Here are the latest headlines on the water crisis at the Jacob Riis Houses on Avenue D.
As previously reported, residents were told Friday night not to drink or cook with tap water after tests revealed traces of arsenic. The City said that NYCHA officials learned about the contamination two weeks earlier and did not notify residents. NYCHA officials have vehemently denied that claim. NYC has distributed bottled water to the nearly 2,600 residents in the complex between Sixth Street and 13th Street.
• NYCHA Water Mess Stretches Into 5th Day as Arsenic Test Results Pend (NBC New York)
• Mayor Adams Promises ‘Thorough’ Look at How His Team Handled Riis Arsenic Discovery (The City)
• East Village Public Housing Residents Want Answers After Arsenic Found in Water (Gothamist)
• Carlina Rivera Discusses Jacob Riis Houses Water Issues (NY1)
• NYCHA Must Rebuild Trust After Arsenic Found in Water: Jumaane Williams (PIX11)
After 18 months of making ice cream from their Bushwick apartment, real-life couple Jesse Merchant Zuñiga and Javier Zuñiga are opening their own storefront in the East Village, they announced in an Instagram post last week. (H/T Vinny & O!)
Caleta — with a tagline of "not a wine bar" — has an anticipated late-fall opening at 131 Avenue A between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street.
During the day, they will serve cartons of their Bad Habit ice cream (a business created during the pandemic). And by night, as Eater reported, Caleta "will offer a New American small plates menu to pair with wine, cartons of their ice cream, as well as desserts that use Bad Habit product like baked Alaska."
To celebrate this landmark year, MoRUS, along with partners The Anarchist Book Fair, The Emma Goldman Film Festival, Green Oasis Community Garden/Gilbert’s Garden, La Plaza Cultural Community Garden, Nublu, and Time's Up, is set to present a four-day slate of events revisiting some of the museum's most gripping films, in-demand workshops, beloved walking tours and dynamic speakers.
There are a lot of events. You can find more info at this link.
Originally slated to open in mid-November 2012, MoRUS was forced to push back its grand opening date by a month due to flood damage from Hurricane Sandy. In the days following the storm, MoRUS created a cell phone charging station for the community using a bike generator lent to the museum by Time's Up!
MoRUS, which chronicles the East Village community's history of grassroots action and activism, is located at 155 Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street.
Several readers noted over the weekend that the classic Odessa Restaurant signage — • Seafood • Steaks • Chops • Cocktails — has been removed (or covered!) at 117 Avenue A between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.
Brooks Headley, owner of the all-vegetarian quick-serve spot that was on Ninth Street, told Grub Street in August 2021 how much he loved Odessa's interior. "I find it completely beautiful — the soda counter, the satellite bar, the cash register station. I don't plan to change it at all."
We asked SB what became of the old sign. Perhaps it will be refurbished and returned? (After all, the Seafood and Steaks lettering was peeling off.) The response via Instagram: "Don't worry. It's in a safe place!"
Odessa Restaurant opened in this space in April 1995 before a July 2020 closure. The original Odessa, the longtime favorite that dated to the mid-1960s, closed next door at 115 Avenue in August 2013.
Late last week, the state seized Sestina, the pasta restaurant at 67 Second Ave. for "nonpayment of taxes," according to the legal documents affixed to the storefront here at Fourth Street...
Plant-based celebrity chef Matthew Kenney opened Sestina in the fall of 2020, one of several restaurants he operates in the East Village.
The restaurant's Instagram account notes the following about the closure: "We apologize for the inconvenience for our technical difficulties. We will be back open very soon! We thank you for your understanding."
Meanwhile, Kenney just opened a Sestina in Culver City, Calif.
A J. Crew men's shop is opening at 316 Bowery on Sept. 13... the location arrived over the weekend on the brand's website...
As previously reported, renovations have been quickly taking place inside the former restaurant space in recent weeks.
A Bowery Boogie informant first heard that a J. Crew was in the works, though there hadn't been anything official from the company about the new location here at Bleecker.
In addition, contractors at the scene professed to not know anything about who the tenant was. Meanwhile, other tipsters came forward, stating that this will be a JPress outpost (not true, the brand said) or a Rowing Blazers shop (also not true — they are opening at 8 Rivington St. on Thursday).
As these interior photos by EVG contributor Stacie Joy from late last week show, the shop will apparently offer a coffee service... as seen on the front counter...
After filing for Chapter 11 in May 2020, J. Crew exited bankruptcy that fall. Per Retail Dive:
Lenders have taken over controlling ownership after a federal bankruptcy court approved J. Crew's reorganization plan. That deal left investment firm Anchorage Capital Group as the retailer's current majority owner. Kevin Ulrich, Anchorage's CEO, said in the release that his firm sees "an immense opportunity for growth and expansion at each brand," which includes the J. Crew and Madewell banners.
The company must be doing better financially — they're paying a 24/7 security detail to prevent people from tagging the 316 Bowery storefront.
We’re hearing from some neighborhood residents about how much they enjoy the free summer concerts in Tompkins Square Park and the joy they bring.
In an ongoing series looking at musicians busking, we focus on InCircles, who have been providing, along with a newly formed production company ShowBrain, summer weekend concerts locally.
InCircles are Jewlee Trudden on vocals and guitar, Ozzie Silva on drums, and Matt Middleton on bass. After a recent show, I talked with the band about their history together and why playing Tompkins is so important to them.
What is the band’s origin story?
Jewlee: I started the band under various monikers in high school. After many band members coming and going over the years, Ozzie and I eventually came together and realized it was a partner-in-crime situation. Dream team and whatnot. We started playing together a year or so before Stable 8 EP came out in 2015.
However, the members of InCircles have all played music in multiple projects and met in the local music scene, eventually playing a show together in our respective bands.
Ozzie: Yeah, Jewlee and I played a show together while I was playing guitar in a small punk band called Stupid Naturals. We shared the same bill with InCircles, stayed connected, and a few months later, when they needed a drummer, I tried out and nailed the audition! We took a break for a part of 2019 and all of 2020, but we’re back at it now. Full force!
How would you describe your sound? And how did the InCircles name come to be?
Jewlee: Honestly, the band name came to be in a not-super-deep way. I think I saw it written on a window or something and was like, “eh, that’s kinda cool...” It’s not a Sunny Day Real Estate reference. A lot of people ask that. Sorry y’all.
However, it’s taken on a deeper meaning over time. Which honestly feels kind of cooler to me. It can be an in-flux kind of thing.
Right now, to me, it means everything comes full circle. Maybe time isn’t linear. It’s easy to fall back into old habits; come back to relationships, romantic or otherwise, that maybe should’ve been left behind. Energy can’t be created or destroyed. Plenty of different applications; maybe the listener can decide for themselves what it means. I’d describe our sound as a fruity and bloody blend of high-energy rock-n-roll with some punk thrown in.
You play a lot in the East Village, yet band members don’t live in the neighborhood. What draws you to the area? Why is Tompkins Square Park especially meaningful as a place to play?
Ozzie: It’s New York City! We’re so lucky to live in a city with such a diverse group of people who appreciate the music and arts. It’s harder to convince people to come to a venue and much easier to bring the music to the people and create a following from there. Especially considering [the pandemic during] 2020 and 2021. A lot of people do not like to go to venues because of the fear of Covid, so it was much easier to play out in open spaces. Plus, it can be more fun than the traditional circuit! And Tompkins Square Park is a classic one. So many bands paved the way for us there.
I caught a set of yours at ABC No Rio maybe eight years ago or so, a very high-energy punk show. How has the band’s sound changed since then?
Ozzie: I’m not sure how much it’s changed yet to the public. We’re working on new songs so we’ll let the people decide from there.
What’s next for the band?
Ozzie: Recording and releasing some singles, touring in the fall and continuing to play and connect with other bands!
Four outposts (Avenue A, First Avenue, Third Avenue and the Bowery Market) have arrived in the East Village since last fall.
Per the Times:
The rapid expansion has piqued the interest of New Yorkers, who became especially alert to changes in the streetscape during the pandemic. When word got out that Blank Street is not an independent chain like Variety or Bean & Bean, but an enterprise with global ambitions backed by private equity financing, many became curious — and sometimes suspicious.
And...
To fuel that growth, Blank Street raised $67 million last year; investors include high-profile venture capital funds like General Catalyst and Tiger Global, the founders of Allbirds and Warby Parker, and the real estate giant Tishman Speyer
With that kind of backing, [co-founders] Mr. [Issam] Freiha and Mr. [Vinay] Menda had anticipated rapid growth. They did not anticipate that by debuting in Williamsburg and advertising their support for local business, they would invite the kind of scrutiny normally reserved for Met Gala outfits and Mets pitchers. Skeptics, who see Blank Street as an avatar of gentrification and automation, and resent the use of Wall Street money to compete with local businesses, have aired their objections on social media.
Jalen Williams, a product support engineer, stopped going to Blank Street soon after the very first brick-and-mortar shop opened on Bedford Avenue in his neighborhood. "People realized they were just here to check the Williamsburg box," he said.
As Eater pointed out in its brief — titled "The Oppressive Blah-ness of the Blank Street Coffee Chain" — about the article, Blank Street "has the potential to threaten mom-and-pop coffee shops."
And how does it stack up against other chains? Per the Times, a 16-ounce Blank Street iced latte costs $4.25; at Dunkin’, $3.75; and at Starbucks, $5.50.
ICYMI: Journalist Katerina Barton filed a good piece for Gothamist on Theatre 80 owners Lorcan and Genie Otway and the legal battle to save the historic Theatre 80 on St. Mark’s Place.
An excerpt:
When the March 2020 pandemic lockdowns shuttered entertainment and hospitality industries everywhere, Otway couldn’t make his loan payments. In November 2020 he tried to negotiate an extension on the loan. He learned that his debt had been sold to Maverick Real Estate Partners. His interest rate had jumped from 10% to 24%. Maverick did not respond to requests for comment.
Last December, Otway filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which would have allowed him to reorganize his finances and pay off the debt with future profits. But a bankruptcy court trustee said they didn't believe the theater, museum, and bar had enough income to make that plan work. Now the court has ordered the properties to be sold.
For the Otways, this solution isn’t viable. They live in an apartment upstairs along with other tenants in the building. “We would lose our future and our past,” Otway said. “You can imagine the nightmare we’re facing — it’s Kafkaesque.”
The NYCHA has said it has found traces of arsenic in the tap water at the Jacob Riis Houses on Avenue D.
Signs in circulation around the complex between Sixth Street and 13th Street starting last night warned residents not to drink the water or use it for cooking indefinitely. According to the posted notices, the levels of arsenic are above levels considered safe by EPA standards.
In a bombshell report by The City, NYC officials were informed of tests showing traces of arsenic two weeks ago. However, officials didn't react until last night when the news outlet asked about the findings.
Mayor Adams showed up to distribute bottled water at the Riis Houses last night around 10 ...
⚠️ RIIS WATER UPDATE: We’re alarmed by yesterday’s news at Riis Houses. We’ve been on site ensuring families have updates + drinkable water. As we await more test results, DO NOT consume water from the building.
NYCHA + DOHMH must give answers on previous findings + remediation.
— NYC Council Member Carlina Rivera (@CMCarlinaRivera) September 3, 2022
Levels of arsenic above 10 parts per billion can cause vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, paralysis, and blindness, and prolonged exposure can lead to several types of cancer, according to the EPA. The mayor's office declined to say how high arsenic levels detected were.
Over 2,600 people live at the Jacob Riis Houses.
I don’t know what to say. Other than my mom lives in this development and it’s a really scary situation. https://t.co/kidQg65YPs
According to an internal NYCHA email obtained by THE CITY, DOHMH [Department of Health & Mental Hygiene] doesn’t believe the contaminant emanates from the water supply but is somehow coming from the plumbing system at Riis itself.
A key concern for DOHMH is whether construction from ongoing work related to damage inflicted 10 years ago by Superstorm Sandy, as well as current work on the development’s heating system, have stirred up the soil and contributed to the contamination of the water.
NYCHA's federally imposed watchdog monitor, Bart Schwartz, notified NYCHA officials to "ensure the integrity of any inquiry," and for the safety of residents "preserve all documents related to this issue"... including electronic and paper communications, test results and timelines.
EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by for a look at the festivities, which included a variety of samples and giveaways...
Rocco Mileo, director of operations for Key Food parent company MAN-Dell Food Stores, Inc., was also here for the occasion. He said that if the community has a need that is not met by the store, to let management know ...
The grand reopening (it was never closed, as we've pointed out) activities continue today and tomorrow... as well as Sept. 9-11.
Chris Smalls, who helped unionize Amazon's JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island... and established the Amazon Labor Union, will join the Earth Church at 3 p.m.
The services will also be available via a livestream here.
Another summer comes to a close at the Tompkins Square Park mini pool. (And yes — Tompkins Square Park has a mini pool for children and their guardians...)
According to the Parks Department, the city's mini pools "will close on Labor Day." We're not sure if that means they close Monday, and Sunday is the last day. Or! They close at the end of the day on Monday.
