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An update this morning on Thursday night’s fire at “The Three Monkeys,” 99 Rivington Street. The operators of the popular falafel restaurant tell us, via email:
The reason for the fire is still under investigation. Please notify your readers that we are planning to reopen again, better and improved, the latest in 60 days from now. The fire damaged the restaurant in full- 100% damage, but the most important thing is that there were no injuries. Continue reading “Three Monkeys” Team Vows to Reopen After Fire
 
 There’s news today on Ross Global Academy’s campaign to stay open, in spite of the NYC Education Department’s decision to close the charter school for poor performance and other problems. The state education commissioner has rejected the appeal. The New York Times has the story.
The move clears the way for the Girls Prep Middle School to move into the Ross building on East 12th Street.
 Photo by Harvey Spears.
Thanks to Lower East Side resident Harvey Spears for sharing this photo — a hawk hanging out on Attorney Street near the Williamsburg Bridge earlier today.
 Photo by Jill Fehrenbacher, via twitpic. Earlier today, Jill Fehrenbacher of Inhabitat sent along a new photo of our favorite snow creature. If you’re a regular reader, you know we’ve been keeping tabs on this guy/girl on the corner of Essex and Canal since the Boxing Day blizzard. He/she seemed to be melting away — but a new storm meant new life for our cold weather friend!
 Our obsessive coverage of the Seward Park redevelopment talks continues today with a closer look at the future of the Essex Street Market. As we reported last month, quite a few Lower East Side residents objected to language in a early draft of Community Board 3′s guidelines, stating: “The Essex Street Market should be relocated to a superior site on a major street to accommodate a larger market with more goods and services.” In response to community-wide feedback, the guidelines have now been changed to say (proposed additions are in blue):
If the existing Essex Street Market is to be relocated, it should remain public and be moved to a superior site on a major street to accommodate a larger market with more goods and services. The existing Essex Street Market should not be closed or demolished before the new, larger market is open. Every effort should be made to retain the then current tenants of the Essex Street Market during the change in location and facility. Such efforts should include providing special consideration as to rents (e.g., rent increases should be comparable to existing contracts and commensurate with what would be expected in a public market), assisting tenants with moving and relocation costs (e.g., through the creation of a fund or by way of a requirement in the RFP), and assuring that the new market space is move-in ready before tenants are relocated. Continue reading Follow-up: Debating the Fate of the Essex Street Market
On many people’s “top picks” for the weekend is the musical comedy, Camp Wanatachi: A New Musical About Sex, God and Summer Camp, which opens tonight at LaMaMa. It was a favorite at the 2009 Fringe Festival and is back with a full-fledged run at the Ellen Stuart Theater. The Village Voice notes, “Christian camp can be enlightening—and not just in a religious sort of way. Continue reading Camp Wanatachi Comes to La MaMa
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The following opinion piece was written by Brett Leitner, founder of SHARE, a neighborhood organization advocating for the redevelopment of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area:
Now is the Time for Progress on SPURA!
The saga of SPURA has come to a climax with Community Board 3 voting this Monday night on guidelines for a mixed-use development that would replace dilapidated parking lots with multi-income housing, retail properties, green spaces, cultural/educational institutions, and more. The future of SPURA impacts everyone on the Lower East Side. As a Grand Street resident and founder of SHARE (Sustainable Housing And Retail Expansion), I believe the guidelines will prove most beneficial to our neighborhood and therefore warrants the community’s support. Continue reading Op/Ed: Support CB3′s SPURA Planning Guidelines
As you can no doubt tell by looking out the window, it’s still winter! The snow won’t let up until noon or so, when the forecasters say we might even see some sunshine. Look for a high of 33. Continue reading Good Morning!
 Photo via hwmk's ow.ly page. A fire swept through the Three Monkeys restaurant at 99 Rivington Street (at Ludlow) this evening shortly after 8 o’clock. Twitter users posted quite a few images from the scene. No one was injured and there’s no word yet what caused the blaze. Firefighters extinguished the flames in about a half hour. 99 Rivington was once the home of the cafe, Paul’s Boutique, made famous by the Beastie Boys. Earlier this month, a fatal fire broke out in a tenement building on 124 Ludlow, on this same block. More photos after the jump. Continue reading Fire Breaks Out at Three Monkeys on Rivington Street
Here are musician Ken Beasley’s top music picks on the Lower East Side this weekend:
DJANGO-A-GO-GO – Fri., 1/21 & Sat., 1/22 at Joe’s Pub
A weekend of Django Reinhardt’s music is never a bad thing. This weekend, Joe’s Pub is filling Friday and Saturday nights with an array of jazz/swing specialists to pay tribute to the iconic gypsy guitarist who, along with Stéphane Grappelli and others, helped shape modern music.
Continue reading Weekend Music Picks
 Earlier this year, GOLES and other housing advocates held a rally on SPURA property. Editor’s note: The following opinion piece was written by Joel Feingold, a community organizer with GOLES (Good Old Lower East Side). It was posted on the Villager web site a short time ago. Feingold sent the article to The Lo-Down, as well:
On Monday, a Community Board 3 committee may vote on guidelines for the redevelopment of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area [SPURA] – the long-derelict blocks on Delancey, Broome, and Grand at the lip of the Williamsburg Bridge. In shaping the final language of these guidelines, this committee can choose to close the chapter on a forty-three year aberration in the Lower East Side’s history: the notion that a racially integrated working-class district is harmful to society in general and property values in particular. Continue reading Op/Ed: Making a Case for Affordable Housing on SPURA
 Photo by A. Jesse Jiryu Davis. Monday night, 22 community activists will file into the Henry Street Settlement’s gym, poised to make a big decision. After two-and-a-half years of deliberations, Community Board 3′s land use committee is finally scheduled to vote on planning guidelines for the 7-acre Seward Park redevelopment site.
The significance of the task at hand is lost on no one. A “yes” vote would represent a major step forward in ending a bitter stalemate that has divided the neighborhood for 43 years. Even if the panel backs the proposal, the neighborhood’s political leaders give their blessing and city agencies sign off on the guidelines, there are many more hurdles to clear before the first shovel is in the ground on Delancey Street. But since the community has never agreed on a basic framework for redevelopment, the importance of this initial step cannnot be overlooked. Continue reading Monday’s Big SPURA Vote
This month’s screening from the L.E.S. Heritage Film Series at Seward Park Library will be focused on the traditional festivals and parades long celebrated in and around our neighborhood. Continuing to reflect the neighborhood’s diverse cultural history, (this is the fifth in the series) curator Sean Ferguson will be screening three short films: Continue reading L.E.S. Heritage Film Series: Cultural Festivals in NYC
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