It’s a rare occurrence when all of the members of CB3′s SLA committee are in agreement. But it happened last night, during the debate over “Grand Park,” the elaborate, glass-enclosed Italian restaurant Jesse Hartman wants to open on Grand Street. The committee approved a full liquor license in June, but because lease negotiations with the Seward Park Co-op (Hartman’s prospective landlord), have dragged on, he was forced to return to CB3 for an extension. It didn’t take long for the committee to conclude, as board member David McWater put it, “this is a co-op battle and not our issue.”
Several residents, who had not been aware of last summer’s debate over “Grand Park,” came to the meeting to speak out. Among them, Ernest Marshall, who distributed letters to all 1700+ Seward Park apartments last week, critical of the proposed restaurant. “With children, elders and working parents, students who attend school all within a hundred feet of this proposed bar,” he asked last night, “why do we need another
bar in the neighborhood?”
WNYC-FM's David Garland (Spinning on Air) will host a marathon concert to benefit Mode Records at Abrons Arts Center this Saturday beginning at 6pm. The concert will celebrate the label's 25th year of cutting edge modern classical, avant-garde and new music. There will be an "early show" (6pm) with a special solo performance by Philip Glass and a rare performance of John Cage’s “Concert for Piano and Orchestra” with special guests.
The Gotham Gazette has a roundup of the first City Council meeting since Mayor Bloomberg's re-election. The Council passed four bills designed to loosen parking restrictions, including a muni-meter "grace period," Bloomberg has promised to veto.
The New Amsterdam Market will be back down on South Street this Sunday for their Thanksgiving Market from 11:00am to 4:00pm. Start with a coffee tasting, then grab some cheese from local Saxelby Cheesemongers and pick up your pre-ordered turkey and a pie for the big feast.
The Educational Alliance Preschool
on the Lower East Side is currently accepting applications for the 2010-2011
school term. With its large, bright, airy classrooms, the Preschool offers
classes by age group, including “Almost 2s”, 2 year olds, 3 year
olds and a brand new classroom for 4 year olds – created in
response to the restricted number of Universal Pre-K spaces in this
neighborhood.
The Community Board 3 panel that evaluates liquor licenses got through their agenda in less than five hours tonight – a shockingly short meeting for this bunch. We'll have a full recap in the morning. But just in case you can't stand the suspense, the SLA committee agreed to support an extension of "Grand Park's" liquor license (reaffirming their original vote back in June). In spite of opposition from several residents of the Seward Park Co-op, the CB3 members said they were unwilling to get involved in what they called internal "co-op politics." Hartman has been in lease negotiations with the Co-op for months. He does not have a signed lease.
The committee also supported applications from Inoteca, Vibrations (116 Avenue C), a new Mexican taqueria in the "Clinton Restaurant" location, a diner from the Freemans team at 325 Bowery and La Gente (an all-day, casual Italian restaurant from the owners of Grotto).
Yesterday, affordable housing advocates and former tenants gathered at the corner of Delancey and Suffolk Streets to mark 42 years of inaction on the five city-owned parcels known as the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area. The lots have remained mostly dormant all these years as community groups feuded about their redevelopment. Several of the participants are members of a community board panel that has been trying to hammer out a plan acceptable to all sides.
Organizers say the time has come to put more pressure on city and state officials to act. More than one speaker urged residents to attend the CB3 meetings on SPURA – and to become actively involved in fighting for affordable housing on the parcels. Longtime community activist Frances Goldin sharply criticized residents of the Grand Street cooperatives and their political allies, raising the specter of racism, but hardly for the first time, as a reason the neighborhood has been divided for so long.
Also attending yesterday, City Councilmember Rosie Mendez and Councilmember-elect Margaret Chin. Chin did not specifically repeat her campaign pledge to oppose market rate housing altogether on SPURA. Instead she said, "affordable housing has to be part of the equation." However, in a followup, Chin's transition coordinator, Jake Itzkowitz, made it clear she has not changed her position. In an email message, he said, "the starting point should be to pull together affordable housing developers and small businesses to find a way to create affordable housing on that site. The site is going to be mixed use, and there must be affordable housing. It should not include market rate housing, because the area is already saturated."
The community board does not have SPURA on the agenda this month, but is expected to take up the issue again in December.
Lower East Side residents and elected officials came out yesterday to urge the United States Postal Service to keep the Pitt Station Post Office open. The small Clinton Street office is on a list of 271 locations nationwide in jeopardy of being shut down. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, State Sen. Dan Squadron, City Councilmember-elect Margaret Chin and Seward Park Co-op President Michael Tumminia were among those speaking at a large midday rally.
For Mark Bello, pizza-making is not a pastime. It's not a profession. It is a way of life. Last week, I got to witness this phenomenon myself, during a five hour extravaganza in his quirky Chinatown apartment on Catherine Street. Sometime after the first of the year, Mark's company, "Pizza a Casa," will be opening a retail store and cooking school at 371 Grand Street, just east of Essex. The other night, he invited six curious/hungry New Yorkers over for a "hands-on" demonstration.
While we waited for "class to begin," I thumbed through a large book filled with exhaustive evaluations of every worthwhile pizza joint in the city. Mark had graded each pie for the quality of its crust, sauce and toppings. It was only the first indication this guy was not messing around. Mark created "Pizza a Casa" five years ago, teaching pizza-making at places like the Astor Center and Murray's Cheese Shop. From the beginning, his boundless enthusiasm and passion made him a big hit at birthday parties and other special events.
Later today the City Council will vote in favor of several bills that would force the NYPD to be a bit more lenient in issuing parking violations. Mayor Bloomberg has vowed to veto the bills, but Councilmembers say they have more than enough votes to override his veto.
A study in contrasts this afternoon on the Lower East Side. The two rallies pictured above took place at the very same time. They were only about two blocks apart. But, in many respects, they were worlds away. The first picture is from a well-attended rally organized by State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney and the Seward Park Co-op to save the Clinton Street post office. The second picture is from an event (also attracting a good crowd) marking the 42nd year since the city bulldozed 2-thousand homes on the parcels known as the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area. At this gathering, those co-op residents down the street and Speaker Silver, came under heavy criticism for allegedly blocking redevelopment of SPURA. There's a lot more to say about both events, of course. We'll post video reports tomorrow morning.
Yesterday, we posted a story about Jesse Hartman's continuing struggle to open "Grand Park," a glass-enclosed restaurant on Grand Street. In June, Community Board 3 agreed to support his application for a liquor license. But because Hartman and his prospective landlord, the Seward Park Housing Corp., have been in protracted lease negotiations, he must ask CB3 for an extension. A Seward Park Co-op resident, Ernest Marshall, will be coming to the board's SLA Committee Monday night to oppose Hartman's plan.
In a phone conversation a short time ago, Marshall told me he does not want to see any more bars or restaurants serving liquor in the vicinity of the co-op. "It's not a night club neighborhood – it's a quiet, peaceful neighborhood," he said. In a letter distributed to all Seward Park residents, Marshall questioned why the co-op would "support an establishment that has the capability of converting to a bar/disco." He also expressed concern about opening a restaurant near a high school (the Seward Park campus is on the next block) and asked why the restaurant, described in CB3's resolution as "family friendly," needs a liquor license and has asked to stay open past 11pm.
Preliminary architectural sketches depicting "Grand Park's" proposed glass-enclosed backyard
Jesse Hartman's six-month long quest to open a dramatic, glass-enclosed restaurant on a
desolate stretch of Grand Street takes him back to Community Board 3's
SLA Committee next week. Back in June, the Community Board signaled its approval for"Grand Park's" liquor license. But lease negotiations with Hartman's landlord are still not completed, and CB3's approval was only good for six months. So, on Monday, he must go before the SLA Committee for an extension.
Complicating matters, Hartman has a new nemesis: Seward Park Co-op resident Ernest Marshall (the space is located in a shopette owned by the co-op). He has been sliding letters under the doors of the complex's 1700 apartments, urging his neighbors to oppose "Grand Park's" liquor license. In May, during his initial appearance before CB3, a small number of residents derailed Hartman's application due to concerns about late night noise. After meeting with opponents in the neighborhood and drawing up sound-proofing plans, he satisfied their concerns, and prevailed before the board one month later. Marshall was not part of the group opposing "Grand Park" over the summer.
