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Daily Archive

May 2009
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May 1st, 2009

News Flash: The Lower East Side is Noisy!

WNYC's Soundcheck blog takes a look (and a listen) at the noisiest neighborhoods in the city. It won't come as a big surprise that this is a category in which the Lower East Side and Chinatown excel. After Washington Heights/Inwood, we live in the neighborhood with the most noise — more than 7-thousand complainsts since the middle of 2008. The LES/Chinatown is the top district for noise complaints from bars, restaurants and clubs. You can see the complete list here.

May 1st, 2009

More Details: New Grand Street Restaurant

Yesterday we told you about the new restaurant planned for 365 Grand Street, the old "Isabella's" location. This morning Jesse Hartman confirmed he's going before Community Board 3's licensing committee on May 11 to ask for permission to serve alcohol. Hartman is a musician and filmmaker, who along with his brother, Phil, operated "Mo Pitkin's House of Satisfaction" on Avenue A until it closed a couple of years ago. Phil Hartman runs the "Two Boots" pizza restaurants.

The restaurant will feature an Italian small plates concept. Since the indoor space is very small, he'll make full use of an outdoor area in the back, adjacent to the Seward Park handball courts. Hartman says he plans to enclose the garden so it can be used all year and to cut down on noise.

Hartman and his wife have lived in the neighborhood for 7 years. Since "Mo Pitkin's" closed, he has been working on a film project, "House of Satisfaction."

He's excited about the concept for the restaurant, tentatively called "Grand Park." Unlike several blocks above Delancey (Rivington, Orchard, Ludlow), there are not a lot of dining choices in the immediate area.  Hartman says there are stil a lot of details to work out, including building department issues. But he's hopeful everything will fall into place.

May 1st, 2009

Friday News Links

There are now 49 confirmed cases of the swine flu in New York City. NYC's health commissioner is calling for stepped up efforts to develop a vaccine (NY1).

Juan Gonzalez says small businesses in Chinatown are being exploited while the Bloomberg administration ignores their plight. One tenant sub-leasing space in the East Broadway Mall recently had his rent raised to $9600/month from $2000. Gonzalez says the city, as the landlord, needs to step in (Daily News).

As the New York pension scandal widens, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has subpoenaed records involving a lobbyist with ties to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (Daily News).

Curbed updates the progress, or lack thereof, of the development they dubbed the Orchard hell building (Curbed).