Former 13th Street crack house may become housing for homeless LGBT youth

The long-vacant building at 222 E. 13th St. near Third Avenue may be getting a new life as housing for 12-to-18 homeless LGBT youth. On Monday night, CB3's Land Use Commitee unanimously voted in support of the proposal at the former SRO and notorious crack house that has been boarded up for nearly 20 years. Per the website of the Cooper Square Committee, who is spearheading the campaign:

Their proposal (in partnership with the Ali Forney Center) is "to turn a vacant city owned building at 222 E. 13th St. into housing for 12 - 18 homeless LGBT youth. Community Board 3's resolution will urge HPD (the City's housing agency) to grant us site control so that we can apply for the funds needed to renovate the building. We appreciate the support of the more than 500 people who signed the petition in support of our proposal. We will continue to need community support to move this project forward to a successful conclusion. There are over 1,500 homeless LGBT youth in NYC, so this is a small, but important, step in addressing the larger crisis."

Find more information on the project here.

For a lot more of the complicated history on this building, read our post here: A haunted house on 13th Street?

For further reading:
The New Community Activism (City Journal)

And now, photos of a rat eating a bagel in Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Get your bladder-busting 100-ounce beer tube!

Last noticed this 100-ounce special at Cafetasia on Avenue A back in May ...

Now, EV Grieve reader Kurt spots a new happy hour sign... don't recall the beer being served in a tube last time...

Maybe it's time to landmark the Saint Mark's Lions

Workers are on the scene here today at 96 Saint Mark's Place ... don't know what they're up to...

...we're hopeful that they won't be removing the iconic lions...

[Photos by Allen Semanco]

Report: Cops bust Craigslist apartment scammer

In the Post today, there's an NYPD Daily Blotter item about a woman trying to lease a man an apartment on East Sixth Street that was already occupied.

The victim responded to an ad on Craigslist and arranged with Emma Hunt, 25, to lease the pad on East Sixth Street, between First and Second Avenues, for $3,250, court papers claim.

The victim forked over the money and was given a set of keys that didn’t work, cops said.

Hunt was arrested Oct. 19 and charged with grand larceny.

What do we think of the renovated Met Foods so far?

Renovations continue over at Met Foods on Second Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street... One reader remarked that it was "nice to have it looking clean."

It certainly is cleaner... and it looks bigger. I'm not a regular here, so I don't have much to say on the matter... New deli is in the works...

Curious what will happen with the floor...

As Jeremiah has written about, a Ratner's was located here for more than 50 years ... (Read Jeremiah's post here.) The R remains, but for how long? Hate to see another sliver of history disappear...

And so far, that exposed piece of Ratner's old wall is still there.

9th Precinct asking supers and maintenance workers to meet this morning

Several weeks ago, the NYPD put up "beware!!" and "be safe!!" flyers on sections of East Third Street and East Fourth Street between First and Second Avenue...

And several readers told of having their apartments broken into by someone who accessed the buildings via the roof...

So now... if you walked along First or Second Avenue the last few days, or side streets between Second and Sixth... then you probably saw these flyers...

EV Grieve reader Steph took this photo... we're told that it's an educational-type meeting for the workers. You know, when you go on a lunch break, lock the door behind you and what not.

I took a look at the 9th Precinct crime stats for the year... As you can see, there has been an uptick in burglaries in the past 28 days — 22 reported during the period, which is 11 more than the same time period last year. (100 percent increase! Call the Post!)

Overall, though, reported burglaries are down this year compared with 2010.

Tonight at Theatre 80: Transgendered Jesus, Juggernut and more

[Transgendered Jesus via]

The Howl! Arts month-long benefit supporting HOWL H.E.L.P. is winding down... (H.E.L.P. = Howl Emergency Life Project. Read more about them here.)

And an evening of music and what not tonight: Transgendered Jesus, Juggernut, The Love Butchers & The Blowdryers

8-11 p.m. $10.00 Theatre 80 St Marks, 80 St Marks Place

Find the whole schedule through Monday here.

The Meatball Factory opens today, puts up new mailbox

Earlier in the month, a resident who lives above the new Meatball Factory on Second Avenue and 14th Street noted that the restaurant had switched addresses.

The address of the previous tenant — the Arthur Treachers-Nathan's-Pizza Hut combo! — was 251. E. 14th St. But the Meatball Factory is using the address of the apartment building — 231 Second Ave., which caused some mail confusion ... all the Meatball Factory mail was going to the residents.

Anyway! Problem solved... the Meatball Factory put up a mail slot in the lobby of 231 Second Ave.

And thank you if you made it this far.

Oh, and The Meatball Factory opens today.

Cookies in return for info on stolen bike

Oh, met to post this the other day... spotted along Fourth Avenue near 12th Street...

'My Mars Bar Movie' world premiere on Thursday

Thursday marks the "world theatrical premiere" of "My Mars Bar Movie," the 87-minute documentary directed by Jonas Mekas, the 88-year-old filmmaker-poet-writer-curator... (His full bio is here.)

Here's a description of the film via YouTube:

For some twenty years Mars Bar, on the corner of First Street and Second Avenue, Manhattan, has been my bar. That's where we went for beer and tequila whenever we had to take a break from our work at Anthology Film Archives, and it was also a bar where most of those who came to see movies at Anthology ended up after the shows. We always had a great time at Mars Bar. It was always open, there was always the juke box, and very often there was no electricity, and it was old and messy and it didn't want to be any other way — it was the last escape place left in downtown New York. So this is my love letter to it, to my Mars Bar. Mars Bar as I knew it.

Find ticket info here.

H/t to One Folded Sunset for the post yesterday.

See hawk

Early one recent evening in Tompkins Square Park. Photos by Bobby Williams.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[via EVG reader Tom]

Protest at 515 E. Fifth St. (The Villager)

Good news from the revamped Waverly diner (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Cooper Square Hotel sells for $90 million (The Wall Street Journal ... via Curbed)

Pete Seeger at Occupy Wall Street (Slum Goddess)

Another night with the Chillmaster (Marty After Dark)

Sauce opens on Rivington (BoweryBoogie)

East River Park still rather stalled (The Lo-Down)

New sign for David Schwimmer's place on East Sixth Street

You may recall that the new home going up at 331 E. Sixth St. may possibly belong to David Schwimmer... And someone had added a message to the "what's going on here?" sign... The sign was this way for weeks ...

Anyway, workers have finally replaced the old sign...

And what's happening behind the sign? A quick look through the peephole...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Is David Schwimmer the 'Friends' star who now owns the demolished 331 E. Sixth St. townhouse?

Outrage over total demolition of historic East Sixth Street townhouse