Monday, Can’t Trust That Day

Phrases and words that shouldn’t be seen near each other include “explosion” and “building collapse”:

An explosion was heard before a fire and collapse at a 3-story building on Manhattan’s East Side on Monday, the Fire Department said.

Television reports said people were trapped inside, but fire officials did not immediately confirm that.

Heavy black smoke rose high above the building, wedged between taller structures on 62nd Street between Park and Madison avenues. Damage, including shattered windows, could be seen at one of the adjoining buildings.

The building reportedly housed a doctor’s office and a beauty salon.

Streets around the area were closed off to traffic as ambulances and rescue units responded just before 9 a.m.

Witnesses told reporters that they heard a loud explosion, but it wasn’t clear whether it was before or after the fire started.

That’s Life In The Historic District

Residents of a condo on a landmarked Tribeca street recently asked the community board for permission to remove the bumpy cobblestones outside their building. The response was perhaps less empathetic than they expected:

“We like the look of the neighborhood, we are only trying to be practical,” Lilli Momtaz, a building resident and president of the condo board, said in an interview. One week earlier she had gone to the Landmarks Committee of Community Board 1 with what she thought was an innocent request — to pull up the ragged cobblestones and replace them with a more even surface.

. . .

“They laughed us out of the room,” said Paul Brensilber, a managing agent for 44 Laight Street who presented the residents’ case. “I’m absolutely surprised about how closed-minded they were.”

Here’s the problem for the condo owners of 44 Laight Street: Their block, which faces the Holland Tunnel Rotary, is part of the Tribeca North Historic District, a city designation that requires that any proposed changes to building facades or fixtures in the old industrial neighborhood be approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The commission often take its cues from community boards, and below Canal Street that means passing muster with CB1’s Landmarks Committee, whose members include many longtime residents who consider the north section of the neighborhood to be the last unspoiled territory in Tribeca. Here, the cobblestones are protected and enjoy near-sacred status.

Committee member Rick Landman, who also chairs the community board’s Tribeca Committee, marveled.

“I’ve been here for 25 years, and this is the first time anyone has asked to remove cobblestones from outside their building,” he said.

“You should respect what the neighborhood is,” fumed committee member Paul Sipos. “You say it is unsightly. I take big exception to that. And as for the trouble with pushing baby strollers, well that’s life in the historic district.”

The request was swiftly voted down.

“It is rejected, thank you,” said Roger Byrom, the committee’s chairman, cutting off Brensilber as he continued to plead his case.

Faced With The Alternative, I Think We Can Afford To Be A Little Pragmatic Here

The Villager reports that some East Village residents seem to be deciding that a gastropub may be better than a methadone clinic after all:

Some members of the E. Fourth St. A-B Block Association have shifted their opinion on a beer and wine license for the European Union restaurant, a turn of events that may allow the restaurant to sell alcohol after all.

“I’d like to see something work out,” said Frank Macken, the block association president, who previously opposed a liquor license for E.U. “It could be a model for the kind of restaurant we’d like to have in our neighborhood.”

E.U., at 235 E. Fourth St. has been closed since the week of May 14. The State Liquor Authority denied its request for a liquor license in early March, citing a rule that makes it harder to obtain a liquor-license in an area where there are three within 500 feet of each other. The S.L.A. also cited opposition from Community Board 3 in its decision.

Restaurant owner Bob Giraldi said he closed the restaurant because it was unprofitable to operate without alcohol.

But after a block association meeting on June 22 attended by Giraldi and his wife, Patti Greaney, both parties said they were looking for a compromise that might allow E.U. to obtain a beer and wine license, which is more limiting than a liquor license.

A June 8 meeting between Giraldi and the block association was tense, attendees said, but the meeting last week was far more civilized.

“I thought it was very fair,” Greaney said of last week’s meeting. “I thought both sides were able to voice their opinions.”

Opinions on the block are split “about 50-50,” Macken said. “Some are adamantly opposed, some are more pragmatic.”

Backstory: My Fist, Your Gastropub; Make Way For The Methadone Clinic!;
The Problem With Community Boards, Too, Or, Making The East Village Oversaturated With Boutiques, One Denied Liquor License At A Time.

Scratch That Method Off Your List

This answers once and for all whether it’s possible to blast your way into an ATM:

A man set off a small explosive device last night in a failed attempt to rob an automated teller machine in the West Village, police said.

No one was hurt in the 11:40 p.m. blast outside New York City Bagels on Sixth Avenue between 16th and 17th Streets.

Cops said the small blast didn’t even dent the cash machine, which is attached to a wall outside the store, facing the street.

Fight To The Death Or Escape . . . Then Fuck Shit Up In City Parks By Picking Fights With Snooty Manhattan Lapdogs

A hardened cockfighting veteran has escaped and is now terrorizing dogs:

Canine’s beware: A runaway rooster is on the loose in Upper Manhattan — and he’s ready for all comers.

He’s been seen fighting with a dog — and even park workers couldn’t lay a hand on him as he strutted into Frederick Johnson Park yesterday to peck at berries.

They tried to lure him with bread, but the cocky rooster grabbed the bait and flapped off.

The fearsome fowl seems to be roosting at West 150th Street. He is believed to be an escaped cock fighter, according to the Web site AnimalNewYork.com.

No large-scale effort is planned to catch the cock, if he behaves himself.