Photo by Bobby Williams...
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Today in photos of a squirrel eating a Toaster Strudel in Tompkins Square Park
Photo by Bobby Williams...
Report: City official who OK'd Rivington House deed lift fired
The dismissal came hours after Mayor de Blasio was interviewed by the feds at the office of Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
As the Journal noted: "Mr. Bharara’s office has been examining the Rivington deal as part of a broader investigation into whether Mr. de Blasio’s administration gave special favors to donors."
A DCAS spokesperson said, "These changes have been in the works for some time and have nothing to do with the mayor’s or City Hall’s cooperation with the U.S. Attorney."
In February 2015, the Allure Group paid $28 million for the property, promising that 45 Rivington — the former Rivington Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation — would remain a health facility. In November 2015, a city agency lifted the the deed in exchange for the Allure Group's $16 million payment to the city. Early in 2016, Allure then reportedly sold the property for $116 million to the the Slate Property Group, a condo developer who plans to create 100 luxury residences in the building that overlooks Sara S. Roosevelt Park.
Previously
EV Grieve Etc.: Carlina Rivera's run for City Council; Jake Dell's plans for Katz's
[Photo yesterday in Tompkins Square Park by Derek Berg]
A feature on Carlina Rivera, former legislative director for Councilmember Rosie Mendez, who is running to fill the seat in District 2 that Mendez will vacate this year due to term limits (Town & Village)
Opinion: The Mayor must avoid past mistakes with the former P.S. 64 (The Lo-Down ... previously)
Looking at de Blasio's “Vision Zero Year Three Report” (Streetsblog)
A Veselka then and now (Off the Grid)
Protest outside the Stonewall Inn over President Trump's rollback of transgender protections (ABC-7)
Katz's owner Jake Dell, 29, keeps traditions alive while expanding the brand (Crain's)
Trapizzino, purveyors of meat-and-sauce-stuffed bread pockets, now open on Orchard (Gothamist)
NYC dive bar listicle includes Milano's, Sophie's, Coal Yard and Blue & Gold (Eater)
This series on Canadian “tax shelter” movies includes "Atlantic City," "Heavy Metal" and "The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane." (Anthology Film Archives)
Arthur Russell exhibit set for BAM from March 1 – May 14 (Brooklyn Vegan)
Stick collecting in Tompkins Square Park (Laura Goggin Photography)
Some EV streetscapes seen in this 1984 video for Japanese rock band Go Ohgami (Flaming Pablum)
About Iggy Pop's leopard head jacket from the back cover of Raw Power (Dangerous Minds)
Beth B’s "Voyeur" now through March 16 at Howl! Happening on 1st Street (Official website)
Condos designed by Lenny Kravitz on Kenmare Street are on the market (Curbed)
The rooftop wooden water tanks of NYC (Ephemeral New York)
Enjoy this warm weather now (The Atlantic)
... and vintage boutique Dusty Buttons, 324 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue, is closing at the end of the month...
When it was foggy early this morning
If you woke up today after, say, 9 a.m., then you missed the foggy wonderland that was NYC. It was almost like the set of "The Hound of the Baskervilles," except without the phantom pack of hounds baying across the moor.
Friday, February 24, 2017
Noting
[Photo from this evening]
Several readers have asked if we knew when the lights were turned off on the Tompkins Square Park holiday tree. It has been at least a week since we've seen it lit up...
Three weeks ago, EVG reader Jose Garcia made an appeal to light the lights on year-round.
Sign of the Kross
Redd Kross is back... brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald are embarking on a tour, which includes a stop at the Bowery Ballroom on May 4.
The above video is for 1990's "Annie's Gone."
Community meeting set to discuss lowering the playground fences in Tompkins Square Park
Via the EVG inbox...
On Monday, Feb. 27, NYC Councilwoman Rosie Mendez and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation will hold a community meeting pertaining to the Tompkins Square Park Avenue B Children’s Playground Renovation.
Councilwoman Mendez allocated capital funds to renovate the Avenue B Children’s Playground. The Parks Department has supplemented the funding with its “Parks Without Borders” Initiative that would lower the fences from its present height of 7 feet to 4 feet.
This initiative to lowers the fences at the Avenue B Playground has raised many concerns from residents and NYC Councilwoman Mendez. Please join us at the meeting to share your concerns for the initiative.
The meeting takes place Monday night from 6:30-8 at Saint Brigid-Saint Emeric on Avenue B at Eighth Street. Use the entrance on Eighth Street.
For a little more background, here's a piece from DNAinfo earlier this month:
The Parks Department currently plans to lower the fences around the two playgrounds at the southeast corner of the park from seven feet to four feet as part of a larger reconstruction project, claiming the high fences could obscure bad behavior and actually make the playgrounds less safe.
But community representatives say lowering the fences would expose children using the playgrounds to "vagrants" and drug paraphernalia in the park.
Capt. Vincent Greany, commanding officer at the 9th Precinct, also told DNAinfo that he believes the fences should not be lowered.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Your chance to brainstorm ideas to renovate the Tompkins Square Park Playground (27 comments)
Reminders: Meeting on possible improvements to the Tompkins Square Park Playground
Join Rosie Mendez to discuss improvements to the Tompkins Square playgrounds tomorrow night
Report: 6th Street synagogue ready to hold first services since condofication
After nearly four-plus years, services will resume on March 1 at the condofied Adas Yisroel Anshe Mezritch Synagogue (or Congregation Mezritch Synagogue) at 415 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue, DNAinfo reports.
Today at noon, the synagogue will celebrate its reopening by unveiling its new interior.
EVG regular Michael Hirsch got a look at the under-construction space back in November...
The synagogue — active here since 1910 — had reportedly fallen on hard times, "with a dwindling membership and few resources to maintain the building," as The New York Times noted. Previous plans called for the demolition of the building. Those plans never materialized, and a new developer, East River Partners, emerged and proposed the current arrangement calling for several luxury residences.
As part of the current agreement, the developers are providing at least $20,000 annually to the congregation for the next 198 years ... East River also gave the synagogue a $180,000 "fit-out allowance" to design and rebuild the sanctuary and other spaces, like offices or meeting rooms in the basement.
Per DNAinfo:
Rabbi Paul Ackerman, who served as the head of the congregation for more than four decades, didn't live to see the synagogue's second life — he died months after the deal was made, leaving the century-old structure in the hands of the synagogue board.
The deceased rabbi's son, Sandy Ackerman, now serves as vice president and secretary of that board, and says the historic structure’s restoration would have made his father proud.
“I’m happy for my dad — my father would have loved this,” said Sandy Ackerman.
Per the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, "Congregation Mezritch Synagogue appears to be the sole remaining operating tenement synagogue in the East Village, and thus is an important link to what was once perhaps the most significant Jewish community in America."
The three luxury residences here range in price from $2.95 million (second floor) to $4.4 million for the duplex penthouse, which has two private terraces. You can visit the official 415 site here for more details.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Plan to add condos to historic East Sixth Street synagogue back on
Play spot the potential penthouse atop the East Village synagogue
A final look inside the Anshei Meseritz synagogue on East Sixth Street
Stained-glass windows removed ahead of condo conversion at Congregation Mezritch Synagogue
Condos at former East 6th Street synagogue will start at just under $3 million
Sidewalk bridge comes down as condo conversion continues at former East 6th Street synagogue
History reimagined with $4.4 million penthouse at former 6th Street synagogue
Check out the penthouse at the synagogue-turned condos on 6th Street
1st sign of Sister Jane East Side Tavern on 13th Street
As we've been reporting in recent months, East Side Tavern is coming to the former Redhead space on 13th Street just west of First Avenue.
Now the coming soon signage is up in the front windows... (it looks like the name will be Sister Jane East Side Tavern)...
Michael Stewart, a co-owner of Tavern on Jane at 31 Eighth Ave., said he plans to bring that low-key neighborhood bar/restaurant vibe to 13th Street. He hopes to be open early this spring.
Previously
14th St. Lotto & Magazine has closed
Yesterday was the last day in business for the convenient store at 430 E. 14th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.
An EVG reader, who shared the above photo, passed along the news. A clerk at the store said that they were moving uptown. He declined to say why they were leaving the neighborhood.
Perhaps it's due to the decrease in foot traffic along this corridor in recent years. The store is directly next door to the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office, where a residential building is in the works.
This PO branch closed almost three years ago to the date in 2014.
Thursday, February 23, 2017
A fashionable way to share your feelings about those Supreme-branded Metrocards
In response to the Supreme-branded Metrocards that were unveiled on Monday, especially the hype around them (the $5.50 cards are hitting $1,000 on eBay) ...
...one Lower East Side resident has created a T-shirt.
Via the EVG inbox...
These fools out there at Union Square waiting in line for a Supreme MetroCard 😂😂😂. #MTA pic.twitter.com/r4yEAWk6hw
— Icculus The Brave (@FirenzeMike) February 21, 2017
...one Lower East Side resident has created a T-shirt.
Via the EVG inbox...
We figured you've seen all the hype around the Supreme metrocards this week, and thought you might be interested in our new Fuck Supreme Metrocard T-shirts that we developed in response. The custom printed, hand embroidered, tongue-in-cheek shirts are now available through our instagram @fuckmalkam.
Honeybee ready to read your past, present and future on Avenue A
[Photo from March 2014]
There's apparently a new psychic in town... in this exclusive report, workers this morning hoisted the new awning at 199 Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street...
As the sign shows, Honeybee is now doing readings here, which include the past, present and future...
Any thoughts on the punctuation in the sign? Readings By: Honeybee. As opposed to, say — Readings By Honeybee.
Anyway! This space went under renovation in March 2014, setting a local record with a two-day overhaul. (Read that post here.)
We'll check back later on the status of the guardian lions here...
[Photos from Saturday]
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