CB3 Backs Siempre Verde Garden; City is Assessing the Available Options | The Lo-Down : News from the Lower East Side
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SPURA Residents Facing Displacement Say City is Ignoring Them | The Lo-Down : News from the Lower East Side
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Siempre Verde Community Garden.
Members of the Siempre Verde Community Garden are hopeful a letter from City Council member Margaret Chin will convince the city to abandon efforts to develop the Lower East Side parcels.
Last year, William Gottlieb Management pitched a plan to build luxury housing on a lot it owns, 139 Attorney St., as well as 137 Attorney St. and 181 Stanton St., two city-owned parcels. The garden has been using the lots under a temporary permit since 2012. Last fall, Community Board 3 approved a resolution opposing the development plan and calling on the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to permanently transfer the lots to the Green Thumb Program, part of the Parks Department.
Knickerbocker Village residents held a rally on Cherry Street yesterday.
Here’s the latest on the situation at Knickerbocker Village, the 1590-unit apartment complex on Monroe Street that remains mostly without power and heat this morning. Yesterday, exasperated residents gathered on the basketball courts across from the historic affordable housing buildings to begin laying the groundwork for a potential rent strike and/or class action lawsuit (more on that in a moment).
Building management reported last night that two generators are in the process of being connected to Knickerbocker Village’s “internal grid,” a slow process which is being conducted with “safety (being) the primary concern.” A third generator is expected to be delivered today. According to management, power was restored to around 250 apartments last night. The plan was to light “quadrants” of the buildings in phases.