Fourth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D this evening... via @artisanmatters
Thursday, March 8, 2018
Noted
EVG regular Lola SΔenz points us to these decorative dog poop signs handmade with glitter (and TLC!) on Third Street at First Avenue...
Time to rent at EVGB, where studios ('lofts') start at $3,695
Extell Development's EVGB — the "East Village's Greatest Building" — is now renting at 510 E. 14th St. and Avenue A.
The listings went live on Monday, as Curbed first noted.
In total, there are 110 market-rate rentals here. And "market rate" is apparently $3,695 for a large studio (called "lofts" at the EVGB website). The largest units, with three bedrooms, are asking $12,425.
Here's the description of a two-bedroom unit ($7,455) via Streeteasy:
Make yourself at home in this north facing split two bedroom, two bathroom residence. 412 features generous living space, multiple walk-in closets, and an in-unit Bosch washer/dryer. for entertaining and relaxing. The huge open kitchen is outfitted with Miele and Bosch appliances, Cosentino Silestone Quartz countertops and backsplash, and unique wood and glass cabinets with gunmetal pulls. The four-fixture master bathroom includes a walk-in shower with blackened steel and fluted glass door and double vanity. Both bathrooms feature Porcelanosa tile and Kohler and Wetstyle fixtures. This apartment is finished with hardwood white oak flooring.
Each unit also includes an Alexa home interface for easy Alexa-ing. ("Alexa, how much is $12,425 divided by eight?")
Here's a view of the back of the building, showing the various balconies and the garden units...
Building amenities include an indoor saltwater pool, a bi-level fitness center, a children’s playroom, and a 19,000-square-foot roof deck with bocce, a putting green, a yoga lawn, a wet bar, fire pits and more things to perhaps inspire 13th Street residents who live behind here to call 311.
As you can see, the EVGB site is working hard to appeal to would-be renters... (The "Mmm ... carbs" cartoon cupcake, like)...
EVGB has an Instragram account too... the first one is a puzzler: "East Village will have you Going Back for more again, and again, and again...donuts are just the beginning of what the vibrant neighborhood has to offer."
Anyway!
Move ins at EVGB start in April.
And as previously reported, part of the retail space in this building will house the small-format Target store. Which someone already tagged.
[Photo from Tuesday]
Extell's other new building on the block toward Avenue B is currently accepting applications for middle-income units.
Previously on EV Grieve:
New 7-floor buildings for East 14th Street include 150 residential units
Target offers details about its flexible-format store opening summer 2018 on 14th and A
The disappearing storefronts of East 14th Street
Extell's new development at 524 E. 14th St. launches lottery for 50 affordable units
[Updated] Bar taking over former HiFi space on Avenue A is called Coney Island Baby
[Photo from Jan. 20]
Work continues at the former HiFi space on Avenue A between 10th Street and 11th Street.
Not a lot is known publicly about the new venture just yet. However, the place does have a name — Coney Island Baby... not to mention an Instragram account, which I discovered last evening...
Per Instagram: "Coney Island Baby NYC. Newly unearthed East Village bar and performance venue, overlooking the denizens of Tompkins Square Park."
HiFi, which also hosted the occasional book readings, comedy shows and acoustic bands, closed last October after 15 years at the address.
In his closing announcement, HiFi co-owner Mike Stuto wrote that business had been off, noting that the weekend bar crowd was "mostly indifferent to the place." He also stressed that the closure had nothing to do with the landlord, a management company that he said has been "ideal ... in pretty much every sense of the word."
Stayed tuned for more on Coney Island Baby, which presumably is named after (or for!) this. Or this! No word on an opening date just yet.
Updated March 25
The bar's website is live now. Coney Island Baby describes itself as "a new 200 capacity live music venue and bar in the heart of the musically historic East Village in NYC. Booking now."
Alejandro Escovedo is headlining the first show on May 2.
End of days at the St. Denis
[Image via Wikipedia Commons]
The new-ish owners of the St. Denis at 797-799 Broadway at 11th Street have plans for the building that don't include its current small business owners (mostly psychotherapists, apparently).
Vanishing New York's Jeremiah Moss, himself a soon-to-be-former-tenant, wrote a feature titled "The Death and Life of a Great American Building" for The New York Review of Books.
Per Moss:
[In the summer of 2016], tenants received a letter from the new owners, announcing the purchase and assuring, “We look forward to continuing the strong, positive relationships enjoyed by tenants in the building.” But as leases expired, they were not renewed, except as short-term extensions rigged with sixty-day termination clauses. Some tenants saw the writing on the wall and moved out. Those who remained hoped that [Normandy Real Estate Partners'] plans — whatever they were — would fall through. Rumors circulated about the future of the St. Denis. It would be gutted, glossed, and given to a single corporation. It would be flipped and turned into condos. And the unimaginable? It would be demolished.
In the summer of 2017, tenants discovered architectural renderings on the Internet proposing to replace the St. Denis with a seventeen-story glass tower sheathed in white glass, as sterile as an operating table. On their website, the CetraRuddy firm claimed that their design will create “an office environment that addresses mental and physical well-being.”
Here's a look at CetraRuddy Architect's concept for the St. Denis (via CityRealty)...
Normandy Real Estate Partners have yet to publicly announce their plans for the property just yet. (Normandy has said that this idea was just allegedly conceptual.)
The 165-year-old building is noteworthy for many reasons. It opened in 1853 as the St. Denis Hotel, which is where Ulysses S. Grant wrote his post-Civil War memoirs and Alexander Graham Bell provided the first demonstration of the telephone to New Yorkers.
However, the building is not landmarked... and it is not in a Historic District.
Back to the article:
Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, is advocating for a zoning to protect the area and its architectural jewels. “The Tech Hub is accelerating the changes,” he told me. What’s coming, he says, are more “high-end high-rise developments — condos, hotels, and tech office buildings.” And there is no limit to how high they can go, thanks to a current zoning that Berman says is “very generous to developers.”
Read the full article by Moss here.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Former St. Denis Hotel selling for $100 million
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Oh Mother! (and there are many free things to do at the Tompkins Square Library branch)
Due to the weather, this evening's free screening of "Mother!" was cancelled at the Tompkins Square Library branch... rescheduled for April 11 at 5 p.m. ...
Really interesting choice for a free library screening ... the film with Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem by Darren Aronofsky (does he still live in the East Village?) is either the best or absolute worst film ever. Not sure what I think, though Kristen Wiig! (Spoiler here.)
And the Tompkins Square Park branch has a lot of free activities daily... poetry readings... jewelry making... film screenings (Tony Richardson's "A Taste of Honey" is an afternoon matinee on March 19 and Christopher Nolan's "Dunkirk" is at 5 p.m. on March 21)... find their schedule of events here.
Really interesting choice for a free library screening ... the film with Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem by Darren Aronofsky (does he still live in the East Village?) is either the best or absolute worst film ever. Not sure what I think, though Kristen Wiig! (Spoiler here.)
And the Tompkins Square Park branch has a lot of free activities daily... poetry readings... jewelry making... film screenings (Tony Richardson's "A Taste of Honey" is an afternoon matinee on March 19 and Christopher Nolan's "Dunkirk" is at 5 p.m. on March 21)... find their schedule of events here.
Storm brings down this tree on 6th Street
[Photo via @jeremyblock]
This tree took a fall — roots and all — early this evening during the storm on the north side of Sixth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue. Thankfully no one was injured, and the car looks to have suffered just minor damage all things considered...
[Photo via @edwardzick]
EVG reader Danny shared these photos... showing the NYPD helping clear the tree from the street...
One witness said that the tree's roots were rotted.
Updated 8:16 p.m.
Word from the NYPD...
We are unsure what caused the tree to come down but our Emergency Services Unit came & cut up the tree, placing it on the sidewalk. The owner of the π has been notified and most importantly nobody was injured @NYPDSpecialops
— NYPD 9th Precinct (@NYPD9Pct) March 8, 2018
Report: Ariel Palitz named NYC's first Night Mayor
The newly established NYC Office of Nightlife has named its first director (aka Night Mayor) — Ariel Palitz.
Palitz is well-known in the East Village/Lower East Side as a bar owner (the former Sutra Lounge on First Avenue) and as a member of Community Board 3's Liquor Authority & Department of Consumer Affairs Licensing committee.
As The Lo-Down noted: "Her clashes with local residents fighting new liquor licenses were fairly legendary."
In recently years she has helmed Venue Advisors, "a full-service hospitality consulting company with integrated licensed real estate services."
Mayor de Blasio is to officially make her announcement official later today. Her official title is senior executive director of the Office of Nightlife.
Meanwhile, the Times has a very Times-ian feature with the news.
Since September, when Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he was forming an Office of Nightlife to promote the industry and soothe the strained relations between the city’s night spots and the neighborhoods that complain about their merriment, the local demimonde has been wondering who might nab the glamorous position. Would Mr. de Blasio appoint a modern-day Tex Guinan, someone who would quaff champagne in the small hours of the morning under the trapezes of the erotic circus scene?
In her first interview since accepting the post, Ms. Palitz suggested that her stint as the Nightlife Mayor would be slightly more sober and focus less on carousing than on conflict mediation. In today’s New York, gentrification has pitted partygoers against the settled residents of neighborhoods like the Lower East Side of Manhattan and Williamsburg in Brooklyn. In her first official act, Ms. Palitz promised to hold a series of listening tours and entertain the gripes of those who are bothered by the vomit on their streets or the noise at 3 a.m.
The article notes that Palitz is a fifth-generation New Yorker who has lived in the East Village since 1996.
And more from the Times...
Now in charge of a mayoral office with a 12-person advisory board, a $300,000 budget and a salary of $130,000 a year, Ms. Palitz seems to have realized that even a doyenne of New York night life must make a few concessions when joining city government. On her Tuesday evening drink, she was accompanied, for instance, by a minder from City Hall. While she admits that there were times in her career when she personified “what the no-bar movement rejected,” she also claimed that she has always tried “to find solutions that work for everyone.”
Previously on EV Grieve:
Ariel Palitz responds to Daily News article, 'ripe for picking' comment
ICYMI — Mayor forms Office of Nightlife
The Mighty Quinn
The view this afternoon from 10th Street and Avenue C (via Bobby Williams) showing Winter Storm Quinn... forecasts are calling for more thundersnow...
Impressive satellite imagery of the rapidly developing winter storm. The bubbling clouds are indication of intense upward motions increasing snow growth and potential for lightning. pic.twitter.com/JeSK4aOUkZ
— NWS New York NY (@NWSNewYorkNY) March 7, 2018
Historic Bathhouse Studios for sale on 11th Street
[Cushman & Wakefield]
The landmarked Bathhouse Studios on 11th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B is now on the market.
Tell them what you get...
Cushman & Wakefield has been retained on an exclusive basis to arrange for the sale of Bathhouse Studios, a one-of-a-kind multilevel studio and event space topped by a magnificent residence...
Built between 1904 and 1905 and designed in the Neo-Italian Renaissance style, the former public bathhouse was converted into a high-end studio in 1995 by Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Eddie Adams. Designed by esteemed architect Gene Kaufman, the studio was used to house Adams’ work for Parade Magazine and Associated Press, in addition to some of his other major achievements. He also worked and conducted shoots in the studio.
The ground floor features 20 foot ceilings, oak floors, exposed brick, antique frosted windows, blue glass tile, and glass block skylights with electric black screen shades. There are two curb cuts on the ground floor, one of which leads to the English basement. The 11 foot high English basement consists of marble black & white tile and cement floors along with antique glass framed doors. The residence possesses 16 foot ceilings, oak floors throughout, antique ceiling light fixtures, a kitchen with granite and stainless steel countertops, and two grand bathrooms.
Furthermore, both the kitchen and bathrooms are tiled and enjoy top of the line appliances. The residence walks out to a sun drenched 2,200 square foot outdoor deck that can serve home to remarkable gatherings.
Asking price: $19.5 million.
The listing also notes that there are roughly — gulp — 10,000 square feet of air rights available.
The Bathhouse Studios website has a lot more on the history of the building ... including some photos of what it looked liked before it was restored in 1995...
[Undated photo]
The building also served as a backdrop for the 1981 film "Ragtime." Find even more history here. The Bathhouse Studios was landmarked by the city in 2008.
The Swiss Institute announces June 21 opening on St. Mark's Place and 2nd Avenue
[Photo of St. Mark's and 2nd Avenue from Monday]
The Swiss Institute has announced a June 21 opening date in its new home on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place.
Here's more about what to expect from the nonprofit cultural center when it opens via artforum, who first reported the news yesterday:
This summer, the institute will launch several education programs developed by artists in collaboration with local schools and community organizations, including School of the Future, Little Missionary’s Day Nursery & Sara Curry Preschool, GO Project, and Sirovich Center for Balanced Living. Commenting on the new initiatives, director Simon Castets said, “A space for artists, 38 St. Marks Place is also a space by artists, who are actively contributing through both the ‘SI ONSITE’ commissions and our new artist-led education programs. Moving into a new neighborhood and building goes hand in hand with expanding upon our mission, with education as a new cornerstone of our activities.”
The organization has had several locations since its founding in 1986, most recently on Franklin Street.
Renovations continue at the Institute's new EV home — the former Chase branch.
[Photo on St. Mark's Place from Feb. 16]
Previously on EV Grieve:
Swiss Institute moving into the former Chase branch on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place
The Chelsea Thai signage is up on 1st Avenue
As you can see, the sign has arrived at the incoming Chelsea Thai, set to debut this spring at 192-194 First Ave. between 11th Street and 12th Street.
In January, the quick-serve restaurant closed its small space of nearly 20 years in the Chelsea Market ahead of a move here. No opening date announced yet for First Avenue.
This Instagram post from January 2017 has more about the Chelsea Thai owner, Saruj Nimkarn...
Previously on EV Grieve:
Chelsea Thai coming to former Neptune space on 1st Avenue; Filipino fare for Avenue A
Reader report: Joe and Pat's will open in 3 weeks
EVG regular Lola SΔenz shared the above photo from inside the incoming Joe and Pat's, the Staten Island-based pizzeria coming to 168 First Ave. between 10th Street and 11th Street.
One of the owners was there, and told Lola they'd be open in three weeks.
P.S.
As the above photo shows, Lanza's antique murals remain intact.
Previously
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Tuesday's parting shot
[Click on image for a bigger view]
A note from a father to his son in Tompkins Square Park. Photo by Derek Berg.
Catching up with Dora, wing on the mend
[Photos today by Steven]
Despite the worldwide attention, Dora was looking pretty relaxed today in Tompkins Square Park. The red-tailed hawk watchers believe that her rehabbed wing continues to get stronger.
A little later, the injured wing started hanging a little low, perhaps from the wind...
Since that Page 1 piece in the Post Sunday, several other media outlets have filed reports on the complicated hawk-love triangle involving Christo, Dora and Nora/Not-Dora ... including CBS 2 ... NY1 ... People ... and MNN (Mother Nature Network).
In its coverage today, The New York Times noted: "Consider us #TeamDora."
And a few excerpts from Goggla's latest dispatch, posted yesterday:
The hawks themselves are carrying on business as usual. Each morning, Christo and Dora work on their nest in the ginkgo tree on the east side of the park. Christo has been stripping bark off a scholar tree near the ping-pong table for lining the nest.
And what of Nora/Not-Dora?
I caught a glimpse of Nora perched on top of a Village View building around mid-day on Sunday. Christo disappears from the park for long periods of time during the day, and I'm assuming he's with Nora, but I haven't been able to find out if they have a second nest or what exactly they're up to. He returns to the park at the end of the day and both he and Dora roost in or near the park.
This evening, I saw Christo deliver a big rat to Dora before going to roost in the Krishna Tree. Even if they don't have a family this year, they are still a well-bonded pair.
Julia Gorton’s 'Pretty in Punk' on the Bowery
Tonight through Monday, the International Center of Photography at 250 Bowery between Houston and Stanton will be featuring the work of photographer Julia Gorton.
Her photos are part of the ICP's Projected Series. Per the Museum:
During the day, Pretty in Punk: Downtown Girls can be viewed on monitors inside the ICP Museum and during evening hours, images are literally “projected” onto the windows of the ICP Museum; they can be viewed from the sidewalk outside the Museum and are most visible after sunset.
As Gorton recently explained: "The show is a selection of images from the late 70’s, most of which I shot not too far from the museum. The women included are all noteworthy in their own ways, whether they are familiar names or not."
More Flower Power to you
The shop selling medicinal plants, tinctures, salves and essential oils, among other things (they also offer workshops), is celebrating 24 years in business this month.
Seems like a good time to revisit our post from 2014 featuring Lata Chettri-Kennedy, the shop's founder and owner.
Flower Power Herbs & Roots, Inc. is at 406 E. Ninth St. between between Avenue A and First Avenue. They are open daily from noon to 7 p.m.
Making room for Mount Sinai's new EV hospital; CB3 hosting forum on the downsizing of Beth Israel
Demolition continues at 321 E. 13th St., a 14-floor building between Second Avenue and First Avenue.
The building previously housed training physicians and staff of the nearby New York Eye and Ear Infirmary.
This photo via EVG reader KT shows crews chipping away at the upper floors...
As previously reported, the Mount Sinai Health System is in the process of rebuilding Mount Sinai Beth Israel, transitioning to a network of smaller facilities throughout lower Manhattan and selling off their campus on First Avenue and 16th Street.
The plans include an expanded facility on 14th Street and Second Avenue ... and using part of the lot where No. 321 stands now. (Find a Mount Sinai FAQ here.)
A few weeks ago, The Villager reported that Mount Sinai officials are considering adding four extra floors to this new building. (Previously, hospital officials had said that the additional floors atop the new East Village mini-hospital could be added later, if needed.)
Here's part of a Mount Sinai statement to the paper:
“As we have stated from the start, we are continuing to evaluate all of our options, including possibly building the extra four floors as part of the initial build.
“We have always committed to an open and transparent process, and after listening to the concerns from local leaders and constituents, as well as our internal advisers and leaders, we are currently leaning toward building the extra four floors for programmatic use, not beds.
“We still believe that 220 beds will best meet the needs of the community. However, if we see a dramatic change in the future, we will be better prepared and have greater flexibility to address that issue with these additional floors already built. We will continue to update the community as our progress continues.”
Here's a schematic of the new facility ...
Meanwhile, on Thursday night, CB3 is hosting a forum on the downsizing of Beth Israel.
Via the EVG inbox...
What medical services must be available locally?
Beth Israel Hospital has already closed its labor and delivery department. Other medical services are also being moved uptown. In a few years, the full-service hospital at First Avenue and 16th Street will be completely closed.
What medical services does Mount Sinai need to continue to provide in our community?
We need to tell Mount Sinai now. CB3 needs community input to understand your needs as we work in influence the restructuring plans of the Mount Sinai Health System.
Come tell CB3 what is important for your family and friends.
The forum is Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the Sirovich Senior Center, 331 E. 12th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Scaffolding arrives as demolition nears for Mount Sinai's 13th Street residential building
Permits filed to demolish Mount Sinai's 13th Street residential building
Bravo Supermarkets coming to Avenue D
The build-out continues at 119 Avenue D between Eighth Street and Ninth Street ... and it's starting to look a lot like a grocery store...
The work permits on file with the city list Bravo Supermarkets as the incoming tenant. The New York-based Bravo has more than 70 locations in the northeast (with nearly a dozen in Brooklyn and Queens) as well as in Florida.
Per the Bravo website:
Bravo Supermarkets are neighborhood grocery stores that your family can depend on! Because all of our stores are independently owned and operated, we have the unique ability to truly cater to the needs of our communities, which is why no two Bravo Supermarkets are exactly alike! At Bravo you'll find the products that are meant for the people who live in the neighborhood- stocked with a large assortment of specialty and international products, fresh meat, seafood, produce and so much more!
No word on an opening date just yet.
Avenue D is currently served by Uncle Johnny Grocery and Compare Foods as well as several delis.
The previous tenant at No. 119, the All in One Value Center, closed last fall.
Mohan's Tattoo Inn arrives on 14th Street
Mohan Gurung, a Nepali tattoo artist, is opening an outpost of Mohan's Tattoo Inn on the north side of 14th Street near Second Avenue.
The signage just arrived, per this photo via Pinch.
Gurung opened his first shop in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 2000. He moved to Queens in early 2015, eventually debuting Mohan's Tattoo Inn in Jackson Heights. (You can read more about him here.)
[Photo by KT]
The storefront (No. 309) has been vacant in recent years. Parks Upholstery was the last tenant.
Monday, March 5, 2018
Noted
Steven shared these photos from this afternoon... showing a man wearing, presumably, a Google Street View Trekker... I've read about these, but can't recall seeing one out in the wild... and the guy looks to be eating, presumably, an Oreo or Hydrox...
Third Street Music School Settlement alum 1st person ever to achieve a double EGOT
Last night, Robert Lopez and his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez won the Oscar for Best Original Song for "Remember Me" from "Coco."
As you may (or may not!) know, Lopez is a former student at the Third Street Music School Settlement on 11th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.
The school gave him a shout-out on Instagram...
Lopez is also the first person who has ever achieved a double EGOT. According to published reports, there are currently 12 individuals who have won at least one Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony (Mel Brooks, Rita Moreno and Whoopi Goldberg, among others). Lopez, a composer who co-created "The Book of Mormon" and "Avenue Q," has won at least two of each. Lopez won an Oscar a few years back for original song with "Let It Go" from "Frozen."
As you may (or may not!) know, Lopez is a former student at the Third Street Music School Settlement on 11th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.
The school gave him a shout-out on Instagram...
Lopez is also the first person who has ever achieved a double EGOT. According to published reports, there are currently 12 individuals who have won at least one Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony (Mel Brooks, Rita Moreno and Whoopi Goldberg, among others). Lopez, a composer who co-created "The Book of Mormon" and "Avenue Q," has won at least two of each. Lopez won an Oscar a few years back for original song with "Let It Go" from "Frozen."
Tree down on Avenue B at 7th Street
EVG regular Lola SΔenz shares these photos from outside Tompkins Square Park on Avenue B at Seventh Street... the Chinese elm tree is down...
Two witnesses said that a "big truck" struck the tree, causing the fall. It's not clear what, if anything, the driver did after the collision.
Here's a look at the tree from last September via Google Street View...
This is the second tree lost in the Park since Saturday.
Updated 5 p.m.
Several witnesses said that this Bartlett Dairy truck was the culprit... the driver was spotted assessing the damage. It's not known if he did anything else about the damaged tree.
Thanks to Daniel Root for the photo.
March 5
First Avenue and First Street today. The reader who shared the photo wasn't sure if the tree was discarded or just waiting for the M15.
About the ongoing issues with the NYCHA
[Avenue D and 10th Street]
On Friday, embattled NYCHA Chair Shola Olatoye shared a letter with residents of the city's public housing. The letter, marking her fourth anniversary as chair, noted some progress at the agency as well as addressed failures in lead paint inspections and heating outages.
The NYCHA posted Olatoye's letter on Twitter Friday evening...
.@NYCHA Chair & CEO @SholaOlatoye marks 4 years of progress with an open letter to residents. #NextGenNYCHA pic.twitter.com/dZeo0t29VV
— NYCHA (@NYCHA) March 2, 2018
Olatoye and the NYCHA continue to make headlines in recent months. Per the Daily News on Saturday:
Olatoye has faced relentless calls to resign after it emerged that she falsely told the City Council in December that properly certified workers had inspected some 4,200 apartments for lead paint. A Department of Investigation probe found the inspections were in fact done by workers who lacked the required training.
Meanwhile, last month, Dr. Howard Zucker, the state health commissioner, launched an investigation into the recurring heat and lead paint problems at NYCHA properties throughout the five boroughs, including in the East Village and Lower East Side.
At the Jacob Riis Houses on Avenue D, one resident said that she has just gotten used to the lack of heat, even telling ABC 7 last month that she knows better than to complain.
"Some of us that do have the heat, if we complained then there's no heat for the rest of the winter," Cynthia Martin told the station.
Martin also said that she has peeling paint in her apartment, "which she fears is lead paint. Not to mention mold, which she blames for her kids' asthma."
This past Tuesday, the Citywide Council of Presidents, a group of tenant leaders chosen by residents, asked a judge to appoint an independent monitor to oversee the NYCHA "because it has failed to provide heat and hot water, keep residents safe from lead, involve tenants in policymaking and hire residents, as required by federal regulations," per published reports.
Here's more background from The New York Times last week:
Three authority officials, including the general manager, Michael P. Kelly, have resigned, and one was demoted. There are persistent calls for the authority chairwoman, Shola Olatoye, to resign or be removed, though Mayor Bill de Blasio has remained supportive of her.
“Lots of different of organizations have sued Nycha, but this is a first,” Nicholas Dagen Bloom, an associate professor of social science at New York Institute of Technology and the author of “Public Housing That Worked: New York in the 20th Century,” said about the lawsuit. “It does show a mounting, spreading activist spirit. Generally speaking, that council was a rubber stamp and it has been widely criticized for decades, though not always fairly.”
At the Daily News yesterday, author Ben Austen weighed in with an opinion piece titled "NYCHA at the crossroads."
From that piece:
New York City is at a crossroads. If its public housing is allowed to deteriorate further, the buildings will soon seem too dilapidated to save. They will become more dangerous, the cost of repairs ever-more insurmountable.
Some terrible harm to residents will come to define NYCHA's cruelty, and the value of the real estate on which the buildings sit will emerge as an irresistible lure. By then, demolition will be hailed as the only solution.
But for hundreds of thousands NYCHA residents who live and work in the five boroughs, there is no other viable alternative. The city already operates by far the largest Section 8 voucher program in the country. With de Blasio pressing his plans to add 300,000 units of affordable housing, generally above the public housing income threshold, it just doesn't make sense to let this major share of the city's low-income portfolio fall into ruin.
For his part, Mayor de Blasio still reportedly has Olatoye's back, saying in late January that when assessing the totality of what the agency has accomplished during her tenure, she has made "tremendous progress."
"When Shola took office, the Housing Authority was literally teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. She righted the ship. So I want to give her a lot of credit," the mayor said at an unrelated press conference in the Bronx in January, as reported by the Post. "I continue to have great faith in her."
Other elected officials don't share that sentiment. Gov. Cuomo told WNYC last week that the NYCHA's numerous problems stem from poor management, not underfunding.
"When they tell you it takes us three to four years to spend money they get today, that is a problem," Cuomo said. "People can’t wait three to four years to turn on the heat. Lead paint is a problem today. And, that's what the residents are complaining about and I think they’re right."
The Mayor, in response, said that Cuomo was being ridiculous.
For further reading:
Why Can’t de Blasio’s Housing Authority Keep the Heat On? (The Village Voice)
City Seeks Proposals For Large New Residential Project at La Guardia Houses (The Lo-Down)
Cows, pigs and chickens now adorn the walls at the former vegan favorite Angelica Kitchen
[Photo Saturday by Laura K.]
As reported in November, a Chinese restaurant is taking over the former Angelica Kitchen on 12th Street near Second Avenue.
The signage went up last week for Dunhuang East Village, the latest location for the restaurant serving northwestern Chinese cuisine ... featuring a variety of hand-pulled noodles. (You can find their menu here.)
The walls of the under-renovation space are adorned with cows, pigs and chickens ...
Angelica Kitchen, which first opened on St. Mark's Place in 1976, shut down after service in April 2017. Owner Leslie McEachern said that "making the numbers work week in and week out is just not viable for us anymore."
The restaurant moved to 12th Street in 1987.
And while we're at it... here's a look at the incoming neighbor on the southeast corner of Second Avenue and 12th Street — Lumos Kitchen ... you can read the previous post on this venture here.
Thanks to Shiv for also sending photos of the Dunhuang East Village signage!
Previously on EV Grieve:
Angelica Kitchen closing on April 7; friends raising money to pay off expenses (61 comments)
Former Angelica Kitchen space will yield to a Chinese noodle shop on 12th Street
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