Results tagged “department”

The New York Times announced today that it will cut 100 newsroom jobs—about 8 percent of the total—by year's end. In a memo to the news room, executive editor Bill Keller said, "Like you, I yearn for the day when we can do our jobs without looking over our shoulders for economic thunderstorms." Employees already took a 5 percent pay cut for most of this year, which was intended to avoid layoffs.

Alan Spitalnik, a Jewish truck driver for the Parks Department on Staten Island, says he walked into a break room at Forestry Division headquarters last Wednesday to find three tree pruners performing an anti-Semitic skit for eight co-workers, who all "burst out laughing" when he entered. A source tells the Daily News that one worker wore a motorcycle helmet emblazoned with a swastika, another had a Hitler-style mustache, and the third comically brandished a flaming aerosol can. The trio then apologized, explaining that it was just a joke.

The farewell party for the famous "Toy Tower" at the Avenue B and 6th Street community garden took place yesterday. Vanishing New York estimates about 100 well-wishers were in attendance to eulogize the found object art tower, which rose to a height of 65 feet over the course of two decades. The eclectic structure is the work of the colorful East Village character Eddie Boros, who passed away one year ago this month.

Today’s wake for a beloved New York institution is being held in honor of Mei Lai Wah Coffee House in Chinatown. It seems the Times’s Eric Asimov, who usually writes about wine, doesn’t subsist on vino alone; he needs his coffee and steamed pork buns as well. And ever since Mei Lai Wah closed last week after a long, losing struggle with the Health Department, Asimov has been in mourning:

Mei Lai Wah was indeed singular because of its unusual character. It was grungy, but it had personality. I can think of other bakeries and tea houses in Chinatown, but they all seem bright, barren and sterile by comparison. Perhaps sterility is what the Health Department is after... I don’t know exactly what the issue was, and I’m not sure I want to look under the surface. I just know that I never had a bad or disappointing meal there and will miss the reassurance offered by its existence.

As one commenter on Eater put it: “This is DOH McCarthyism!” And Asimov goes on to pose an intriguing question: Shouldn’t there be different standards for a winery an old local coffeeshop that’s been doing things a certain way for years and years? “If we attack rather than protect such local treasures as Mei Lai Wah, who knows what might happen next?” What’s Asimov getting at – that New York is devolving into a generic jumble of chain retail outlets and exclusive condos?

The earlier reports of the city’s sudden shutdown of Veniero’s pastry café have been followed up with some rather revolting details, sent to Eater by a tipster at the Department of Health. The beloved East Village institution, founded in 1894 by Antonio Veniero, had posted a sign on the door next to the DOH sticker blaming the shut-down on a “pest problem” caused by “a large Capital Improvement Project.” Pest problem, indeed:

Veniero’s Café was closed on Tuesday, May 6 following an inspection that found a vermin and rodent infestation. Over 300 mice droppings were found in six separate areas of the café. Two dead mice were found, live roaches were observed, and mice droppings were found in a 10 lb box of chocolate... Other conditions contributing to the closing were substantial amounts of food that were in uncovered containers, garbage accumulation, and six holes in walls that would allow rodents to enter.

The last Health Department inspection was in August last year, but inspectors reported no signs of any vermin. Veniero’s will remain closed until the “Capital Improvement” separates the chocolate from the scat.

A tipster tells Vanishing New York that the iconic found object “Tower of Toys” that began rising out of the Avenue B and 6th Street Community Garden in the mid-80s will be demolished by the Parks Department. According to the garden's executive committee, the 65-foot tower has been deemed unsafe. And, let’s face it, it’s just not in keeping with the city’s ever-expanding ‘generic and soulless’ real estate trend.