This just in:
Save St. Brigid’s! Emergency call to action!!!
Tuesday, August 30th
At 2:15 pm
60 Centre Street
Your presence is needed to help save St. Brigid’s Church from demolition!
On Tuesday, August 30th at 2:15 pm, 60 Centre Street, court 1a, part 12, In the courtroom of Justice Barbara Kapnick — arguments will be heard by the lawyers from the NYC Catholic Archdiocese and our lawyer, Harry Kresky.
The archdiocese wants to have the temporary restraining order removed so they can immediately begin to demolish this historic 160-year old East Village landmark, living parish, and sacred site.
Our lawyer has requested that we pack the courthouse to show Judge Kapnick just how strongly we care about this building and the parishioners.
Please make the time to attend—the hearing should not last much longer than 1 hour. The presence of the entire community is absolutely critical. If the restraining order is voided the church will be destroyed and another monstrous tower will most likely be erected in its place!
For more on this struggle and the history of this church, please click this link: http://www.savestbrigidsnow.netfirms.com/
Call: the EVCC office 212-979-2344 to RSVP. It will be helpful if we know how many people to expect. The courtroom can hold about 200.
Thank you for your support!
East Village Community Coalition
http://evccnyc.org
This article details a meeting that was held on Tuesday about saving the old PS 64/CHARAS building… and this part details why developer Gregg Singer is such a bad man:
“In 1998, developer Gregg Singer and his partners paid $3.1 million for P.S. 64 at a public auction conducted by the Giuliani administration. They agreed to maintain it as a ‘community facility.’ The chairman of Community Board 3, David McWater, recalls that residents of the East Village assumed the deed restriction would protect cultural and community groups that had been using the building. Instead, Mr. Singer immediately moved to evict them.”
Okay, let’s see…
1. Bad heroin. Check.
2. Scruffy white guys wielding knives. Check.
3. Runaway cars slamming into cabs and people in busy intersections like Chrystie and Delancey. Check.
“A man was found stabbed to death this morning on the Lower East Side, according to police. Reports say that the incident happened near a popular cafe owned by the pop star Moby.”
To make matters more complicated, the suspect is a scruffy-lookin’ white guy… not too many of those floatin’ around these days, eh?
UPDATE: Get this quote, from a newer Newsday article:
“Roger Peffley, 30, was opening Teany when he peered through the window and saw Drescher slump to the sidewalk.
‘Blood was all over,’ said Peffley, a musician who performs under the name Roger Human Being. ‘At first I thought he was some guy from around, some drunk guy you don’t care about. But then I saw he was bleeding.’”
A new book showcasing famous people as they were becoming famous in the LES during the 1980s (it seems like it’s niche marketing, but it looks really cool) is coming out in October. Check out Maripolarama.
Just in case anyone needs to know, there’s a nasty case of bad heroin going around. On top of killing two teenagers here in the LES, four more people have died since the weekend… so much for speedballs this weekend.
A judge ruled yesterday in favor of CBGB’s, and they won’t have to pay the $100,000 in back rent the BRC claims they own. Hilly’s worried, though, that the new rent is going to go up from $19,500 a month to $40,000… uh, for that dump? ;-)
It’s my birthday party this weekend. I’m turning 30. Come one, come all.
… literally.
Yesterday, I posted a blog over at AlterNet (also cross-posted here) that set off a little shitstorm of sorts (comments on AlterNet, gridskipper, ojo caliente, et al). I’d like to take this opportunity to clear a coupla things up here, my ruffled-feathered friends.
1. It seems everyone that called me any kind of names seems to have glossed over the whole section of the blog where I talk about the history of the neighborhood being important to me.
2. Oh, it looks like they also missed where I talk about how I’ve been working and am currently working with both longtime residents and newcomers on a bunch of campaigns fighting hyperdevelopment.
3. Gee whiz, they also missed the part where I list Happiness Deli’s 70-cent cup of coffee as one of the best around, and seem to think I only buy expensive, hipster coffee.
4. Uh-oh, looks like they also missed where I talk about why Starbucks is symbolic in nature.
5. Golly, and they missed the part where I talk about how I only arrived four years ago in the neighborhood, and that I know the gentrification have been happening for like, way longer than that.
6. Oh my, the biggest point of all was missed by the less-hipster-than-thou crowd: that if people will keep the faith and band together with the loads of struggles to preserve this and other neighborhoods, we might actually have a say in how our surroundings evolve.
In any case, kids, read before you rip, alright?
For those that commented on Starbucks’ employment policies — I commented on the AlterNet blog: “On one side, I support Reverend Billy’s efforts to help NYC Starbucks workers organize, but on the other, I have two artist friends whose families rely on Starbucks providing healthcare to part-time employees — unheard of in other low-wage worlds.” I’m not oblivious to this paradox; I admit that I don’t know that much about it. One commenter posted an interesting article I recommend: http://www.arc.org/C_Lines/CLArchive/story7_1_02.html
As far as me being my own one-woman gentrifying machine: I’ve never denied my role as a white-artist-type in the gentrification process. At the same time, I’m not going to let some sense of liberal guilt make me shrug my shoulders and say it’s okay for history to disappear. I’m using what privilege and talent I have to preserve what’s left.
I’m an activist organizer, This what I do. It’s in my blood. So, when shit goes down in my ‘hood, I jump. I’m working with tenant organizers, city council candidates, people from local merchant associations, etc., trying to garner as much support as we can from as many different sources as we can. I’m not whining about Starbucks. I’m pissed about what it represents, I know a bunch of other people are too, and I’m showing people what they can do about it. And there are folks who wanna crucify me for that? I couldn’t think of anything more egocentric and selfish…
Sorry about the news delay, folks. I’ve been outta town, in the town, crazy with town, blah blah blah. Here’s the news bits from the last week or so…
