Joel Klein believes a pilot program at M.S. 131 in Chinatown could point the way to the school of the future.
Caught on tape: a bicyclist at the corner of Delancey and Allen appears to pummel a pedestrian with his bike lock.
Eater's take on recent changes to the 500 foot rule, which limits the number of restaurant/bar liquor licenses that can be issued: a win for the NIMBYS!
The State Liquor Authority plans to weigh in with its official definition of "beer pong."
The Soho Journal interviews City Council candidate Margaret Chin.
DBTH reports Koi, rejected by a CB3 committee Monday night, must find a new home soon: their lease is running out at the Bryant Park Hotel. But "if history is any guide," Eater speculates, smart money says Koi will push this through
somehow. Bouley did it, the Coop Hotel did it, The Jane Ballroom did
it, and this 6,000 sq. ft. monster will probably do it too after
agreeing to some crippling closing hours and noise regulations.
Although the new tile floor that has been underway at the Essex Market for some weeks now is still a bumpy work-in-progress, I was able to find plenty of treats for our weekly Essex Street Market Report:
I started with a "Plumply Plum and Almond" muffin and a strong and spicy Masala Chai Latte from Tra La La Juice Bar. Ron the baker says he only make the plum muffins when plums are in season, which is right now! He was also boasting about the "Menage a Trois" muffin – Apricot (also in season right now), Roasted Walnut, and White Chocolate – which looked delicious. With names like "Igor's Poppy Almond", "Precious Spicy Nicey Banana Pecan", "Hunka Hunka Chocolate Chunk Walnut" and "Zorba's Baklava Honey Walnut", all at $2.50 a piece, you can't go wrong with any of Ron's muffins. I asked Ron when they were supposed to be finished with the floor and he said they told him not until September.
Ronnie-Sue at Ronni-Sue's Chocolates had me try the latest "Staff Special", made by her assistant pastry chef, Michelle Sarviole. She encourages all her assistant pastry chefs to come up with new items and once they thoroughly taste-test them, they add them to their assortment. This one was a sesame cardamon truffle with toasted sesame seeds rolled in powdered lemon grass. The essence of an Indian market in one little bite! I asked Ronni-Sue when they were supposed to be finished with the floor and she said they told her August 1st.
I noticed Viva Fruits & Vegetables is expanding in to another space in the market. They used to specialize in Mexican specialty foods but are now adding a wider variety of groceries and some organic items, as well.
I also noticed a great deal on Bacalao (two packages for $5), the traditional salt-cured cod sometimes found in Italian markets, at Batista Grocery. Along-side the Bacalao I found smoked herring, economically packaged, at $3.50/lb.
I went to visit Saxelby Cheesemongers and found I had just missed the last of a new batch of Mini Purrata, made by Di Bruno Bros. in Pennsylvania. They are little rounds of fresh mozzarella with cream on the inside and sound delicious. (I was promised a taste as soon as they get the next batch in!)
Still no word on when the Pain D'Avignon bread bakery will be opening at the market but a call to their office in Cape Cod confirmed it will be run by their sister company in Long Island City. The manager there told me the shop is still in it's "design phase", and they haven't set an opening date, yet.
Abrons Arts Center will host a FREE "Urban Lawn Concert" featuring Architects + Demolition Men (ADM) on Thursday, July 23rd at 6:30p (weather permitting) in their outdoor amphitheater (the steps in front of 466 Grand Street between
Pitt and Bialystoker). ADM, a band "straight outta Brooklyn", combines the spirit of Bad Brains' hard-core punk
and The Roots' masterful hip-hop musical orientation to create their authentic sound which includes dual-vocalists, percussion, horn, guitar, bass,
and piano.The show is all-ages.
The New York Times reports NYC's retail vacancy rate is at its highest point since the early 90's. One in 10 retail spaces in Soho are vacant or about to be vacant. The City Council is looking at legislation to help struggling merchants. The Small Business Recovery Act would give store owners the option of 10-year leases, renewals and the right to mediation if they cannot reach an agreement. The Bloomberg administration opposes the proposal, saying it's unenforceable. But the Times story says there's a growing sense the city must do something to help: "a survey of 937 Hispanic small business owners conducted by the U.S.A.
Latin Chamber of Commerce between November 2008 and January 2009 found
that most of them said they would not stay in the city because their
rents had become so high."
New York Daily News columnist Bill Hammond says it's time to throw the bums out – he's urging New Yorkers to step forward to challenge members of the dysfunctional New York Senate.
If the owners of Koi had any illusions that their "meet and greet" with neighbors the other night would appease the community, they most definitely don't after this evening's CB3 committee meeting. The panel that reviews applications for new liquor licenses balked at the notion of a 200+ seat high end-restaurant taking over the old Salvation Army building on the Bowery.
The committee heard from three residents opposed to the application on the grounds that the Bowery, already overburdened with "mega-hotels" and sidewalk cafes, has become a "free for all." One woman said the project would "destroy any shred of peace we have left." The owners, explaining their desire to relocate from Bryant Park, said they were determined to be good neighbors. But the committee was unanimously opposed to the scale of the restaurant (6-thousand square feet). They cited the overflowing street and sidewalk that has made the area nearly unbearable on weekend evenings and the fact that the business would be a destination restaurant, not a neighborhood hangout. The broker managing the sale said the owners had "paid a hefty price" for the building and warned it would likely be "abandoned" if the Koi deal is scuttled (a contention several CB members scoffed at).
Dave McWater, a CB3 member who frequently sticks up for restaurants appearing before the committee, said the project was wrong for the Lower East Side. He asserted that it was important to protect the character of the neighborhood from gentrification and unbridled development. Given the investment Koi has already made, it's a good bet this battle is just beginning.
Earlier in the evening, Mason Dixon owner Rob Shamlian and residents who live above the restaurant on Essex Street, faced off — and it wasn't pretty. The two sides have been locked in legal skirmishes for many months — keeping lawyers very busy suing and counter-suing. Tonight, CB3 was considering whether to recommend renewing Mason Dixon's liquor license. Residents complained about noise wafting from the restaurant's (allegedly) open door.
They're also irritated by Shamlian's contention that he's not bound to abide by certain conditions the committee outlined when the liquor license was originally awarded. Among those conditions: an agreement that there would be no live music. Shamlian said he believed the conditions became outmoded after the State Liquor Authority came out to investigate his business. Shamlian said he was "not concerned about the complaints… because they come from people who are malicious." He claimed the residents wanted to push him out of the building months before Mason Dixon had even opened.
In the end, the committee concluded there was little evidence that Shamlian had misrepresented the nature of his restaurant. They signaled their support for a renewal, but reiterated that noise must be kept to a minimum.
Now for a recap of the other LES applications heard by CB3 tonight:
Jehann LLC, an Asian fusion restaurant in the old Regate space on Orchard Street, won support for a full liquor license. They'll stay open until 2am on weekends.
Jama Restaurant Corp got the committee's approval for a full liquor license at 210 Rivington.
The committee signaled its support for Motorino's bid to take over the wine only liquor license at 349 East 12th Street, where the highly touted Una Pizza Napoletana has now closed up shop.
The CB3 panel declined to support Bar 169's request to serve alcohol in its backyard. A resident of the swanky Forward Building spoke out against the application, saying she and her neighbors were concerned about noise and cigarette smoke. The owner said he wanted to start serving food – it's unclear whether he'll still go ahead with plans to fire up the kitchen. Committee member Dave McWater, a bar owner himself, urged Bar 169 to forget the patio. Arguing that it's not worth the trouble, he said "you're going to hate yourself for having a backyard."
The committee supported Guapo Bodega's bid for a full liquor license at 146 Essex, a former furniture store. The restaurant is being opened by the team behind Stanton Social.
The other day, we reported on the petitioning deadline for the candidates competing to represent District 1 on the New York City Council. One candidate, PJ Kim, held a brief “press conference” outside the Board of Elections office on lower Broadway, heralding the 5500 signatures his campaign collected to get on the September Primary Election ballot. A few Lo-Down readers are obviously not PJ Kim fans. “DowntownGuy” alleged that some of Kim’s signatures came from people who don’t live in the district. “Dadude,” who also apparently runs the “Get Rid of Gerson” blog, claimed Kim used “non-registered democrats” to collect signatures. There were also comments from supporters of Kim. “Taosing@gmail.com” said, “he was out there, 7 days a week, from 8AM until 10PM meeting voters and listening to their concerns.”
This discussion probably tells us more about the city’s byzantine petitioning law than it does PJ Kim. To get on the ballot, City Council candidates must collect 900 signatures, but to protect against challenges, they usually gather about five times that number. This morning, City Hall News pointed out the lunacy of a system in which the Elections Board does very little to review the validity of petitions, unless there’s a challenge:
Some challenges are done with devious intentions, meant to propel underhanded political ends. True, there are regularly legitimate questions to be raised. But the greatest problem is with the Board of Elections’ officially blasé attitude to the paperwork received unless a complaint is raised. Everyone involved should be ashamed of a system that does not force the Board to check every signature on every ballot petition received—rudimentary computer programs would make this incredibly simple—and then automatically determine who has qualified for the ballot and who has not. There would not be much to argue about, except in cases where, perhaps, some handwriting was unclear.
But, in the current system, there’s plenty to argue about – and in a city in which politics is a contact sport, the outcome is predictable:
…some candidate, usually for political gain (though insisting that the move is simply standing up for principle), finds a staffer or friend to stand in on a challenge to the signatures. The connections are very quickly raised, and no matter what happens, the candidate responsible for the challenging draws the ire of reform groups and all but forfeits the chances of getting endorsed by
the New York Times. In other words, ulterior motive or not, a person who forces the Board of Elections to perform what should be a standard review risks severe political consequences. And no one can reasonably claim that this is how a proper system of government should operate.
The deadline to file complaints is midnight tonight. We’ll be following the intrigue, as the District 1 race takes more twists and turns.
Bag's new store at 94 Orchard. We recently stopped in to see how Bag's new store on Orchard was settling in to the neighborhood. Earlier this month, they moved in to the spot where longtime tenant "Shop" had been. The space is bigger than their other shops in Nolita (they have "Bag" and "Shoe", both on Mulberry St.) and has a nice inviting layout. We were happy to find some adorable summer hats for just $18 (normally $20 but everything in the store is 10% off for the whole month of July).
They carry women's leather handbags from several American designers.
Most of the bags are by Tano and Sabina, and most of the wallets are by
Hobo. They also have leather shoes for men and women by Cydwoq (all handmade in L.A. with Italian leather).
Bags from the in-house label, Relysh.
Bag's outgoing manager, Catherine, told us about their fairly new in-house label called Relysh. Relysh bags are classic
shapes with clean, simple design, available in a variety of colors. They are expecting some
wallet styles next week, and several additional bag styles for the Fall
(as well as some new leather colors).
Simple yet stylie, Bag's bags are irresistible. Only time will tell whether local shoppers feel the same.
According to Curbed, the Salvation Army is negotiating to sell 347 Bowery.
A few days ago EV Grieve reported on Koi Restaurant’s outreach to the neighborhood, ahead of tonight’s meeting of the CB3 committee that reviews new liquor licenses. We stopped by the “meet and greet,” last Thursday, held at Sala, just across the street from the proposed upscale sushi spot — the former Salvation Army East Village Residence (347 Bowery). The Salvation Army is still, apparently, in negotiations with the Koi Group. As a glaring symbol of gentrification, it’s a development that hasn’t gone unnoticed by neighborhood blogs.
CEO Nick Haque, was not there, but his chef, Nathaniel Christian, and Dina Voorhees, GM of the Bryant Park branch of Koi, were available to answer questions and show us the plans. The attendance from the community was minimal. We didn’t hear any vocal opposition while we were there but that could have been because we were all busy partaking in the tasty food and drink provided by Sala.
We learned the interior of the new space will be redesigned but it seems the outside of the building will not be altered. We were told Mr. Haque will be on hand at tonight’s community board meeting. We’ll be there, too, tweeting the latest news, and we’ll have a full update after the marathon meeting late this evening. For a list of LES restaurants and bars that will be applying for or trying to upgrade liquor licenses at tonight’s meeting, visit our earlier post here.
City Hall News rails against New York City's arcane petitioning rules candidates for City Council and other offices must follow to get on the ballot. The newspaper editorial board says it injects a "fair amount of cronyism and fundamental unfairness into what should be the most basic expression of democracy."
Incidentally, our story on last week's deadline to submit petitions generated some buzz in TLD's comment section, from detractors and supporters of PJ Kim. Today's the deadline for challenges to be filed with the Board of Elections. More on that this afternoon.
City Hall News recaps the old news that City Councilman Alan Gerson was stricken with the swine flu. But they have some new details about the money race in the District 1 campaign:
Gerson is
still lagging behind two of his opponents in fundraising—he raised
$54,000 through the latest campaign filing period—so he will have a
smaller initial payout in matching funds. Gerson did not receive a
campaign donation between June 25 and July 11, according to his
campaign finance filing, which coincides with the period he was ill.
Nonetheless, (David) Hartshorn (campaign manager) said he was still confident Gerson would max out
his fundraising, and that the fundraisers had gone relatively well
without Gerson. “We got started late, which was our fault,” Hartshorn said. “But we’ve been doubling it every filing.” Gerson
has also recently had some tough luck with union endorsements, with the
DC 37 endorsement going to opponent P.J. Kim. Meanwhile, the Working
Families Party has declined so far to make an endorsement in the race.
A source at the party said that Gerson’s vote to extend term limits was
a factor in not endorsing him, but that none of his three opponents
stood out enough to throw the party’s support behind them either.
The Villager looks at the plight of the residents who were forced to vacate 11 Essex.
Earlier today, we told you about a new study underscoring the tough times LES merchants are experiencing. Among the suggestions, more coordination among the neighborhood's business to attract additional foot traffic. This weekend, 21 stores have gotten together to do just that — offering sale prices on many items. The promotions are tied to next week's men’s fashion trade show at the Angel Orensanz Center. New York Magazine has the details.
Residents learn about the first steps in NYC's Citizen Stewards for Street Trees Training Program outside Henry Street Settlement.
Local residents took part in a tree stewardship program offered by Partnerships for Parks and the New York Tree Trust last night. Erin Maehr and Art Simpson, two forestry experts from the City of New York's Parks & Recreation team, were on hand to teach the group how best to care for adopted trees. They handed out supplies including a 5 gallon bucket for water (the most important part), a hose, a hand cultivator, trowels and gloves. The program falls under the City's Million Trees NYC initiative and strives to engage New Yorkers of all ages in the collective effort of maintaining and
protecting urban street trees. You can adopt a tree online at: www.milliontreesnyc.org/stewards.
Erin Maehr gives tips on prepping the ground around a tree so it can properly absorb water. The group was organized by David Bolotsky (who is also heading the campaign to revitalize Gulick Park, which we reported on here). They will be meeting again at 6:30PM on August 4th at the base of the steps at Abrons Arts Center/Henry Street, 466 Grand. BYOBucket. Anyone interested in participating can contact David at: david@uncommongoods.com.
Local author, editor (Grand Street News), comedian and provocateur Yori Yanover is expanding his repertoire to include a one-man show, Biodegradable Hero, this Sunday and next, at the Broadway Comedy Club. The show "delves into the darkest depths of his Jewish consciousness and comes up with surprisingly original and funny impressions of war, peace, and yes, pain."
Dixon Place performance space continues it's summer HOT! Festival NYC with performances all weekend, including underground fave Penny Arcade's LES Biography Project (via ABC No Rio) tonight and her show "Old Queen", each Saturday night in July. For full listings visit the festival site here.
Giant Robot (9th St. between 1st and A) is hosting Dime Bag 3, curated by artists Jordin Isip and Rodger Stevens, in which over 200 artists in a variety of disciplines have been invited to create artworks specifically
designed to be exhibited in 3-inch plastic bags: dime bags. Each artist
was sent one of the symbolic baggies and asked to fill it in any way
they wished. One of the artists included in the show is Valeriya Volkova, an artist and illustrator who sent us a link to her intriguing paintings and illustrations.
If you are an artist living on the LES or working on a project related to the LES, please let us know!
Yesterday was the deadline for City Council candidates to turn in their petitions to get on the September Primary Election ballot. Each candidate is required to submit 900 signatures, but they usually turn in a lot more than that in case there are challenges. We heard from three of the challengers (taking on Councilman Alan Gerson) in the District 1 race. Margaret Chin and Pete Gleason’s campaigns both said they submitted about 5-thousand signatures, while Councilman Gerson collected over 7-thousand signatures. PJ Kim made a mini-media event out of his filing late yesterday afternoon. Here’s what he had to say moments before handing in his petitions, containing 5500 signatures, at the city’s Board of Elections office :
A study released yesterday by the Two Bridges Neighborhood Council shows small businesses on the Lower East Side are struggling and warns the neighborhood itself could be in danger of becoming “an historical footnote.” The survey, conducted by Weber Associates, was largely based on interviews with 140 merchants along Orchard and Delancey Streets and 165 shoppers. At a press conference held at the restaurant “Broadway East,” Council President Victor Papa said there’s an urgent need to curb the “displacement of small businesses and low-income residents” struggling to survive gentrification, competition from national discount stores, high rents and the proliferation of bars and clubs.While the current economic downturn has hit local businesses hard, their troubles began long before the recession began.
Take a look at the pictures and the write-up from "Dead Weather's" secret show at the LES speakeasy Home Sweet Home yesterday. The band is fronted by Jack White of the White Stripes.
The apparel label Penfield holds a rare sample sale this weekend at the Reed Annex, 151 Orchard Street.
