Or Else

East Villagers, especially East 4th Street East Villagers, are accustomed to losing their lampposts.

A couple of weeks ago, this one disappeared from in front of the beloved Roberto Clemente School:

Disappeared.

East 4th Streeters say "Bring it back, or… ELSE!"

In no time (this past Tuesday), the Department of Lampposts sent a truck to replace it — or so it seemed:

Fixing the lamppost.

They even put an orange cone on top of the stump, so no one would sit there!

When I passed by again, the next day, this is what I found:

New cement.

All of that fanfare, just to put new cement around the stump. They didn't even put it back in the right position!

It may be dark all the way down East 4th Street, at night, but they have some darn fine sidewalks!

#eastvillage #lampposts #cement #sidewalks #orangecones #4thstreet #departmentoftransportation #graffiti #else 

Repairing Steps

The East Village is always getting better, from Department of Transportation workers fixing the streets, to painters painting, to step repairers repairing steps, like these, on East 5th Street:

Steps under repair.

How did only one side become so mangled?

#eastvillage #steps #stairs #orangecones #5thstreet

Jumping Hose

I was walking across St. Mark's Place — oh, about a week and a day ago — when I saw this hose jumping about on the sidewalk:

Jumping about.

You can't tell from the picture that the hose was jumping about, but believe you me, it was!

The hose was attached to this Clean Air Group truck:

Clean Air Group truck.

Where was it leading, you ask? Good question!

It was leading into this cellar:

Cellar.

The question remains: were they delivering or picking up the goop?

#eastvillage #cellardoors #cellarstairs #cellars #cleanairgroup #hoses #orangecones #stmarksplace

Newly-Painted Bus Lane

Paint, Glorious Paint!

Here is the Second Avenue bus lane, newly painted this past Monday.

Newly painted.

Where would the East Village be without paint? I ask you!

#eastvillage #buslanes #secondavenue #paint #orangecones

Teeny-Tiny Digger

Sometimes, in the East Village, there are digging jobs that are so small, a regular-sized back hoe would be too much. For those jobs, a teeny-tiny digger is what's needed!

Like this one, that I saw on St. Mark's Place:

Just what's needed.

It looks the size of a teaspoon!

This is part of the motor:

Teeny-tiny motor.

It would have been cool to see who was driving it — maybe some 12-year-old boy!

#eastvillage #backhoe #digger #stmarksplace #orangecones

WTF Is This Update

Being an underserved neighborhood, the East Village doesn't qualify for the more-expensive sidewalk sealant cover that other neighborhoods get.

Behold:

Cheap sidewalk sealant cover.

Still, it's pretty impressive that it took less than twenty-four hours to repair the mess on First Avenue that I wrote about in WTF Is This.

That must be come kind of record!

#eastvillage #firstavenue #orangecones #toiletpaper

Next To Starbucks

With all the hubbub going on next door, and the soon-to-be-beloved Starbucks, it's easy to forget that some other new, soon-to-be-beloved store is opening up on St. Mark's Place!

On the day I passed by (two weeks ago), they had just received their new cellar stairs and base:

Cellar stairs and base.

The door was open:

Open door.

…so I took a look inside:

Inside.

It looks like they still have a long way to go!

It's hard to say what it will be, but being next to Starbucks, it's bound to be popular!

#eastvillage #st.marksplace #starbucks #cellarstairs #orangecones #opendoors

Sidewalk Guards

After suffering through so many years of defacing, it's nice to see East Villagers taking the necessary steps to preserve the integrity of our sidewalks!

Behold, on Avenue A, leading to the soon-to-be-beloved Starbucks:

Well-guarded sidewalk.

Not only is it protected by orange cones and caution tape, but a sentry is standing guard also!

Behold:

Sentry, standing guard.

An unblemished sidewalk, is a joy forever!

#eastvillage #avenuea #cautiontape #orangecones #sentry #sidewalks #starbucks

New Sidewalks

Everywhere you look these days, you see new sidewalks being… laid?
…installed?

Something!

Here is an example of a new sidewalk on East 9th Street, back on August 1st:

New sidewalk.

Here is another, in front of the formerly-beloved Ton-Up Cafe and formerly-beloved Belgian Room, on St. Mark's Place, yesterday evening:

Another new sidewalk.

Here is a close-up:

Close-up.

What's with all these new sidewalks — are we expecting company?!

#eastvillage #belgianroom #cement #orangecones #sidewalks #tonupcafe

New Citibike Station?

I was walking across East 6th Street this past Tuesday, when I saw what looks all the world like a new Citibike station going in, near the corner of Avenue A:

New Citibike station?

Sadly, that's not the case — it's just regular street repairs.

#eastvillage #orangecones #orangebarrels #6thstreet #citibike #streetrepairs #avenuea

Litter In Pickup Truck

One of the hazards of parking a pickup truck in the East Village is that, as with bicycle baskets, East Villagers will fill it up in no time with litter!

This pickup truck on East 7th Street bears witness to this fact:

Witness.

It's hard to tell if the spare time and orange cone and refrigerator shelves were discarded here or were part of the load the driver was hauling!

#eastvillage #7thstreet #litter #orangecones #pickuptrucks #sparetires #refrigeratorshelves

Bikes On The Sidewalk, By George

Just the other day, East Villagers were celebrating the arrival of the newly-beloved East Village Bikes, on Avenue C — complete with dog mascot!

It didn't take long for them to fill up the sidewalk with their inventory:

Inventory.

Check it out — a Big Wheel!

#eastvillage #avenuec #bigwheel #eastvillagebikes #orangecones

Emergency on East 2nd Street

In the early hours of this past Thursday morning, East 2nd Street between Avenues C and B was closed to traffic:

Closed to traffic.

Why, you ask?

Because there was an emergency!

Emergency truck.

What type of emergency, you ask?

It was the type that required going into the nether regions of the East Village:

Nether regions, exposed.

Thankfully, no one was hurt, and everything is probably back to normal by now!

#eastvillage #2ndstreet #avenuec #orangecones #emergencytruck

Missing iBeam

Do you remember the picture of the construction site on East 6th Street, where an iBeam was required to hold up the buildings on either side of the site?

Of course you do!

Since that time, the lease must have expired on the iBeam, because it's gone now.

Fear not, for it has been replaced with… lumber!

iBeam replaced with lumber.

I decided to get a close-up. Fortunately, the way was clear:

Here is a close-up:

Close-up.

Even though these boards are bundled, you can see they are bowing.

At least they're joined securely to the buildings:

Uh oh…

Strike that.

Are those twisty-ties holding those boards together?

#eastvillage #2x4s #6thstreet #constructionsites #ibeams #jerseybarriers #orangecones #twistyties

New 7th Street Building Entrance

If you've been wondering what the entrance to the currently-being-constructed apartment building on East 7th Street looks like, wonder no more!

Entrance, and two orange cones.

If you've been wondering what the currently-being-constructed apartment building itself looks like, you really need to stop looking at your feet when you walk!

Behold:

Currently-being-constructed apartment building.

Is that a disco floor there? Cool!

Once I had a love
and it was a gas…

#eastvillage #7thstreet #orangecones #disco

Small Load

You see a lot of whacky things when walking around the East Village.

Just this past week, I saw this semi truck outside the beloved Keepers Self Storage on East 10th Street, hauling… a single computer monitor!

A single computer monitor.

It beats bobtailing it!

#eastvillage #semitruck #10thstreet #keepersselfstorage #orangecones

Cone Adorned

You may notice some of my recent posts refer to pictures taken "lo, these eleven days ago" or "’round about ten days ago"…

So it may come as no surprise to you when I say I was walking up Avenue A a month and two days ago(!) when I saw this orange-cone-adorned bus shelter, at East 3rd Street:

Orange-cone-adorned bus stop.

The bus shelter itself is not so special, apart from being the East 3rd Street stop of the beloved M14A bus — it's the orange cone on top that's special!

You just never know where those things will show up… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #busshelters #m14a #orangecones #avenuea #yule

Wheelbarrow Full of Water

I was walking across East 4th Street a couple of weeks ago, when I saw these orange cones and orange barrels, warning East Villagers of the the danger ahead:

Danger ahead.

I crossed the street to safety, which is where I saw this:

A wheelbarrow full of water.

No hoses, no buckets… it wasn't raining — how did the water get in there?

Who even carries water in a wheelbarrow? It could spill!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #avenuea #orangebarrels #orangecones #wheelbarrow

Demolished Orange Cone

I was walking around the East Village, back on Halloween Eve, when I saw this demolished orange cone, on East 4th Street:

Demolished orange cone.

How could something like this happen? I wondered.

I didn't have to wonder for long, though. When I got to East 9th Street, I found my answer:

My answer.

This is why we can't have nice things!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #9thstreet #orangecones

Hazard on Second Avenue

East Villager bikers of all stripes have become accustomed to this hazard on Second Avenue:

Hazard on Second Avenue.

It's some kind of covered trash heap. Here's a close-up:

Close-up.

Keeping the trash dry, in the street!

#eastvillage #secondavenue #bikelanes #orangecones #trash