Over the weekend we told how Culturefix, an arts space/boutique/bar on the Lower East Side, won a relative victory in court after it was targeted by the NYPD as part of the latter's recent bar blitz. And today the Lo-Down brings more to the story while pointing out an interesting wrinkle in the relationship between Community Boards and the State Liquor Authority. See, though Community Board 3's SLA committee recommended against renewing the bar's liquor license last week...it did so days after the license had already been renewed by the SLA, one of the bar's owners tells us. more ›

The people who protested the yuppie scum at the Bowery Wine Co., the East First Street wine bar that boasted celebrity investor Bruce Willis, when it opened in 2008 may have won in the long run. Eagle-eyed EV Grieve noticed that on this month's CB3 SLA agenda there is an item listed for the space where the wine bar currently lives (it ain't dead yet!). And who appears to be looking to move in? No less than the team behind West Village Italian foodie-magnets Dell'Anima and l'Artusi. more ›

According to The Local East Village, BFC Partners are presenting plans to Community Board 3 to build low-income housing on 9 and 11-17 Second Avenue. The project would operate under the inclusionary housing program, where permanently affordable housing would be created with a tenant's option to buy for $1 and $10. And while we're all for $1 apartments in the East Village, is the project worth it if we're going to lose the inimitable dive Mars Bar for two years, only to see it reopen without the decades of beloved, accumulated... shit. more ›

Yup, looks like the rumor that the Cooper Square Hotel is going to be sold to the same people who run the Soho and Tribeca Grands is not a rumor. That much was confirmed at last night's relatively short Community Board 3 State Liquor Authority committee meeting (only two and a half hours!). more ›

In that Bust Magazine interview Chloë Sevigny recently did, she mentioned being interested in joining her community board (Manhattan's CB 3), saying she'd like to "help preserve some of the older buildings, try and save as many as possible and try to stop them from building as high." more ›

It was rough sledding last night for restaurant and bar owners seeking liquor license approval from Community Board 3, which covers the Lower East Side and the East Village, among other 'hoods. Perhaps the biggest loser was fastidious cocktail impresario Sasha Petraske (Milk and Honey), whose humble request to serve wine at his would-be wine bar Mercury Dime (pictured) on East 5th Street was mercilessly shot down, despite the fact that he's operated Milk and Honey on Eldridge since 2000 without a single noise complaint. more ›

Downtown Manhattan residents have heard enough from honking cabs, and one Community Board is asking the Taxi & Limousine Commission to do something about the racket. Community Board 3, which represents the area of Manhattan containing the East Village, Lower East Side, and Chinatown, voted this week to formally request that the T&LC require devices to be installed in cabs that will visually identify them as horn abusers. more ›