Work on new Avenue A entrances to the L train looks to be getting underway

Starting today, the MTA is relocating bus stops for the M14A and M14D between First Avenue and Avenue B.

For instance, the eastbound M14A will now pick up and drop off passengers on Avenue A between 14th Street and 13th Street ... the signs kind of explain the new system...



This is all apparently in preparation for building new entrances at Avenue A and a new power station at Avenue B for the L train. The MTA has said that the Avenue A entrances would serve 60 percent of the station’s ridership. (The First Avenue station sees 24,286 daily weekday riders, according to the MTA's website.)

As previously reported, this work is starting ahead of the L train shutdown between Bedford Avenue and Eighth Avenue to repair the Sandy-damaged Canarsie Tunnel. The shutdown of the L is expected to last 15 months with a start date of April 2019. The MTA signage on 14th Street notes a completion date of the fourth quarter of 2020 at a cost of $900 million.



Here's part of an MTA news release from March:

Prior to the tunnel closure, extensive station work will be performed that will increase operational efficiency and improve accessibility and circulation. Station improvements at the 1 Av and Bedford Av L Subway stations will include new stairways, and four ADA-compliant elevators and other work to improve customer flow.

Construction of a new Avenue B substation and other infrastructure will address power requirements that, combined with the existing CBTC signal system, will allow more trains to run on the line to accommodate growing ridership.

There's no word how long this First Avenue/Avenue A station work will last. Presumably you won't be able to take advantage of these new entrances until the fourth quarter of 2020 when the L train tunnel rehabilitation is complete.

And here's a look at where some work has already started taking place, such as across from the Associated Supermarket...



... and outside the diner on 14th Street...





... and just east of Avenue B, there are barrels set up around the Citi Bike docking station, which likely seems to be a candidate for a relocation...



Workers have also removed the bus shelters on 14th Street, in an unannounced move. Town & Village noted this back on Friday. The MTA gave this convoluted statement to them:

The existing bus stops on the westbound side of 14th Street on the island at Avenues A and B have shelters which were removed this past Friday in advance of the two bus stops being relocated this week. Both of these stops which are on the west side of the intersection now and will be moved to the east side of the intersection. The bus shelters will not be installed at the temporary stops but will be replaced at the end of the project when the stops are relocated back to their permanent location.

The existing bus stop on the eastbound side (south side of 14th Street) at Avenue A does not have a shelter. This stop will be moved this week as well. The bus stop for M14A will move around the corner on Ave A. The stop for M14D will be move to the east side of Avenue A intersection, however, since there is a building construction project occupying that space for the next nine months the bus stop for M14D at Avenue A will be eliminated until next spring (one stop is at First Avenue and the next will be at Avenue B). M14D customers who want to exit at Avenue A will be advised to take M14A bus while the bus stop for M14D at Ave A is not available.

So no bus shelters here until the work is complete.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Avenue A L train entrance closer to a reality … some day

CB3 and Sen. Squadron to address frequency and reliability of M14A bus service

Speaking of the MTA and the M14A... During CB3's Transportation, Public Safety & Environment Committee meeting tomorrow night, State Sen. Daniel Squadron's office will provide an update on requests for improved M14A service — specifically the frequency of the buses.

This is also a chance for residents to speak out about the issue. CB3 tweeted last week: "Concerned about frequency & reliability of M14A bus in your neighborhood? We need 2 hear from u!"

Upon continuing to hear complaints about the frequency of the M14A, Squadron took another crack at improving service late last year. Per The Lo-Down last November:

In a letter to Veronique Hakim, president of New York City Transit, he explained, “M14A and M14D bus service is critical to the Lower East Side community. These lines provide much needed public transportation to a transit-starved area. My office receives complaints about long wait times for buses, bus bunching, and unexpected scheduling of the two lines.”

In 2014, the MTA dismissed requests from residents for more frequent 14A service.

Cooperatively Yours, the LES-based blog for tenants, had this to say about the situation the other day:

It’s happened to all of us: waiting 30 minutes or more for the M14A at Union Square while watching bus after bus after bus marked M14D pick up passengers. The MTA says there’s a 3-to-1 ratio. The question is, why the disparity?

The MTA then reviewed ridership and decided that the frequency of buses was consistent with the count of riders. Advocates ... said those counts were flawed because of how many people at Union Square just give up on getting an M14A and hop on the M14D instead.

The committee meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday!) night at 6:45 at Downtown Art, 1st Floor Theater, 70 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery. This is the third item on the meeting docket.

Steve Cuozzo: 'A new Starbucks will make the thriving East Village an even better place to live'

[Photo by Steven]

As we noted last week, various community groups and local shop owners from the East Village Independent Merchants Association (EVIMA) are planning a rally at the incoming Starbucks on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place on Thursday from 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Per the invite: "We don't need more chains in the East Village! We need retail diversity and independently owned local businesses!"

The rally notice caught the eye of New York Post columnist/critic Steve Cuozzo... who filed a piece published this past weekend titled "Why anti-Starbucks hipsters sound a lot like Trump supporters" ...



Some excerpts, including the lead...

East Village apocalypse! Starbucks is at the Tompkins Square Park gates! Sound the dirge for “retail diversity and independently owned local businesses!”

And!

Their tantrum would be funny if it didn’t reflect an obnoxious New York sociopolitical sensibility shared by “progressive” thinkers who quail at actual progress — whether it means reducing crime, investing in decayed neighborhoods or selling coffee that doesn’t taste like grounds at the bottom of a cup.

No neighborhood impulse is more illiberal than to keep out those who don’t conform to voluble locals’ sense of who belongs. We may assume that Starbucks-damning East Villagers did not vote for Donald Trump (whose son-in-law Jared Kushner controls a real-estate company that owns 50-odd Alphabet City buildings). Yet they sound ready to build walls to protect small shops and cafes from outside competition and perhaps to demand the interlopers pay for them.

But if the East Village’s colorful small shops and eateries face a threat, it isn’t Starbucks or drugstore chains. It’s landlords who raise rents to a level the market will bear, a phenomenon that stretches north, west and south of Tompkins Square Park.

And in the end...

A new Starbucks will make the thriving East Village an even better place to live. But it’ll disappoint those who perversely preferred the neighborhood of 30 years ago, when it was better known for crack than for coffee.

[Updated] Old Monk looking ready to open

Old Monk, a new Indian restaurant, is shaping up on the northeast corner of Avenue B and 11th Street... the paper is off the windows, as these photos by EVG reader Cheyenne show...



The sign on the window notes that Old Monk is opening soon ...



And it looks ready to serve diners...



There's a teaser site for Old Monk, though it doesn't have the menu posted just yet. The restaurant's Instagram account describes the Old Monk as serving "contemporary Indian soul food."

Prolific restaurateur Sushil Malhotra, whose ventures include Cafe Spice, is behind the Old Monk along with chef Navjot Arora of Chutney Masala in Westchester.

The address here, 175 Avenue B, has seen a variety of cuisine in recent years, including Babu Ji (2015-17) and Spina (2009-2015).

Updated 7/15

The restaurant is now open...

Quickly reaching the top of 287 E. Houston St.

I can't recall a new development that has gone up as quickly as 287 E. Houston St. ... workers hoisted the flag atop the 11-floor condoplex between Clinton and Suffolk late last week...



A quick recap: The 120-foot-tall luxury building will feature 28 residences. The development will have two to four units on each story, including two duplexes on the first and second floors and a penthouse duplex on the top two floors. The smallest unit (624 square feet) starts at $1.18 million. (More background here.)

It will likely look like the rendering by Labor Day...

Your chance to own part of an East Village bar

You've probably noticed these flyers around the past few days ... asking if you'd like to INVEST IN AN EAST VILLAGE BAR. (I saw the flyers on Third Avenue, Second Avenue and Avenue A...)

The link goes to an IndieGoGo page with details on the crowdfunding campaign.

Be an Influencer
You walk in to the bar, point to your photo on the owners wall, and treat your friends to rounds of drinks. Participate in shaping what the bar serves, the events it plans, the specials it offers. You help make the bar you want to hang out in.

Have Fun
The success of every bar is in the service (which already is stellar) and the patrons, who make the experience that much more enjoyable for each other. You aren't responsible for the management of the place, your job is to show up, be friendly, and have fun.

Keep the East Village Great
We're talking about an established pub in the heart of the East Village, just off Avenue A, that can become the living room for you and your friends. Contribute today, and take advantage of the perks forever. Help keep the East Village locally owned, and avoid the 'Bleeckerization' of this great neighborhood.

Guarantee
If adequate funding levels are not achieved, you will be refunded 100% of your investment, guaranteed.

Depending on your contribution (starting at $50), you'll have your framed photo on the owner's wall and receive various drink specials and a bar T-shirt. For $100, you get to represent the bar before Community Board 3. (Kidding!)

The person behind the campaign is looking to raise $200,000. At last look, they were at $1,800.

At the Weeping Willow Wake

[Photo by Steven]

This afternoon, residents and members of La Plaza Cultural gathered on Ninth Street and Avenue C to bid farewell to the last two willow trees in the community garden.

As previously reported, an inspection showed that the willow nicknamed Cher, located in the corner of the garden by Avenue C, is rotting, and will need to be removed. (The second willow, Krusty, located near the gazebo, is also in poor shape and will likely need to come down as well.)

Rev. Billy, along with members of his choir, presided over the event, titled the Weeping Willow Wake...


[Photo by Steven]


[Photo via @evan_kapitansky]

Reverend Billy and the church of stop shopping at the weeping willow #tree memorial in la Plaza. #weepingwillow #reverendbilly #nyc #park #garden

A post shared by Eden Bee (@edenbrower) on Jul 9, 2017 at 1:39pm PDT

In a statement earlier, La Plaza officials said:

The Parks Department has made a descion that they must come down and will take them down when they have the time. La Plaza Community Garden is saddened by the loss of our great willow trees and is reaching out to the community seeking people's opinion as to where we should go from here.

Here's one opinion...


[Photo by Steven]

The Parks Department has yet to schedule a date for removing the willows, believed to be 41 years old.

-----

Updated 8 p.m.

Here are a few more photos via EVG regular Peter Brownscombe...

Today in apologies

Spotted on Avenue A.

Water Problems
So sorry all, but someone (me) drilled through the cold water pipe that goes to the kitchens!
I will get a plumber in here ASAP, but it will probably not be before Monday.
Kitchen hot water works
All water works in bathrooms

Week in Grieview

[Photo in Tompkins Square Park by Derek Berg]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

The former Church of the Nativity one step closer to hitting the sales market on 2nd Avenue (Wednesday)

A renewed effort to restore and preserve the Yiddish Theatre Walk of Fame on 2nd Avenue (Thursday)

Cab strikes and kills 87-year-old man on Cooper Square (Monday)

A wake for the last willow trees at La Plaza Cultural (Friday)

The plan to document the last month of Webster Hall's existence (Friday)

S'MAC is open in new home on 1st Avenue and 12th Street (Wednesday)

The East Village artists behind the Danceteria time capsule from 1984 that prompted a bomb scare in 2017 (Friday)

Remembering Louise Nevelson at the Nevelson House on 7th Street (Wednesday)

Owners of Babu Ji settle 2nd wage lawsuit (Friday)

Paloma Rocket looking to land in the East Village (Wednesday)

Report: Steve Croman sued to stop his father from managing 3rd Avenue properties (Wednesday)

A few dining details about Joe and Pat's, the Staten Island pizzeria opening on 1st Avenue (Thursday)


[Photo on 10th Street by Derek Berg]

Christo needs a larger bird bath (Tuesday)

Body found in the East River north of the Williamsburg Bridge (Tuesday)

Details on the "New York in the 70s" series starting this week at the Film Forum (Monday)

Reader report: Rooftop fire on 12th Street (Monday)

Why it would be a bad idea to take this discarded carpet on Second Avenue (Sunday)

A look the incoming Starbucks on St. Mark's and Avenue A, site of a rally on July 13 (Wednesday)

Cholo Noir opens on 6th Street (Friday)

The new view of 10th Street from 11th Street (Thursday)

---

Follow EVG on Instragram and/or Twitter for more updates

Today in Tompkins Square Park

Photo via Bobby Williams...

Band that played Tompkins Square Park on June 25 looking for some help with park permits

[Image via Facebook]

On June 25, Tycoon Dog, a jam/rock band, played a free show in Tompkins Square Park. The band, which formed in 1996, plays in various parks — Including Tompkins Square in the past — throughout the city during the warmer weather months.

The band's founder, Scott Bailey, sent this email out... so perhaps if you were at that show...

We are asking for your help.

The NYC Parks Dep't has revoked all our 2017 permits. They say that at our June 25 show in Tompkins Square Park, police issued two summonses to us, and that we failed to turn down the band's volume when the police asked us to.

These things didn't happen at the 6/25 Tycoon Dog show in TSP - there were no issues or problems of any kind at that show. We think they may have happened at a big punk show there the previous day, and that there has been some kind of mix-up. However, as of now our permits are revoked and we need your help to try and get them back.

If you were at the 6/25 Tompkins show, especially if you saw the whole show, could you please email me? I am hoping some ... of you can give us a statement saying you were there and that the volume was fine and there were no problems.

Here's Scott's email.

Repairs underway on (in?) Tompkins Square Park sinkhole

Workers are at the Eighth Street/Avenue B entrance to Tompkins Square Park ... starting repairs on the sinkhole that has closed this corridor the past three-four weeks...



A worker told EVG correspondent Steven, who took these photos, that he's clearing out the sinkhole for the plumbers to fix the pipe that broke... and some photos of that broken pipe...



No word on when the plumbers might be here.

Meanwhile, at the Bowery Mural Wall...

Seems to be a daily ritual here on East Houston at the Bowery... someone tags the wall, then Goldman Properties has someone paint over it... repeat!

David Choe's mural here was painted over in June as the controversy over his past comments about an alleged sexual assault resurfaced... his work was scheduled to be up through October.



There has't been any word of a replacement.

The sounds of the 1970s this afternoon in Tompkins Square Park

This afternoon in Tompkins Square Park... via the Facebook event page: "Mike SOS and Super Morgan spin the 70s jams from 2pm until 6pm! ALL AGES and FREE!"

This event comes courtesy of FBOMB NYC, who hosts a rock-n-roll showcase at Arlene's Grocery the last Saturday of the month.

Friday's parting shot

First Avenue at Sixth Street tonight... before it rained (again)...

'Melt' down

Siouxsie and the Banshees from 1983 with "Melt!" (and with Robert Smith). Always seemed like a good summer song...

Report: Owners of Babu Ji settle 2nd wage lawsuit

News broke back in March about a second wage-theft and overtime lawsuit against Babu Ji owners Jessi and Jennifer Singh. Around that same time, their popular Indian restaurant on Avenue B at 11th Street went dark ... and never reopened in this location.

Eater reports today that Babu Ji has settled the second lawsuit.

Last fall, three employees of the restaurant’s now-shuttered East Village location accused Jessi and Jennifer Singh of withholding tips and failing to pay overtime. The same lawsuit claimed that Jessi Singh threatened servers and their families.

Settlement papers filed to public record earlier this week show that each of the three former employees will receive under $28,500 as part of the agreement, while attorney (and notorious restaurant thorn) Maimon Kirschenbaum’s firm will receive more than $44,000. The Singhs did not admit to wrongdoing as part of the deal.

Babu Ji, which opened on Avenue B in June 2015, is now at 22 E. 13th St. between Fifth Avenue and University Place.

The former Babu Ji space on B and 11th will be an Indian restaurant from the founder of Curry in a Hurry, Akbar Dawat and Café Spice, among others.

Photo from March

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Babu Ji on Avenue B hit with another wage lawsuit

With court date looming, Babu Ji 'is taking a break' on Avenue B

A wake for the last willow trees at La Plaza Cultural

The last two willow trees in La Plaza Cultural on the southwest corner of Avenue C and Ninth Street will have to be removed.

A recent inspection by Manhattan Forestry confirmed what some members of the community garden had feared: the trees are rotting.

The willow (nicknamed Cher) in the corner of La Plaza by Avenue C looks especially bad ...



The other willow (aka Krusty) is located near the garden's gazebo.



Here's part of a missive that La Plaza shared:

Our weeping willow trees are around 41 years old. They were first planted in La Plaza thanks to a grant from Plant-A-Lot, and there were originally three willows and three linden trees all planted at the same time. One willow and one linen were toppled by Hurricane Irene. And another linden had to come down after Hurricane Sandy. And recently the Parks Department has determined that the willows are rotting from the inside and are in danger of falling. One even has visible fungus. The Parks Department has made a descion that they must come down and will take them down when they have the time. La Plaza Community Garden is saddened by the loss of our great willow trees and is reaching out to the community seeking people's opinion as to where we should go from here.

On Sunday afternoon, Rev. Billy and members of his choir will lead a weeping willow wake...



Per La Plaza executive director Ross Martin: "We have no idea when the city will come to perform this unthinkable yet necessary act, but it will be soon, so please join us one last time in the green shade."


[Underneath the green shade of Cher the willow tree]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Willow tree down in La Plaza Cultural

Tree muggers at the La Plaza Cultural

The plan to document the last month of Webster Hall's existence

[Photo from June]

As previously reported, the recently sold Webster Hall is expected to close in early August ... so that new owners Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment along with AEG-backed The Bowery Presents can begin renovations at the landmarked music venue on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

Now, a group of filmmakers are hoping to make a documentary on the club's final month.

Here's their pitch via Kickstarter:

Since 1886 Webster Hall has stood as a gathering place ... cultivating a welcoming environment that included anyone from the mainstream, fringe, underground, or anywhere in between to congregate in the same place at the same time.

On August 9th, 2017 Webster will be closing its doors for renovations. In 2018 it will reopen under corporate management. The Producers of this short wish to make a feature-length film documenting the last month of Webster’s current incarnation in an attempt to preserve its vibe.

You can read more about the project and it goals as well as watch a short at Kickstarter.

The filmmakers have been working at Webster Hall as stage hands since early last year.

"When we discovered that one of the city's last original music venues would be shutting its doors for a corporate clean-up, we were shocked to learn how uninformed both the Webster Hall staff and its neighbors were about the transition," Sanford Jackson, one of the documentarians, said via an email. "After speaking intimately with the staff about the upcoming changeover, we felt it necessary to utilize our talents as filmmakers to document a piece that will genuinely capture what Webster Hall represents within the East Village community and the city's rich nightlife history entirely."

And what have they learned so far during filming?

"One of the more universal themes we've found when talking to staff at Webster Hall is its sheer diversity in both clientele and its staff. On a single night you might expect a children's story book play in the basement, a death metal band in the studio, and an LGBT club night in the ballroom. Thousands of people under the same roof at the same time for remarkably different reasons," said Jackson. "That said, the stories we've heard were really just snippets of a larger tale — a simple introduction to the menagerie of bacchanalia teeming in the memory banks of it's diverse neighborhood and it's employees. We're hoping to capture as much of that as possible with this doc."