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Daily Archive

June 2009
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Monthly Archive

June 25th, 2009

Progress Report: Luther Gulick Park

As we mentioned a couple of days ago, City Councilman Alan Gerson has agreed to help fund the facelift of Luther Gulick Park. Earlier this month, LES resident Dave Bolotsky arranged a meeting with members of the community and a Department of Parks representative to discuss ideas for refurbishing Luther Gulick. The park, located at Delancey and Willett Streets. has suffered from years of neglect: tables and benches were removed in the 80′s to discourage raucus crowds from congregating near the Hillamn Co-op – diseased trees had to be cut down a decade ago.

At Tuesday night’s Community Board 3 meeting, Patricia Olan announced that her boss, Councilman Gerson, had found some money for Luther Gulick’s restoration. Yesterday, Bolotsky told The Lo-Down he’s organizing a second community meeting, probably to be held late next month, to solicit more feedback. He’s also working with the city to line up additional funding. Parks official Bob Redmond said at the June 4th gathering that the project would probably cost about $2 million.

We’ll have more details about the time and location of the meeting as soon as it is scheduled.

June 25th, 2009

Update: LES Rapper Arrested, Being Held at Rikers Island

More on the arrest of Lower East Side rapper "Tru Life," which we mentioned in our news links this morning. The Daily News has posted a story online adding new details:

Roberto Guzman Rosado Jr.
- better known as the rapper Tru Life – was arrested three days ago for
the June 15 stabbings that left a second victim in critical condition.
The 33-year-old is jailed on Rikers Island on charges of murder, assault and weapons possession, police said. Rosado's brother, Marcus, also surrendered Wednesday night at his lawyer's office, sources said Thursday.  Marcus Roasado is to be arraigned  on murder charges. The
stabbings occurred around 9:30 a.m. as part of an ongoing dispute that
began earlier at Club Pasha on W. 46th St., police sources said. Rosado and his brother are accused of chasing Jason Gray, 30, and Christopher Guerrero,
20, into the lobby of a building on E. 26th St. Cops said the duo
pulled knives and stabbed Guerrero in the stomach and Gray in the
chest. Guerrero died of his wounds; Gray was critically injured. The original disagreement involved Black and Marcus Rosado brother, the sources said. Tru
Life was signed to a six-figure deal in 2005 by Jay-Z, who was won over
by Rosado's braggadocio in a face-to-face meeting. Rosado told the
hip-hop mogul that he was pronounced legally dead at Bellevue Hospital following a shooting, but survived.
June 25th, 2009

Seward Park Co-op Elects Three New Board Members

The Seward Park Co-op held elections for its board of directors yesterday.  Jodi Zagoory, Carol Anastasio and Michael Tuminia unseated three incumbents. The only current board member up for election who prevailed was Carlos Rosada.  Fran Marino, Lee Slater and Michael Kansco were voted out of office. During the past year, shareholders have grown increasingly concerned about the Co-op's financial health, the management of retail space it owns along Grand Street and a controversial decision to raise sublet fees. There are about 1700 apartments in Seward Park's four towers, which stretch from Essex to Montgomery Streets. The top vote getter, Zagoory, received 533 votes.

June 25th, 2009

Thursday News Links

The governor threatens to dock the pay of state senators and send state troopers after them if they don't show up in the chamber. The latest nonsense from Albany here.

An analysis by Gotham Gazette shows, in future years,  New York City may very well pay the price for this year's reasonably rosy election-year budget.

Lower East Side rapper "Tru Life" has reportedly turned himself in to the NYPD to face alleged first degree murder charges. According to reports in the hip hop media, "Tru Life," whose real name is Roberto Guzman Rosado, Jr., was involved in the recent stabbings of two men. An 18 year old (unnamed) man died and a second victim, Jason Black, is hospitalized in critical condition. The reports suggest the stabbings were retaliation for the shooting of "Tru Life" associate Michael Slater.

Channel 2 reported on a summer job fair at the Henry Street Settlement.

Damaris Reyes, executive director of "Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES)," is the recipient of the 2009 Jane Jacobs Medal. The award, given out by the Rockefeller Foundation, is presented to people whose work "creates new ways of seeing and understanding the city."

The Times takes note of last night's 2nd annual "Showdown in Chinatown," a celebrity soccer match featuring basketball and soccer stars in Roosevelt Park. An audition for the Knicks, they ask?