Illegal hotel row mural defaced again in First Street Green Art Park

Someone has twice vandalized the illegal hotel row mural since its arrival in First Street Green Art Park back in May.

The folks at the Cooper Square Committee shared this with me on Monday:

On June 27, tenants from East 1st Street rallied alongside affordable housing activists and elected officials to celebrate the completion of a community mural project, which called attention to the high concentration and negative effects of commercially operated, short-term apartment rentals facilitated by platforms like VRBO and Airbnb. These amateur muralists were shocked, but not surprised, to find that their project had been vandalized for the second time since they had begun work on the mural in early May.

On both occasions their mural was the only artwork in the First Street Green Art Park to be hit by the vandal, and the muralists allege that their messaging about the negative impact of short-term rentals on the community, as well as information on what tenants can do if they believe an illegal hotel is being operated in their building, were intentionally obscured.

A report issued in May 2018 by City Comptroller Scott Stringer notes that Chinatown and the Lower East Side are home to a high concentration of short-term rentals. Tenants living in buildings where illegal hotel operations are common allege that illegal hotels reduce affordable housing options and compromise tenant safety and quality of life — the lucrative prices that short-term rentals fetch contribute to displacement pressure on long-term tenants, and tenants' lives are often grossly disrupted by the influx of tourists and strangers who are able to access their building.

Residents in buildings where these operations are common claim they are routinely woken up in the middle of the night by confused guests ringing their buzzers and travelers carrying luggage up and down their stairs at all hours of the night. Others have woken up to find vomit in building common areas.

The tenants who worked on the mural are currently planning their response, and are looking for support from members of the community who are also concerned about illegal hotels' detrimental effects on the community.

Here's a video about the mural project...

`


[Photo from late June]

Kafkaesque construction delays cause anger at The Neighborhood School on 3rd Street

[EVG photo from Monday evening]

The three-year renovation of The Neighborhood School and PS 63 on East Third Street between Avenue A and First Avenue has reached a boiling point with parents and nearby residents.

And now the aptly named Kafka Construction, the company behind the renovations, which include asbestos removal, have been removed from the job.

Members of The Neighborhood School’s Health and Safety Committee issued a statement dated today:

After parents of The Neighborhood School (PS363) and The Star Academy (PS63) elementary schools gathered 600 signatures in just two days on a petition alleging three years of health hazards at their schools created by ongoing construction work — including rodent infestation in classrooms, homeless encampments at fire exits and drug paraphernalia and human waste at the school’s entrance — the NYC School Construction Authority (SCA), on June 13, terminated Kafka Construction’s contract. The company’s completion date over the three-year period had been postponed twice, and they showed no signs of intending to complete the work or caring about the ramifications.

The co-located elementary schools ... have been covered in scaffolding for three years, blocking all sunlight into classrooms and creating a neighborhood eyesore. Local politicians and DOE officials who toured the schools in early June were shocked by what they found. It was enough to compel the SCA to take “drastic actions,” firing Kafka and bringing in an emergency contractor to complete the work, ostensibly by the beginning of next school year.

Parents could no longer keep silent when they discovered that each morning before school started, school administration had been forced to clean hypodermic needles, vomit and feces, found on the premises, before the children’s arrival. This was a problem created by the ongoing scaffolding surrounding the building which created conditions for all kinds of undesirable behavior after school hours.

The school’s cleaning efforts didn’t prevent used syringes from being found during a daytime fire drill or by an after-school group playing in what is left of the school’s yard, which is largely covered by construction equipment.

The flower boxes in front of the school, which once housed beautiful plants, are now rat infested, as is the area behind the school where construction equipment is stored. The entire building now has a problem with vermin, and children have been known to shriek when they see a rodent scamper across the room during class.

Parents are relieved that Kafka has been fired, but remain concerned and skeptical that their kids will have a facility that is safe and an appropriate learning environment by September.

And here are some photos supplied by the parents...








[Syringes found against school wall during a fire drill]

A Kafka rep declined to comment to the Daily News.

Meanwhile, a resident who lives adjacent to the school sent along a few photos and commentary...





"We have had our lives turned upside down by this nightmare. It's been going on for over three years now and every year we're told the same thing. It will be done in August," the resident said. "We've called Kafka numerous times to complain. One particular instance...Kafka told us the project was delayed because they had to order a special kind of terracotta and it was only made by one company in California! They also told us to think of what a beautiful building it's going to be once it is completed. I'm sure the terracotta cost more than the teachers got in raises in the past 10 years or so.

"They could have build three new schools in the time it's taken them to renovate this one."

In early May, the artist JR and his Inside Out Project visited the school. The portraits of the students from Inside Out were then used to liven up the plywood on East Third Street...


[EVG photo]


[EVG photo]

The Kafka workers recently tore down the photos and tossed them in the dumpster. [Updated: The school had to remove the posters. The Department of Sanitation was going to levy fines for every poster, according to a parent. "Obviously frustrating but for an entirely different reason," per a parent.]



Per the resident: "You can name the post 'Dumpster full of children's tattered dreams of this project ever getting completed.'"

According to the Daily News, Department of Education officials are looking to secure a new construction company to finish the job. Officials are banning the Queens-based Kafka from taking new jobs with the city School Construction Authority for at least two years.

No, 'NYC's first bar for pregnant women' isn't opening on Avenue A

As we first noted on Thursday, signage appeared for Gestations — "NYC's first bar for pregnant women" — on the long vacant corner of Avenue A and East Fifth Street.

Seemed pretty evident that it was some kind of gag (despite the appearance of an authentic State Liquor Authority notice) complete with a Facebook and Twitter account and outgoing phone message.

The sign attracted some attention in the media…



The Post even assigned three reporters to the story…



Per the Post:

The business hasn’t applied for a liquor license or other permits for the space, said Community Board 3 leader Susan Stetzer.
“They’re saying it’s a bar, but they haven’t applied for a liquor license.

At this point it’s nothing … Maybe it’s going to be a milk bar or a juice bar,” she said.

The fake bar also attracted attention in Times Square …


[Via Facebook]

The broker for the storefront told us on Friday that the building's landlord rented the space for the sign for a month. (It's for a bar-finding app called Bartendr.) So you have about three and a half more weeks left to be amused, shocked, annoyed, disgusted, whatever, etc.

East Village Pharmacy moved from here to 41 Avenue A in early 2011.

The storefront has remained empty since then…


[Photo from Wednesday]

According to another store owner on the block, a veterinary's office will open here.

Noted

From the EVG mailbag:

"I saw this man running barefoot on Avenue A this morning. It was 29 degrees. It was wet and slushy. Concrete isn't exactly forgiving! I was shocked and kind of impressed."

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

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



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

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

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



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

Reader report: 'my kids are in the car and I'm out of gas' scam guy back in action

From an EVG reader last night:

Tonight I was approached by the infamous "wife and kid are in the car" scammer on East 6th Street and Avenue A. It was about 10:30 p.m., and he asked me if I live in the area ... He then told me his wife and child were stuck in his car, and pointed across the street to an SUV, and said if he showed me his birth certificate and gave me his iPhone, could I...

I interrupted him there and said "I've heard about you," and began to walk away. "You bitch!" He screamed at me. I turned to look at him, more shocked and amused than threatened, and he yelled "You dirty bitch!" Then I yelled as loudly as I could: "WHY AM I A BITCH? BECAUSE I BLEW UP YOUR SPOT, YOU SCAM ARTIST?"

The reader said that his description matches one left by an EVG reader several months ago: He's in his 30s or 40s, slightly balding, about 5-9, 160 pounds with dark beady junkie eyes.

Last night, the reader also noticed that he has a tattoo on his right forearm — the name Rosa spelled out vertically in capital letters. Per the reader: "He could be white or Hispanic. He was also wearing one of those straw fedoras so many dudes wear in the summer."

A well-placed EVG source told us back in March that this man had been arrested at Penn Station.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village grifter alert: Beware the broken vodka-bottle scam!

East Village grifter alert: Beware the man with the sob story who offers you a wedding ring as collateral

Snowy afternoon grifter alert

'Something big is happening' at Boris & Horton, the dog cafe set to close next week

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Updated 2/28: The cafe will remain open. Read more about it here.

------

It has been a week of lows and highs at Boris & Horton.

Last Thursday, the city's first dog-friendly cafe announced that it was closing on Feb. 26 after six years of anchoring the NW corner of Avenue A and 12th Street. The newer Williamsburg outpost was also shutting down. 

The announcement from daughter-father co-owners Logan Mikhly and Coppy Holzman shocked regulars, more than 1,800 of them leaving comments on the Instagram post that broke the news.

Holzman was candid in interviews, saying they simply weren't making money. Boris & Horton fans had something to say about that and have "rallied around them with ideas that could help the business remain open," as NY1 first put it. 

"Logan and I are humbled," Holtzman told me yesterday from inside the crowded cafe. "We received lots of input and lots of love. We always tried to be a happy and joyful place, and dogs are a catalyst for conversation among our community of wonderful folks."

They plan on making an announcement very soon about the future of the cafes. When asked for more details (throw us a bone here!), Holtzman would only offer "something big is happening." 

Meanwhile, around the cafe (dogs are only allowed with their humans in one closed-off area of the storefront, per Department of Health rules), everyone I spoke to was sad about the possibility of a closure... 

Reader report: Concern over lax stray voltage warnings on East Village streets

An EVG reader shared these three photos from several side streets...

Per the reader: "One of these pictures represents a tow zone. The other two represent a Con Ed shock warning that could electrocute you, your child or your dog. Can you tell the difference?"


[4th Street east of Avenue B]


[5th Street between A and B]


[2nd Street east of Avenue B]

Back to the reader:

"Minimal snow fall each winter brings multiple shock warnings to the East Village yet Con Ed refuses to adequately warn the public despite numerous requests, protests, City Council hearings, injuries, deaths and lawsuits.

"The problem is that no one walking up and down the block (or in and out of those buildings) with their kids or dogs has any idea that they are walking into an electrical hazard that could shock or kill them. All they see is the same caution tape used to signal wet paint or parking restrictions."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Beware of 'stray voltage' here on Avenue A and East 2nd Street

Resident shocked about Con Ed's nonchalance over stray voltage

Resident shocked about Con Ed's nonchalance over stray voltage

Yesterday, we noted that Con Ed has caution tape up around some manholes and light poles on East Second Street from Avenue A to Avenue C…

This isn't the only part of the East Village with possible stray voltage. A resident points out that the same thing has happened on East Seventh Street between Avenue C and Avenue D dating back to Wednesday …

"On Wednesday, a series of cones and caution tape went up ... covering multiple cars, motorcycles, tree pits, garden gates, approximately six or seven buildings wide. Movie being made? Crime scene? Art installation? Nope, there's live current running through tree pit fences, railings, cars, street lamp posts and the pavement. A number of dogs have received severe shocks, including Maybelline, the black standard poodle, whose heart stopped as she fell to the ground convulsing, yelping and writhing in pain."



"This area has had current running through the detailed area for days, with none of the residents receiving any information on the danger. The area has NO SIGNAGE warning of the danger of electrical shock," according to the resident, who has documented the various offenses. The resident also notes that a Con Ed subcontractor has sat in his car since Wednesday watching over the scene, but never talking to passersby.



-----



Eventually the NYPD get involved.



"Con Ed's subcontractor tells the police this car, surrounded by a couple cones and caution tape (no signage provided) is sitting over live wires.
Hmmmmm, might want to let neighborhood folks in on what's happening," said the resident. "Thanks Con Ed for being on it! So on it, that the police had to place a call to get a ConEd emergency crew on the scene."

-----



After the NYPD put in a call, an emergency Con Ed crew arrived on the scene yesterday afternoon around 4. The emergency crew blocked the sidewalk with more cones and tape to prevent pedestrians from entering the area. As of last night around 8, the crew was awaiting for a tow truck to remove the car sitting on the live wires.

Updated:
Con Ed reported that crews have fixed the stray-voltage problems on East Second and East Seventh streets.

VIDEO: Watch the Nissan Sentra drive through Tompkins Square Park on Sunday morning

Updated with comment from the NYPD below.

We've received a 25-second video clip of the driver taking several laps in Tompkins Square Park on Sunday morning.

As previously reported, a man, possibly late 20s to early 30s, and a woman were seen arguing in the Park just before 11 a.m. Both the man and the woman are known to hang out near the chess tables in Tompkins.

According to witnesses, the man grabbed a shovel from a Parks maintenance truck and hit the woman multiple times. (It's not known the extent of her injuries.) One Park regular described this as "a crime of passion" to EVG contributor Stacie Joy. Per the regular: "I mean, she owed him money and whatever but like damn. A shovel?"

A group of men sitting nearby rushed to her defense and chased the shovel-wielding attacker from Tompkins. 

Witnesses said the man returned in a few minutes driving a Nissan Sentra with Pennsylvania plates. (Our previous post has info about traffic citations associated with this vehicle.) He entered the Park, which was hosting the weekly Greenmarket, at Seventh Street and Avenue A, "going down different rows while everyone is diving out of the way," as one witness described it. Witnesses believe he was looking for the men who had confronted him.

The person who shared this video shot it from Temperance Fountain. The clip starts with the car slowing down (with the hazard lights flashing) before revving up and taking another lap. 

Witness estimates put the driver in the Park between 1 and 2 minutes total. "Hard to describe how terrified people were for however short a time that was," one witness told us.

   

Before the man drove into Tompkins, he was seen — with a torn T-shirt and missing shoe — getting into the car with a woman who was also in the Park. (It's unclear if this was the same woman he allegedly hit with the shovel.) Witnesses said he drove the wrong way on St. Mark's Place toward First Avenue before turning around and making a right onto Avenue A, where he went in circles under the traffic light at Seventh Street before entering the Park. 

The NYPD arrived (along with a truck from FDNY Engine 5 on 14th Street) after the man had driven through Tompkins. He was stopped on Avenue A near St. Mark's Place. There's speculation the car broke down. 

To the disbelief of some onlookers, the man was not charged and walked away after spending some time talking with officers from the 9th Precinct. According to a resident who watched the police on the scene on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place: "One thing I noticed was that the police didn't seem interested in witness accounts."

We've talked with witnesses who saw the man allegedly hit the woman with the shovel... drive the car up St. Mark's Place and along Avenue A before entering the Park... and maneuver his way through the Park. No one we spoke with saw the entire incident from beginning to end. 

Witnesses described a confusing, chaotic and scary few minutes in the Park. Witnesses who saw any part of this unfold said that there were amazed no one was injured and shocked that the driver wasn't arrested.  

As of last evening, the car was still sitting on Avenue A at St. Mark's Place...

The car also received a ticket yesterday morning ...

... for "failure to display parking meter receipt" and "no expiration date on plate or elsewhere." Fine amount: $65.

Updated 8 p.m. 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy asked a source at the 9th Precinct for a comment on what happened in Tompkins Square Park on Sunday morning. 

"The event in the Park was a result of a dispute between the car owner, who was with his female friend, and another group of men who robbed the car owner. The car owner tried to get back his belongings from the robbers but he was jumped ... The robbers chased him with a shovel and in the process, he got into the car to run away from them. He proceeded to drive into the Park — not knowing it is a Park because he is not from the neighborhood," the source said. "So far the owner of the car and his girlfriend were the victim of a crime and the complaint is still being worked on by the detectives. So there is still an ongoing investigation." 

The current NYPD storyline is at odds with what multiple residents said they saw transpire. According to several witnesses, the driver of the car allegedly hit his girlfriend with a shovel before a group of men intervened. Witnesses said they also have seen the man in the Park on several occasions.

Out and About in the East Village (part 2)

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



By James Maher

Name: Lola Sáenz
Occupation: Artist, Poet
Location: 12th Street
Date: Saturday, Jan. 28 at noon

Read Part 1 with Lola from last week here.

I’ve been exhibiting with a group named Artistas de Loisaida since the late 1990s. It’s still alive and kicking and it’s run by Carolyn Ratcliffe, who is the art director. Mostly I exhibit at Theatre for the New City, and I also donated some paintings to the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art on Wooster Street – the first LGBTQ art museum in the world.

I always dreamt about getting into a gallery or working with an art dealer but that whole thing is so hard to get into – it’s insane. I think it’s all who you know. I have files of turndown letters. I haven’t been able to get into a gallery because nobody’s responding, so I said screw it — I can be my own agent. It’s such a game.

I created a painting called Crossing Borders inspired by the women crossing the border. I’m Mexican and most of my relatives are in Mexico, and I said that belongs in my hometown, so I aimed for the El Paso Museum of Art. When I used to run cross-country in high school, as we were running the levy, I would see the Coyotes carrying the ladies on their shoulders walking through the Rio Grande. This piece was inspired by that — running for a better life. When I would go to visit my family, my mother and I would go to the Museum. I would drop off the portfolio to the art director, and I would take her to see all the artwork. They turned me down for like 15 years.

Then my mama Gloria passed away, and I decide to submit one more time in her honor. I said, ‘I want to donate this to my hometown.’ I shipped it, they got it, and they had almost a 3-month wait. It had to be approved by the committee, the Culture Department of El Paso, the mayor, the cockroaches, and maybe a couple of mice. So finally they wrote to me and said they loved it — yes. When I went to the museum with my family for the show, I felt as if my mother's spirit was there holding my hand. It was beautiful. It was my mami who said, ‘Never give up on your dreams.’

I was really taken by 9/11. I created a canvas called 9/11 Broken Heart. I would take it to Union Square and I was walking around and Martha Cooper discovered the painting — she’s a well-known photographer who specializes in graffiti artists. She suggested collecting some of the 9/11 artwork and turning it into a show, and I said sure. She introduced me to Marci Reaven, who worked for City Lore, and she called me and told me that I was invited to have my painting as part of an exhibit called Missing at the New-York Historical Society Museum.

A couple years passed and then I created a black-and-white painting of bodies called Ground Zero. I became very acquainted with the curator for the 9/11 Memorial Museum because I wanted to give them this one. She turned me down — saying they haven’t quit finished building the museum. A year later she said no still. So when they finished the museum, I sent her an email and said, ‘Look, this is it, again, in case you forgot what it looked like.’ And she said, ‘Wow are those bodies?’ I said, ‘Yeah, those are dead bodies.’ I said, ‘Can you just let me bring it and you and your people can just see it face to face?’ So she said ok.

Jan Ramirez is the curator of the 9/11 Memorial Museum, and she had turned me down a few times in the past few years. But they finally said YES and they acquired Ground Zero and Fallen Leaves. It pays to believe in your dream and be persistent.

My mom raised 5 kids. My parents got divorced when I was 13, so I think a lot of the early work had a lot of trying to get over a lot of stuff — but it’s also part of life. The documentary end of it happens when I get inspired by an event like the East Village gas explosion or by Sandy.

During Sandy, I was in the dark here just with a flashlight, working. I did one piece titled Uptown, because I took the bus uptown and everybody was partying and having brunch and eating and shopping, and everything looked so beautiful and colorful. I was shocked that half of these people had no idea that downtown was in the dark and that it was really bad. Downtown was dark and it was watery. It was just the total opposite of uptown, so that’s where that inspiration came from.

The gentrification that’s happening breaks my heart. I do miss a lot of the places that used to be here. I miss Something Sweet the most — that little bakery on 11th Street and First Avenue, and the owner and her family were wonderful people. And another place comes in, and 18 months later and they’re not there anymore. It’s been a lot of there and not there. On 9th Street between First and Second, there’s a building that went up that looks like it should be on Fifth Avenue, my god. It’s pretty wild. It’s hard to believe. I would have never imagined in 1993 that we’d be experiencing all these dramatic changes.

But I love the East Village no matter what. It still has its grub. It still has its little dark side. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. To me, it’s very bohemian no matter what. Even with all my neighbors who are probably NYU students because they party a lot. Ever since I’ve been here people have been partying. Now I’ve heard the building is about 80 percent NYU students, but the noise doesn’t bother me.

I feel very lucky and very blessed. I’d like to end up in a few other museums and then maybe find a place to have a solo show, because I’m ready. Those are my next goals.

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

Former residents talk about landlord Maria Hrynenko: 'it was clear she wanted to get rid of anyone with a rent-regulated apartment'

[Photo via @mesh_mellow]

The New York Times speaks with several of the former residents who lived in buildings destroyed in the deadly gas explosion last March 26.

On Thursday, the DA charged landlord Maria Hrynenko and her son, Michael Hrynenko Jr., with involuntary manslaughter ... as well as contractor Dilber Kukic and an unlicensed plumber, Athanasios Ioannidis. (A fifth person, Andrew Trombettas, faces charges for supplying his license to Ioannidis.)

According to the article, Maria Hrynenko was not popular among her tenants.

An excerpt:

Some of those tenants, now scattered across the city and country, were encouraged by the thought of their former landlord in handcuffs.

But many also rued the years spent while, they say, Ms. Hrynenko harassed them in her greedy pursuit of higher rents. Prosecutors cited her greed as the driving force behind the explosion.

“I was actually shocked charges were brought at all, and that it happened so quickly,” said Kim-Nora Moses, a tenant who said she had studied building codes and needled inspectors for years about the exhaust system. “But I always felt like she won, because she blew the place up. She said a lot of mean and hurtful things to people; it was clear she wanted to get rid of anyone with a rent-regulated apartment.”

According to the Post, before Thursday's press conference, Hrynenko said "I’m a good person" to reporters as authorities brought her into the DA's office.

All five people that the NYPD arrested pleaded not guilty.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Updated: 2nd Ave. explosion — landlord, 3 others charged with 2nd degree manslaughter; showed 'a blatant and callous disregard for human life'

So long, OTB (and happy Derby day)

The Kentucky Derby is today. And in the EV Grieve household (aka, apartment), it's a national holiday. There are screenings of The Lemon Drop Kid, Saratoga, The Killing and Seabiscuit. Well, won't get into all the rituals. Don't want you to think we're really weird. Oh. And there's the ceremonial trip to an OTB parlor. This year, though, the whole thing is a little bittersweet. Bloomberg is pushing for these things to shutter after the Belmont. Anyway, much has already been written about the future of OTBs. In fact, the state just closed two, including the parlor right by my office at 17 John St.



I'm stunned that the state closed this location for good at 7 last night, HOURS BEFORE THE BIGGEST BETTING DAY OF THE YEAR.



Idiots, yes? As the Post reported, the branch, open since 1982, generated bets of $5,915,870 in fiscal 2007.

I stopped by John Street yesterday at lunch. There were FOUR people inside. It's actually a lovely little spot. The paneled walls give it a basement rec room feel circa, well, 1982. There are 12 betting windows (15 if you count the three automated tellers). Yesterday, only three of the windows were open. I was shocked how quiet it was. I took exactly one picture inside the door (and a lousy one at that) before I was shooed away by a OTB worker standing guard by the door. I tried to explain what I was doing. He didn't seem interested in my story.



This line from the Times article sums it up best:

It is an ever-narrowing slice of New York that still belongs to the hustler and the old-timer. Soon it may be extinct...

Like everything else that helps give the city some character.