Mark Riffee Anne Guiney.

It would be a gross understatement to say that the East Village is in the midst of a transition. Old buildings have been threatened and new ones are scheduled to rise, much to the chagrin of many locals. But as Bill Millard, an East Village resident and freelance writer for various architectural and urban design publications, points out in an e-mail, it’s just as “important to consider ways to encourage the types of development that provide or foster benefits for a neighborhood” as it is to protest and block “destructive forms of development.”

So what kind of development is positive and why, recently, have some seemingly less favorable projects been allowed to continue in the East Village? The Local caught up with Anne Guiney, executive director of the Institute for Urban Design, and asked for her thoughts.

What architectural elements characterized the East Village before the gentrification of the neighborhood?

It all depends on what your carbon dating system is for gentrification and how you define it. I think the East Village has, for a very long time, been defined by tenements in terms of building type. And that hasn’t changed a lot architecturally. Obviously the street-level retail and the kinds of uses are a lot more commercial, a lot more recreational than they were 20 or 30 years ago, but the physical structure of the buildings is still defined by the tenement.
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Mark Riffee There are 23 galleries on Orchard Street between Canal and Houston Streets and 71 total in the Lower East Side.

In the more than three years since to The Times declared, ‘Here comes art,” with the opening of the New Museum space on the Bowery in 2007, the galleries indeed have come to the Lower East Side.

They occupy ground-level storefronts of skinny buildings with wrought-iron fire escapes zigzagging up their front facades on the seven tree-speckled blocks of Orchard Street between Canal and Houston and in the New Museum’s vicinity, too. They teeter on the edge of Houston. When Miguel Abreu opened his eponymous gallery at 36 Orchard Street in 2006, he can remember no more than four or five reputable galleries in the area. By the time the New Museum opened the next year, the Times counted two dozen. Now there are 75.

And the movement is inching northward.

So, East Villagers, is this a cultural revival on the scale of the 1980’s, which spawned the likes of Jean Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Jenny Holzer? It’s hard to ignore the similarities. Like the East Village was, the Lower East Side has become a hotbed of intimate spaces at the bottom of tenement-style buildings run on low budgets by young gallerists eager to be the first to show New York’s freshest talent. The new scene is home to “very idealistic people who believe in the art. And that’s incredibly admirable,” says Pepe Karmel, 55, a professor of art history at NYU and a former art critic for The Times. “There’s really a place for that in the art world.”

Like their predecessors, the participants of this new scene put authenticity above all else. Mr. Abreu, 48, chose his Orchard Street location because adding to the Chelsea “super-market,” land of the “homogenous white cube,” wouldn’t allow any potential for distinction. In the Lower East Side, collectors and gallery-goers can expect to “discover something” and engage in “some kind of conversation with the work,” says Mr. Abreu Read more…

John Galayda, Phillip Kalanztis Cope and Timothy Krause, community contributors to The Local, share their photographs of the celebration at Ground Zero early Monday morning.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

If you’d like a chance to see your best shots appear on The Local, join The Local East Village Flickr Group.

Adrian Fussell

Good morning, East Village.

Sunday’s news of Osama Bin Laden’s death left many in our community reflecting on the significance of the event; from East Village firehouses to local Muslim shops–even Twitterers shared their thoughts.

While some took to the streets to celebrate, one local community contributor worried that the jubilation could lead to more divisiveness:

“I am not Muslim but my first reaction to viewing the celebrations in Times Square, WTC and the White House was concern. I was kind of appalled at the reaction of the people. It looked to me like a sporting event celebration. I worried that the loss of life in NY, DC and PA as well as the two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq would be overshadowed. I was and remain equally concerned for the Muslim communities throughout our world. I can only hope and pray that this does not lead to more unjust treatment of Muslims and Islamic people who are very important to the very fabric of what New York is. Peace.”-Tim Schreier

As the celebrations subside, how do we move forward without forgetting what has past? We welcome your thoughts.

As for the weather, expect a mix of clouds and sun with highs in the mid 70s.

Kathryn Kattalia For many in the East Village’s Muslim community a sense of closure after the death of Osama bin Laden still seems far off. Below: While much of the world watched news reports of Bin Laden’s killing, patrons at the Little Pakistan Deli watched a cricket match.

On a newspaper stand outside the Little Pakistan Deli on Second Avenue, bold headlines announced the news many Americans have waited 10 years to hear: Al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden is dead.

But inside the deli, manager Safdar Zaidi said it was business as usual as several customers crowded around a small television in the back of the store. “They are watching the cricket game instead of the news,” Mr. Zaidi, 45, said. “Pakistan is playing the West Indies.”

While thousands of New Yorkers rushed to Times Square and Ground Zero last night to celebrate news that Osama bin Laden had been killed in Pakistan by American forces, members of the East Village Muslim community were hesitant to join in, saying closure is still some way off. Mr. Zaidi, whose store has been in the East Village between East 12th and East 13th Streets for more than ten years, said that many of his customers are Muslim cab drivers who stop in during their lunch break.

“Most of them aren’t sure if he’s dead because they haven’t seen a body,” he said. “They want evidence that he died.”
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Claire Glass Scores of people flocked to the World Trade Center site today in the hours after the announcement that Osama bin Laden had been killed.

From Ground Zero to Tompkins Square Park, a sampling of local reactions to the death of Osama bin Laden.

At Ground Zero

“Part of the wound has been healed but I’ll be living with this until the day I die. The images of New Yorkers leaping from buildings don’t go away. Today, I don’t have grief. I’m glad this day finally came.”
—Lenny Crisci, 63, a retired police officer, whose younger brother, Lieutenant John Crisci, was killed on 9/11.

Claire Glass Francine Morin at the World Trade Center site this morning.

“We all felt it, smelled it, tasted it, ingested it. The stress, the constant bomb threats that followed and that metallic, rotten stench — all because of this guy and what he did. This man had a direct effect of my life. My personal terrorist is dead.”
— Francine Morin, 41, who worked two blocks away from the World Trade Center and was treated for post-traumatic stress after 9/11.
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Ian Duncan Six firefighters from Ladder 11 lost their lives on 9/11. This morning, all was quiet at the station house

A single rose marked plaques remembering firefighters killed in the line of duty. At Engine 28 and Ladder 11, six in all mark those who died at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001 – five firefighters and one lieutenant. On this milky gray morning, the station house appeared almost abandoned. The engines stood mutely inside the garage and no men could be seen through the windows. It was a sharp contrast to the frenzy of action as firefighters rushed downtown almost ten years ago.

At a ring of the station house bell, a young firefighter came to the door. He was not at the World Trade Center, he explained, and summoned his colleagues from the back of the station. Kevin Murray, a survivor of the rescue efforts was on duty, but in the hours after Osama Bin Laden’s death, the Fire Department is not permitting individual firefighters to talk to the press.

Ian Duncan At Engine 28, Ladder 11.

At the station on East Second Street, firefighters were on duty as normal and seemed in good spirits, happy to chat, if not to comment. Across the firehouse door, the slogan “We support our troops” stood as a reminder of how closely tied New York’s fire department is to the events of Sept. 11, 2001 and the wars that followed.

Just a few blocks over there was a hint at the rawness of the emotions brought up by last night’s news. A tired-looking firefighter on duty at the front desk at Engine 33 and Ladder 9 told The Local that the men there were not yet ready to share their thoughts and were still processing what they had heard.

In all, 26 firefighters from the East Village’s four stations died on 9/11, according to department memorial pages. Across the city 343 members of the fire department lost their lives.

In January, Roy Chelsen, an Engine 28 and Ladder 11 firefighter who was at the World Trade Center on 9/11, died after a battle with bone-marrow cancer. His disease was linked to working in the toxic rubble of the collapsed towers.

In an statement posted on Twitter late last night, FDNY commissioner Salvatore J. Cassano said, “Osama Bin Laden was responsible for killing 343 members of the FDNY on Sept. 11, 2001. Tonight, in firehouses throughout the city, our members are grateful for the news, and thankful to all the brave members of the U.S. military that had a role in this successful operation.”

This morning a post from the Twitter account read, “Commissioner Cassano: #OsamaBinLaden’s death is a relief for the 343 FDNY families who lost a loved one on 9/11.”

jdx A photograph tweeted earlier today by the photographer jdx which he captioned “Wish you were here.”

Twitter reported that more than 4,000 tweets were sent per second at the beginning and end of President Obama’s speech confirming that Osama bin Laden had been killed by American forces in Pakistan. Here’s a look at some of the local reaction on Twitter.

Immediately after the President’s late-night announcement, East Villager Matt Rosen gave his initial reactions to the speech via Twitter:

He soon followed up his initial tweet with a retweet, adding, “More of this. RT @NYULocal: Man with “I’m Muslim” shirt leading chants at Ground Zero: http://plixi.com/p/97964036
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Adrian Fussell

Good morning, East Village

It started at 8:46 a.m. Then again at 9:02 a.m. Two buildings stood burning — one for 56 minutes, the other 102 minutes.

Each building took 12 seconds to fall.

Since that day the world has remembered the nearly 3,000 people, who were lost on September, 11, 2001 and the families that were forever altered.

In the East Village, the tragedy brought a spirit of community to areas like 14th Street and  Avenue A, where people gathered under Chico Garcia’s mural and agreed to “remember that time we all grieved together.”

After time, though, the murals were covered and the people wondered if the man responsible for creating that scar in their lives would ever be caught.

Now, 3,518 days later, an answer, a moment of justice and, perhaps, a measure of peace.

Tim Milk The developer of 35 Cooper Square has told preservationists that he will not maintain the historic site and will move forward with an undetermined development plan.

Update | 6:30 p.m. In a blow to preservationists, the developer of 35 Cooper Square has announced that he will not preserve the historic site and will move forward with an undetermined development plan.

“Unfortunately, it was concluded that it would not be feasible to develop the site with the building or any significant portion of it remaining, and that any potential relief” — in the form of a variance — “would not remedy the site conditions which make preservation infeasible,” Stephen Lefkowitz, an attorney for the developer Arun Bhatia, wrote in a letter dated April 28 to City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez.

Workers were also seen on site today erecting scaffolding around the historic building.
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Mario Ramirez on personification through a lens.

“Urban fabric, the objects of everyday city life. Although not really pretty, each object has an almost human personality about it. There are thousands if not millions of instances like this in an urban setting, and the East Village is not immune to them.”

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Spring colors are abounding and on the runway they’re brighter than ever. From the storefront to the street you don’t have to look hard for neons because they definitely pop!

The Local takes a look at how some trendy East Villagers are livening up their wardrobes for spring and (dare we say!) summer with some fluorescent flair.

NYU Journalism’s Rachel Ohm and Claire Glass report.

Work at 35 Cooper Square is set to resume now that the site’s developer, Arun Bhatia, has been issued a new permit to install scaffolding at the site. “The owner can do work under permits issued,” said a Department of Buildings spokeswoman. As for the status of a violation issued against Mr. Bhatia regarding the site’s roof, a hearing is scheduled for June 2.—Suzanne Rozdeba

Natasha Dillon.

Natasha Dillon thinks she’s boring — but that’s not really the case at all.

Earlier this month, Borough President Scott Stringer announced the newly appointed selections to Community Board 3, which covers the East Village, Lower East Side and parts of Chinatown. Ms. Dillon, a 26-year-old East Villager and gay rights activist, was one of these new appointees, after previously serving on the board as a community member. And while some insist that this crop of new appointees seems rather eclectic, Ms. Dillon insists that she’s actually quite boring.

As a financial consultant, who’s currently working on a master’s degree in investment management from Pace University, Ms. Dillon seems like the average young East Village resident, except this activist and founder of a local East Village advocacy group, Queer Rising, has been arrested four times in the last year for her public actions for marriage equality in the United States. Her most recent arrest came earlier this month, after a group of Queer Rising members blocked traffic near Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Manhattan office on Third Avenue for nearly 10 minutes.

However, Ms. Dillon has a somewhat different, slightly less radical, agenda for the East Village. Serving on the economic development committee, her main concern is to bring life back to local businesses — and to the East Village.
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Grace Maalouf A customer orders at Tu-Lu’s Gluten-Free Bakery, which is dedicated specifically to providing treats without the protein found in wheat, oats and barley that causes illness for those sensitive to it.

In the sprawling East Village dining scene, there’s no shortage of choices: cheap or exorbitant, healthy or indulgent, quick or leisurely, deciding on a meal is a culinary choose-your-own-adventure. There are plenty of options for meat-eaters, for vegetarians, even for vegans. But for the rising number of people intolerant to gluten, a protein found in wheat, oats and barley, what’s the best way to navigate the pizza- and dessert-lined streets of the neighborhood?

Enter the spate of restaurants ready to guarantee every last corner of the masses has access to a few of their favorite things. More and more are adding special gluten-free menus or dishes, and others are altering their entire line of offerings to make them friendly to those who can get sick from certain grains and flours.

At East Village comfort-food headquarters S’MAC, for example, the entire mac-and-cheese menu is available in gluten-free varieties. So whether diners want the gruyere-bacon “Alpine” dish or the manchego-fennel-onion “La Mancha,” all the pastas can be ordered sans gluten.
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If you live in the East Village, chances are you’ve been to Veselka, the iconic Ukranian restaurant on the corner of Second Avenue and Ninth Street, and tasted its classic beet soup — borscht. What you might not know, however, is that that the restaurant owes its signature dish to Malgosia Sibilska, who has been almost single-handedly preparing Veselka’s borscht since emigrating to the East Village from Poland nearly 30 years ago.

“Way back then, we weren’t making nearly the volume of food that we are now,” says Tom Birchard, the owner of the East Village landmark, “but as the volume has increased, increased, increased, Malgosia keeps making more, and more, and more. And she hasn’t complained.”

And, Mr. Birchard says, over the years the process of preparing the dish has become so complicated and intricate that Ms. Sibilska is the only one who knows precisely how to make Veselka’s signature version of the dish. Sure, Mr. Birchard says, other chefs at Veselka can make borscht, but even he concedes that no one else’s quite matches Ms. Sibilska’s.

“When she goes on vacation, it is a moderate hardship for us,” says Mr. Birchard, “it’s never quite as good as when she is there.”

With Veselka opening a new location opening up on the Bowery and First Street, the restaurant is considering moving all of the borscht production to the new venue, and training someone new to copy Ms. Sibilska’s exact recipe.

Before the change occurs, The Local visits Veselka’s kitchen to speak with Ms. Sibilska about her somewhat-secret recipe.

NYU Journalism’s M.J. Gonzalez reports.