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 Actress Bebe Neuwirth and a group of Broadway colleagues will give special performances at the Abrons Arts Center next month to benefit a unique partnership that teaches inner-city kids about horses.
The Oct. 3 event will help Abrons’ parent organization, Henry Street Settlement, fund a program it runs with Equine Advocates Rescue and Sanctuary upstate in Chatham, N.Y. The sanctuary rescues horses from abusive and neglectful situations, and children from Henry Street’s programs take field trips to learn about and interact with new four-footed friends.
In addition to Neuwirth, the evening’s performers include Brenda Braxton, Jason Daniely, Dontee Kiehn, Marin Mazzie, Roger Rees and Karen Ziemba.
Tickets start at $250 and are partially tax-deductible. Find details and buy tickets on the Abrons website.
 
 Photo courtesy LES Runway/Jeff Mosier Say you always wanted to attend the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week shows but didn’t have the right connection. Now, you can indulge your inner fashionista and support up-and-coming designers right here in the neighborhood at what’s being billed as New York’s most intimate runway. L.E.S. Runway runs through Oct. 2 at Grand Opening, 139 Norfolk St. (near Rivington). By day, the space serves as a pop-up shop selling the designers’ creations, by night, the catwalk is primed, the models are primped and the champagne is flowing.
Husband and wife team Marc Maleh and Cheryl Carr-Maleh conceived the idea and collaborated with Ben Smyth, Grand Opening’s founder and owner. “We wanted to offer New York City-based designers access to the community. A lot of designers don’t have the means or the platform to show their work,” Maleh says. Continue reading LES Runway: Lo-Down Readers, Get Your Fashion Fix
 Architectural rendering via RAAD Studio/James Ramsey. “The Low Line,” a bold proposal to create a spectacular park under Delancey Street, has been a media obsession since last weekend. Last night, the team behind the Delancey Underground (the project’s official name) made their pitch to Community Board 3. The reaction was overwhelmingly positive.
James Ramsey and Daniel Barasch came to CB3′s land use committee with a brief Power Point Presentation and slick handouts for everyone in attendance. In introducing the pair, David McWater, the committee chairman, noted that the Lower East Side has a long history of “innovative thinking” and of incubating “off-the-wall ideas that later become widely accepted.” While the board is not yet being asked to vote in support of the proposal, McWater told committee members, “I thought this is something you’d like to see.” Continue reading Delancey Underground Team Wows Community Board 3
- A new group aims to protect LES community gardens; first meeting Saturday. (EVGrieve)
- In the aftermath of a young man’s death during a police chase, tensions between residents and cops rise on Avenue D. (The Local EV)
- EBay fashion maven and Seward Park Co-op resident Andrea Linett gives a tour of her stylish digs, her closet, and her favorite LES shopping haunts. (Refinery 29)
- A new marketing effort is under way to promote Chinatown and Little Italy. (DNAInfo)
- The city’s housing authority is considering selling ad space at its public complexes. (NY Daily News)
 Photo by Phillip Kalantzis-Cope. Rain in the morning – thunderstorms in the afternoon — and a high of 76.
 Photo by Robert K. Chin. This afternoon, the full City Council voted to reverse a decision by the Landmarks Preservation Commission to protect 135 Bowery, a nearly 200 year old federal row house. City Councilmember Margaret Chin sided with the building owner, a bank that wants to demolish the building and put up a new 7-story commercial structure.
Today, only one Councilmember, Rosie Mendez, voted in favor of landmark status. In a subcommittee hearing last week, most Councilmembers deferred to Chin, saying they trusted her judgment about what was best in her district.
Chin said she was swayed by the bank’s promise to create affordable office space in Chinatown. Numerous preservation groups denounced Chin’s decision and have vowed to keep fighting for the historic building.
This afternoon, the City Council voted unanimously to approve a Business Improvement District in Chinatown. In a news conference before the vote, City Councilmember Margaret Chin, who fought vigorously for the BID, called the impending decision “an historic moment for Chinatown.” We’ll have a full report tomorrow morning.
This morning the City Council’s Finance Committee voted 16-0 in favor of the Chinatown Business Improvement District. A vote of the full Council is expected this afternoon. Right now. we’re awaiting a news conference from Speaker Christine Quinn and Councilmember Margaret Chin on the BID vote (and other matters).
If you’ve been thinking about joining the Chinatown YMCA, now might be the time. They’re waiving the standard “Joiner’s Fee” for new memberships until October 10th. Continue reading Free Open House at the Chinatown YMCA Saturday
A bit last minute, but here’s a news advisory concerning an event taking place later this morning:
Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott will join of Reading Partners CEO Michael Lombardo at PS 188 (442 East Houston) on the Lower East Side at 11:45 am on Wednesday, September 21st, to highlight the volunteer-driven early-intervention literacy program’s success in redirecting troubled readers towards the path to academic success. Already operating in California and Washington, D.C., serving more than 2,500 students with one-on-one tutoring in 38 schools nationwide, Reading Partners is starting up in their first seven New York City schools—including PS 188 – after receiving a $3.5 million Social Innovation Fund grant from the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation.
- Speaking about the plan for a park below Delancey Street, an MTA spokesman says: “We are open to exploring ways that the former Williamsburg Trolley Terminal could be developed… possibly in connection to the development of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area.” A source adds: another possibility for the space is “a big box store.” (Metro)
- A suspect is arrested in the rape of a woman in the East Village (Post).
- More coverage of today’s anticipated City Council vote on the Chinatown BID (NYT).
- The Tenement Museum opens its new Visitor Center (NYT).
- Grace Church School has big plans at 38 Cooper Square (Curbed).
- The new EV IHop has hired a bouncer (Post).
- In honor of San Gennaro, a taste of Little Italy (NYT).
 File photograph; Council Speaker Quinn and Councilmember Chin at the New Amsterdam Market. City Councilmember Margaret Chin may well have reason to cheer this afternoon. According to a media advisory released by Speaker Christine Quinn last night, the City Council will vote today on a proposal, sponsored by Chin, to create a Chinatown Business Improvement District.
It’s an idea Chin has been been championing for well over a decade, long before she became Lower Manhattan’s representative at City Hall. Victory looks to finally be in her reach, assuming the Council’s Finance Committee votes in favor of the proposed BID in a morning hearing. The panel’s approval would clear the way for a vote of the full Council in the afternoon.
Not everyone will be cheering the outcome. Many property owners and community activists have voiced strong opposition and vow to keep fighting the BID, even after today’s vote (legal action is one option under consideration).
There’s a possibility another controversial issue, the landmarking of 135 Bowery, will also be voted on by the full Council today. Last week, the Landmarks Subcommittee, acting largely on Chin’s recommendation, overturned the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s decision to protect the nearly 200-year-old federal house.
Preservation activists are furious with Chin for siding with the owner of the building, Patrick Yau, one of the leaders of the pro-Chinatown BID campaign. Last week, we posted a brief story on the 135 Bowery hearing. This morning, we have a more comprehensive recap: Continue reading Decision Day for Chinatown BID and (Maybe) 135 Bowery Landmarking
 Photo by Bahram Foroughi. Cloudy today with occasional showers this afternoon and a high of 75. Two big stories we’re following today. First, the City Council is expected to vote on the controversial proposal to create a Chinatown BID. Second, the team behind The Low Line, the proposed park below Delancey Street, present their idea to Community Board 3′s land use committee. We’ll have coverage throughout the day.
 Sheldon Silver blows the shofar at the booth operated by Chabad of the Lower East Side. Yesterday we posted a bunch of photos from New York City Apple Day. Now, a few more scenes from the festivities on Orchard Street, featuring Lower East Side VIP Sheldon Silver, the Speaker of the New York State Assembly.
It was a busy day for the Speaker on Sunday. In addition to Apple Day, he visited several other events, including the Hester Street Fair, the LES Ecology Center’s E-Recycling Day and the Chinatown Society’s Mid-Autumn Festival. Continue reading Sunday on the LES with Sheldon Silver
 The contentious board elections at the Seward Park Cooperative have finally come to a close. As you may recall, the New York Times picked up on the controversy following this past June’s flawed balloting.
The winners, announced several days ago, are incumbents Karen Wolfson, Eric Mandelbaum and Geordan Goldstein, as well as newcomer Harold Aranoff.
Brett Leitner, who narrowly won a seat in the first round of voting, was defeated in the re-vote. Mandelbaum, who is seen as the leader of the victorious contingent and has spoken out against maintenance increases, reversed his fortunes in the second election.
Seward Park, the largest of the Grand Street cooperatives, has 1726 apartments and about 50 commercial spaces.
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