Special Curbed correspondent (and Historic Districts Council executive director) Simeon Bankoff reports live from the East Village: "Attached are some shot of the large oak tree that fell early this morning in the St. Mark's Church in the Bowery churchyard (above). The fence is largely undamaged and by 3pm, the tree guys had chopped it up and carted it off. Looks to me like it was pushed over by the wind; the tree looked really healthy and there was no signs of being struck by lightning. The collapse of the tree pit didn't seem to damage any of the belowground vaults on the church yard either, thankfully." After the jump, a peek into the revealed vaults.
BONUS: Also after the jump, Simeon serves up a quick report on today's Landmarks hearing for the recently scaffolded CHARAS/El Bohio PS64 building on Avenue B/E9th, including this: "I've never heard such good, informed, passionate & articulate testimony from so many people." Upshot: landmarking looks plausible, if not likely.
Also per Simeon: "In other news, PS 64 had a terrific hearing at the LPC today. I've never heard such good, informed, passionate & articulate testimony from so many people. They're holding the vote over until June 7th - to allow the owner to do a presentation - & the LPC got a signed standstill agreement with Greg Singer (owner) to not do anything until then, but a number of commissioners said on the record that they would be willing to vote for the designation right now - so at least this part looks promising."
· BREAKING: CHARAS/El Bohio Scaffolding Sighted [Curbed]