Put Your City On: Street Corn; Residents At 2229 Creston Ave Need Help; Marco Mural Done; More!

The humongous Caribbean Princess cruise ship sits in the waters outside Red Hook last weekend

• Riverside Park Eyeasses are all grown up [Urban Hawks] 
• Bronx Tenants Speak Out Against Negligent Landlord [NY1]
• Marco’s Gateway to the Lower East Side Mural gets painted over [Bowery Boogie]  
• What They’re Saying About Protected Bike Lanes in East Harlem [Streetsblog]
• 14 Traffic Cameras Vandalized On Long Island [CBS New York]
• Street corn grows in Washington Heights [Gothamist]

» Follow NYC The Blog on Facebook and Twitter. Photo credit: Paolo Mastrangelo/NYC The Blog

» Follow NYC The Blog on Facebook and Twitter. Photo credit: Paolo Mastrangelo/NYC The Blog

Brooklyn Residents Enjoy A Rare Public Access Beach On The East River

Old and young alike enjoy a rare public access beach along the East River on the Brooklyn side at Fulton Ferry State Park, near the Manhattan Bridge. (See it from the air here.) With only a couple weeks left of summer, you too might want to get one last dip in the water in.

Directly south of Fulton Ferry is the newly opened and lavishly landscaped Brooklyn Bridge Park

» Follow NYC The Blog on Facebook and Twitter. Photo credit: Paolo Mastrangelo/NYC The Blog

Remnants Of Mid-Century Political And Commercial Advertising Remain On Lower East Side Building

The building at 90 Orchard Street near Broome Street (housing the Kut and Sew boutique) still holds vintage advertising on its exterior walls. Seen on the buildings west face, on the east side of Orchard, are advertisements for old political campaigns, Hersh's Malaga Wine (note the poster top left) and other advertisements that are difficult to make out. At least one of the posters was printed by Empire City Print Job Inc, where references online point to a past address on Pearl Street as well as Long Island City.

Put Your City On; No YMCA's Near Ground Zero!; Perdo Espada Stiffs Tailor; American Apparel Loses Benches; More!

Graffiti seen on West 13th Street near Washington Street

• No YMCA's near Ground Zero [mini bloggy] 
• Senator Pedro Espada stiffs a tailor for $7,200 [The Village Voice]  
• American Apparel on East Houston Removes Benches [Bowery Boogie]
• "I just want folks to know that the whole neighborhood is going to crap" [EV Grieve]
• Chinatown Groups Worry City Will Exert Too Much Power in Rezoning Push [DNAinfo]

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While Good Times Roll For Many In Manhattan, Hundreds Gather Every Night In Downtown Parking Lot For Free Food

Hundreds of people wait online every night in a rat infested parking lot next door to our halls of justice in downtown Manhattan for a meal consisting of a bowl of soup, piece of bread, carton of milk and an orange. The food is delivered by Coalition for the Homeless, and arrives every evening in white van around 8:30pm. The majority of those served are the elderly and women and children.

Have Squatters Come To Nolita?

Squatting has a long and storied history in New York City that continues to persevere in pockets of the five boroughs. Present day Nolita not included. But is that changing? A sign recently affixed to a boarded up building at 246 Elizabeth Street by the New York City Department of Housing and Preservation and Development could be interpreted that way.

The sign, in Spanish and English, gravely warns anyone remaining upon the premises they "will be prosecuted." Punishment, its sternly noted, includes up to one year imprisonment. Sure proof will come when a crusty punk appears on the sidewalk with a sign and a dog.

Previously: » Follow NYC The Blog on Facebook and Twitter. Photo credit: Paolo Mastrangelo/NYC The Blog

Put Your City On: Tossing Beverages; Bed Bugs At AMC; Ships On Newtown Creek; No More Bars For Ludlow Street; More!

Looking at Little Italy, Chinatown, Little Italy, The Lower East Side and Brooklyn, from atop Lafayette Street near Broome Street.

• Newtown Creek Shipping [Restless]
• No More Booze on Ludlow Street, Says Community Board [DNAinfo]
• Study Finds New York Has Lowest Grad Rate for Black Males [WNYC]
• Woman bitten by bed bugs at AMC Empire 25 theater in Times Square [ABC 7]
• Someone tosses a beverage at Nate Hill (and misses) as he performs Dropout Walk [Twitter/DropoutWalks]
• There was a time when the city was so concerned for the aesthetic beauty of the subway that an early scandal broke regarding the scandalous inclusion of advertisements in subway stations.[The Bowery Boys]
  

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Here's Your Chance To Win An Awesome Go Bag From The Office Of Emergency Management

The Ad Council and the New York City Office of Emergency Management want you to get psyched for National Preparedness Month in NYC this September and would like to give away a Go Bag to a reader of NYC The Blog (open to US Residents only.) A Go Bag is an emergency preparedness kit in a bright orange backpack; "a collection of items you may need in the event of an evacuation." It comes equipped with items such as batteries, food rations, a flashlight, a poncho, a radio, water, a first aid kit, etc...basically, it's awesome. See photos here. As seen in the photo above, anyone from American Apparel would be happy to sport a Go Bag, and it also makes you feel better about being ready for nuclear armageddon. You can learn more at Ready NYC.

Here's how you can win your own Go Bag. Go to NYC The Blog's Facebook page and leave a comment letting the OEM know you want a Go Bag. You have to mention the OEM by name. You're comment will stand out more if you 'like' their Facebook page and link their name in the comment. Any questions? One of you will be chosen at random to receive your very own Go Bag. Woot woot!

» Follow NYC The Blog on Facebook and Twitter. Photo credits: Paolo Mastrangelo/NYC The Blog

Today In New York City Signage: Pound Real Hard? Someone Would Rather Just Ring A Doorbell

To reach Tony Jannetti, Media Wall Designs and the second floor of 261 Bowery, "please pound hard on the door, or call 212 [--- ----] Thank you." Or as someone, an aggravated client perhaps, helpfully suggested at the bottom of the sign: "...install a doorbell."

Previously:
La Plaza Cultural To Parents: Please Curb Your Children
Pizza Restaurant Offers New Lunch Spical
Going Back To Breuckelen: Remixing Subway Signs For The 1600s
Please No Shitting Or Pissing

» Follow NYC The Blog on Facebook and Twitter. Photo credit: Paolo Mastrangelo/NYC The Blog

Put Your City On: Fashion Week Fight; 150 Bowery Gutted; Listen To Liz; Harlem Wants Better Policing; More!

Jim Power speaks with curious tourists while creating a mosaic on 6th Street and 2nd Avenue

• Fashion Week Battle Brews [WSJ Greater New York] 
• Lafayette St Between Spring St and Broome St [NYC Grid]
• 150 Bowery has been completely gutted, leaving only steel beams in place [Curbed]
• Liz Christy explains why she started New York City's first community garden at Bowery and Houston Street. [Liz Christy Garden (MP3)]
• Rats! Washington Metro disses the New York City Subway [History Erase Button] 
• When selling your home, ditch the coffee table crafted in shape of New Jersey [City Room]
  
• Harlem residents want better policing; NYPD Spokesman says they are short staffed and need all their officers for more affluent neighborhoods [WNYC]

» Follow NYC The Blog on Facebook and Twitter. Photo credit: Paolo Mastrangelo/NYC The Blog

La Plaza Cultural To Parents: Please Curb Your Children

A patron of Alphabet City's La Plaza Cultural kindly requests that your curb your children while visiting the lovingly cared for and nurtured cultural and green space.  

Related:
Turning Empty (And Illegal?) Ad Space Into Pop Up Parks In Four Easy Steps
Tomato, Spearmint And Sunflowers Take Root In Petrosino Park
NYC Trees VS NYC Dogs: Piss And Sh*t War Continue

» Follow NYC The Blog on Facebook and Twitter. Photo credit: Paolo Mastrangelo/NYC The Blog

UPDATED: Confirmed: People Live Inside 2 Cooper Square: Park Allegedly Coming Soon To Empty Lot Next Door

After some confusion at NYC The Blog headquarters with regard to residents at 2 Cooper Square, namely are there or aren't there, it seems clear now that people do indeed live inside of 2 Cooper Square. This makes sense. After all, The Wall Street Journal reported in June, at that time the building had signed leases for 21 units.

Unable to confirm from the leasing agent or the publicity firm, or from anyone else "in the industry,"—that people have been living there for months as an employee of the building informed yesterday—I resorted to walking by the building to practice journalism peek in the windows and look for clues. As you can see in the photo above, there are tell tale signs of human habitation, including lamps, laptops and plants. UPDATE: Leasing agents for the building confirmed via email this morning: "...people are living in the building and it is fully staffed and functional." He continued:
"I believe the plot of land behind the building is owned by the City of New York. There are talks that it will become a park or garden.  No building will be built on top of it, that I am certain of."

Put Your City On: Free Vibrators; Chinatown Tags; Harlem Gets The Shaft; De Le Vega Peaces Out; More!

• Support people who support NYC The Blog: In The Flesh Erotic Readings will have free vibrators & cupcakes at the next reading this Thursday [In The Flesh Erotic Reading Series] 
• Rats run loose as city slashes pest control workers, construction sites mushroom [amNY]
• Harlem Subway Stations Hardest Hit by MTA Cuts to Station Agents [DNAinfo]  
• The vibrant and colorful tags atop Chinatown's roofs [Restless]
• NY Epicenter of Bat Disease [Animal Tourism] 
• When your mattress is infested with mice, it's time to get rid of it [Gammablog] [Previously] 
• As East Village continues it's transformation to the next Meatpacking District, James De La Vega packs up, closes the De La Vega museum and leaves the East Village [EV Grieve] 
• WNYC unveils a new website

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UPDATED: 2 Cooper Square Has Tenants?

A women ready to assist residents in a newly opened lobby of 2 Cooper Square on the east 4th Street side

2 Cooper Square, one of Bowery's most watched residential development, has been the topic du jour for bloggers in the East Village and environs for years, with Lockart Steele's Curbed.com excitedly covering it's development and construction. Everyone seemed to be waiting for the first tenants imminent arrival. So imagine my surprise when the woman at the front desk of Cooper's finished lobby confirmed some apartments are already occupied, as of "a couple of months ago."

UPDATED: TSA Does Not Want You Taking Photos Of Their Bearded "Islamic" Screeners

Author Dana Vachon, remembered by everyone the internet as the blogger turned novelist with a six figure publishing deal, is currently tweeting about his troubles at JFK airport.

According to Vachon, whose Twitter account is mostly a kind of fictitious novel via Twitter, the TSA ordered him to delete a photo he took "...of a bearded Islamic security guard at JFK."

Ice Cream Truck Turf War Leads To Violence

Two of New York City's ice cream truck's melted under pressure last week, and served each other instead of ice cream cones.

Some time last week, a Mister Softee truck found his regular spot on West 60th near Broadway occupied by a competitor. A generic Softee ice cream truck, according to a witness.

The Mister Softee driver was not too pleased with this. He exited his truck and began shaking the Softee truck. He then came around near the service window of his competitor to spew vitriol and racial slurs, as heard on the video. That was about all the Softee ice cream vendor could take, who then exited his vehicle for a round of fisticuffs. Watch below.