Thursday, November 1, 2018

Halloween night on Avenue B



Here's a look at some of the Halloween costumes that EVG contributor Stacie Joy spotted last evening along Avenue B...







































Tompkins Square Park playground reconstruction 1 month in



There's progress to note with the Tompkins Square Park playground reconstruction on Seventh Street at Avenue B. (Renovation work started on Oct. 1 on the Avenue B children’s playgrounds.)

For starters, there's now a Work in Progress sign up on that corner to let people know what's happening.

The two playgrounds in the Park's southeast quadrant have been scrapped up (along with the walkways) ...





Steven shared these next two shots ... the top photo, from Oct. 10, looks toward Seventh Street and Avenue B...



... and the same angle from Tuesday...



According to the Parks Department website: "This project will reconstruct two playgrounds with new play equipment, safety surfacing, spray showers, seating and fencing.

And a schematic from the website...



The project has a 12-month timeline for completion.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Playground renovations underway in Tompkins Square Park

Heavy-duty fencing arrives as playground renovations continue in Tompkins Square Park

Revisiting A & C Kitchen on Avenue C



Here's an interesting tidbit that came out of the recent Dojo closure news... On Twitter, Dave Pentecost shared that one of the original Dojo chefs (from the days on St. Mark's Place) works at A & C Kitchen, 136 Avenue C between Eighth Street and Ninth Street...



I wasn't aware of this... and I hadn't ordered from A & C in ages (A & C has been around now for 25 years). I had forgotten how good the place is — with large portions and reasonable prices ... been there twice now in the past week...







Of course I can't vouch for everything on the extensive menu...



Taberna 97 returns for service Thursday-Saturday on St. Mark's Place



Taberna 97 at 97 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue has returned to action... the Portuguese restaurant, which opened in December 2016, had been in use just for special events in recent months.

The owners here also ran St. Dymphna's across the street. That pub closed on Oct. 20 for undisclosed reasons.

Taberna's hours are Thursday through Saturday from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. (Find their menu here.) You might recognize some of the updated decor...

DOT puts down the green paint on the new 13th Street bike lane (except for one mysterious spot)



DOT crews yesterday painted the new westbound bike lane on 13th Street... starting at Avenue B (the crew was just west of Second Avenue when I saw them)...



There is a curious gap just east of First Avenue... at first glance, it appears the the paint crew simply stopped and continued past the parked car...



However, a reader of the block chimed in saying that there's a curb cut here (and the car parked here later, seeing as the back wheels are on the freshly marked lane)...



The DOT team also skipped the construction zone in front of the incoming Thirteen East + West condos west of Avenue A.

As previously reported, the city put in a bike lane on the north curb of 12th Street from Seventh Avenue to Avenue C, and the south curb of 13th Street from Greenwich Avenue to Avenue B separated from traffic with a painted buffer ahead of the April L-train closure.

The bike lanes are just one of the ways the city hopes to keep people/commuters moving during the 15 (or so) months that the Canarsie Tunnel under the East River gets repaired.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Prepping for the new protected bike lanes on 12th and 13th streets

Bike lane line work continues on 12th Street

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Halloween's parting shot



A spooky scene at the Green Oasis Community Garden on Eighth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D... courtesy of Ken Ecker ...

6 posts from October


[Ad Rock and Mike D revisit some EV haunts during an interview]

A mini month in review...

This is the story of how Geoffrey Weglarz died on 12th Street, and why it took a week to find him (Oct. 24)

Local elected officials continue to press city for alternatives to parking garbage trucks on 10th Street; muggings now a concern (Oct. 22)

NYPD installs light tower on 2nd Avenue and 7th Street (Oc. 18)

On 6th Street, the Ukrainian Museum debuting Andy Warhol exhibit (Oct. 5)

CB2 SLA committee OKs license for new ownership of Great Jones Cafe (Oct. 4)

Report of injuries during major fire at 188 1st Ave. (Oct. 3)

Halloween at the Theater for the New City



EVG regular Lola Sáenz shared a few of the new Halloween-themed murals up on the walls now at the Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. at 10th Street... tonight is the Theater's annual Village Halloween Costume Ball...













Aside from Lola, the artists who took part are Adriano Moraes, Al Waks, Barnaby Ruhe & Gallatin, Elliot Berke, Fran McGee, J. Kathleen White, Judy Sky, Marcus Glitteris, Rochelle Pashkin, Scot Terban, Micha Lazare, Richard Miller, Miles Angerson, Shonda Johnson, Monica Worlds, Elijah Martinez and NYU Gallatin School...

Fall between A and B



From 10th Street (above) and Seventh Street along Tompkins Square Park...



Photos from this morning...

Only 178 shopping days left until the L-train shutdown



As you may have heard, read, seen, the MTA yesterday announced that the much-anticipated and long-dreaded (but necessary!) L-train shutdown will begin on Saturday, April 27, 2019.

If you missed this, then here are more details via the MTA news release, shared here...

MTA New York City Transit (MTA NYC Transit) and the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) announced new details about what customers can expect ahead of April 2019 when the L train tunnel between Manhattan and Brooklyn is closed for 15 months for extensive repairs from Superstorm Sandy...

• The L tunnel will close for its 15-month reconstruction on Saturday, April 27, 2019. This means that the last day for L service between 8th Av and Bedford Av in Brooklyn will be Friday, April 26, 2019. L train service will continue throughout Brooklyn, between the Bedford Av station, which will remain open during the tunnel closure, and the Canarsie-Rockaway Parkway station.

• The alternative service options for customers, which includes five additional bus routes, a new M14 Select Bus Service on 14th Street and a ferry service, will begin on Sunday, April 21, 2019, to allow for customers to sample and become acclimated to new travel options. The additional subway service on other lines – more than 1,000 additional roundtrips – will begin on April 28, 2019, following the L tunnel closure. Read the full plan for temporary service options in support of the L tunnel reconstruction project.

• Customers will be able to meet in person with MTA NYC Transit and NYCDOT team members to plan their routes, through a series of open houses, pop-up events or one of the three mobile information centers – two vans and a bus – which will make stops to meet with customers. Official dates and times for open houses and schedules for events and the mobile information center locations will be posted on the L tunnel reconstruction website once announced.

• Numerous stations have received or are receiving capacity expansions, with newly reopened or expanded entrances, stairs and corridors. NYCDOT and MTA NYC Transit are coordinating with key City agencies – such as the NYPD, Department of Buildings and Citywide Events Coordination and Management – on aligning City operations with the needs of L train alternate transit services, including working to minimize disruption from construction projects and events.

• The construction for the project is on schedule. In Manhattan, the construction site footprint and hours of work both reduce between 1st Avenue and Avenue A in January 2019. In Brooklyn, most barricades will be removed along with permanent street and sidewalk restoration on Bedford Avenue by early November 2018, and throughout early 2019, work will continue to open and do permanent finishes on the additional stairs, three of four which have already opened for increased capacity.

• Officials are committing to monitor the air for particulates typically caused by diesel emissions, known as PM2.5, and making results publicly available. This is in addition to the air quality monitoring already in place for the project’s construction sites.

• Outreach continues with customers, local residents, local businesses, and elected officials.

“We’re continuing unprecedented efforts at public outreach, responding to local communities and giving as much notice as possible on key dates in this project,” said NYC Transit President Andy Byford. “With the l running as a Brooklyn-only service for 15 months starting after the weekend of April 27, we’ve been hard at work with our partners at NYCDOT and other City agencies to make sure that the alternate train, bus, ferry and bicycle networks work together to get people around successfully.”

“With DOT crews now putting down new street markings for bus lanes and bike lanes, we are deeply committed to having our streets ready for the l tunnel closure next April,” said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. “From a ‘bus bridge’ over the Williamsburg Bridge to the 14th Street Busway, from more Citi Bikes to expanded pedestrian space for displaced l train commuters, we and our MTA partners are up for this enormous challenge.”

For a reminder about remaining L service changes in 2018, visit the L 2018 service notice page. To help customers plan ahead in 2019, new service information details about the L in 2019 include:

Overnight service closures and weekend closures during February, March and April 2019, from 8th Av in Manhattan to Broadway Junction in Brooklyn to prepare the tunnel ahead of the closure and to expedite maintenance on the l tracks remaining in service when the tunnel is closed. Weekend dates scheduled are:
- Feb 2-3
- Feb 9-10
- Feb 16-17
- Feb 23-24
- Mar 2-3
- Mar 9-10
- Mar 16-17
- April 27-28

Previously on EV Grieve:
Nightmare scenario for residents who learn that 14th Street and Avenue A will be the main staging area for the L-train reconstruction

Prepping for the new protected bike lanes on 12th and 13th streets

Bike lane line work continues on 12th Street

A look at the new L-train renderings along 14th Street



The MTA recently plastered both sides of 14th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue — the main construction zone for the L-train rehab — with banners touting the new ADA-compliant entrances on the way at Avenue A and other scenes from the incoming stations ... many of these renderings were similar to the ones unveiled in the summer of 2017.



However, there are several new scenes, which EVG reader Hank's Pound of Spaghetti shared... Hank had a sensible question: Why are the scalies arguing?



Does this indicate that life with the all-new L train still mean signal and switch problems and track fires, leading to possibly tense exchanges between commuters? Or are these roomies at EVGB upset over that drunken bocce match that got out of hand on the roof?

Hank also spotted the same female scalie with different male straphangers...



... and do these two know the men arguing behind them? ...



Anyway, a little diversion from the nonstop work already taking place here that's making life for nearby residents fairly miserable.

This work started in July 2017 ahead of the L-train closure between Bedford Avenue and Eighth Avenue that starts on April 27, 2019.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Town Hall provides a few more details on the 24/7 construction at 14th and A

Renderings reveal the MTA's plans for the Avenue A L station; why does everyone look so happy?

Nightmare scenario for residents who learn that 14th Street and Avenue A will be the main staging area for the L-train reconstruction