Sometimes it’s hard for Traven and me to believe The Lo-Down is not even a year old. Maybe that’s because, since our mid-March launch, we have posted more than 900 stories! That’s a lot of community board meetings, political rallies, art shows, restaurant openings and many other neighborhood events. In the past nine months, we have met some incredible people and, on an almost daily basis, have been awestruck by one of the most fascinating communities anyone could hope to cover. While summing up all we’ve experienced would be a tall order, our most popular stories of the year offer a pretty good glimpse of The Lo-Down’s first year on the Lower East Side. Here’s our Top 10 of 2009:
1. LES real estate developer Sion Misrahi says the NYC Department of Buildings in “paralyzed by fear,” and that doing business in the city had become impossible.
2. In the wake of the arrest of LES rapper “Tru Life,” we looked at growing concerns about youth violence in the neighborhood.
3. Jesse Hartman battled to win approval for a dramatic glass-enclosed restaurant called “Grand Park” in the space once occupied by Isabella’s “smahed to bits” Oven.
4. Bonnie Weinstein, of Bonnie’s New York, explained why she shut down her Orchard Street store, a longtime fixture on the Lower East Side.
5. A pop-up venture, Pong, was opened in an empty Grand Street storefront by the guys at “Grand Opening.”
6. The Seward Park Co-op described plans to attract a green market to an empty lot at the east end of Hester Street.
7. A developer presented plans to convert 180 Ludlow, a stalled hotel, into a residential building.
8. CB3’s David McWater threatened to suspend the work of a committee working on a plan for the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area.
9. A long awaited section of the East River Esplanade opened, part of a massive renovation of the waterfront.
10. The Lo-Down broke the story that Guss’ Pickles decided to leave the Lower East Side.
