|
|
In recent weeks, there have been numerous reports about stepped up enforcement of New York City’s bike laws. Along with the crackdown, there’s a major public education campaign underway. This morning we got a call from Dennis Schmidt, the 7th Precinct’s community affairs officer.
He wanted to let us know officers are making the rounds throughout the neighborhood, passing out bike safety brochures (you can find online versions of the Department of Transportation’s web site). As the city aggressively adds miles of bike lanes, there’s been an increase in accidents between bikes and pedestrians, as well as bikes and cars.
Some bike activists have argued enforcement should not be selective. Streetsblog noted:
We’ve written here before that from a public safety perspective, more cyclist enforcement only makes sense as one piece in a broader effort to police traffic safety, especially by targeting the most dangerous behavior on the street, like motorist speeding and failure-to-yield. But it looks like the orders from One Police Plaza are just about cycling infractions.
 
 Community Board 3′s Arts & Cultural Affairs Task Force will meet tomorrow night to discuss:
1. Arts in Education Forum
2. Art in Empty Storefronts
3. Convocation of all Manhattan Arts Committee of Task Force chairs
Brad Burgess from the Living Theater will also be presenting an update on recent developments in the tax abatement proposal for real estate developers providing subsidized space to arts groups.
The meeting will be held at Theater for the New City – 155 First Avenue (btwn E 9th & 10th St.) // Tuesday, January 18 at 6:30pm.
 The Rocco John Group in performance There are some new musicians in town and they are looking for people who are interested in starting a community band. The Rocco John Group has been awarded the Chamber Music of America Residency Grant for the last four years in a row and are getting ready to apply for it again this year. But this time, they are looking to colaborate with musicians right here on the Lower East Side.
John’s partner, Denise explained via e-mail: Basically, We start community Jazz bands. For the past four years we have done this using this CMA grant to start a standing community jazz band in Alaska. It’s great fun, a community builder, an audience builder, inter-generational and all kinds of good things.
Continue reading Jazz Musicians Seek Non-Profit Partner for Community Band
In Lower East Side food/restaurant news:
- Michael Huynh is changing the concept at 154 Orchard again. Bia Garden never caught on, so he planned a course correction, turning the place into an Asian tacos destination. Weeks after the new venture was supposed to open, however, Huynh tells Eater he’s changed his mind. The new plan: a Thai/Vietnamese restaurant called Andy ‘n’ Bao.
- Fatta Cuckoo on Clinton Street soft-opened this weekend. Via Twitter, they’re beckoning us to come by for cocktails (although we later found out they were closed Monday).
- Today at Baohaus: “$10 TV Dinner;” braised pork on rice, fish cakes with smoked ham hock, and eight treasure stir fry.
 Sara D. Roosevelt Park. Photo by Vivienne Gucwa. Cloudy early in the day. with some sunshine in the afternoon and a high of 24. Look for snow after midnight. Today we pause to honor the life of Dr. Martin Luther King. Due to the National holiday, all government offices, schools and the financial markets are closed.
 Photo by A. Jesse Jiryu Davis. A week from Monday, Community Board 3′s SPURA task force is scheduled to vote on a set of planning guidelines for the Seward Park development site. Late last night, a key player in CB3′s deliberations, GOLES (Good Old Lower East Side), sent an email blast to its supporters, urging them to attend the January 24th meeting and, for the first time, laying out publicly a position on the CB3 proposal:
NO JANUARY VOTE UNLESS IT’S FOR MORE LOW AND MODERATE INCOME HOUSING
Last month the people of the Lower East Side beat back the City’s proposal to give up to 60% of our land to those who can pay $6000 a month for rent. In the spirit of justice and reconciliation GOLES members propose 70% housing for low, moderate and middle income families. Tell the Community Board and the City that the real Lower East Side – that means our families, the working class backbone of this great neighborhood – won’t relent until the plan is right. Continue reading GOLES Calls for 70% Affordable Housing on SPURA
Here are musician Ken Beasley’s top music picks on the Lower East Side this weekend:
 Alecia Chakoursm
ALECIA CHAKOUR- Saturday, Jan. 15th | 11:00 PM at Rockwood Music Hall
Alecia Chakour is a Brooklyn girl with some strong roots in soul. Her father was once the musical director for the mighty Joe Cocker, and from there she was introduced to a string of powerhouse vocalists and musicians throughout her childhood. Her love for the true sounds of soul grew so deep that when she was offered a major record deal at the young age of 16, she turned it down for fear of being cranked through the pop-idol machine. Continue reading Weekend Music Picks
We’d like to take this opportunity to thanks The Lo-Down’s sponsors:
Our sponsors support us — and we hope you will support them!
 Harrison Ford will be on the big screen for three nights in a row this weekend at the Sunshine Cinema’s Midnight Movie in the original Raiders of the Lost Ark. (They’ve added a Sunday night screening as Monday’s Martin Luther King day is a holiday for some.)
Roger Ebert, in the Chicago Sun Times, summed up one of the most classic adventure films of all time, this way: “Steven Spielberg’s RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK plays like an anthology of the best parts from all the Saturday matinee serials ever made. It takes place in Africa, Nepal, Egypt, at sea and in a secret submarine base. It contains trucks, bulldozers, tanks, motorcycles, ships, subs, Clippers, and a Nazi flying wing. Continue reading Three Nights of Indiana Jones at the Sunshine This Weekend
 The hotel going up at 139 Orchard dwarfs its neighbors. Partly sunny with a high of 27 degrees today. 34 tomorrow with a chance of afternoon showers. Mostly sunny on Sunday with a high of 32. Hope everyone has a good weekend!
 Photo via Grub Street. Lots of catching up to do today, on the food/restaurant beat:
- Grub Street gets a look at the menus for Fatta Cuckoo, the seasonal Italian restaurant opening on Clinton Street next week. The chef is Brett Ackerman of Diner and Marlow & Sons in Williamsburg. Dinner entrees include: veal dumplings, ginger soy sauce glazed salmon and a ribeye with fries for $22.
- Grub Street also reports: Mixologist to the stars Sasha Petraske is no longer involved with White Star on Essex Street.
- Serious Eats samples the breakfast sandwich at Shopsin’s and finds it to be delicious, even though there’s an umbrella stuck on the top.
Here’s an update on last night’s manhole explosions on East Broadway (near Samuel Dickstein Plaza). We just got off the phone with Con Edison spokeswoman D. Joy Faber, who said workers are making repairs on corroded electrical cables today and continuing to investigate exactly what caused the blasts. She said it was not a transformer explosion (that’s what firefighters suspected last night).
Continue reading Follow-up: East Broadway Manhole Explosion
|
|
