Something has gone wrong in Union Square Park this summer. Complaints about illegal behavior, drug use, and vagrancy have led to a 320% increase in police citations. Now the police are patrolling much mor aggressively, as are hired security teams from the Union Square BID.
There will be a co-op meeting on June 7 at 7pm at the Seafarer’s and International House, located at 123 East 15th St.
The neighborhood is more fun now that crazy chef Eddie Huang’s Baohaus 2 is open on 14th between 2nd and 3rd. A bao is a little Chinese sandwich usually stuffed with some kind of pork. The inventive and very funny Huang, who has Taiwanese roots, is making many variations on the theme, plus coming up with all kinds of other funky Chinese home cooking. Check it out.
The 14th st. YMCA has been spruced up.
A man allegedly went on a rampage in Union Square on September 4 and left a complete stranger dead in the process.
Police said that the attack may have been a hate crime.
Friends of Jeffrey Babbitt, 62, were shocked to hear about the random act of violence that left the gentle, retired train conductor in a coma, CBS 2′s Dave Carlin reported on Friday.
“I don’t believe that. I don’t know why that happened. He is very nice,” Igor Sapozhnikov said.
Babbitt was minding his own business as he walked through the crowd near the chess boards in Union Square when a man made a hateful announcement and began his rampage, witnesses said. “He said ‘the next white person who walks by I’m going to [expletive],’” one woman said. “His fist went in and the man’s head bobbed and he hit the ground and you could hear his skull hitting the ground.”
The man continued his rampage before demanding to see police officers.
Union Square’s BlueWater Grill may be gone as of next fall because the landlord, the same guy who priced Union Square Cafe out of the neighborhood, is at it again.
When the New School builds its new building on the corner, one of its major uses will be to house a consolidated Parsons School of Fashion Design, which is currently scattered among many midtown buildings. That’s according to the New School student newspaper. So expect even more groovily dressed teens outside our front doors.