Tuesday, September 18, 2018

The East River Park Track appears to be back in action



An EVG reader noted that the East River Park Track was open for business yesterday... mostly students were using the new upgraded facilitates ...



The front gates were unlocked. The reader was unsure if the track was open to anyone or just the students. (It appeared to be some kind of organized practice or event, the reader thought.) Updated: the track is open for anyone to use.

Anyway, as previously reported, the Parks Department closed the East River Park Track at the FDR and Sixth Street — without any advance notice — for a year-long renovation project last September.

In late August, a Parks rep said that the track would return for use on Sept. 10, though it remained locked up last week. The Parks Department website shows that the work here is now "100% complete."

The $2.8 million initiative was set to "reconstruct the synthetic turf soccer field and resurface the running track," per the Parks Department website, which includes this rendering highlighting all the improvements...


[Click on image for more detail]

Previously on EV Grieve:
The East River Park Track is now closed for renovations; September 2018 reopening expected

A look at the boutique office building replacing the St. Denis on 11th and Broadway


[Photo by Jeremiah Moss]

Workers are prepping the historic St. Denis at 797-799 Broadway at 11th Street for demolition, as Jeremiah Moss reported yesterday.

Normandy Real Estate Partners bought the building for somewhere in the $100 million ballpark back in 2016.


[Image via Wikipedia Commons]

Plans were unveiled on Friday for the new building.

Via a news release:

799 Broadway is located at the corner of 11th Street and Broadway, at the convergence of Union Square and Greenwich Village. Designed by Perkins+Will, the new 12-story, loft-style building will comprise 182,000 square feet of boutique office space and will provide a dramatic complement to this quintessential New York neighborhood. With floor plates ranging from 3,600 to 22,000 square feet, 799 Broadway will feature floor-to-ceiling glass, private terraces, and 15 foot high ceilings. This combination of highly desirable location and state-of-the-art design will appeal to New York’s most progressive and creative companies.

And...

Once completed, 799 Broadway will complement Columbia’s growing portfolio of differentiated assets in Midtown South, characterized by smaller floor plates, distinctive architecture, and high-end, modern finishes and amenities.

Speaking of once completed...


[Binyan Studios]


The 165-year-old building that is being torn down is noteworthy for many reasons. It opened in 1853 as the St. Denis Hotel, which is where Ulysses S. Grant wrote his post-Civil War memoirs and Alexander Graham Bell provided the first demonstration of the telephone to New Yorkers.

However, the building is not landmarked... and it is not in a Historic District.

Moss, who worked in the St. Denis, wrote this feature titled "The Death and Life of a Great American Building" for The New York Review of Books back in March.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Maps show that Midtown South does NOT include the East Village/Astor Place

Report: Former St. Denis Hotel selling for $100 million

Monday, September 17, 2018

Monday's parting shots



Fire extinguisher handiwork arrived overnight outside the Beth Israel clinic at 26 Avenue A ... and over on the (for sale) Provident Loan Society building on Houston and Essex ...

Nightmare scenario for residents who learn that 14th Street and Avenue A will be the main staging area for the L-train reconstruction



To date, the majority of articles about the upcoming L-train repairs have focused on the transportation alternatives while the MTA upgrades the Sandy-damaged Canarsie Tunnel.

The 15-month L-train shutdown between Bedford Avenue and Eighth Avenue begins in April 2019.

The MTA outlined the extensive work that will take place in a news release last year:

Demolition and reconstruction of approximately 60,000 linear feet of duct banks, 14,400 linear feet of track and track bed, 270,000 linear feet of cable ducts and associated cables, repair of 7,000 linear feet of concrete lining, and the installation of tunnel lighting and fire systems. The tunnel will be also be protected from future storms with resiliency measures including construction of resilient cables and ducts and the installation of a new discharge line.

Prior to the tunnel closure, extensive station work will be performed that will increase operational efficiency and improve accessibility and circulation. Station improvements at the 1 Av and Bedford Av L Subway stations will include new stairways, and four accessibility-compliant elevators and other work to improve customer flow.

Preliminary work started in the summer of 2017 on building new entrances at Avenue A and a new power station at Avenue B. Since then, 14th Street between First Avenue east to Avenue B has been an active construction zone with a variety of trucks, drill rigs, pile drivers, compressors and generators.


[Reader-submitted photo]

Meanwhile, 14th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue is down to one lane of traffic in each direction.



This is a large — and noisy — project that has already taken its toll on nearby residents and businesses.



However, as some 14th Street residents recently discovered, as bad as it has been the past year, the construction is going to get a whole lot worse. A group of residents living at 542 E. 14th St. at Avenue B said that 14th Street and Avenue A will be the main access point for the 24/7 delivery of new Canarsie Tunnel infrastructure as well as the portal for removing debris from the tube.

BoweryBoogie first reported on this development on Aug. 29. A resident speaking on behalf of tenants at No. 542 provided an update after a second meeting with officials on the construction on Sept. 6

Describe what you have been through with the L-train work to date.

Our first inkling that something was up was on Aug. 5, 2017 (a Saturday), when workers showed up and quietly dismantled the bus stop at the corner of 14th Street and Avenue B. There was no community announcement about a construction job about to begin at that location, no posted announcement about the bus stop removal.

Soon after, workers arrived and began chain-sawing down the 70-year-old trees across from our building.

Since that time, the project and site have been growing and growing — from Avenue B to First Avenue, on both the north and south sides of the street. The noise and pollution have made our building untenable. For almost a year, we've had on our block (14th between A and B) over 30 diesel machines (generators, four-story drills, compressors, bulldozers, backhoes, etc.) running six days a week, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.


[Reader-submitted photo]

The noise has been astounding. We've regularly made recordings of decibel readings in the high 90s to 120 on many of the machines — way above DEP allowable levels. We've also reported diesel run off into the streets and gutters.


[Reader-submitted photo]

For as horrific as the scope of the project has been, it has continued to get worse in every respect.

While all this has been going on, a crucial, game-changing piece of paper was tacked up at the site on the corner of 14th and A: A permit issued by DEP to the MTA approving 24/7 work hours beginning May 2018 for a full year. Mr. Nirva Paul at the DEP signed off on this permit (below) without the DEP having responded to a single one of our scores of complaints, and with no community interaction whatsoever.



In our first meeting — not a publicly announced, town-hall meeting, but one organized for residents of 542 E. 14th St. with the MTA and Judlau Contracting, Inc. by Assemblymember Harvey Epstein — MTA and Judlau finally admitted ... that their diesel emissions are not being monitored, and their noise levels are not being monitored. We were told in that first meeting that they weren't monitoring diesel emissions because a) they weren't required to, and b) there is so much diesel in the air already, there's no point in monitoring it.

The refrain from the MTA for the Carnarsie Tunnel Project has always been a firm, frantic — "This has to be done!" As if we're in an emergency state of repair. This is a bullying technique of they use to cover their bad planning.

The fact is, Hurricane Sandy happened in 2012 and they've had six years to figure out the best way to do this work with minimal community impact. They are a state agency, and appear to be clueless about our how our neighborhood functions.

This work has already greatly affected the businesses on 14th Street between B and First Avenue. Several have already gone out of business due to severely limited access to their storefronts. Several (west of Avenue A) are suffering because their customer access now is only 28" of sidewalk space, not big enough for a wheelchair in spots.



What we learned in that first meeting was the MTA's plan to make that very spot, at 14th and A, the sole entry and exit point for all old tunnel materials and all new tunnel materials. Heretofore, they had told the public that the work on that corner was for the new stairways and elevator for the station.

The work that's being done — long ahead of the stairways and elevator — is to create entry and exit points for a constant (24/7) flow of yet more diesel trucks removing debris that contains asbestos and silica dust (you can learn about that on the MTA's very own YouTube channel).

Residents said that they have filed complaints with the MTA and the DEP. What has been their response?

We — at least five of us in our building alone — have made a steady flow of very specific, documented complaints about violations to the MTA and the DEP about noise, diesel pollution and traffic congestion. We've had zero response from either agency. The only responses we’ve been able to obtain have been verbally, during the two meetings we’ve had so far with them and the Assemblymember.

You said that MTA reps confirmed on Sept. 6 that the area between Avenue A and First Avenue will be the main staging area — 24/7 — during the reconstruction. Before this, were you aware of any public meetings to let community members know about the work?

There were public meetings, but none of them addressed what you mention, which is what leaked, we believe for the first time, during our first meeting with the MTA, Judlau and Assemblymember Epstein. You can check the records on that — no publicly released information mentioned the staging area or the 24/7 work.

The only work mentioned was installation of the underground power station at Avenue B, and the construction of the elevator and stairways down to the new station on either side of Avenue A. We know of no place this “main staging area” information was made public before now; if it was, it certainly is not known at all in the affected area.





What is your biggest concern about the work?

The fact that the MTA’s current plan is to truck out hundreds of tons of tunnel debris. Much of this debris is known to be contaminated with silica dust and asbestos as acknowledged by the MTA on its YouTube site.



The Avenue A access point 50 feet from a school and church. This debris will be carted out 24/7 for a year and a half, under tight deadlines and facing and with contractors facing stiff penalities for each day the deadline passes, through the streets of the East Village and Stuy Town.

On the delivery end, the MTA will be commandeering the service/access roads of Stuytown to deliver all the tunnel materials, again 24/7. With a very conservative estimate of 30 trucks a day, that is over 13,000 truck deliveries, with all the pollution, idling, beeping and noise coming into what will be some of the most heavily-trafficked blocks and street in the city.

The fact that we’re facing two years of diesel trucks lined up and idling, coming and going round the clock, in an already heavily congested area.

The fact that the neighborhood will very likely to become a parking area for idling diesel trucks, 24/7. This alone will create conditions even more untenable than those we’re already facing.

Why is this being done undercover, in such a shady fashion? The only answer to that is they know community response will be outrage once people have a chance to fully grasp what’s in store. Keeping it secret will allow them to get far enough into the project that there will, arguably, be no turning back. But the nightmare of the plan (and the congestion, not to mention the pollution), combined with their plan to use 14th Street for a substantially increased number of buses round the clock, will have a devastating effect on the area.

Now that we know the plan, we’re calling on all public officials for our district to come out against the plan, and for the Mayor and the Governor to put a moratorium on work until an independent auditor can be brought in to assess the impact of this plan on the community’s health and well-being, and to engage the community in this plan.



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Debris removal from this entry point on 14th Street is likely among the topics to be discussed this evening during a Town Hall on the L tunnel reconstruction project. The event takes place at Middle Collegiate Church, 112 Second Ave. between Sixth Street and Seventh Street from 6:30-8:30 p.m.



You can find more info on the L-train reconstruction via this MTA microsite.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Trees coming down for L train expansion on 14th Street

Renderings reveal the MTA's plans for the Avenue A L station; why does everyone look so happy?

The Grand Opening for Marshalls on East Houston is now Oct. 4



Signs arrived over the weekend next to Katz's on East Houston about the grand opening for Marshalls... now apparently set for Oct. 4, one week later than previously announced...



As we first noted last month, the off-price sellers were set to open on Sept. 27 next door to Katz's in Ben Shaoul's hand-laid, gilded-bronze brick condoplex between Ludlow and Orchard streets.

Before!



Now!



It appears the entrance to Marshalls will be directly next door to Katz's...



This property on East Houston previously housed a single row of storefronts, including Ray's Pizza, Bereket and Lobster Joint.

H/T Mike Stuto!

Previously on EV Grieve:
Making way for Ben Shaoul's new retail-residential complex on East Houston

Katz's is now the last business on East Houston between Ludlow and Orchard

Marshalls opening next month in Ben Shaoul's luxury condoplex on East Houston Street

Convicted felon Steve Croman featured on CNBC's 'American Greed' tonight



"American Greed" — CNBC's true crime series that "examines the dark side of the American Dream" — features disgraced landlord Steve Croman in an episode that airs tonight at 10.

Croman's segment, titled "Lousy Landlord," will be on the second half of the episode. (Watch the trailer here.)



Croman was released from the Manhattan Correctional Facility on June 1 after serving eight months of a one-year jail sentence and paid a $5 million tax settlement following criminal charges brought by the AG's office for fraudulent refinancing of loans and tax fraud.

In a separate civil case, Croman agreed to pay $8 million to the tenants he was accused of bullying out of their rent-regulated apartments.

An independent management company is now overseeing Croman's residential properties — including 47 buildings with 617 units in the East Village — for the next five years.

Getting 511 E. 5th St. ready for new grilled pizza venture from Emmy Squared's owners



Interior renovations started in earnest last week at 511 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

As previously reported, Emmy Squared was originally thought to be taking over the space. (Emmy Squared instead opened on First Avenue at Fifth Street.) And No. 511 remained in a dormant state following GG's departure last December.

Emmy Squared owners Matt and Emily Hyland recently announced that they will serve grilled ­pizza here, as New York magazine first reported.

The Hylands reportedly went to "grilled-pizza mecca" Al Forno in Providence, R.I., on their first date while they attended Roger Williams University.

Eater had more about grilled pizza:

It’s known for being crisp on the bottom but tender inside, with some smokiness from the grill. There’s not a lot of it in NYC, which is something the Hylands are familiar with after making Detroit pizza happen here with their breakout hit Emmy Squared.

The still-unnamed grilled pizzeria, which is expected to open in November, per New York, will also offer non-pizza dishes such as housemade pastas and grilled fish.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Emmy Squared's owners are bringing grilled pizza to the former GG's space on 5th Street

Whatever happened to... Sammy's Halal?



Going on nine months now since the Sammy's Halal signage arrived at 109 First Ave. between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.

And not much has seemingly happened with the space. (Chicken remains "Chiken" on the sign.)

The interior has a no-frills, 1970s basement rec room look...



Google lists the location as "permanently closed" even though the place was never actually open (and there's a five-star review!) ...



The address was previously the Polish G. I. Delicatessen, the Eastern European specialty foods shop closed in July 2016 after 21 years in business.

Sunday, September 16, 2018

Week in Grieview


[A Saturday night scene on 2nd Avenue]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Stannard Farm pulls out of the Greenmarket; 20-plus year veterans of Tompkins Square Park (Friday)

A 9/11 moment at Engine Company 5 (Tuesday)

City Council to hold public hearing Monday on hotel next to the Merchant’s House (Friday)

A visit to the Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen on 7th Street (Tuesday)

The EVG podcast: Al Diaz on BOMB1, SAMO© and Basquiat (Friday)

This week's NY See (Thursday)

Met Fresh now open on Avenue D (Monday)

A few more details about Madame Vo BBQ, coming soon to 2nd Avenue and 6th Street (Wednesday)

Cholo Noir space now for rent on 6th Street (Monday)

Reader report: New owners for Fine Fare on Avenue C? (Wednesday)

Full reveal at 253 E7 (Monday)

BarBacon opens on 4th Avenue (Thursday)

On 2nd Avenue, signage arrives for Dim Sum Tea House (Wednesday)

Reader report: Avenue B Cleaners Cromanated (Monday)

About Joya Loves Louie, opening soon in the former Café Orlin space on St. Mark's Place (Monday)

Looking at two dormant Bowery storefronts (Tuesday)

Start me up: Waiting on a Friend opens on 1st Avenue and St. Mark's Place (Wednesday)

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Sunday morning with the juvenile red-tailed hawk in Tompkins Square Park



Steven shared these photos of the juvenile red-tailed hawk in Tompkins Square Park this morning... he was calling out for food in hopes that his parents, Christo and Amelia, might drop off something to eat...



The juvenile appears to be fully healthy after battling (possibly) West Nile Virus in recent weeks...





Hawk watchers aren't sure how much longer this juvenile will stick around the area before moving on to start his red-tailed hawk life elsewhere...



Previously on EV Grieve:
The EVG podcast: Red-tailed hawk talk with Laura Goggin

The EVG podcast: More hawk talk with Laura Goggin

The Village View tag sale is today (Sunday!)



The semi-annual sale is in the playground behind 60 Avenue A — at the corner of Fourth Street and Avenue A ... from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The New York City Marble Cemetery is open today for strolling and exploring



There's a Neighborhood Open Day today at the New York City Marble Cemetery on Second Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Via the EVG inbox...

The Cemetery grounds will be open from noon until 6 p.m. Stroll around and explore some New York history, or bring a book and a blanket and hang out under the trees for a while. Free admission, no reservations necessary.

Saturday, September 15, 2018

Saturday's parting shot



The Abracadabra Field Trip Mobile jam bus on Avenue A at St. Mark's Place tonight...

Sunday jazz at Albert’s Garden on 2nd Street



Via the EVG inbox...

Join us at Albert’s Garden to listen to the Chromatone Quintet, whose jazz repertoire will help usher in the fall season.

Date: Sunday, Sept. 16 (Tomorrow!)

Time: 4 to 6:30 p.m.

Albert’s Garden, begun in the 1971, is one of the oldest community gardens in Manhattan and offers a serene respite from the stress and noise of the city. It features a goldfish pond and a striking wall mural by the Belgian street artist Roa.

Location: 16 E. Second St. between the Bowery and Second Avenue.

Today at La Plaza: BBQ, the Hallucination Station Market and 'Three Green Suns'



The Loisaida Center continues its third annual Garbagia program today with a performance of "Three Green Suns," based on a story by Rolando Politi, at La Plaza Cultural on the southwest corner of Ninth Street and Avenue C. (Politi created the upcycled art that adorns the La Plaza fence.)

Here's more via the EVG inbox...

Loisaida is proud to bring our community an ongoing summer program, Garbagia, highlighting and revitalizing the migrant experience, our neighborhood's historical inventiveness, and ecological resilience.

2-5 p.m.: Hallucination Station Market — a second-hand and upcycled art market where the creatures and characters of the program will be the sellers and makers of their own products.

5-6 p.m.: "The Three Green Suns" is "the vision of a future that is here — climate change, cleaning planet, Reduce and ReUse, we are becoming Redeemers and Waste Pickers to arrive at Hallucination Station and experience 'The Three Green Suns.'"

There's also mention of a BBQ at 2 p.m.

Find more info at the Loisaida Center website here.

Friday, September 14, 2018

Friday's parting shot



Photo from early this evening on 12th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B...

'Future' shock



This is "Future Me Hates Me," from the recently released debut record by the Beths, a quartet from New Zealand.

The 5C Café and Cultural Center hosts the 2018 Dissident Arts Festival tomorrow night



The East Village portion of the 2018 Dissident Arts Festival takes place tomorrow evening at 7 at the 5C Café and Cultural Center.

Here's more from the event website:

On Sept. 15 the action moves to the 5C Café and Cultural Center, long-standing home of avant jazz and bold performance, where funds will be raised for the Alliance of Families for Justice and the NYC Jericho Movement. Both organizations advocate for the unjustly incarcerated and call for urgent prison reform.

The evening opens with a solo performance by renowned drummer William Hooker, and includes 5C’s own pianist/composer Trudy Silver, Ras Moshe’s Music Now! and the Flames of Discontent duo of Festival director John Pietaro and Laurie Towers. The closing act is international songwriter Martina Fiserova.

The 5C Café and Cultural Center is on Avenue C at Fifth Street. Find more 5C Café info here.

The EVG podcast: Al Diaz on BOMB1, SAMO© and Basquiat



Artist Al Diaz joined me in the East Village Radio storefront studio on First Avenue for this EVG podcast.

Diaz grew up in the Jacob Riis Houses on Avenue D. He started writing graffiti at age 12. As a teen in the late 1970s, he and his friend Jean-Michel Basquiat collaborated on a series of cryptic messages seen around the city signed from SAMO©.

Some 40 years on Diaz remains active (check out his Instagram account here).

We covered a lot in 30 minutes, from the early days of graffiti in NYC to Sara Driver's recently released documentary, "Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat," which features Diaz, to the return of SAMO© after Election 2016.

Take a listen... or download it for later...



His work will also be featured in a new gallery via Adrian Wilson coming to 57 Great Jones St. ... where Basquiat lived and worked at the time of his death in 1988.



Al Diaz image via Instagram

Previously on EV Grieve:
The EVG podcast: Red-tailed hawk talk with Laura Goggin

The EVG podcast: Mike Katz and Crispin Kott on the "Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to New York City."

The EVG podcast: A 'Vanishing New York' conversation with Jeremiah Moss

The EVG podcast: More hawk talk with Laura Goggin

The 47th annual 10th Street block party is tomorrow (on 10th Street)



Happening tomorrow (Saturday!) from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on 10th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

As the flyer shows, there will be antiques, collectible and music brought to you by the 10th Street and Stuyvesant Street Block Association.

And arrive early for mannequins photo opps...


[Via @evgrieve]

The annual Ninth Street A-1 Block Association Block Party is also tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Ninth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

H/T Steven