Where the Tompkins Square Park children’s playground once stood is now a construction site surrounded by chain-link fencing.
A $1.5 million project by the Parks Department that began in August will revamp the playground. But some East Village residents are dismayed.
They are “here today, gone tomorrow,” “for a limited time only,” and every other imaginable cliché of classic retail marketing. “Pop-up stores” — boutiques set up for just a few days or months — aim for old-fashioned selling, repackaged into modern retail therapy. (more…)
For preservationists, the story of the Meseritz Synagogue proved an all-too-familiar tale: The century-old East Village building was deteriorating. The congregation was dwindling, along with its finances. (more…)
With gas prices at a record high and environmental awareness growing, bike use is on the rise in the city. Since 2000, the number of riders has increased 75 percent, according to the city Department of Transportation.
Some new businesses are popping up to help meet the demand. Meet the self-proclaimed “Drug Dealer of Bikes” — a bus driver whose side business is also in transportation. Meanwhile, the folks at Recycle a Bicycle in the East Village are taking donated bikes, fixing and selling them, with profits going toward the group’s education programs.
