9300 Realty has a new office

Drumming up some dumpster action outside Webster Hall

There still aren't any permits on file with the city to renovate the landmarked Webster Hall on 11th Street... however, over the weekend, several readers spotted a dumpster out front here between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue ... whose contents included part of a drum kit...



Anyway. A quickie recap. The venue in its most current iteration closed on Aug. 10. (You can find a Webster Hall timeline here.) Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, along with AEG-backed The Bowery Presents, bought the building from the Ballinger family for $35 million this past spring.

The new owners will renovate the space, axing the club nights to focus on live music. Some reports suggest that the new venue won't be ready until 2020.

H/T EVG reader Doug!

The 9th Precinct Community Council meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday!) night

As a reminder, the 9th Precinct Community Council meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. So that would be tomorrow (Sept. 19).

The meetings take place at the 9th Precinct, 321 E. Fifth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

This is an opportunity for residents to address any concerns and ask 9th Precinct officials for their input on recent crime statistics.

First Hints

First Hints

Are we too, to be blown into Fall?

This quiet transformation from a summer,

Of heat and relief patented across,

Weeks in succession.

New mornings taking longer to appear,

Almost tranquil, limpid of light,

As the grip of summer,

Teasing in its reluctance, relinquishes its might.

Great winds surge across the South.

As we sit in park’s dappled light,

Children play, shrill their voices, below

The leaves above that soon will fall.

•

peter radley