SHOPMORE 10/31/06
Extended Hours at the Essex Street Market
by
Nancy J. Kramer
At last some sanity has prevailed and there are now extended hours, three days a week, at the wonderful, thriving Essex Street Market, allowing those of us getting home later to have the opportunity to take advantage of the extensive offerings...
MASKED 10/31/06
Rabbit on a Break
by
Pat Arnow
Not too many goblins or goons were out and about early today, but a hare spent some time outside the Flowers Cafe at Grand St. and Essex...
KIDS CIRCUS 10/31/06
Bindlestiff Cirkus’s Cavalcade of Youth
by
Julie Muller Stahl
the illustrious Bindlestiff Cirkus’s Cavalcade of Youth returns to the Abrons Arts Center with this popular showcase of young circus performers. Step right up and see NYC’s next generation of circus artists juggle, flip, twirl, clown, spin, dance, and much, much, more! And for those interested in becoming the next generation of performers, Bindlestiff teachers will offer Sunday workshops in Acrobatics...
SEXSELLS 10/31/06
Coming on the Shortbus
by
Nate Eckstrom
Shortbus has all the sex that the trailer promised. It has sex in different combinations, with various genders, numbers and even all alone. It is said that the average male daydreams about sex every 7 seconds, but I never found my mind wandering from the screen...
BAGEL WARS 10/31/06
Krakow: home of the bagel
by
Don Cruise
Bagelmama, a bagel shop located in the heart of Kazimierz, one of Kraków’s oldest and most venerated districts, is now reliving history by introducing the bagel back onto Polish streets. Nava De Kime, an American who has lived in Poland for 6 years and who is the owner of the bagel store, tells more...
HAUNTING PUPPETRY 10/30/06
Sleepy Hollow with Puppets
by
Julie Muller Stahl
Drama of Works, the award-winning puppet
theatre company, premieres their newest full-length work, Sleepy Hollow, just
in time for Halloween. Based on the classic tale by Washington Irving and
inspired by the story’s sparse dialogue, lush imagery, and vividly drawn mood, the production features an original score by award-winning
composer Vivian Fung and will be performed live by a chamber ensemble...
SATIRICAL PUPPETRY 10/30/06
Open Door
by Jonathan Slaff
The "paranoia versus hope" mindset descends heavily upon the community of recent immigrants and is inspiration for "Open Door," a grand puppet theater work with song, being prepared collaboratively by Colombia-born master puppet theater artist Federico Restrepo, his puppet theater troupe Loco 7 and award-winning composer Elizabeth Swados. La MaMa E.T.C. will present the work December 1 to 17 in its Annex Theater...
CANINE NEWS 10/30/06
Dog Day Autumn Afternoon
by
Michael Thaler
Hundreds of masquerading dogs participated in yesterday's Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade. The tradition began in the East Village in the 1980s and has spawned similar pageants across the city. The Tompkins Square parade remains the largest non-competitive gathering of dog owners in the country. All proceeds went to the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, for the $150,000 restoration of the Tompkins Square Dog Run...
DE-DEBRIS 10/29/06
East River Housing Fallen Tree Removed
by
Yori Yanover
So there they were this morning, the emergency fallen tree removal team of the Parks Dept., a mere eight hours after the collapse of the giant tree in front of 573-7 Grand Street, with their cherry picker, chopping the branches and feeding them into the amazing tree chomper...
WINDSTRUCK 10/29/06
A Tree Falls in East River Housing
by
Yori Yanover
An old tree was ripped out by the gale Saturday night in front of East River Housing, at 573-75 Grand Street. The neighbors reported hearing a loud creaking sound followed by a thump. Police quickly surrounded the area with yellow tape...
ANGRY NEST 10/28/06
Fury of Booted School Parents
by
David Andreatta
Tensions rose yesterday at a Lower East Side school that has caused headaches for the city Department of Education, after the principal had police toss more than 300 people out of a parents' association meeting. Cops were summoned to New Explorations for Science, Technology and Math School, known as NEST+M, on Thursday night following the resignation of high-ranking members of the association's executive board. "The middle school is in shambles and the upper school is like 'Lord of the Flies,' " said Emily Armstrong, one of the parents at the kindergarten-to-12th-grade school. "Kids are unhappy, teachers are sobbing in the office."
HEAR THIS 10/28/06
Must-hear radio, Monday, October 30
by
Jonathan Bennett
Monday's "Health Action" will include a 30-minute segment on what's known, and not known, about the connection between post-9/11 exposures and illness among rescue, recovery, cleanup workers and volunteers, as well as exposed lower Manhattan office workers and residents...
BLACK SABBATH 10/27/06
Tompkins Scare Park
by
Pat Arnow
Some neighborhood characters have put together Halloween tricks and treats all day Saturday in Tompkins Square Park. Sounds like fun. They say it will be kid friendly by day, spookier by night...
ZONING FOR DUMMIES 10/27/06
So You Want to Understand Contextual Zoning
by
Rob Hollander
The Lower East Side/East Village is about to be rezoned. Why should that
matter to you? Well, under the current zoning of the LES/EV, developers can build
huge towers here, way bigger than the old historic tenements which only rise
to about 80 feet in height at most. The City’s new zoning plan is
designed to prevent this kind of out-of-scale development and keep developers at
bay.
DEPT. OF GREASE PAINT 10/27/06
Clowning with the Sick
by
Yori Yanover
The waiting room door opened and a pair of clowns walked in, boy and girl clowns, from the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit and made us laugh. Really laugh...
URBAN FEARS 10/26/06
Biker’s Angst
by
Yori Yanover
Look at me moving quietly down
Grand Street, my legs pumping, a
pleasant smile on my face. Look at me
saving money, increasing my health and
listening to the walkman, all at once. Look at me getting to the intersection
of Grand and Suffolk. Look at the
Jersey-plated Toyota making a right
turn, on its way to the Williamsburg
bridge. Look at me realizing in panic
that the driver has no idea I exist. Look
at me crashing into a lamppost, trying
to get away. ...
GHOST SUBWAY 10/26/06
The Line That Time Forgot
by
Greg Sargent
Beloved, believed in, glimpsed fleetingly only to disappear again for decades, the Second Avenue subway has long seemed to be New York City’s version of the Loch Ness monster, on the drawing board since 1920, derailed by the Great Depression, and despite a string of vigorous efforts the plan just never got back on track. That may be about to change. The Second Avenue subway is surfacing again, and this time the vision of a new line just may finally be realized...
READ-WRITE 10/26/06
City Launches Adolescent Literacy Program
by
Ryan Dodge
The Department of Youth and Community Development has launched its Adolescent Literacy program, which is the first of its kind in the nation, operating in 11 New York City public middle schools...
WEB ALERT 10/26/06
Gods of Chinatown
by
Don Cruise
Isabel Chang is a Lower East Side web artist who was born in Taipei, lived in Bolivia, then immigrated to Texas when she was 13. Her mesmerizing new site, Gods of Chinatown, a project of The Tenement Museum's Digital Artists in Residence Program, invites you to drag Chang (and her doggie, Chewie) across panorama images of three local streets, clicking on a few points of interest. We wish there were more points...
WARNING 10/26/06
A Call to the NY Media: Save the Volunteers!
by
Jonathan Bennett
I am writing to ask your assistance in publicizing a change in New York State’s Workers’ Compensation Law which will allow workers and volunteers who participated in the rescue, recovery and clean up efforts after 9/11 to register to preserve the right to file for workers’ compensation benefits....
DEPT. OF DEMOGRAPHICS 10/25/06
Worst Nightmares
by
Michael Schulman
“No one’s really afraid of Frankenstein,” Timothy Haskell said the other day. Last Halloween, Haskell, a theatre director, staged a public haunted house on the Lower East Side, and so many people showed up that hundreds never made it inside. “We realized that we had to turn away a lot of local people,” Haskell said. So this year he put up haunted houses in all five boroughs, tailored to prey on the fears peculiar to each one....
GRIM BROS. TODAY 10/25/06
Real Estate Fairy Tale: Landlord Monster Grabbing Magic Garden
by
Yori Yanover
Last night at the Community Board 3 grand assembly several passionate representatives of an outfit called The Children's Magical Garden, at the corner of Stanton and Norfolk Streets, pleaded with the community to protect them against their landlord...
TRANSPLANTS 10/25/06
Who Flew These Homes In from Jersey?
by
Yori Yanover
They look like a transplant from suburbia, including the fact that they’re such a clean-cut vision in the middle of bar city, at Stanton and Suffolk Streets (130-148 Suffolk). I’d been eyeing this unusual structure – unusual only down here, of course – for a few days, and this morning took out the Treo and started a-shootin’...
PARK & BRAWL 10/25/06
East River’s Summer of Discontent
by
Yori Yanover
A common distinction between the two largest co-ops on Grand Street has always been that Seward Park, though troubled by a collapsed parking garage and frequently-changing management teams, enjoys a more democratic, even anarchistic spirit of public debate, while its more stately sister, East River, tends to shy away from raucous disputes. Since I reside in the latter community, I must admit to being more than a little jealous of the former’s flair for the subversive. Now it appears that ER’s days of industrial peace are over, shooed by friction over an increase in the rate the co-op plans to charge shareholders for their parking spots...
LOCAL ARTS & ENT 10/25/06
A Fabulous Week at the Abrons Arts Center
by
Julie Stahl
Trees of Knowing - An Exhibition of Reflections by Children and Artists... U.S. premiere - 3 performances only - Portrait Of a Stolen Spring... The Annual Halloween Spectacular... Sleepy Hollow... The 5Th Annual Carnival of Samhain... Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Acrobatics Workshop...
MODEST PROPOSALS 10/24/06
The Other Side of Blue
by
Yori Yanover
If you look at the nearly-complete Blue building from its Suffolk Street side, you start realizing the multitude of problems its new millionaire tenants will be facing practically on day one. If I were a Blue residing millionaire, I’d be demanding exceptionally burley doormen, preferably armed...
RENOVATION 10/24/06
Two Boots A-Workin’
by
Yori Yanover
It looks like they’ve arrived. The space at the corner of 384 Grand Street and Suffolk is in the process of serious renovation. The building at 384 Grand won some sort of architectural prize in the 1950’s. My wife and I used to live there, from 1976 to 1980, on the fifth floor...
WEB ALERT 10/24/06
New York Babe-Zone
by
Josh J. Holinaty
Ok. You want a damn New York story? I'll tell you one. Actually, it's more of an observation. So listen up and please, sit down, grab some warm maple syrup and or tortierre, and I'll tell you about the outside world....
OPERA 10/23/06
Portrait of a Stolen Spring
by
Don Cruise
A unique musical drama, conceived by David Verbeeck, tells the true story of his great-great-grandparents, the Ukrainian Jews Chaja Zimmerman and Moses Kalter, who left their homeland at the beginning of the 20th century, hoping to reach America via the port of Antwerp...
WEB ALERT 10/23/06
Cory, the Shar Pei Buddha
by
Michael
I met Cory outside the Lower East Side boutique where her owner let her out to get some air. Cory was so perfectly motionless as I approached that I thought she was a very clever, very realistic statue...
NEW MOON 10/22/06
New Month At Stanton Street
by
Yori Yanover
While Muslims around the globe are concluding their Ramadan fast today, another nation which also determines much of its calendar by the cycles of the moon held celebrations today (and will repeat them tomorrow), marking the new Jewish month...
HASSLES 10/22/06
Who Needs The Yellow Pages?
by
Yori Yanover
For close to a month, these stacks of unwanted Yellow Pages guides have been standing in my lobby, making access to the mailboxes cumbersome and raising the obvious question: How come no one’s taking these free gifts? The answer is simple...
BOOK ALERT 10/21/06
Lower East Side story
by
Charles McNulty Stardust Lost - The Triumph, Tragedy, and Mishugas of the Yiddish Theater in America Stefan Kanfer Alfred A. Knopf: 326 pp., $26.95. Impossible as it is to imagine contemporary music without African Americans, try picturing American theater without Jews. Where, for example, would serious drama be without Clifford Odets, Arthur Miller, Tony Kushner and David Mamet? Comedy without Neil Simon and Wendy Wasserstein? Acting without Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler and Sanford Meisner, the teachers who bickeringly transformed Stanislavsky's method into the Method?
SHOOT 10/20/06
Young Local Photographer Snapping
by
Tibi Z. Singer
Lower East Side artist Yarden Yanover is a gifted photographer with an eye for the quirky and unusual way our cityscapes behave sometimes...
WORKING AGAIN 10/20/06
East River Park Promenade Not Before the Fall of ‘08
by
Yori Yanover
Many unexpected issues have combined to complicate the renovation job. The Parks Dept. representative, Bob Redmond, recently told the CB3 Parks & Recreation committee that over the past 70 years the erosion of the sea wall, from Jackson to 12th Streets, has been so severe...
LIKE THE WIND 10/19/06
Run Again, Run!
by
Yori Yanover
The East River Park running track at 6th Street is open again. The city Parks Dept. lived up to its word—with gentle coaxing from the community—and is staggering the renovations...
TRANS-CONFERENCING 10/19/06
Manhattan on the Move
by
Maibe Fuentes
Last Friday, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer hosted a first of its kind conference bringing together more than 400 policy makers, advocates, business and community leaders and local residents to discuss the transportation challenges facing Manhattan and New York City...
WEB ALERT 10/19/06
Valley girls
by
Don Cruise
At the newly opened Valley, on the lower East Side, you can shop and get an eyebrow wax in one stop. The two-floor boutique carries fashion-forward brands like Grey Ant, Sass & Bide and J Brand jeans, with a nail and waxing salon nestled among the racks. Sisters Julia and Nina Werman give a nod to Brazil with cutting-edge beauty techniques and complimentary bowls of acai berries. 48 Orchard St. (212) 274-8984.
PLANT THIS 10/18/06
It’s My Park Day Daffodil Planting Event
by
Martha Sobhani
The event hopes to underscore the untapped potential of Allen Street as a place of leisure and recreation, where foot traffic can also generate economic activity. Neighboring communities will play an active role in their beautification, while also commemorating the 5th anniversary of September 11th...
CAMPAIGNSPEEK 10/18/06
Bring Back the Greatness of the Empire State
by
Eliot Spitzer
In this November 7 election, for the first time in a long time, New Yorkers will vote for their choice of what kind of government works for then, and what kind of New York they want to live in. New York must not simply change parties or policies, but change the very culture of government...
HI INFO 10/18/06
All Roads Lead to the Lower East Side
by
Don Cruise
We are compulsive searchers for Lower East Side (Call me LoHo) websites, and were astonished to discover that someone out there (the South Manhattan Development Corporation) sat down and created a complex page of all the possible routes one could take to get down here. Bookmark this page whenever your relatives from anywhere, really, are asking for directions...
LOCAL STAGE 10/18/06
The Violence of Distant War Affects the Heart of America
by
Jonathan Slaff
"Home Front" is a highly-charged, explosive play by Daniel Algie that reveals how the violence of distant war affects the heart of America. Inspired by Euripides' "Herakles," Algie rips into the souls of two children, their grandfather, mother and soldier-father shattered by war...
TENANTSCREW 10/18/06
Sale of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village a Disappointment
by
Manhattan BP Scott Stringer
I am disappointed that the bid put forward by the tenants of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village was not the ultimate winner in the bidding process... Throughout the sale process the residents of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village asserted themselves as a powerful and cohesive voice...
REVIEW 10/18/06
Displacement
by
Pat Arnow
When the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to L.A., a housing project went up in its place. At the same time, in L.A., the people in a barrio lost their homes to make way for the new Los Angeles Dodgers stadium. Those misguided displacements provide a framework for an exciting piece of theater...
SAFE ATTIRE 10/17/06
Cops Get Vests Under the Bridge
by
Yori Yanover
It was a scene you won’t see on, say, Law and Order. This week, some 7000 of New York’s finest are being fitted for new bulletproof vests, and the action takes place under the Williamsburg Bridge, outside our Seventh Precinct...
NEUVEAU SCRIBBLE 10/17/06
KingSize Presents Abstract Graffiti
by
Lois Stavsky
The nationally acclaimed graphic and visual artist Aaron Lazansky-Oliva aka Spaze Crafte One has been creating innovative urban artwork for over a decade. Our local Essex Street bar KingSize is hosting his solo exhibit Hard Rockz ‘N’ Cotton Candy...
DE-CLASSIC 10/16/06
The Brothers Karamazov at Red Monkey Theater
by
Ze'ev Aviezer
The company is thrilled to present this powerful new dramatization of the Russian master's story of three brothers coming to terms with themselves and each other in a world filled with often opposing desires...
SECURITY 10/16/06
New, Lighter Gates at ER, But Whatever For?
by
Yori Yanover
As promised, if a bit late, the East River Housing parks have received their new, lightweight gates which, though as imposing as before, are no match even to a senior citizen yearning to pound the pavement. This is a huge improvement over the previous gates which could easily stand up to a battering ram...
DRAMAMOOD 10/16/06
Some Historic, Some Hysteric
by
Jonathan Slaff
Multimedia theater piece is set in Dr. Jean Martin Charcot's Salpetriere medical center in 19th century Paris, where hysteria became theater and neuropsychology was invented...
MEGA-PURCHASE 10/16/06
Tatiana Can Pinch our Little Multicultural Cheeks
by
Pat Arnow
Unhipness added to the allure when Princess (literally) Tatiana von Furstenberg, daughter of dress designer Diane von Furstenberg, bought a townhouse at 279 East Broadway (corner of Montgomery) for $2.45 million...
ORGANIZING 10/13/06
Check Out SPURA.org
by
Yori Yanover
Here’s the next step in our efforts to create an educated, on-going discussion about the Seward Park Extension Urban Renewal Plan. It’s just gone up, so some of the areas are under construction...
BOOTH MUSIC 10/13/06
Sukkot Across America At Seward Park
by
Pat Arnow
The Bialistoker Synagogue invited the neighborhood to “enjoy delightful desserts and live music,” as part of the celebration of the National Sukkot Across America evening last Thursday. "The Cooperators" - so called because they all live in the co-ops around Grand Street - raised the roof...
CYCLES 10/13/06
Shake Your Lulav Vigorously
by
Yori Yanover
And when you really shake them, the myrtle and Etrog start spreading a mesmerizing fragrance that becomes stronger and stronger, spreading through the synagogue as if it were an orchard in bloom...
DANCE! DANCE! 10/12/06
Prime Mover - a Concert to Benefit CPR
by
Julie Muller Stahl
The Abrons Arts Center presents an evening of groundbreaking dance, old and new, with Prime Mover, curated by Chez Bushwick founder Jonah Bokaer. This event brings together rare archival dance film and video along with work by acclaimed dancemakers John Jasperse and Wally Cardona, who together with Bokaer, are partnering to form CPR - the Center for Performance Research...
Attend the CB3 Parks, Recreation, Cultural Affairs, Landmarks, & Waterfront Committee
Today, Thursday, October 12, 6:30PM, at Village View, Community Room, 175 East 4th Street (bet. 1st Ave & Ave A). It's a trick to find the place, the building is near the corner of Av. A. Come listen to an update on East River Park reconstruction and another update on Allen Pike Street model mall. If you care about your quality of life, make regular visits to your Community Board meetings.
DO'S & DOT'S 10/12/06
DOT Announces Year-Long Closure of the Lower Roadway on the Manhattan Bridge
by
Kay Sarlin
The New York City Department of Transportation today announced that beginning Sunday, October 15th, the lower roadway of the Manhattan Bridge will be closed for the next year. During these twelve months all three lanes of the lower roadway will undergo a complete rehabilitation. While the upper level of the Manhattan Bridge will remain open, DOT recommends that motorists use an alternate route to cross the East River during this closure...
PROCESS 10/12/06
Grand Killer Block Still Looking for a Fix
by
Yori Yanover
Last night at the Community Board 3 Public Transportation Committee meeting, Chairman David Crane got fairly quickly to the business of traffic problems on Grand Street near the FDR Drive...
ART 10/12/06
Animal Vegetable Mineral
by
Pat Arnow
In the playground at Seward Park, a metallic camel sculpture and the trunk of a London plane tree have similar textures...
GRAFFITI 10/12/06
Yes, It's Art, But Who Is Judith Supine?
by
Pat Arnow
Walls decorated—or defaced—around Rivington Street. Signed by Judith Supine. Judith Supine is hard to track down. If you know anything about her (if it is her), let us know, we're freaking curious...
MEMORIAL 10/11/06
Bagpipes on Grand Street
by
Pat Arnow
This morning, the department honored Lt. Howard J. Carpluk, Jr. and firefighter Michael C. Reilly, both of the Bronx who died in the same fire. Afterwards, downtown firefighters gathered on Grand Street near Jackson...
MOBILE RITUALS 10/11/06
Rabbi Stone's Traveling Sukkah
by
Yori Yanover
Coming down East Broadway was a pickup SUV with a Sukkah in the back, with table and chair and rolled up kosher roofing. It was driven by our local Lubavitcher, Rabbi Israel Stone, who was playing pleasant Jewish music, accompanied by a taped explanation on what a Sukkah is...
INTRODUCTION 10/11/06
Welcome Aboard, Mr. Singh
by
Yori Yanover
Stopping by the house this morning I saw this green spot against the drab cloudy-day colors and rushed over with my Trieo camera. Mr. Sing, our new mailman, was a bit suspicious at once, but then relaxed and we shook hands...
Committee to Discuss Fatal Accidents
A few weeks ago, an elderly woman was killed by a shuttle van on Grand and Lewis Streets. This evening, at 6:30 PM, the CB3 Committee on Transportation will take up the issue of traffic dangers on Grand Street. If you attend, you'll deliver the message that your life as a pedestrian is worth preserving...
PARTY 10/10/06
Village Halloween Costume Ball October 31
by
Jonathan Slaff
Nonstop theater, a costume competition and ballroom dancing will bewitch the East Village in Theater for the New City's 30th annual Village Halloween Costume Ball on Monday, October 31 at TNC, 155 First Avenue. A carefree fall tradition, this unique festival celebrates the creativity that comes with the season...
EAST RIVER PARK 10/10/06
Construction Happens
by
Pat Arnow
Progress on the East River promenade has been slower than a lost tourist crossing Times Square. But after halting work on the 1.2 mile path for two months this summer, construction has finally resumed, according to Parks spokesperson Carli Smith...
SUNSET 10/10/06
Downtown Afternoon
by
Pat Arnow
It's the good sunset time of year in New York. Night falls earlier and earlier but more spectacularly in the fall and early winter. The crane in the center is part of the operation dismantling the Deutcshe Bank that was damaged during 9.11...
WEB ALERT 10/9/06
New Yorkers Who Live On High Traffic Streets Have A Measurably Lower Quality-Of-Life
by
Karla Quintero
"Traffic's Human Toll" finds that New Yorkers living on streets with high volumes of traffic spend less time outside and are more likely to restrict their children's outdoor play compared to people who live on "medium" and "low" traffic streets. The study also finds that compared to residents on low traffic streets, residents on high traffic streets are twice as likely to be disrupted by traffic while they are walking, talking, eating, playing with kids and sleeping...
WEB ALERT 10/8/06
Loving Liev - The New Yorker Festival
by
savvycrone
It was worth sitting by my computer with a cell phone in my hand at exactly noon the day tickets went on sale to see the actor/director Liev Schreiber interviewed by critic John Lahr. Schreiber is heavily family-connected, having been raised by a single mother on the Lower East Side and citing his late grandfather as his "male role model." His grandmother was in the audience. He uses ticks and rituals to get himself free of preconception before a play or filming a scene, and he told a wonderful story about his grandfather.
HIGH SHOPPER 10/6/06
Comparing Spirits
by
Yori Yanover
This morning I went into the new location of Astor Wines, at 399 Lafayette between 4th and 5th Streets. It is magnificent, spacious, attractive, well lit, gorgeous. But over the past years I’ve gotten used to amazingly low prices at the Warehouse...
CIVIC 10/6/06
Movement on Grand Street Traffic Hazards
by
Yori Yanover
We just received a copy of a letter sent by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to Iris Weinshall, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation. Silver writes: "This time I am writing in response to a tragic accident that led to the death of one of my constituents and neighbors, who was killed by a car while trying to cross the street..."
STREET RIDES 10/6/06
Pitt Street Luna Park
by
Yarden Yanover
My Mom and I stumbled on this mini amusement park which will start operating Friday night on Pitt Street, between Rivington and Stanton. In the middle of the night on Thursday it looked eerie, ghost-like, without the lights and the laughter of children...
CONGESTED 10/6/06
Massive Conference On Transportation Crisis Facing NYC
by
Maibe González-Fuentes
MBP Scott Stringer will host a first of its kind conference on the transportation challenges facing Manhattan, bringing together more than 300 policy experts, business, civic and community leaders, and local residents to discuss possible solutions for Manhattan's pressing transit problems...
HOLY FRUIT 10/5/06
New Origin of the Species
by
Yori Yanover
Nowadays, most local folks do their business with Rabbi Berel Feinstein, who offers his lovely merchandise in a synagogue on Henry Street, between Allen and Clinton. I got mine there last night...
HAZARDS 10/5/06
Grand Street Plates Removed (Partially)
by
Yori Yanover
Two weeks ago, Councilmember Alan Gerson and Democratic leader David Weinberger stood outside Moishe’s Bakery and protested the noise and hazard heaped on our neighborhood by a Con-Ed contractor. Yesterday that stretch of Grand Street was alive with workmen and a bulldozer repaving over a hefty portion of the road...
BLESSED MORNINGS 10/4/06
A View from the Bridge
by
Yori Yanover
The pedestrian bridge over the FDR Drive at Delancey Street offers a superb view of East River Housing and the highway, especially on a sunny morning. Lemony stretches of sunlight intertwine with shadows of trees and buildings...
WATCHER 10/4/06
East River Park Update: Sunny But Grim
by
Yori Yanover
What a difference a sunny morning makes. In my mood, not so much in the state of the renovations in East River Park (Visit Our Promenade –
Condemned Since July 4, 2000). So, let’s see… A deserted bulldozer was standing at about the halfway point between Delancey and Houston, next to the waterfront. It was almost 9:00 AM...
CARE 10/4/06
Cat People of Montgomery Street
by
Yori Yanover
Walking down Montgomery Street this morning I spotted this nice lady feeding cats behind the benches. She was cautious about giving me her name, even her first name, because, apparently, not everyone on the block is a cat lover...
WRITERS 10/3/06
Here Is New York: Then And Now
by
Liz Brown
The Educational Alliance has enlisted three very different writers, beginning with Caleb Crain, Brandon Stosuy and Melissa Plaut, the latter a blogging cab driver who keeps us down to date with her present-day account of life behind the wheel in New York City...
CELEBRATE THIS 10/3/06
Bragging Rights
by
Pat Arnow
Here's an entertaining website about creating entertainment in New York City. Click on dots on the map, and a balloon will pop up with information about what moviemakers shot there. The site comes from the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting...
WHERE THERE'S SMOKE 10/2/06
Yom Kippur Candelabra Fire in Hillman
by
Pat Arnow
A smoky fire in a first floor apartment at 550 Grand (at Lewis) last night brought out some seven fire trucks and other emergency vehicles. Apparently no one was home. Firemen knocked out the windows and sprayed water out. They also threw possessions out the window...
WHERE THERE'S SMOKE 10/2/06
Yom Kippur Candelabra Fire in Hillman
by
Pat Arnow
A smoky fire in a first floor apartment at 550 Grand (at Lewis) last night brought out some seven fire trucks and other emergency vehicles. Apparently no one was home. Firemen knocked out the windows and sprayed water out. They also threw possessions out the window...
CHECKING ON DA PROMISES 10/1/06
This Park Is No Picnic
by
Yori Yanover
The Parks Department keeps telling g us that they’ll repave the road alongside the FDR Drive just as soon as all the work in the park is finished. It sounds rational, but in reality they’re decreeing the park out of commission for all intents and purposes for weeks at a time whenever it rains...
SLOW PARKS 10/1/06
Exciting Promises, But Parks Dept. Execution Is Lagging
by
Pat Arnow
Two local park managers, Kiesha Garnes and Tricia Daniel, had nothing to say about delays in construction of the East River Park promenade. One committee member asked about the rutted service road that gets filled with mud puddles every time it rains...
