         
|
||
  
|
A marketing firm and design shop called Beyond The Valley and an architecture firm in London called Feix&Merlin are teaming up with the LES BID to bring 15 independent merchants over from the Newburgh Quarter to the Lower East Side of Manhattan for three weeks. In October, 15 stores from the LES will "pop up" over in London for a few weeks. The Lo-Down has been checking in with the Brits as they prepare for their opening on Orchard Street. For more about the project visit Wish You Were Here.
 
As Bowery Boogie mentioned, the stalled building site that has been dubbed “The Orchard Street Hell Building” by Curbed (they have documented the five-year saga of the construction site here) is getting a new mural painted by Marco of Marcoart NYC. Why the new wrapping on the scaffolding? Marco told The Lo-Down that one of the investors from the Thompson LES hotel (located across the street) implored the developer to do something to make the site (now back on the market) look better.
The Lo-Down ran into a young bride getting ready for her wedding at the GrandOpening "Wedding Chapel" on 139 Norfolk Street yesterday:
Mayor Bloomberg broke ground yesterday on the first stage of the East River Waterfront Esplanade and Piers Project. As Channel 4 reported, "this beginning stage is expected to cost $148 million, as it creates The first phase of the project will improve the existing esplanade from
the Battery Maritime Building to Pier 35 to safely accommodate both pedestrians and cyclists. It will feature new plantings, seating and lighting, a dedicated bikeway and visitor-friendly designs. The esplanade between the Battery Maritime Building and Old Slip will be extended out over the water, allowing for safe passage along a widened sidewalk and bikeway… Pier 35 at Rutgers Slip will be renovated and open to the public to provide much-needed landscaped space along the waterfront. Pier 35 will also an innovative habitat restoration park, funded by a grant from the New York State Department of State Division of Coastal Resources, which will recreate the native plants and wildlife of the East River. Waterfront steps will be created at Wall Street, Pike Slip, and Rutgers Slip to provide visitors the opportunity to get closer to the water’s edge… The second phase of the plan calls for the construction of the Battery Maritime Plaza, conversion of Pier 42 at Montgomery Street to public use as an urban beach and boat launch, and completion of the widening of the esplanade from Peck Slip to Pike Slip. When complete, the East River Esplanade will be a critical link in the continuation of the Manhattan Greenway. "An incumbent fights for his seat." That's the headline of the Gotham Gazette's summary of the District 1 City Council race. The Village Voice's Wayne Barrett takes a critical look at CD1 candidate Pete Gleason's past. Streetsblog.org was not at all pleased with the way the CD1 candidates assessed the Grand Street bike lanes during Monday night's debate. It's been an awful summer for Orchard Street merchants. Bowery Boogie reports another store, Giuseppe Uomo, is going out of business. Drivers in Manhattan may want to steer clear of the East Side, as
Continue reading City Council Debate: Gleason Sharply Critical of Gerson Tenure
This past weekend we checked in on the "open mic & local talent" day, sponsored by GOLES (Good Old Lower East Side) at the Generation X Garden on East 4th Street. It was part of SummerFest, a series GOLES is starting up to engage the community. Since 1977, the organization has been "dedicated to tenants’ rights, homelessness prevention, economic development and community revitalization." You can find out more about their services and mission here. There were some great performances on Saturday. but also important messages from City Council member Rosie Mendez and GOLES community organizers: embracing the neighborhood's traditional culture and fighting displacement due to gentrification have never been more important. Take a look:
This morning, the Daily News takes on the issue again, in a Bill Hammond column headlined, "Giving charity a bad name." Hammond writes: What began as a minor legal squabble in a lower East Side City
Council race has exposed a festering boil on the body politic - excessive coziness between nonprofit groups and the elected officials who sponsor them. All too often, city and state lawmakers treat community groups as their personal pets – keeping them well fed with tax dollars while expecting plenty of affection in return. Some outfits become little more than fronts with letterhead, paying salaries to a pol's friends and family while delivering little in the way of actual community benefit. Others are bona fide charities that get sucked into politicking out of misplaced gratitude to their sugar mommies and daddies or, just as likely, fear of offending them. The United Jewish Council of the East Side appears to fit into the latter category – an otherwise respectable, well-meaning group sadly dragged into unseemly political relationships.
Meanwhile, all five candidates in the CD1 race will appear tonight at a forum sponsored by The Villager/Downtown Express at Pace University. The address is 1 Pace Plaza. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. – seating is limited.
Griping about the seemingly arbitrary delivery policies of New York City's restaurants and food shops is a popular sport. This is especially true if you live below Delancey Street, or Siberia, as some businesses seem to regard the neighborhood. Case in point: Lo-Down contributor Mitch Weinstein's (tastytravails.com) ordeal getting delivery from everyone's favorite appetizing store, Russ & Daughters. Many of my friends, all of my family and even those who don't know me, from Significant Eater on down, know how much I love Russ & Daughters. I've touted it on sites such as eGullet,
Billionaire Tom Golisano, the driving force behind the NY Senate coup, is now targeting Sheldon Silver and the Assembly. He bought a half-hour infomercial upstate last night to make his case: "…even if Sheldon has done a decent job, 16 years is far too long in a Former Andy Warhol protegee Jane Holzer has given up her battle to evict a freelance hairstylist from a building she owns on Stanton Street. The intrepid reporters at the Grey Lady discover that Bonnie's New York on Orchard Street has closed, but can't seem to track down the owner. Hint: try emailing her. Or, better yet, see here. EV Grive on the search for a new tenant at the CBGB Gallery. Selling points: near Whole Foods and John Varvatos! Lost New York on M. Kessler of Grand Street. The Daily News profiles Arone Dyer, bicycle designer at the LES's Bike Works NYC.
An early morning shooting on Avenue C was covered by Channel 2 and New York 1. There are conflicting reports. But it appears the incident happened somewhere near 11th Street, in spite of this screen grab from WCBS that identifies the location as Avenue C and 10th Street. A 25-year old man was shot in the chest – and taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he is in stable condition. Police are investigating whether the shooting is linked to a feud between gangs at the Campos Plaza Housing Project and other neighborhood gangs. Earlier this summer, after the arrest of LES rapper "Tru Life," we reported about the growing fears about worsening violence in the area.
Photo courtesy of Mitch Weinstein As we reported earlier, Bonnie's New York, a fixture on Orchard Street for nearly 30 years, selling hats and jewelry, has closed it's doors for good. We spoke with owner Bonnie Weinstein this morning about her reasons for closing. She told us that she would have loved to stay in the neighborhood but her lease was up and, although her landlord offered to negotiate a more favorable deal, she didn't feel she could keep her business going through the recession. Bonnie also said she hates to see what's happening to the small businesses in the area – and doesn't see how they are going to survive without some help. There were a number of other factors influencing her decision. The building next door – the former home of Fine & Klein Handbags – has been under construction for many months. A large dumpster blocked her entrance and scaffolding obscured her signage. Bonnie believes the neighborhood has really never recovered from 9/11 – foot traffic from tourists is down considerably. She told me merchants also suffer from the fact that most new residents don't work in the neighborhood. And, she had a time dealing with the corporation that bought the building where she leased space three years ago. Bonnie was part of the LES Business Improvement District (a non-voting member). She says there doesn't seem to be a consensus among businesses about priorities. She doesn't understand why the entire area hasn't been land-marked as an historic neighborhood in an effort to preserve the LES's authenticity. Like many other business owners, Bonnie feels commercial rental rates are out of control. "The problem is with the rents," she said. "The landlords need incentive to keep rents stable for the small business owner." She thinks there needs to strong tax incentives, noting, "Small business loans don't help because they aren't being paid back and the buildings have been sold to corporations, so now they (the landlords) are highly leveraged and need to make their own rent." Bonnie says she will miss having face to face contact with her customers. "Customers love a personal touch. Saks and Bloomingdale's clerks don't learn your name, don't know anything about you and don't care if you shop there or not. Owner-operated stores care." She is hoping to continue her business online at: www.bonniesny.com but says she is "still figuring out how to do that".
Thirty-eight years ago, Verona Middleton-Jeter came to the Henry Street Settlement as a live-in social worker. Today she is executive director, managing a $37 million budget and overseeing a vast array of programs for 60-thousand New Yorkers. Middleton-Jeter, who will be retiring next June, told us “never in her wildest dreams” did she imagine herself leading such a large and influential organization. We sat down with her recently to take a closer look at one of the Lower East Side’s most important institutions — and to hear from one of the city’s most inspiring women. Middleton-Jeter grew up in rural South Carolina. She once told the Robin Hood Foundation that school is someplace she went when it rained or it wasn’t cotton picking season. She was the first in her family to attend college (Benedict in South Carolina) before being recruited to work at a residential treatment center in Westchester, where they were looking for African American counselors. There she was first introduced to the field of social work. Determined to make a difference in the lives of poor people, she went on to earn an MSW from Smith College and upon graduation in 1972 was offered a job (and, more importantly, an apartment in NYC) as a live-in social worker at Henry Street’s shelter, the Urban Family Center. It was the early 70′s – and New York was reeling – crime, urban decay and poverty were rampant: Middleton-Jeter: The city was putting homeless, largely single, mothers with children, in hotel rooms… Prostitutes and drug users were (often) living (in the room next door)… Kids were living in that kind of environment… It was just terrible. After newspapers exposed the horrible conditions in which these families were living, the city turned to the Henry Street Settlement for help. Middleton-Jeter: So that’s how the Urban Family Transitional Center came to be, and most of the city’s transitional housing programs today are really a (version) of that program. Each family got their own apartment – and what was important to Henry Street was the idea that, just because they’re in crisis, why should they be stuck in a room? They should be in an apartment – and we had on-site social services. The idea was that once they left Henry Street to live in permanent housing, they should be functioning at a higher level… We all know the theory around crisis is, if you’re in a state of crisis, there’s a great possibility that you will regress unless you have the proper support to help you spring forward… Henry Street played a major role in bringing respect to the way homeless people were and are treated. Middleton-Jeter is carrying on the legacy of Lillian Wald, the social-work pioneer who founded Henry Street in 1893. The organization was one of many settlement houses that were created to help immigrants adjust (and assimilate) to life in America. Today, the Henry Street Settlement can be thought of as a very large community center, offering many programs for seniors and kids, providing job training/job placement and aiding abused women. HSS also runs the Abrons Arts Center. Middleton-Jeter is especially proud of her organization’s commitment to helping battered women. Middleton-Jeter: In our battered women’s shelter… we have 85 beds for woman who are, well, we call them domestic abuse survivors, because that’s what they are. The primary reason for that program is to try to help women be safe. When I was the director of the battered women’s program, I always said it is quite ironic that we are trying to make women safe, but as a society, we haven’t done anything about the perpetrator. Over the years, we’ve made some strides. There are some programs, we’ve tried to use the courts. But, you know, if a man wants to beat a woman, he beats her. Hopefully she’s strong enough to leave, but we don’t have an organized system that says you don’t beat your wife and if you beat her, this is going to happen to you… We asked Middleton-Jeter how the HSS became involved in domestic violence issues. Continue reading TLD Interview: Verona Middleton-Jeter of the Henry Street Settlement
|
 
|
|
Copyright © 2009 - 2012 Lo-Down Productions LLC - All Rights Reserved. Terms of use. Privacy Policy |
||
