City Comptroller audit finds poor maintenance and shoddy oversight of the Citi Bike program

[File photo from Tompkins Square Park by Derek Berg]

We get press releases! Via the EVG inbox...

New York City Bike Share (NYCBS), the operator of the Citi Bike program, failed to both adequately inspect Citi Bike equipment and ensure stations were fully functional according to an audit of NYCBS’s compliance with its contract with the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) released today by New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer.

“New York City Bike Share’s management of Citi Bike left too many New Yorkers in the lurch,” Comptroller Stringer said. “While Citi Bike has become part of our urban landscape, auditors found that the bike sharing program’s spotty maintenance, poorly cleaned bikes and substandard docking stations inconvenienced riders and discouraged growth in the system. Moving forward, I hope that these findings will provide a road map for ways to improve safety and performance for this critical component of our transportation network.”

The Comptroller’s audit examined maintenance of Citi Bike equipment by NYCBS during the period of May 2013 through May 2014. The Citi Bike program has a fleet of approximately 6,000 bikes and 330 stations throughout the City. Bikeshare Holdings LLC recently announced an agreement to purchase Alta Bicycle Share — the parent company of NYCBS. With a promised infusion of additional capital, Bikeshare Holdings has announced plans to improve maintenance and double the size and geographic reach of the Citi Bike system by 2017.

According to NYCBS’s own maintenance data, 28 percent of bikes system-wide were inspected in November 2013, 34 percent in December 2013 and 38 percent in January 2014, despite contract requirements that 100 percent of bikes undergo a complete maintenance check at least once per month. NYCBS cited the layoff of 16 on-street bike checkers during the winter months as a reason behind the decline in maintenance checks.

By March 2014, following the re-hiring of inspectors, inspections rose to 54 percent of the fleet and to 73 percent by April. However, a sample of the maintenance records of 25 bikes from July 2013 through December 2013 found that NYCBS completed only 60 percent (84 of 141) of required monthly maintenance checks.

Ben Shaoul's bland new 2nd Avenue building is called The East Luxe

Back in July crews finished adding 3 new floors in the total remake of 31-33 Second Ave., which is now a charmless grey box. Perhaps to compensate for the bland exterior here between East Second Street and East First Street, Ben Shaoul's rental building is sporting an upscale name — The East Luxe.

And listings for the units arrived on the market yesterday. According to Streeteasy, there are eight active listings for the 2- and 3-bedroom apartments with an average piece of $5,200.

Here's a look at a listing via Platinum:

Introducing The East Luxe - Brand New Boutique Elevator Building In Prime East Village

Condo-quality apartment features include: Each apartment is gut-renovated w/ central air. Open kitchen features black marble counter tops & stainless steel appliances w/ dishwasher. Washer/Dryer in every unit. Solid white oak flooring throughout. High ceilings. Video intercom.

Building features, Elevator and landscaped roofdeck. Pets allowed.

There aren't any shots of the apartments online just yet, so we don't know if the inside fared better than the outside.

Meanwhile, BoweryBoogie previously reported that a Petco-branded store is set for the retail space.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Ben Shaoul planning a 3-story addition at 31-33 Second Ave.

Bracing for 3 new floors at 31-33 Second Ave.

Checking in on the work in progress at 31-33 2nd Ave., where Ben Shaoul is adding 3 new floors

TakeMeHome Rotisserie Chicken hasn't been open lately after just 3 weeks in business

The quick-serve restaurant opened Nov. 23 at 151 Avenue A between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street.

And TakeMeHome Rotisserie Chicken has been closed the last two nights … and the owners haven't left any notes about a temporary closure due to some unforeseen circumstance. And there isn't any outgoing voice message. (We couldn't even find a Yelp review for them.)

IF this place is closed for good … it won't be any recent closure record. In 2011, an Italian restaurant called Tre Scalini closed after less than two weeks at 130 St. Mark's Place.

As for 151 Avenue A, the San Loco closed here back in February. The CB3/SLA Liquor Licensing Committee voted to deny high-profile restaurateurs Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield a license to open a bar cafe here in May.

Buy some art to help the Bowery Mission

Via the EVG inbox…

The Bowery Mission is pleased to announce the L.E.S. Art Drive, the first annual fundraising initiative for The Bowery Mission supported by its neighbors in the Lower East Side visual arts community.

This one-day silent auction will be hosted at the New Museum’s ground-floor space at 231 Bowery, next to The Bowery Mission, on Sunday from 1-6 pm. The event will raise funds essential to help the Mission continue their efforts to provide meals, shelter, clothing and services to New Yorkers in need. The Bowery Mission has been serving New York’s homeless and hungry for over 135 years.

Find more info at the Bowery Mission website.

These are apparently the participating bars in SantaCon 2014

SantaCon organizers plan to release this year's pub crawl route this evening.

Ahead of that, a curious East Village resident downloaded the official Santacon app that they are now advertising on their website.

The resident found that the participating bars are in the Midtown West/Murray Hill region: Pacha, Beer Authority, Houndstooth, Tempest, The Thirsty Fan, Slake, Red Room, Vivid Caberet, American Whiskey, Blarney Rock, The Australian, Stout, The Keg Room NYC, Feile, Blaggards, Reichenbach Beer Hall, Butterfield 8, Mustang Harry's, The Liberty, Suite 36, Mustang Sally's, Playwright Irish Pub, Galway Pub, Rick's Cabaret, Slattery's, Pioneers Bar, Jack Dempsey's, Foley's, Maru Karoke Lounge, Rattle 'n Hum, Nelly Spillane's, IchiUmi, Joshua Tree, 230 Fifth Avenue Rooftop & Lounge.

The pre-party starts at Pacha on West 46th Street.

The SantaCon website also notes that they are scaling back this year's festivities:

Due to the planned protests on Saturday, Santacon is scaling back this weekend's festivities in order to create the lowest possible impact on the city we love while still maintaining our glorious traditions this holiday season.

Santacon has respect and compassion for the hard-working municipal organizations of NYC, as well as for the important civil rights demonstrations currently shaping our city’s future. Thus, we are changing the format of this year’s Santacon.

This evening, all participating Santacon bars and venues will be announced on nycsantacon.com. Their halls will be decked, and they’ll be ready and waiting for Santa to come down their chimneys. PLEASE PATRONIZE THESE VENUES ONLY. If a venue isn’t on this list, it’s because they don’t want you there. Please move around throughout the day from venue to venue but spend most of your time inside, not on the streets.

Finally, it’s more important this year than ever to pace yourself, watch out for your elves, and stay safe. Fighting, public urination, and vandalism are unacceptable and a great way to ensure that there will be no Santacon in 2015. #DontScroogeSantacon

Meanwhile, the Village Pourhouse on Third Avenue and East 11th Street is still pretending to be an official SantaCon stop…

Maisy

Maisy the cat today in Tompkins Square Park.

Photo by Derek Berg

Jared Kushner picks up 2 more East Village apartment buildings

[EVG file photo of 438 E. 13th St. from November 2012]

Jared Kushner's Kushner Companies has expanded its East Village portfolio.

According to Lois Weiss at the Post, Kushner has closed on a 16-building apartment portfolio for $131.5 million. Two of the properties are in the East Village — 104 E. Seventh St. and 438-440 E. 13th St.

Stone Street and Florida-based HIG Realty Partners were the sellers. Stone Street bought the EV properties in November 2012.

We heard from a resident at No. 438 this past April who let us know what life has been like here since Stone Street took over the building. First, the resident says that many longtime tenants were driven out of their units … "and we had to deal with a round of apartment gut renovations last year."

And!

"I have lived in the East Village for [20-plus] years and have never dealt with such disregard for tenants," the resident said. "Even the tenants who moved into the renovated 'luxury' units are being screwed."

Not that Kushner will be a much better landlord. The Kushner Companies have not been very popular around here with all the allegations and subsequent media reports of tenant harassment and quality-of-life issues brought on by gut renovations in their buildings.

The Kushner Companies have bought up 28-29 or so East Village walk-up buildings in the past two years.

Previously on EV Grieve:
2 East Village buildings part of $73 million deal

Life at 438 E. 13th St.

MoRUS celebrates its 2-year anniversary tomorrow night

[Image via Facebook]

Via the EVG inbox…the party is tomorrow night …

Come celebrate with the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space at our two-year Birthday Bash, which will take place at the museum's storefront location in the legendary C-Squat. If you haven't visited the museum or attended any of our community events yet, now is a great time to come check out the space and join us for our two-year anniversary party!

Featuring a slideshow and presentation by Fly, performance by Seth Tobocman, DJ and dancing, and cake!

Sliding scale: $10.
All proceeds from the event help support MoRUS 2015 programming.

Doors open at 8, performances start at 9. MoRUS is located at 155 Avenue C between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the opening of the The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space last night

A soft opening at the Brant Foundation's new space at Walter De Maria's former East 6th Street studio

Back in August, news reports confirmed that billionaire art collector Peter Brant bought Walter De Maria’s former home and studio at 421 E. Sixth St. for $27 million.

While nothing has been made official about what Brant intends to do with the space, a tipster told us last spring that it will serve as exhibition space.



And last night, the Brant Foundation apparently had some kind of soft opening inside the space… EVG reader Shawn Chittle was there and shared these photos… We don't have any details on the exhibit… which included carefully placed scattered bottles and a drunken Scooby Doo… [Updated: Page Six reports this is the work of Gagosian gallery artist Dan Colen.]




[Click on image to enlarge]





De Maria died of a stroke in July 2013 at age 77.

No. 421 was built in 1920 as a ConEd substation, but had been converted into a photography studio after De Maria bought it in 1980.

All photos via Shawn Chittle

Previously on EV Grieve:
About that "giant-robot laboratory" on East Sixth Street

RIP Walter De Maria

What is your East Village dream home?

Walter De Maria's 'giant-robot laboratory' going for $25 million; inside is amazing as you'd expect

Walter De Maria's home/studio on East 6th Street is now on the market for $25 million

Rumor: The Brant Foundation buying Walter De Maria's E. 6th St. studio for an exhibition space (19 comments)

Confirmed: Peter M. Brant buys Walter De Maria's amazing East 6th Street home and studio

1st permits filed for renovation of Walter De Maria's former home-studio on East 6th Street

Living in… the East Village

[Random EVG photo from the archives]

The Times checks in with a "Living in" piece about the neighborhood ("The East Village Clings to a Colorful Past") … your basic primer with some history and what not.

Passing along a few real-estate fact and figures from the piece:

Though home prices are no longer cheap, the East Village still offers a slim advantage in terms of value over other Manhattan neighborhoods… The average price per square foot of a condo in Manhattan this year through Nov. 30 is $1,643; in the East Village, it is $1,562, which is about 16.5 percent higher than 2013. There are only about 33 condos on the market…

And!

[Bond New York broker] Wagner said he does not notice much difference between average condo prices in the East Village and those in Chelsea or the West Village. Studios typically run around $485,000; one-bedrooms about $900,000; and two-bedrooms about $1.5 million, with outliers in both directions. Co-ops typically cost about 20 percent less than condos, he said.

Avenue A Classic Food now open on … Avenue A

Rays's has some company (and competition in some respects) next door with the arrival this week of Avenue A Classic Food, your basic deli … wraps, smoothies, fresh juice… and bacon. The front door was open yesterday morning, and we could smell the bacon, so to speak, across Avenue A…

The address is 115 Avenue A between East Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

The SantaCon pre-party is in Hell's Kitchen

There seems to be some interest in where the annual SantaCon pub crawl will take place on Saturday.

As noted yesterday, SantaCon organizers told Community Board 3 officials that the official event will NOT take place in the East Village/Lower East Side. (Unlike last year.)

Apparently if you donate $10 to charity you get the early route information for SantaCon. (If not, then you have to wait until Friday for the details.)

One curious East Village resident forked over the $10 … and received a button that gets him or her into a private party at Pacha on West 46th Street Saturday morning at 11.

Given the starting time of this SantaCon private party, the resident figures Hell's Kitchen will be the neighborhood the groups hits on Saturday …

Tompkins Square Park, 7:21 p.m., Dec. 10

Reader report: Fire destroys 2 apartments at 542 E. 14th St.

The FDNY responded to a fire late this morning at 542 E. 14th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B...

MAN ALL HANDS 542 E 14 ST, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE ON 3RD FLR,

— FDNY (@FDNY) December 10, 2014

East Village-based photographer Michael Paul, who took these shots, spoke with a resident of the building... word is two apartments were ruined in the blaze, which started in a third-floor unit...





There were not any reports of injuries. The FDNY is investigating the cause of the fire.

MAN ALL HANDS 542 E 14 ST, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE ON 3RD FLR, UNDER CONTROL

— FDNY (@FDNY) December 10, 2014

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Avenue A in the rain via Grant Shaffer]

NYCHA selling stake in some public housing, including at Campos Plaza, to developers (Curbed)

Despite Board of Ed ban, some students and parents from East Side Community High School on East 12th Street marched in protest yesterday of Eric Garner decision (The New York Times)

More about plans to keep Jim Power's mosaic light poles in the new Astor Place (DNAinfo)

Former hacker Sabu, aka Hector Xavier Monsegur who lived on Avenue D, tells his story (CBS This Morning)

DA files homicide charges in hit-and-run on the Bowery (Streetsblog)

Educational Alliance reopening Community Art School at Manny Cantor Center (BoweryBoogie)

The original Barnes & Noble flagship store on Fifth Avenue becoming a Banana Republic (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Graffiti complaints on the rise in NYC (amNY)

Remembering hardcore nights in the East Village (The Village Voice)

Sale of Bialystoker Building under review (The Lo-Down)

A rainy day on Astor Place in 1945 (Ephemeral New York)

The Primitives, featuring a pre-Velvet Underground Lou Reed (Dangerous Minds)

Updated: East 1st Street resident found dead after fire

MAN ALL HANDS 31 E 1 ST, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE IN THE BASEMENT,

— FDNY (@FDNY) December 10, 2014

Emergency responders found a woman dead after an early-morning fire tore through her basement apartment at 31 E. First St.

The FDNY responded after 3 a.m. to the building just east of Second Avenue.

The Daily News reports that the cause of the fire was not immediately clear. Authorities have not released the woman's name yet. An investigation continues.

Updated 10:07 a.m.

DNAinfo has more details here.

Updated 2:43 p.m.

DNAinfo reports that the victim is Evelyn Dahab, 33, an author and part-owner of Lucey's Lounge in Gowanus.

"She was bigger than life and too young to die," said her grieving father, Richard, who visited the apartment Wednesday afternoon.

[Image via Facebook]

According to DNAinfo, "she planned to leave her apartment come Dec. 31 because of 'a painful legal dispute' with her building's management company, Big Apple Management."

Updated 7:21 p.m.

Per NY1:

Investigators say the fire was accidental, caused by a power strip plugged in with many appliances.

Out and About in the East Village Part 2

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

By James Maher
Name: Arthur Nersesian
Occupation: Writer
Location: St. Mark's Bookshop, 136 E Third St. between Avenue A and First Avenue
Time: Wednesday, Nov. 19

Picking up with the last paragraph from Part 1

I always wrote. It took time to learn how to do it. Writing is a wonderful calling but it’s a bad profession. I always equate it to being a heroin addict without getting high. You spend your whole life struggling to do this thing, to set time aside so you can write. You beg, borrow and steal to be able to create the time to do all this work. And I’m regarded as this relative success. My 11th book came out and I’m still doing odd jobs. It’s a hell of a profession.

My earlier books, a lot of them were set in the East Village of the early 1980s and 1990s. A lot of them dealt with artists living in the city, finding love, and supporting themselves and doing their art in different varieties and different tones. "Chinese Takeout" is about a painter who is living out of a van, "Unlubricated" is about an actress trying to get a start in acting and film, and "dogrun" is about a woman writer who does a collection of short stories.

Each of them have their own little stories and dramas. I initially wanted to do them as a trilogy that were interconnected, but I couldn’t find an editor who would publish it, so I ended up doing three separate books. I had met so many artists over the years back then and thought that this was a fertile ground for some wonderful work. All of them were kind of a Frankensteinization of my life and people who I knew.

I wrote "The Fuck Up" in 1988 and I finally got an agent to accept it after sending it to 50 or 60 agents. He sent it to all the major publishers and by 1989 or 1990 he threw it back in my lap and said, "Can’t sell it, I’m sorry." Then I just figured, fuck it, I’ll publish it myself, I’ll never write a book again, this will be my tombstone, but I put years of work into it.

I self-published and went to the St. Mark's Bookshop, and they kindly gave it a nice display in the front and I thought that would be the end of that. Then I went by there a few weeks later and they sold out and said, "You got any more of these?" I was like, "I don’t know that many people, who was buying them?" So I gave them more and it kept selling and it sold through the printing and then I reprinted it. It took about 10 years before I got a letter from a small press and then it went from there to a large press and it just kept selling and selling. I think now it has sold 120,000 copies. But I really had no hopes.

The bookstore is an integral part of the neighborhood. They’ve taken up their cause because to me it represents literature in the neighborhood. It's a great old store and it has a wonderful tradition. Everyone in the neighborhood used to go to one of the old businesses. I remember when the bookshop was kind of the outpost of civility in the East Village. This was a frontier and you did not come this far south or east for anything and there was this neat little bookstore that had this great selection and they would be packed until closing. There was no Internet. They were the Internet. You'd find everybody there

I have had one book that sold to film, "dogrun." We ended up selling the film rights, which after a mishap with the taxes I ended up getting less than my agent. That was in spring of 2003 and it had a 10-year aversion clause, so by the spring of 2013 I thought that there were no longer any rights out there.

So last year about this time, I was leaving a book party and I got a message from EV Grieve on my Facebook page, and it said, "Congratulations, your film's being made!" And I wrote back, "I’m sorry, I don’t have a film being made." EV Grieve said something like, "Go into Tompkins Square Park and take a look."

So I go into the Park and there’s a film set in the dog run and I see Heather Graham and Gina Gershon. The PA stops me and says, "I'm sorry we're shooting a film here you can't come in." So I said, "Can I ask what's the name of the film you’re shooting?" And they said, "My Dead Boyfriend, it's based on a novel by Arthur Nersesian called dogrun." And I said, "Oh shit, I’m Arthur Nersesian, can I speak to somebody because I think that the rights have lapsed?" It turns out that they had some kind of extended clause and there was a very limited time where they were still allowed to film the thing. It’s still in editing or I don’t know where it is.

It was funny because I spoke to the director, Anthony Edwards who was in "ER" and he was flabbergasted. He was very gracious and said I could be a background extra on one of the scenes. They were shooting a Wigstock scene. I used to go to Wigstock and so I go and there are all these people in the scene and Lady Bunny is on the stage. She was the big MC. So I suddenly realize, Tompkins Square Park was loaded with addicts and stuff. It still is, so I’m going to pretend to be nodding off. I started keeling over and nodding off throughout the takes and the other extras started coming over to me, saying, "Are you OK? Do you have epilepsy?" "No no I’m a heroin junkie." They didn’t know what it was. For like three hours I had to nod off, but none of them knew what I was doing.

My new novel is "Gladyss of the Hunt." It’s a crime novel but I try to use a serial murderer as a metaphor for land development in Manhattan. I remember back in the 1970s thinking, "God if only the city was just a little more upscale." Be careful of what you wish for because once you get that toothpaste out of the tube there’s no putting it back.

I worry that, in time, the East Village as well as New York City is going to get this representation as this sort of sterile corporate platform.

It’s a tricky line to walk because it’s so easy to romanticize the good and forget the bad. You have to keep perspective and remember that it wasn’t 100 percent. I think it was better on the whole for artistic and creative types because it was affordable. Half my life you didn’t want to be in the city and it was terrifying and cheap but dirty and dangerous, and the other half of my life I can’t afford the city and I feel kind of marginalized, pushed out and intimidated by it. There was this brief time in the middle where it was just right.

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

Reader report: Ray's Candy Store hit with $200 fine for inadequate doughnut labels

EVG reader Peter Brownscombe relates this story from Ray's Candy Store on Avenue A…

The City of New York recently fined Ray's $200 for not having an adequate ingredients label on a packaged doughnut. Ray has now discontinued this line of packaged doughnuts but still carries a few croissants that do possess the correct labeling.

Good to know that the city is on top of this sort of thing.

CB3 says SantaCon will not be held in the East Village or on the Lower East Side this year

[Photo by Katie Sokoler via Gothamist]

That's the official word from the Community Board 3 office. They apparently received word from SantaCon organizers, who volunteered the information that the pub crawl will not be happening in this area on Saturday.

CB3 covers the Lower East Side and part of Chinatown. The boundaries of the district are 14th Street on the north, the East River on the east and the south, and Fourth Avenue and the Bowery on the west, extending to Baxter and Pearl Streets and the Brooklyn Bridge south of Canal Street.

Of course you'll likely still see Santas going to and from whatever neighborhoods are playing host to the annual pub crawl for charity (difficult to type that with a straightface…).

No word until Friday apparently on where the Santas will congregate in what Gawker described as a "Drunken Disgusting Shitshow."

Meanwhile, the Voice checks in with a long form piece titled "Ho, Ho, Bro: How SantaCon Went From Joyful Performance Art to Reviled Bar Crawl."

Updated 11:38 a.m.

This in from Gothamist:

With the seasonal backlash against SantaCon in full swing, organizers of the infamous pub crawl have retained famous civil rights lawyer Norman Siegel to represent them.

Reminders: The Dee Dee Ramone exhibition opens today at the Hotel Chelsea Storefront Gallery

Up through Jan. 1. Find all the details here.

Help today crossing Lake Astor Place

No word if the footbridge will be a permanent part of the new Astor Place…

Today in Steve Croman legal news

[State Sen. Brad Hoylman speaking out against Steve Croman at rally in Tompkins Square Park in May]

The Real Deal reports:

• Commercial brokerage Daniel T. Enterprises won a court battle against landlord Steven Croman for non-payment of a commission on a $5.5 million off-market deal for a tenement building at 635 E. Sixth St.

• "TRD has learned that Croman’s longtime legal counsel, Rose and Rose, filed suit in September for more than $720,000 in unpaid legal fees." (In a statement, Croman reps denied these allegations.)

Meanwhile, Croman remains under investigation by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for allegedly using illegal tactics to force rent-stabilized tenants out of their units.

Read the whole Real Deal article here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Steve Croman facing another lawsuit from East 8th Street residents

Report: East 8th Street residents sue landlord Steve Croman, allege intimidation, harassment

Watch a lot of people speak out against Steve Croman and 9300 Realty

Report: State Attorney General launches Steve Croman investigation

Reader report: Someone dumped motor oil in 2 Steve Croman-owned buildings

More about the world's smallest screening room coming to Two Boots on Avenue A

This past weekend, we noted that Two Boots was ending its 18-year run renting movies.

Two Boots Video closed in the fall of 2008, with a much smaller rental collection merging next door in the pizzeria. (And their great Pioneer Theater RIP'd in November 2008. The video space and Pioneer Theater are now part of the Upright Citizens Brigade.)

Meanwhile, as the posters on the pizzeria's doors on Avenue A and East Third Street promise, the Pioneer Jr. is on the way … dubbed as "The world's smallest screening room."

We reached out to Two Boots owner Phil Hartman for more details.

"We had 18 great years at Two Boots Video and stubbornly kept the little nook going way longer than we ever envisioned — even though barely anyone rents DVDs anymore," Hartman told us via email.

Now it's time to transition to something else.

"We're putting a big screen in that little space, with a cool table made from a refurbished Two Boots sign, and probably about seven stools, so that folks can screen films while eating pizza and drinking pitchers of beer," said Hartman, who added that they're putting in a beer tap on the counter. "It will be a mini-tribute to The Pioneer Theater and a way for us to keep our love of movies alive."

He hopes that the Pioneer Jr. will be up and running before Dec. 25.

In other Two Boots movie-related news, the Saint Nic pizza makes its annual appearance starting on Dec. 19.

As Hartman said, it's a tribute to Nicolas Cage, "the saint of overheated movie acting."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Two Boots is getting out of the video rental business on Avenue A

Support Tompkins Trees

[Click on map for a better view]

Michael Natale, a longtime LES resident, has been keeping tabs on the trees in Tompkins Square Park for the past three years.

Back in the summer, he unveiled an updated map (above) of the Park's trees. (You can find more info at his Tompkins Trees site.)

He's now looking for some financial help to keep the project going ... and he offers an explanation in a post:

I’ve brought the map to a point where I feel it needs to be printed. But doing a professional print run is absurdly expensive. I am asking for donations from the community to support The Tompkins Trees Project. I am hoping to get enough support to be able to finance a large enough print run to make future printed maps affordable to the public.

There are more details in this video...

Bendy thing action at a suddenly taller 185-193 Avenue B

[Photo yesterday by Bobby Williams]

Work has really picked up in recent weeks over at 185-193 Avenue B ... where it looks as if the crew is near the top of the 7-story mixed-used residential building going up at the corner here at East 12th Street.

In total, the building will have 41 dwelling units ... as well as house the Elim Pentecostal Church.

Bendy thing and the workers were still at it last night around 6...

The site has been a source of aggravation for neighbors since demolition started in July 2012... and even before, dating back to the fire that nearly destroyed the building in October 2006.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Inside the Charles

Former landmark countercultural theater now for rent on Avenue B

7-story building in the works to replace former countercultural theater/church on Avenue B

Construction site at 185 Avenue B remains shut down for now

[Updated] The 'insane' noise and pounding are back at 185 Avenue B

The Marshal seizes Wechsler's Currywurst and Bratwurst on 1st Avenue

Yesterday, the Marshall seized Wechsler's Currywurst and Bratwurst at 120 First Ave. near East Seventh Street.

A listing for the space arrived on the market back in the April. The rent was listed as $9,004.07 per month … and with a "motivated seller," per the ad.

Wechsler's opened in April 2009.

BARA debuts on East 1st Street

BARA, a French/Japanese restaurant, opened last night at 58 E. First St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

As we first reported last month, BARA's menu is from Momofuku vet Ian Alvarez.

You can hit their Twitter account for more info. (They just have a placeholder website for now.)

Prima closed in August after nearly three years in this location. In a refreshingly honest assessment, Prima's owners said that they closed because they just weren't busy enough.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Momofuku-French Louie vets opening BARA on East 1st Street

Noted

Tweets arriving now ahead of the blessed event this Saturday...

Fighting, vandalism, littering, or public urination will SHUT DOWN SANTACON. Don’t be that Santa. #dontscroogesantacon

— santacon (@santacon) December 8, 2014

Santa is a GUEST in NYC. Respect all neighborhoods and the people who live there. http://t.co/bg8vMtGAC6 #dontscroogesantacon

— santacon (@santacon) December 8, 2014

Love Santacon? Then don’t Scrooge it up with piss, trash, violence, or vomit. #dontscroogesantacon

— santacon (@santacon) December 8, 2014

Details on the SantaCon 2014 destination will be released Friday.

A 14-screen Regal Cinemas theater with electronic reclining seats coming to the LES

Crain's has the story on the first tenant for Essex Crossing:

The theater chain, owned by Regal Entertainment Group, will take 65,000 square feet in the base of a 315-foot-tall rental apartment building to be built at 115 Delancey St., on the southeast corner of Essex Street. Construction is expected to begin in the spring and be completed by late 2017 or 2018.

The lease, which stretches for 15 years, is the first signed for the 1.9 million-square-foot development known as the Seward Park mixed-use development project.

The multiplex will stand at the corner that long housed the Olympic Restaurant and Jade Fountain liquor store.

[EVG file photo]

The Lo-Down got a copy of the official Regal news release. Among the theater amenities:

• Recliners for every guest to provide more room, comfort and true luxury.
• Each recliner has an electric control for multiple positions and features padded footrests.
• Digital projection in every auditorium to provide a crystal-clear picture.
• Real D 3D projection systems available for 3D enhanced presentations.
• Stadium seating provides each moviegoer a clear view of the screen.

Seafood market in the works for the International Bar space on 1st Avenue

Back in September, we reported that the International Bar was hoping to move next door from its current home on First Avenue to the former South Brooklyn Pizza space.

Preparations to move the bar and add a pizzeria with slices to go here between East Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place are underway.

Meanwhile, there are also plans to turn the soon-to-be-former International space into a seafood market.

International owner Molly Fitch, who along with Shawn Dahl, reopened the bar in June 2008, said that the new venture at 120 1/2 First Ave. will be called The Liquor Seafood Market + Bar.

With time left on the current lease, Fitch said that she wanted to "open a much-needed place to get fresh fish in the neighborhood."

During the day, the space will operate as a traditional retail outlet for fresh seafood… and in the evening, the market will give way to a more traditional bar-restaurant environment with a 2 a.m. closing time. (Amended this last sentence to add the restaurant part and closing time!)

Fitch shared part of a sample menu with us.



Helping Fitch with the market is Sebastian Jaramillo, a former chef with Porsena on East Seventh Street.

CB3's SLA committee will hear plans for this alteration during tonight's monthly meeting.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The International eyeing move next door to the former South Brooklyn Pizza space

Maybe 67 Avenue C will eventually look like this random building some day

As we've pointed out, a residential building is rising from part of the former Kingdom Hall that was owned by the Jehovah's Witnesses at 67 Avenue C.

According to DOB permits, we're looking at a 7-story, 7-unit residential building with a ground-floor retail space here next to the laundromat at East Fifth Street. The building will be topped off by a duplex penthouse.

To date, we hadn't seen a rendering. And then this appeared on No. 67's plywood last week…



Looks nice like a nice building, wherever it is supposed to be. Wrong address, size, neighborhood, etc.

Previously on EV Grieve:
First sign of the new 7-floor condo rising above the Jehovah's Witnesses on Avenue C

The former Gracefully space is for rent

Gracefully closed for good at 28 Avenue A back on Nov. 18.

We didn't hear any official reason for the closure. One worker claimed that it was because of the New York Sports Club opening soon in the building's upper floors.

However, it doesn't appear that Gracefully closed because the gym needs the former market. Signs are up now noting the storefront is for rent. (We haven't spotted any listings online with rent details.)

As previously noted, there is a Gracefully on First Avenue in Stuy Town … and one remains under construction on East 23rd Street.

Plus! Bill the Libertarian Anarchist confirmed that a Gracefully is on the way to Eighth Street at Fifth Avenue…



Previously on EV Grieve:
Gracefully is closing on Avenue A

Sidewalk bridge arrives on Houston and Avenue B

Last Tuesday evening, debris from atop the corner building on Avenue B at East Houston fell, reportedly breaking the foot of a 57-year-old man passing by on the sidewalk.

On Friday, workers arrived to erect a protective sidewalk bridge.



The FDNY promptly ordered a structural stability inspection and logged a complaint with the Department of Buildings. There aren't any work permits on file yet on this long-vacant building.

Given that mostly nothing has happened here the past few years, we imagine that the sidewalk bridge will be up for some time… perhaps even breaking an EV record in the process.

H/T EVG reader Magic Brian

Previously on EV Grieve:
Cleaning out the long-closed liquor store on Avenue B and East Houston

Is something finally happening to the long-vacant, mysterious 6 Avenue B?

Something new for the old fortress of East 7th Street

Korzo Haus, the deep-fried burger place on East Seventh Street just west of Avenue B, closed at the end of October.

On Saturday, EVG regular Dave on 7th spotted workers, uh, working on the exterior.

According to one of the workers, here's what's next: "Coffee place, take out. American cuisine."

Whatever the place will be, it appears that the new owners have apparently opted not to keep Korzo's fortress look.