Saturday, November 18, 2023
Saturday's opening shot
Friday, November 17, 2023
Hold the 'Phone'
[Updating] 19-year-old worker killed by father in construction accident on 1st Avenue and 7th Street
Photo by Daniel Carlson
Updates below; headline also updated as more information became available. There's a GoFundMe here to help the family pay for funeral expenses.
Reports are coming in this morning shortly before 9 that a male pedestrian was struck and killed by a mobile hydraulic lift on First Avenue at Seventh Street.
Police have the intersection closed off right now.
[Photo by Daniel Efram]
We'll update you when more information becomes available.
Updated 10:30 a.m.
ABC-7 reports that the victim, a 19-year-old man, was a construction worker who was directing the equipment operator through the intersection.
Updated 1:30 p.m.
Police have confirmed that the driver of the mobile hydraulic lift is the father of the victim.
According to witnesses and published reports, the son "was attempting to guide his father onto a flatbed truck through the busy intersection," per ABC-7. The victim had apparently moved to stop traffic and was run over by the machinery.
The victim, Ommatt Cruz, lived in the West Brighton neighborhood of Staten Island, according to the Staten Island Advance.
The unhoused residents living on 9th Street and 1st Avenue
Photos and interviews by Stacie Joy
In recent months, the NE corner of Ninth Street and First Avenue has been the focal point of ongoing sweeps by multiple city agencies, including members of the NYPD, the Department of Sanitation and the Department of Homeless Services.
I spoke with three of the regulars here (there are often others staying on the sidewalk as well) to learn more about them and why they continue to stay on this corner.
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So it’s bullshit that we paying taxes and we don’t get the support we need.
Before coming here I was in a relationship with my baby mother. So after that, we split. We had a problem and a situation in the relationship. She stayed with my son in the apartment, so I had to go.
So for a while, I was staying in a little car that I bought.
The solution is affordable housing. Like for everybody, you know. Me? I will ask for the same thing for the whole world. It’s gonna take time. But, if we start at least taking the homeless from the city — from Ninth Street, no, not just from Ninth Street — from all over, like Tompkins Square Park, we could start cleaning the city, not just putting it like the dust, the dirt, under the rock.
Because that’s what they’ve been doing for years. And we got the biggest problem. Oh no, we try to fix it? You’re not trying to fix nothing. They just throw us like we are garbage, like, under the rocks.
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It’s not really safe and I have no apartment to stay at, so I was wandering around and I would probably end up traveling, but I saw Eduardo and he told me what was going on, so I stuck around.
Before this, I was in Queens, like saying with friends. And family. I had traveled before that and then it was at this point, I was going to start traveling again. I was going to get on a Greyhound to Nevada. Or I was also looking at CSX schedules. And things like that as well. To kind of just like, find any way out of the city.
I really just don’t want people to get to keep getting hurt and disrespected. I want people’s human rights to be respected. I don’t want to be treated like livestock anymore.
And during a sweep? I’m not saying they should bring animal services and take my cat, but sometimes they don’t let us come back and forth for ourselves [during or after a sweep] and if I can’t immediately pick up my cat, what does that mean for my cat? It’s hurtful.
If I can’t pick up all my stuff, then they’re going to throw it out. They say they’re gonna voucher it, but a lot of the time it just gets lost in the system. I usually try to grab the cat first. But then everything else gets lost and I have no clothes. It’s just a rabbit hole.
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This is kind of the sequel to Anarchy Row last year [at Ninth Street between Avenue B and C] to what happened there. This camp was a little bigger, but some of its members got inside somewhere for a few days. You know, I don’t blame them.
People that are still here have been trying to fight for justice. Trying to force people into these shelters and safe havens that are dangerous and aren’t helping anybody, just hurting people more. They are designed to be like jails. You know, to have that jail feeling to it?
I have a studio of supportive living. There’s a caseworker in the building. I have some issues with it, but I don’t complain too much. I joke a bit that it’s the best shelter I’ve ever been in. And what I mean by that is that’s where they should have put me and everybody else right from the beginning.
There are a lot of people out here that should have been helped 10 years ago. They are in really bad shape mentally, physically — really bad.
The solution? Yeah, yeah, the solution is the hundreds of thousands of empty apartments. We make them available to the people who don’t have a place to live. And then to stop evicting people into homelessness from there.
There’s enough empty apartments to house all the homeless people in the city and that includes the people that society labels as “migrant people.” There’s enough empty apartments to do that three times over.
East Village resident pleads guilty to running a 'sophisticated ghost gun factory'
An East Village resident pleaded guilty on Tuesday "for running a sophisticated ghost gun factory" in his apartment and possessing firearms, ammunition, 3-D printers, and ghost gun parts, according to D.A. Bragg's office.
Cliffie Thompson, 36, pleaded guilty to six counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, among other charges.
Per the D.A.'s office, under the terms of the plea, Thompson will be sentenced to five years in state prison followed by three years of post-release supervision. He is expected to be sentenced on Jan. 8.
Thompson was arrested this past Jan. 15 for assaulting his girlfriend. According to his plea, "he contacted and directed a woman at his apartment to remove equipment from his home." (He reportedly lived with his mother in the Lillian Wald Houses on Avenue D.)
During a search of the apartment the following day, officers recovered five firearms and various types of ammunition, as well as a setup to manufacture ghost gun parts from scratch, including two 3-D printers. Police also found 36 blank forged credit cards containing other people's personal information.
As Gothamist noted, several lawmakers have proposed measures that would make it illegal to make a firearm with a 3-D printer or share instructions explaining how to do so.
Thursday, November 16, 2023
Thursday's parting shot
Photo by Steven
Squirrel caught in the act while trying to mess with Amelia, one of the resident red-tailed hawks in Tompkins Square Park today...
Noted
Photo by William Klayer
The Lime Tree Market — often first with the seasonal sale items — is prepping for the arrival of the Christmas trees here on the SE corner of First Avenue and Ninth Street...
Q&A with Colin Simpson, aka reggae artist Ras Redemption
Interview and photos by Stacie Joy
I recently talked with Colin Simpson, an aspiring reggae artist who goes by Ras Redemption. He lives and works on the Lower East Side, overseeing maintenance as a superintendent for a residential management company.
He told me about his recently released single, "Brethren," and how the neighborhood reminds him of his hometown in Guyana.
Tell us about your journey to the Lower East Side.
I was born and raised in Georgetown, Guyana, and moved to the United States in 2007, living first in Brooklyn. I moved to the Lower East Side in 2011 for work and have lived here ever since.
I have a video about my journey on YouTube if you want to check it out for more about me.
How do you describe your music?
My music is uplifting, redeeming, inspirational and universally friendly. Reggae is righteous music; it's about awakening and knowing yourself. It frees you from whatever tribulation is going on in life, and it's music to keep you grounded and focused.
So, my music and lyrics mirror that — it mentally takes you to a different place.
You live and work on the Lower East Side, whose locales appear in your music videos. How has the neighborhood influenced your work?
It has influenced me in a positive way. I come from a place where, from the moment you're awake to when you're out in the street, you greet everyone in a warm and friendly manner, and I get that same response from living in this neighborhood — it reminds me of home.
Living on the Lower East Side inspires me to write positive music, making me want to extend/show that same kind of warmth and gratitude to the world.
Where can people see and hear you perform?
I’m in the studio working on my first EP and some new singles. So, for now, if people want to hear more of my music, I’m on all digital platforms and social media.
You can find Colin's social media and videos at this link.
Demoliton of the fire-damaged Middle Church façade starts on Monday
Photo Tuesday by Steven
On Monday, workers will begin to remove the remains of Middle Collegiate Church's fire-damaged façade at 112 Second Ave. between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.
Earlier this month, Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, senior minister at Middle Collegiate Church, told us this is expected to be a two-to-three-month job. Lewis also explained that it's a combination demolition-salvage operation. Workers will sift through the remains of the building, initially completed in 1892, to save any of the limestone and ironwork for use in the new sanctuary that will eventually rise on the property.
As previously reported, church leaders said they must remove what remains on the property within the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District. According to a report commissioned by the church, the culmination of an 18-month review, there was too much damage to the existing structure to integrate it into Middle Collegiate's new home, that it wouldn't withstand a full-scale rebuild on the property.
On 3:30 Monday afternoon, church leaders and members of the Middle community "will gather to mourn the sanctuary it called home."
From an announcement about the start of the demoliton:
While this is a moment of communal grief, it will also clear the way for Middle to build a new sanctuary as the community continues to rise. The gathering will embody an ethos that has always defined New York: Resiliency that rebuilds from tragedy by reshaping the neighborhood in ways that honor the past but chart a bold new future.
The church structure was destroyed during a six-alarm fire early morning on Dec. 5, 2020. The fire reportedly started inside 48 E. Seventh St., the five-story residential building that once stood on this corner. FDNY officials blamed faulty wiring at the under-renovation No. 48 and said the fire had been deemed "non-suspicious."
By December 2024, officials hope to create a new worshiping space for up to 225 people in a two-story structure adjacent to the church and their property at 50 E. Seventh St.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Revisiting 305 E. 11th St. and 310 E. 12th St.
Photos by Choresh Wald
News arrived in August 2022 that Meadow Partners was the new owner of 305 E. 11th St. and 310 E. 12th St., adjacent multifamily residential buildings connected by a garden between First Avenue and Second Avenue.
That same August, art critic and longtime building resident Charlie Finch jumped to his death.
Just five days before Finch jumped out of his window, he'd learned the building had been sold to a private-equity firm for $58 million. Finch, a rent-stabilized tenant of the same apartment for 45 years, was despondent and feared that he would soon be out of a home.
And...
Nine months later, some of Finch's biggest fears have come to pass. Dozens of market-rate tenants received notices from the new landlord ... stating that they must leave their apartments... Others have been offered lease renewals with rent increases in the thousands.
The buildings were also the site of a rally for tenant rights back in May.
We have heard very little since then... and missed the news that the building was rebranded as Flora ... 
After a gut renovation and luxurification, a three-bedroom unit via Streeteasy now asks $8,995 (in 2013, the then-two-bedroom home was $4,400). Updated: A reader points out the prices on the Flora website, where three bedrooms are asking $9,750 and $10,100.
Filings at the Department of Buildings also show pending plans for a "vertical enlargement" (aka a sixth floor).
Flora joins another large East Village residential property now owned by a private-equity firm, the recently christened Untitled at 58-72 Avenue A. You can read what's happening there at this link.
The deal for the 89-unit buildings at 305 E. 11th St. and 310 E. 12th St., owned by the Chissick family since the late 1960s, was $58 million.
Wednesday, November 15, 2023
ICYMI: Flaco is backo on the Upper East Side
After nearly eight-plus days of a downtown sojourn, Flaco — the only Eurasian eagle owl in the wild in North America — has returned to his usual confines around Central Park.Flaco continued to enjoy his sunny life on Fifth Avenue earlier today, just across the street from Central Park, where perhaps he will go hunting later. Thanks to Sarah Bramwell for sharing this photo. 🦉 ♥️ pic.twitter.com/r4DT2DqbGC
— Manhattan Bird Alert (@BirdCentralPark) November 15, 2023
There were rumors of a Central Park return yesterday... and the @BirdCentralPark X account was able to confirm the sightings later.
Flaco was first spotted in the East Village on Nov. 6 at the Kenkeleba House Garden off Avenue B and Third Street. He was seen multiple times over the next few days here and on the Lower East Side... even inspiring some we've-been-there-too poetry.
H/T Steven
At long last the new location of El Rinconcito is ready to open this Friday
Photo from last fall by Stacie Joy
The owners of El Rinconcito have announced a grand opening for Friday (Nov. 17) in their new home at 73-75 Avenue C.
The family-owned Latin American restaurant has been ready to open for the past year but apparently had Con Ed issues with the building here between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.
From an Instagram post this week:
We will be FINALLY opening our doors for business after so many setbacks, but nothing will take us away from serving our community we love in the Lower East Side. It’s official: your favorites will be here on Friday, November 17 ... Huge thank you for all your patience and ongoing support; it gave us the push we needed when times were tough.
El Rinconcito will be open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The restaurant closed in the summer of 2021 at its home of 27 years at 408 E. 10th St. between Avenue C and Avenue D. (The building on 10th Street was undergoing a gut renovation.)
El Rinconcito has been serving delicious and inexpensive food in the neighborhood since 1994.
Openings: Red Onion on 10th Street
A longtime EVG reader shared a quickie review about the Indian restaurant: "Very tasty — best I've had in some time."
They have an extensive menu, which you can find here.
Red Onion is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., with a 10:30 p.m. close on Friday and Saturday... for dining in or to go.
The previous two establishments here, Chichen Itzá and Tompkins Village Cafe, enjoyed a few weeks in service before quickly closing in late 2021. This address was previously home for 11 years to the Brindle Room, which moved to 11th Street.
Everything's gone Green
The smoke shop opened up next to Ray's Candy Store on Avenue A near Seventh Street nearly a month ago, though the signage for Green World only just arrived.
The sidewalk board (pic from Oct. 31, before the new signage but with festive balloonage) shows items for sale including flowers, edibles and pre-rolls...
The business was, until May, known as East Village New Deli ... then they returned in June without the deli counter... only to close again and reopen as another exotic snack shop/weed shop.
Tuesday, November 14, 2023
This East Village lot is now home to this 60-foot-long photograph of a car cemetery in Ukraine
Photos by Steven
Photographer Phil Buehler created this 60-foot-long installation on display (as of Saturday) on the NW corner of Second Avenue and Second Street.
Here's more about the work that he created after a trip to Ukraine:
"Irpin Ukraine: Please Don't Forget Us" is a 60-foot-long photograph of the cemetery of civilian cars destroyed by Russian forces at the beginning of the war. Some were those of civilians shelled as they tried to flee the city in an attack the Human Rights Watch labeled a likely war crime.
Per Buehler's Modern Ruins website:
This installation is up-close and visceral. It serves as a witness to just some of the horror and destruction Ukraine has experienced, a memorial in life-sized detail. It was stitched together from over 30 high-resolution images
CB3 committee to hear presentation on the proposed 'City of Yes for Economic Opportunity' text amendment
Image via NYC Planning
Updated 11/18: You can watch a replay of the presentation on YouTube.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) evening, the Department of City Planning reps will present an informational presentation on the "City of Yes for Economic Opportunity" text amendment during Community Board 3's Land Use, Zoning, Public & Private Housing Committee.
The amendment — revealed in June — is the second of three proposed zoning text amendments from Mayor Adams designed to address what his administration calls outdated zoning issues. (You can find an overview here... a video of the info session is here.)
As CityLand noted...
"The City of Yes for Economic Opportunity" amendment aims to support small business growth through four pillars: revitalizing commercial corridors, filling vacant storefronts, modernizing use regulations, and investments in key growth industries. The changes to the zoning text aim to remove obstacles that slow down or prevent the growth and development of small businesses.
And from the Commercial Observer...
"City of Yes" will also scrap the last piece of the city's cabaret law, which prohibits dancing in some bars and restaurants, depending on the underlying commercial zoning. It would also eliminate a two-year clock on vacancy for nonconforming retail in residential areas, which currently prohibits a storefront from being reoccupied as retail if it's been empty for more than two years. Businesses would also be allowed on the same floor as apartments and even allowed above them in some commercial areas, as long as there are separate entrances for apartment residents and retail tenants.
Here's what the Cooper Square Committee had to say about it in a recent Instagram post:
Cooper Square Committee hasn't yet taken a position yet about the proposed changes, but we will be talking to [East Village Independent Merchants Association] members and other commercial tenants, as well as analyzing local retail data and trends to determine what position to take over the next month or two.
We encourage residents and small business owners to read up on the proposed changes to learn more about them ...
The nine-month Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP!) started on Oct. 30 and will be heard at all 52 local community boards in the city. Then! It will then move to the borough presidents, City Planning and City Council, who are expected to vote on the final text amendment this spring.
The Land Use Committee meeting (Nov. 15) starts at 6:30 p.m. You can watch via Zoom here. In Person: Community Board 3 office, 59 E. Fourth St. between Second Ave. and the Bowery. Limited seating is available to the first 15 people.
Cookie Walk is now side-of-church-signage official
Photo by Steven
This will be the 12th edition of the walk, which serves as a fundraiser for the church.
And on Sunday afternoon, church leaders-volunteers hung the CW signage. Find more info here.
You have 24 days to enjoy the holiday season before SantaCon
The SantaCon website lists Midtown as the starting point... and the "donation" for a ticket is $15.
No word yet on the route, participating bars, etc. — all that will arrive in the days leading up to Dec. 9.
Five Guys coming to 12th and 2nd
Photo by EVG reader Joe
The burger chain, which started in Washington, D.C., in the 1980s, now has 1,700 outposts worldwide, including 30-plus locations around NYC.
Five Guys takes over the space from Strings Ramen, which closed in April 2022 after two years in business, opening just before the start of the pandemic. (Signage remained up for Strings, giving the impression they were still in business.)
As previously noted, the restaurants at 188 Second Ave. haven't fared well since old-timer Shima got rent-hiked out of here in January 2014. Lumos Kitchen lasted three months in 2018. Others to make quick departures in the past five years were Hot Pot Central, DumplingGuo and Dumpling Go.
Thank you to everyone who sent photos from yesterday, including Choresh Wald.
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