In the news this past week:
–Workers at the Lower East Side Trader Joe’s on Grand Street have filed for a union election. The store at Essex Crossing will be the first Trader Joe’s in NYC to unionize. Staff members say they want better pay, benefits and training. [AM New York]
–“On a Friday earlier this month, what appeared to be raw sewage seeped down from the ceiling of the Essex Crossing Trader Joe’s store on the Lower East Side, breaking through parts of the ceiling and dribbling down onto some of the food below. Managers shut down the store temporarily. But workers said the situation caused hours of confusion — some risked exposure to the sewage as they helped throw out the spoiled items, while others were sent home early or told not to show up at all, but later found their pay had been docked. For some of the store’s employees, the situation underscored their need to form a union to be able to ask questions and demand answers about pressing workplace concerns in a unified way.” [Gothamist]
–A fire on Mott Street forced the temporary evacuation of residents. The building is the home of the Lin Sing Association, one of Chinatown’s oldest organizations. [NBC New York]
–A federal housing official touts a new building going up on the Lower East Side as the kind of project that will help solve the affordable housing crisis. The development, part of the Grand Street Guild, will produce 232 new below-market apartments. [WPIX 11]
–$1 million has been allocated to 27 City Council districts participating in Participatory Budgeting. In Council District 2, the demand for funding far outstrips available funding. [Our Town]
–Telling the many stories of 64 East 7th Street, “a place of large-scale tragedy and suspected terrorism, of Beat poets and punk literati, a place where Yoko Ono waited tables and Lou Reed sang doo-wop.” [The New York Times]
–“A Gaga Guide to the Lower East Side” is a new immersive experience set to begin on Lady Gaga’s birthday next week. [Time Out]
–Chad the rooster on the loose on the Lower East Side. [New York Post]
–The city’s most exclusive whisky bar has just opened in Chinatown. [Crain’s]
