"Our country feels so divided right now that we are all searching for things that unify us," their spokesperson said. "The one thing that I have found that we all have in common is our disdain for SantaCon. Over the past few years myself and others have witnessed several horrible acts ..."
"We have reached out to organizers and asked them to cancel but have not heard back," they continued. "We hope they will come to their senses. We hope the organizers hear us loud and clear and are aware that we will be out in force tomorrow to stop SantaCon if they don't cancel."
They add that anyone interested in spending their Saturday aiding their crusade should meet up at noon Saturday at Bar 13. "We want to make it clear to the young people out there that this is not just a bunch of 40 and 50 year olds and we have several people under the age of 35 planning on participating."
“I really wish it would be canceled,” Egan said. “It’s turned into an abomination of drunk Santa Clauses fighting; vomiting all over the city. and it sends a terrible message to children.”
“SantaCon canceled – what? What?” said Zavier Dahlbenza of East New York, Brooklyn. “The drunkenness, the Santa costumes — I love all of it! I don’t think it should be canceled at all. I think it should keep going.”
SantaCon is an alt-right convention with red hats instead of white. Dial 311 and report people to the naughty list.
— Boycott SantaCon (@boycottsantacon) December 9, 2016
@NYCdisinterest Don't believe everything you read on poles! (unless its the North Pole).. #santaconnyc is definitely on!
— Santacon NYC (@santacon) December 9, 2016
Extra officers are working tomorrow for @santacon to ensure everyone a good & safe time while being respectful of our neighbors pic.twitter.com/d7LGqg1OUn
— NYPD 9th Precinct (@NYPD9Pct) December 9, 2016
The East Village Independent Merchants Association (EVIMA) is hosting its third annual holiday shopping event ALL DAY Saturday, Dec. 10. East Villagers are encouraged to shop local and support small business owners, in exchange for special discounts, promotions and in-store treats.
EVIMA will also host a holiday party at Jimmy’s No. 43 from 4-6 PM, where shoppers can enter a special Grab Bag raffle with treats from EVIMA members. Shoppers will receive one raffle ticket for every store they shop using a special passport card they can pick up at participating stores.
Residents can also pick up their FREE copy of the recently launched EVill Card, the first east village discount card designed by merchants for residents. The card, launched in late October, is a free resource for all residents of the East Village. Card owners access special discounts and deals throughout the year from an ever-growing list of participating merchants. For more info on the EVill card, click here.
Participating merchant list:
• Anthony Aiden Opticians — Free eye exam with purchase and 15% off complete set of eye glasses all weekend
• B&H Dairy — 10% off breakfast, lunch and dinner all day
• Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks — 10% all day and have in-store carolers
• Chinese Hawaiian Kenpo Academy — $150 for 100 days of unlimited classes or $80 per month for 1 weekend class per week (6 month contract)
• East Village Vintage Collective — 15% off store-wide and some mulled cider
• Exit 9 Gift Emporium — 15% off in store to anyone who mentions the shopping event
• La Sirena Mexican Gifts — 10% off day of event
• Lucky on B — Free "holiday shot" with purchase
• New York Copy & Print — Spend $100 get 20% off
• Pageant Print Shop — 10% off in store to those who mention the promotion
• Parlor — 15% off all Aveda products & complimentary Holiday make-up tips with Christopher from 3-6pm
• Random Accessories — 15% off plus some sweet treats
• Three Seat Espresso & Barber — buy 1 coffee get one free through Dec. 11
Though a number of media outlets have reported that the Sunshine’s lease will be up for renegotiation at the end of 2018, the existential threat facing the theater has less to do with its lease than the possibility that a new buyer will demolish the building and replace it with a towering apartment complex. Built in 1898, the property has a reported price tag of more than $35 million.
Ted Mundorff, president and CEO of Landmark Theaters, told IndieWire that turning the theater into a high rise is easier said than done. “It would take years for anyone who’s going to pay the kind of money they’re looking for to demolish [the building] and construct something,” he said. “At this point I don’t see any imminent danger of us leaving the property.”
Bill Thompson, senior vice president of theatrical sales at international arthouse distributor Cohen Media Group, said that despite the fact that the Sunshine’s building has failed to lure a buyer, the chances of the theater sticking around for long are slim. “I think everyone is expecting that the building itself is going to end up becoming a high rise,” he said.
[H]ow do you make rent off of $5, $10 or even $20 readings? It’s something we think about all the time in terms of restaurants and $8 eyebrow threading and $10 manicures. But those industries have visible, steady clientele. And with rents what they are — $418 per square foot in Lower Manhattan for retail space, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s most recent retail market report, which works out to approximately 21 readings at $20 for every single square foot in a space—the economics seem daunting. (Retail rents are much higher, of course, in other parts of the city.)
“The people they meet for $20 — that’s just an opening,” James Famularo, a senior director at Eastern Consolidated, told Commercial Observer. “Once in a while, they’ll hit a nerve. Some sucker will believe it, commission the reader [industry speak for astrologists, psychics, and crystal, energy, palm and tarot readers] as a life consultant and pay hundreds or thousands of dollars per month. They’re not doing it for a palm read — they’re looking for a well.”
Still, that seemed far-fetched in terms of a business plan. Or, at least, risky. And, anyway, all psychics are not created equal.
This is not a story about who is good at their practice or who is easily seduced (or who is interested in doing a reading “for research”). This is a story about who is good at bookkeeping. Whatever the math, readers appear to be a vanishing breed, at least in terms of new storefronts and new searches for visible space.
Each of the outer boroughs experienced marked increases in the number of national retail stores in 2016, while Manhattan saw its stronghold on national chains dip slightly from previous years ...
The study shows that Dunkin Donuts remained New York City’s largest national retailer with 596 stores city-wide and widened its lead over second place retailer, Subway, which has 433 locations. Dunkin Donuts now has 163 more stores than any other retailer in the city.
Dunkin Donuts topped our list for the eighth consecutive year as the largest national retailer in New York City, with a net increase of 24 stores compared to 2015. Subway is still the second largest national retailer in the city, but it has 12 fewer locations than last year. Rounding out the top ten national retailers in New York are MetroPCS (with 326 stores), Starbucks (317), Duane Reade/Walgreens (303), T-Mobile (223), Baskin-Robbins and McDonald’s (217 each), Rite Aid (185), and CVS (153). There are 12 retailers with more than 100 stores across the city, down from 13 last year.
For the eighth consecutive year, national chain stores have expanded its presence in the city, and despite a slight decrease of locations in Manhattan, chain retailers still have almost double the number of stores in Manhattan than in any other borough. Overall, chain retail locations in New York City grew from a total of 7,154 stores in 2015 to 7,243 stores in 2016, a 1.2 percent increase.
Among the study’s other major findings:
• Starbucks has more stores in Manhattan than any other national retailer with 223 locations, while Dunkin Donuts topped the list in each of the other boroughs.
In addition to these core venues, around 50 participating bars will open their doors to the Santas and offer special SantaCon deals. Those bars — along with the route's exact starting point — will be announced [tonight].
It has been a great privilege to have been a part of your lives for nearly 20 years at Salon Seven. Thank you for your patronage and loyalty ... I will be moving to a nearby location effective January 6, 2017. My new digs will be at the Tim Dark Hair Salon, located at 27 East 3rd Street where I will continue cutting your hair as usual...
Want to serve and improve your #Manhattan neighborhood? Consider joining your Community Board! Apply here: https://t.co/wp89JyaZic
— Gale A. Brewer (@galeabrewer) December 5, 2016
Community Board members must live, work, or have an otherwise significant interest in the neighborhoods served by the community board, and be a New York City resident. In addition, the Manhattan Borough President’s office looks for applicants with histories of involvement in their communities, expertise and skill sets that are helpful to community boards, attendance at community board meetings, and knowledge of issues impacting their community. No more than 25 percent of the members of any board may be New York City employees.
In September of 2015, Madison Realty Capital, a determined private equity lender, issued Toledano a $124 mil mortgage to buy 17 buildings throughout the East Village and Chelsea area.
News coverage (The Real Deal) has documented the risky lending patterns that Madison Realty Capital maintains. The Real Deal quoted a veteran real estate investor saying that MRC’s $124 million loan to Toledano left him “over leveraged,” and that Toledano is now “pushing up rents to pay off a high mortgage.”
The mortgages Madison Realty Capital issued Toledano went as far as to require him to spend $2 mil of the loan exclusively on tenant buyouts or renovations – practices which often trigger huge rent increases. Tenants in Toledano’s buildings have faced alleged harassment and extensive building issues ever since he took ownership. Signature Bank played a role here as well, as they collateralize Madison Realty Capital in the lending they do.
State Assemblymember Deborah Glick: “Raphael Toledano has proven to be an unscrupulous and harassing landlord who takes financial risks and is often over-leveraged while seeking to make an enormous short-term profit off a group of buildings at the expense of tenant’s rights. Madison Realty Capital, and their collateralized backer, Signature Bank, show a disregard for stable communities by funding these mortgages for Toledano. We urge them to stop funding these projects which inevitably result in tenant harassment."
State Sen. Brad Hoylman: "Madison Realty needs to take responsibility for the unscrupulous, anti-tenant actions of the developers it bankrolls. Madison is greasing the skids for predatory landlords in my district who systematically harass tenants out of their homes. I’m proud to stand with the Toledano Tenants Coalition, Cooper Square Committee, and the Rude Mechanical Orchestra in calling on Madison Realty to pull the plug on Brookhill Properties."
While the food is outstanding at XyZ, cooked by Basque native chef Javier Ortega — who previously owned the TriBeca restaurant Pintxos and ran the kitchen at the natural wine bar The Ten Bells — the wine selection is truly unique and adventurous.
Chef Javier Ortega and his daughter, Alaia, serve up a menu that would be at home in San Sebastian, filled with pintxos and botanas, little bites like salt cod croquetas or salty-sweet pa amb tomaca, tomato-rubbed toasts.
We are friends of Big Lee's The Hard Swallow Saloon, and are fighting to keep another true dive bar from being kicked out of the big city. Due to a re-neg on a purchase agreement of the bar, our friends are now having to incur some serious legal fees to fight this injustice, and also cover lost revenue while the bar is closed. ... So we're asking for everyone to help pitch in a little to help cover the legal fees & get our favorite bar back open.
