Last week to comment on the city's plans to close East River Park

[East River Park photo from Saturday]

Friday (Aug. 30!) is the deadline for public comments on the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR).

This link has details on how — and where — to comment.

By now you likely now the story behind the ESCR project, a coastal protection initiative jointly funded by the City of New York and the federal government, aimed at reducing flood risk due to coastal storms and sea-level rise. ESCR is the first element of the city’s "Big U" plan to protect Lower Manhattan from surges like those seen during Superstorm Sandy.

As part of the project, city officials, starting next spring, plan to close East River Park for three-plus years, elevating it with 8- to 10-feet of soil and chopping down trees, etc., from Montgomery Street to East 13th Street.

Some residents, referring to it as the Kill Our Park Plan, have asked for the demolition and reconstruction of East River Park to take part in phases so that they continue to enjoy some of the amenities that the public space provides. (The revised plan, unveiled last fall, dramatically changed course over what had been discussed the previous four years. Community stakeholders said they felt blindsided by the changes.)

For more background:

• The official East Side Coastal Resiliency Project page is at this link.

• "A Beginner’s Guide to the NYC Environmental Impact Statement for the East River Park" via East River Park Action is here.

• A primer on the East River Park's past and future by the Village Preservation is at Off the Grid.

Also, this Gothamist piece has a nice background of what has transpired to date.

You may also breeze through the mostly unreadable Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the project here. There are hundreds and hundreds of pages of documents with footnotes and collateral materials (the table of contents alone is a unwieldy 32 pages).

The final vote via City Council is expected in late September.

And tonight (Aug. 27), the East River Park Action group is hosting a meeting at the Sixth Street Community Center between Avenue B and Avenue C (more details here) ...




Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: The reality of storm-proofing East River Park in 2020

Storm center: Questions linger over updated plans for the East Side Coastal Resiliency project

At East River Park

No winners yet in Tompkins Square Park synthetic turf battle

[Art via]

The New York Times finally checks in on a story that we (and other outlets) have been following these past two months — the city's desire to place a synthetic turf on the concrete courtyard (aka TF) in Tompkins Square Park.

As we reported on July 2, the city has plans — apparently only known to residents who may have attended a Community Board committee meeting in May — to cover the multipurpose courts in the northwest corner of Tompkins Square Park with synthetic turf, a move that surprised and upset a major user of that space for 30-plus years —skateboarders.

The turf project, happening at several area parks, is a result of the city's flood-protection plan that will close East River Park next March for 3.5-plus years. The city needs to find space for the sports teams and youth leagues who use the fields along East River Park.

And now, to the Times (find the full article here):

“We don’t have anything against asphalt,” said Liam Kavanagh, the Parks Department’s first deputy commissioner. “There’s always going to be need for asphalt spaces in our system. But when you have a situation where you are balancing literally thousands of hours of permitted youth sports that don’t have a place to go, we have to prioritize youth sports.”

The Parks Department prioritizes the permitted sports, Mr. Kavanagh said, because of the amount of time groups like the Little League spend organizing and raising funds from the private sector for this “real New York City tradition.”

And...

The skateboarders said they cannot skate on artificial turf. Sidewalks and streets are legal to skate on, they added, but not necessarily safe for themselves or pedestrians.

Tompkins Square Park, which reopened in 1992 after large-scale renovations, appeals to the skateboarders because of its lack of ramps and handrails. Rookies can feel intimidated in skate areas with obstacles, they said. The park’s flat surface enables all users to learn from one another.

Last month, reps for the skateboarders met with the Parks Department. Both sides have reported that it was a productive meeting. The department has since said it has made no decision on when — or if — it would install the turf.

You can find the petition — titled "Save Tompkins Square asphalt!" — here. As of last evening, there were nearly 31,000 signatures.

EV resident Adam Zhu, 22, who started the petition told this to the Times: "There is something important about this specific spot, and that has to do with the history of the park at large and our personal history with the park — having grown up here, met all our friends here.

"I’m not fighting to make this a skate park,” he added. “It’s a multiuse park, and it functions very well as is."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Skateboarders upset over plan to add synthetic turf to the northwest corner of Tompkins Square Park

Brasserie Saint Marc — still coming soon to 2nd Avenue

[Photos yesterday by Steven]

The longtime-coming Brasserie Saint Marc at 136 Second Ave. now has coming soon signage here between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street ...



As we've noted, a lot of work has gone into getting the former Bar 82 (RIP March 2013) into restaurant shape. The construction plywood went up three-plus years ago — May 6, 2016 to be exact.

The applicants, listed as Greg Lebedowicz and Jerry Lebedowicz, were previously licensed for Nitedreams in Greenpoint from 2003 to 2008. In July 2018, CB3 OK'd a full liquor license for No. 136. According to the meeting's official minutes, part of the space will host events, meetings and dinners by organizations from the local Ukrainian community.

The restaurant has an Instagram account, where you'll find a few of their coming-soon dishes...

View this post on Instagram

Bouillabaisse Friday’s at Brasserie Saint Marc #platdujour #brasseriesaintmarc #nycfoodie #eastvillageeats #frenchfood #frenchclassics #foodblogger #chefpiccarello

A post shared by Brasserie Saint Marc (@brasseriesaintmarcnyc) on Jul 5, 2019 at 10:30am PDT

The former Bruno Pizza space is for rent on 13th Street

The retail space at 204 E. 13th St. just east of Third Avenue is now on the market...



The asking monthly rent for the space — 1,300 square feet on the ground floor, with another 1,300 in the basement — is $12,950, per the listing.

The previous tenant here, Bruno Pizza, never reopened after an early morning fire broke out in the top-floor apartment last November. The fire caused extensive water damage to the pizzeria, which first opened in July 2015.

Sharon's Laundry Service was in the space before its restaurant conversion via landlord Steve Croman.

The totem of Broadway

EVG reader Doug pointed out that workers recently removed the construction netting from the all-new 809 Broadway between 11th Street and 12th Street.

The building — 10 floors stacked on top of the previous five-story structure — will house 10 luxury condos, including a triplex penthouse on the top floors.

ODA-Architecture describes the project like this:

Situated on a diagonal segment off Broadway, Lot 809 stands like a totem indicating the visual entrance to Union Square. The neighborhood’s characteristic street scape is extended to the building’s façade by stacking and shifting the floor plates, thereby creating enlarged spaces, and protected outdoor terraces.

This address was once the longtime home — until 2013 — to Blatt Billiards, a pool table manufacturer that had owned and occupied the building since 1972.

Blatt principals Ronald Blatt and Bruce Roeder reportedly sold the building to 809 Broadway Holding LLC, a partnership of three private investors led by its principal Ariel Rom.

Previously on EV Grieve:
'Concrete blowout' at Broadway condo project damages neighboring building

Monday's parting shot

A scene today on Avenue A today featuring Giblet ... photo by Derek Berg...

On National Dog Day, here's a new City Kitty mural

Here's a look at the just-completed mural outside Avalon Chemists and the Second Avenue F stop by City Kitty... featuring the 99-cent pizza slice...

Noted

Perhaps you saw this traveling billboard today... Vinny & O spotted it at First Avenue and 14th Street ... and caught up to it on 23rd Street...



Staten Island artist Scott LoBaido drove his Trump 2020 billboard around the city today.

And the reaction? Per SILive:

“It’s been a hell of a ride so far actually … no violence,” LoBaido said. “One person threw a plate of food on [Trump], but I have a power washer and a mop just in case people throw eggs or whatever.”

LoBaido said he received the worst feedback from folks on the Lower East Side and students from New York University.

“I’m just expressing myself, art is to provoke emotion and I know how to do that,” he said.

The McDonald's on 1st Avenue is back in McAction

The McDonald's on First Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street reopened today as promised after a nearly month-long renovation.

Among the upgrades: There are now four self-service ordering kiosks where you can use a credit/debit/gift card or some mobile payment system. You can order here then use cash and coupons at the register. (You can also bypass the kiosks and order from a cashier.) In case you're having problems figuring out the ordering system, there were two McDonald's employees roaming the kiosk area.

You can customize your order at the kiosk, adding, say, butter, cheese or sausage to your Sausage Egg McMuffin, not that we're recommending this.

Aside from those uncomfortable-looking stools we noted the other day, there are a variety of booths and chairs for your dining-in experience in the renovated dining area ...

Book Club makes it official on 3rd Street

The coming soon signage is now up at Book Club, the independent bookstore featuring a cafe that's in the works for 197 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

As I first reported on July 15, two East Village residents are behind this project. Erin Neary, who's operating the space with her fiance, Nat Esten, told me previously that the book portion of the storefront will carry a broad selection of adult fiction, non-fiction and a children's section ... they'll also offer a variety of greeting cards and gifts. As for the cafe section, they'll be serving MUD coffee, among other items.

"As East Village residents for the last decade, we're committed to having Book Club be a celebration of the spirit and diversity of the neighborhood," Neary said.

The shop has a website with a sign up for a mailing list ... as well as an Instagram account, where you can find the top photo.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Book Club — an independent bookstore with cafe — coming to 3rd Street

The Marshal has seized Savor Por Favor on 2nd Avenue

Another restaurant has not been able to make 157 Second Ave. work.

This past Thursday, the Marshal seized Savor Por Favor, putting the retail space here between Ninth Street and 10th Street back into the legal possession of the landlord. (Thanks to blog friend Nick Solares for the photos and tip!)



The Mexican restaurant-bar opened last October. If this closure turns out to be permanent, then they didn't last quite as long as the previous tenant, Yuan, which shut down in July 2018 after a year in business.

As noted in previous posts on No. 157, this has been a challenging space to make work for any length of time. Before Yuan, Biang! — the sit-down Chinese restaurant via Xi'an Famous Foods owner Jason Wang — closed in March 2017 after 15 months in business. The previous tenant, Wylie Dufresne's bistro Alder, called it quits after two-and-a-half years at the end of August 2015. Other recent restaurants here (before 2013) included Plum and Cafe Brama.

Also as noted before, if Wang and Dufresne, given their other successes, couldn't make the space work ... not sure who can.

Check in: Moxy East Village closer to opening

In developments happening in and around the Moxy East Village on 11th Street... for starters, the sidewalk is now open in the front of the 13-story hotel from the Marriott portfolio here between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

The Tao Group, which is running the food-drink establishments for the Moxy, is hiring... with a open call today (Monday, Aug. 26) ...



Plans include a lobby bar and café, a 2,600-square-foot rooftop bar and a French-Mediterranean restaurant from chef Jason Hall.

And here's a look at the 286-room hotel lighting up the EV night...





Reservations are now being accepted for dates this fall — we spotted the first one available starting on Sept. 19.

The foundation work got underway here in August 2017. Workers demolished the five residential buildings that stood here in the fall of 2016.

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the rally outside 112-120 E. 11th St.

6-building complex on East 10th Street and East 11th Street sells for $127 million

Preservationists say city ignored pitch to designate part of 11th Street as a historic district

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel

New building permits filed for 13-story Moxy Hotel on East 11th Street across from Webster Hall


[112-120 E. 11th St. photo from May 2016]

Broadway Apothecary coming to the old Milk and Hops spot on Broadway

Signage is up at 779 Broadway for Broadway Apothecary. (Thanks to EVG reader Cecily Millen for the photo and tip!)

Not sure at the moment exactly what Broadway Apothecary will be — a pharmacy in the more traditional sense or maybe like Rose Apothecary, the general store that David and Patrick run on "Schitt$ Creek."

A Milk & Hops outpost closed here last November after three years in business on this bank-branch-drab stretch of Broadway between Ninth Street and 10th Street.

Boticarios has apparently closed on 1st Street

The landlord has draped a for rent sign across the front of 58 E. First St., presumably marking the end of Boticarios.

There isn't any mention of a closure on the Mexican restaurant's social media properties (last Instagram post is from Aug. 15) ... their website is offline and the phone goes to a full voicemail box.

The Mexican restaurant, which opened in January 2018, was closed by the Department of Health on June 20.

According to DOH public records, the restaurant received 106 violation points, including for:

1. Potable water supply inadequate. Water or ice not potable or from unapproved source. Cross connection in potable water supply system observed.
2. Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan.
3. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.
4. Insufficient or no refrigerated or hot holding equipment to keep potentially hazardous foods at required temperatures.

The DOH still lists them as closed as of Friday, and there isn't any other notice of a follow-up inspection in these public records...



Despite the violations, the restaurant was observed to be open after the inspection (with Instagram posts promoting their various specials).

This address has seen several quality restaurants come and go in recent years. Esperanto Fonda lasted nine months here, closing in May 2017. Before that, this was home to BARA for two years and Prima for three years. The Elephant, a Thai restaurant, was previously here for 17 years.

First Lamb Shabu is (finally) open on 14th Street

First Lamb Shabu, a Beijing-based hot pot chain with more than 300 locations in China, has opened its first Manhattan outpost at 218 E. 14th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. (There's also an outpost in Flushing that people like.)

As the name implies, there are many lamb options — per Eater — "from chops to spines, and also has fun add-ons like a Hello Kitty-sculpture made out of beef oil, as well as a fish-shaped fish pudding. Besides traditional broth-based hot pot, First Lamb Shu also does a lamb stew — where broth arrives with spiced, bone-in lamb ribs."

The restaurant is open daily from 4 to 10:30 p.m.

And a photo of the interior...

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by First Lamb Shabu 老诚一锅 (@firstlambshabuusa) on Aug 22, 2019 at 2:11pm PDT

The build-out took awhile. We first noted this arrival in April 2018 (via the Commercial Observer).

The storefront had been empty for several years, ever since Dunkin' Donuts decamped for a smaller space on the block in August 2015.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East 14th Street Dunkin' Donuts shuffle complete

The Dunkin' Donuts space on East 14th Street is for rent

Sunday's parting shot

A nice turnout today for the 27th annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in Tompkins Square Park... photo by Steven...

Week in Grieview

[Opening night at St. Dymphana's Thursday by Peter Brownscombe]

Stories posted this past week included...

Veniero's to celebrate 125th anniversary on Sept. 23; free mini cannolis for all! (Wednesday)

Waste land: Local elected officials tell the city to move the garbage trucks from 10th Street (Monday)

Nearly 11 months in, Tompkins Square Park playground rehab winding down (Friday)

St. Dymphna's opens in new home on Avenue A (Tuesday)

The scoop on the street photography exhibit at Mikey Likes It (Saturday)

Excavation commences at the future tech hub; plywood renderings attract commentary (Monday)

This week's NY See (Thursday)

Cucina di Pesce teases return on Instagram (Monday)

The 1st Pangea Jazz Festival is underway (Wednesday)

Pete Wells visits Foxface (Tuesday)

First rentals arrive on the market at Sioné, the new luxury building at 171 Suffolk (Monday)

The sunflowers on the Bowery (Thursday)

About the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in Tompkins Square Park Sunday (Thursday)

Your last weekly McDonald's update until next week (Friday)

Oh oh it's Magic: Signage arrives for the new 99¢ shop on Avenue A (Friday)


[Dog Run photo by Derek Berg]

Beach day at the Tompkins Square Park Dog Run (Wednesday)

Khiladi debuts on Avenue B (Thursday)

Night Music signage arrives on 7th Street (Tuesday)

Repairs continue at the former P.S. 64 (Tuesday)

Work happening inside the former Nicoletta space; please mind the carpenter (Monday)

14th St. Candy & Grocery returns with a new look; fewer groceries, more bongs (Monday)

The Jones opens (Monday)

... and new art outside Julie's Vintage on Second Street at First Avenue... the spray-can rocket bird is via Thailand-based artist @muebon ...



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Scenes from the Official Animal Rights March

Animal rights activists around the world gathered in NYC yesterday "to advance animal liberation."

The march, which got underway at noon outside the Flatiron Building, eventually made its way across St. Mark's Place, ending in Tompkins Square Park.

Derek Berg took these first four photos from St. Mark's Place at Second Avenue...







Lola Sáenz took this photo between Avenue A and First Avenue...



And Steven took these shots from the St. Mark's Place entrance at Tompkins Square Park...







The Facebook event page listed 2,200 participants. Activist-photographer Erik McGregor has a recap of the march before it arrived in the East Village at this link.

Aug. 25

JUST four months from today to Christmas... apparently someone couldn't wait the rest of summer and fall, and decided to dump his or her tree from, presumably, 2018 outside the Starbucks on First Avenue at Third Street.

Thanks to Suke Born Loose for the photo!

Carb loading: This morning in meals for the pigeons in Tompkins Square Park

Someone today decided to toss a bag of cooked pasted (with lemons) into Tompkins Square Park along Avenue A this morning. For the pigeons, though they don't seem too terribly interested at the moment.

So maybe all the bread dumped here in the past was just an appetizer for the main course?

Thanks to Vinny & O for the photo.

Saturday's parting shot

Out with the dog today on Second Avenue... thanks to EVG reader Mary Jane Glaser for the photo...

Stage fright: What it took to get ready for the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival

[Photo by Vinny & O]

The stage is now set for the 27th annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival tomorrow (Aug. 25) in Tompkins Square Park.

Getting to this place was filled with drama galore this morning.

We first saw the truck bringing in the stage at 7:44 a.m. The truck came in via the entrance at Ninth Street and Avenue B...



The driver was having a tough time navigating the left turn at the Sandra Turner Garden and Avenue A playground...



We kept on our journey from Avenue B through to Avenue A and out of the Park... EVG correspondent Steven then picked up the stuck-truck narrative.

With the construction fence up for the Avenue B playground renovation, the truck couldn't make the turn into the stage area...



The truck was able to back up a bit...



... and kept going toward Temperance Fountain...



... breaking off a few branches along the way...









In the end, 90 minutes elapsed between the time the truck couldn't make the turn into the stage area and, inching backwards, exiting the Park at Avenue A and Ninth Street...



The truck then drove around and re-entered on Avenue B and Ninth Street. From there, it only took about four or five minutes to get to the final destination. (This time, they turned left at the flag pole and drove around the ping-pong table.) They parked the stage for good at 9:59 a.m.



Residents who witnessed this maneuvering described it as "painful" and "agonizing" ... and there were claims that Tompkins Square Park staff wasn't helpful during this process.

Not sure how the stage was brought in during the previous 26 Charlie Parker Jazz Festivals — from the currently closed entrance on Seventh Street and Avenue B?

Anyway! The show is tomorrow from 3-7 p.m. Hopefully removing the stage will go a little more smoothly.