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The inspiring monthly series, Lucid NYC, will offer plenty to keep you thinking at their upcoming party and evening of presentations this Wednesday, Marc. 2nd, at Drom Lounge. Each month they feature presenters who are working on an array of different cutting edge projects. The general criteria is a focus “dedicated to creating a more enlightened world.” The setting is a social environment, with drink specials and live music to boot.
Continue reading Dating, Bio-stoves and DIY Bikes at This Month’s Lucid NYC Party
 
 Tonight the Seward Park redevelopment (SPURA) task force reconvenes for the first time since its members, in an historic vote, approved planning guidelines last month. There will be presentations from city officials about the next steps in the community planning process. They will, presumably, offer feedback about Community Board 3′s vision of a mixed use (residential-commercial) and mixed income project on the 7-acre parcel.
While there is little question the city has a desire to move forward, David Quart of the NYC Economic Development Corp. has said various agencies (as well as the mayor) would need to sign off on the proposal before they commit to beginning costly environmental and design studies on the SPURA site. Also this evening, committee members will get to know the architects from Beyer Binder Belle, the firm hired to advise CB3 in the next part of the planning exercises. Continue reading A Look Ahead to Tonight’s SPURA Meeting
 This weekly feature spotlights a wide variety of people who live and work on the Lower East Side. If you know someone you would like to suggest be featured in “My LES,” please email us here.
What do you do?
I am a community and legislative liaison for Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh, on the LES between 14th Street and Delancey. I get to interact with people who live in our community on a daily basis, assisting constituents in resolving housing problems and accessing government services. I represent our office at Community Board 3 meetings and attend many events in the neighborhood. Continue reading My LES – Leslie P. Pena
 Sunset on Grand Street by Pat Arnow There is a lot of rain in the forecast today, but at least it’s warming up. Look for a high of 57℉ with sunshine on the way tomorrow. (Hello March!) Coming up later – a preview of tonight’s CB3 SPURA Committee meeting, the first gathering of the redevelopment panel since the passage of historic planning”guidelines last month.” Continue reading Good Morning!
 Jeffrey Ruhalter, Saturday morning, February 26, at the Essex Street Market. Here’s the latest on the plight of Jeffrey’s Meats, a Lower East Side institution that’s fallen on hard times. Last week, news of a 29% rent increase raised new concerns that Jeffrey Ruhalter, a fourth generation butcher, wouldn’t be able to keep his store in the Essex Street Market open much longer. Today we spoke with Jeffrey as well as Danny McNeill, who’s been helping run the business for the last couple of years.
While the rent hike is a setback, it’s very clear the business is confronting far bigger problems. As McNeill suggested in a press statement released last week, Jeffrey is in search of someone to buy the meat market, which has been battered by the economic downturn and impacted by the large demographic transition the neighborhood has been undergoing in the past decade. Continue reading Rent Hike Only Part of the Problem at Jeffrey’s Meats
 Yesterday author Karen Seiger reported on her blog, the Markets of New York, that Essex Street Market butcher Jeffrey Ruhalter was in trouble. According to a press release she received from his publicist, Jeffrey was “running out of options” because his “landlord (was) requesting an $8000 renewal fee on the first of March along with a rent increase of 29 percent.”
“Although what Jeffrey needs is an investor or someone to buy the store,” the release added, “what he may really need in the future is a job.” For a couple of years now, he’s been holding out hope that a reality tv show and/or a book offer would come through. In December, the New York Times reported Jeffrey thought about shutting down last year but eventually “got his groove back.”
Continue reading LES Butcher Faces 29% Rent Increase; Chin Intervenes
Here are musician Ken Beasley’s top music picks on the Lower East Side this weekend:
 Mary Bragg MARY BRAGG – Fri., Feb 25 | 8PM at The Living Room
Mary Bragg has been likened to folks such as Patty Griffith and Mindy Smith, and the comparisons are certainly apt. She’s got the voice, and she’s got the writing chops. She’s also fallen in with great company – like Lee Alexander, who’s recorded Norah Jones and Amos Lee, and also Tom Schick, who’s worked with Rufus Wainwright and Ryan Adams. Continue reading Weekend Music Picks
The Times just posted a follow-up on the brutal murder of Jomali Morales, the woman whose body was found in an elevator at the Baruch Houses February 12th. Two excerpts:
The murder was overshadowed by the unrelated citywide manhunt and arrest of a suspect in four other killings. But this case sent ripples through one particular city population: the New York Police Department. Ms. Morales’s half-brother, Joseph Vitale, is a 20-year veteran police officer who, assigned to the Manhattan South Task Force, has worked the very area where she lost her life. Perhaps second only to the murder of a fellow officer, in terms of let’s-find-this-guy determination, would be the murder of an officer’s kid sister, and residents of 555 Roosevelt have said detectives have been up and down its halls many times since Feb. 12. There is a $12,000 reward for information. But so far, no arrests and no known suspects. Continue reading Follow-up: The Murder of Jomali Morales
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A newly released report looks at how the Asian American population in neighborhoods across the city, including in Manhattan’s Chinatown, is changing. According to the analysis of Census data by the the advocacy and housing organization, Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE), the Asian population in New York City is growing rapidly and dispersing beyond historical ethnic enclaves. Continue reading New Report Looks at Asian Population in Chinatown and Beyond
 As part of their Purim holiday festivities, The Stanton Street Shul will be hosting a talent showcase. They write: The Stanton Street Shul is overjoyed (it is Adar after all) to announce a Purim Talent Showcase. If you sing, dance, act, tell jokes, perform magic or have any other talents, now is your time to shine! Enjoy refreshments, hamentashen and klezmer music throughout the evening. Spread the word and bring your friends –- The more the merrier!
Get your act together and sign up here by March 7th. The showcase will be held on Saturday, March 19th (following Maariv services and megillah reading) at 9:30 pm // $10 suggested // 180 Stanton Street.
 Lawmakers rallied at City Hall yesterday in support of extending and expanding New York’s rent protection laws. Among those participating: State Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh (see photo), who represents portions of the Lower East Side. The current rent law expires in June. There’s been talk in Albany that the renewal could be tied to property tax relief. Governor Andrew Cuomo has been vague about where he stands on strengthening protections for New York City’s rent stabilized and rent controlled apartments.
According to some estimates, more than 10,000 Lower East Side apartments have been deregulated in the past decade. Continue reading Lawmakers Rally in Support of Protecting Rent Regulated Apartments
 157 Suffolk Street. From the in-box: Silverstone Property Group has purchased 157 Suffolk Street, a six story tenement building, for $8.8 million. According to a press release, the new owners will be “renovating the building to create a
high-end boutique residential rental property, as well as leasing the retail space which has been vacant for many years.”
157 Suffolk, between Houston and Stanton, is a 22,398 sq./ft. building with 33 apartments and two retail stores. Back in 2007, then owner Muriel Realty put the property on the market for $15 million.
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