The students of NYU Journalism’s Reporting New York and Reporting the Nation graduate concentration took to the streets of the East Village to ask a simple question: Do you think the recession is over?

Are you doing better this year than last? What do you think when you hear people say that the recession is over?

In an Election Night appearance on NYU News, Suzanne Rozdeba, who covered the key local political races, discusses how neighborhood issues such as noise complaints, liquor licenses, bike lanes and pedestrian safety played a role in Tuesday’s balloting.

Results of Local Races

Voters cast ballots for candidates in seven local races — three for U.S. representative, two for State Senate and two for State Assembly — and by overwhelming margins returned every incumbent to office.

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With just hours until the polls close in today’s general election, NYU Journalism’s Molly O’Toole and Clint Rainey offer an analysis of tonight’s likely winners and losers in races involving the East Village.

A small shop on East Ninth Street, Flower Power has promoted natural healing through the use of flowers and herbs for the past 17 years.

Its owner, Lata Kennedy, and regular customers swear by the powerful medicinal remedies plants can offer.

NYU Journalism’s Sarah Tung explores the healing powers of herbs.

For Dina Leor, this is the busiest week of the year.

Customers visit Ms. Leor’s Mexican folk art shop, La Sirena, to prepare for Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, on Nov. 2.

Ms. Leor has owned La Sirena for 11 years, and travels throughout Mexico to collect art. Although Ms. Leor is of Argentine descent, she says that she has a “Mexican heart,” which is clear to anyone entering her Third Street shop.

NYU Journalism’s Meredith Hoffman talks with Ms. Leor about the holiday and its spiritual and cultural significance.

East Village Street Style from Sally L on Vimeo.

Last month, The Local showed you fall runway trends in some of the most popular neighborhood boutiques.

But what are East Villagers actually wearing now that the temperatures are dropping?

We took to the streets on a recent Sunday afternoon and asked stylish locals about their personal fall fashion.

There is no shortage of opinion when it comes to the speed hump installed in November 2009 on East 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

But now that the hump has been installed for nearly a year, many residents and storeowners are concerned about its effectiveness or confused by its location – or simply annoyed by it.

After several car accidents involving children in front of the 10th Street Boys’ Club, residents and neighbors from the local community board lobbied for the installation of a speed hump on the street.

Roadway layout and driveway locations are major factors that determine where the city places speed reducers, according to a spokeswoman with the Department of Transportation. The department determined the 10th Street hump’s current location as the best place to maximize safety for pedestrians crossing the road.

NYU Journalism’s Alexandra DiPalma, Sarah Tung and Rachel Wise describe the reactions of those who live and work near the speed hump.

Portrait of An Artist from The Local East Village on Vimeo.

Last week, we told you about our video storytellers at The Local and the space that is reserved for weekly features on the right side of the page.

Over the past month, NYU Journalism’s Bolanle Omisore has explored the world of extreme tattooing, Sarah Tung has described the world of Japanese culture that exists in the East Village and Damon Beres took viewers inside the world of Toy Tokyo.

Other pieces have included Timothy J. Stenovec’s look at a commuter mosque and Maya Millett’s profile of the Social Tees Animal Rescue. In this week’s feature, which also plays above, NYU Journalism’s Steven McCann interviews the artist Andrew Castrucci.

You can find these videos and others at The Local East Village’s Vimeo page.

And if you’re interested in submitting your visual stories to The Local, please contact Kim Davis, The Local’s community editor.

A Memorial for Michael Shenker from The Local East Village on Vimeo.

With chants, signs and a New Orleans-style brass band, about 100 friends of community activist Michael Shenker honored his life with a parade-like procession Saturday through the streets of the East Village.

The procession, which began near Mr. Shenker’s home on the southeast side of Tompkins Square Park, wound its way past some of Mr. Shenker’s favorite places in the neighborhood and ended several hours later with a memorial service at The Catholic Worker on Second Avenue and First Street.

Mr. Shenker, who died earlier this month of liver failure at the age of 54, was a squatter and activist known for his advocacy on housing issues and the preservation of community gardens.

With chants of “Long live Michael,” members of Saturday’s procession – led by Aresh Javadi, a puppeteer who knew Mr. Shenker for a dozen years – spontaneously pulled weeds at a garden on Avenue C (before the space’s perplexed owner asked them to leave) and stopped at such locations as 319 East Eighth Street.

It was there that Fran Luck first met Mr. Shenker 25 years ago, when Mr. Shenker was working to turn what was then an unoccupied and neglected building into a popular squat. Today, the building is fully renovated with modern amenities.

“The gathering today shows the power, not only of Michael, but of an era we went in together for our neighborhood against gentrification,” said Ms. Luck.

The debate over bike lanes in the East Village continued in the form of a demonstration tonight as roughly two dozen people on both sides of the issue took to the streets to weigh in.

Organizers had planned the gathering on First Avenue and 14th Street as a protest against what they said were unsafe conditions in bike lanes. But a large contingent of bike lane supporters turned out for the event, too. Ultimately, supporters of the lanes ended up outnumbering detractors.

The two sides held up signs and loudly exchanged opinions. Those in favor of the lanes argued that bikes were environmentally friendly, and that roads should be shared among motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians.

Those against the lanes, led by Leslie Sicklick, who organized the protest, said that redesigned roadways were hazardous for pedestrians, disrupted traffic, and were an impediment to businesses.

NYU Journalism’s Helen Zhang and Spencer Magloff spoke with some of the demonstrators about the benefits and drawbacks of bike lanes.

We wanted to bring your attention to work of our visual storytellers here at The Local.

Along the right side of this page, you’ll find a box that plays videos produced by our community contributors and the students at NYU Journalism.

Each Friday, a new video will begin a week-long run in the space.

This week’s selection (which also plays above), by NYU Journalism’s Maya Millett, tells the story of an institution that is familiar to animal lovers around the neighborhood – the Social Tees Animal Rescue.

Chris Whitehead Rabbi Greg Wall, one of the founders of the Ayn Sof Arkestra and Bigger Band.

The saxophone of a Carnegie Hall veteran and trumpet of a Grammy winner nimbly croon and sway to the drum-brush beat, punctuated by sharp brass notes and bass thumps so close that the front row sees players’ tendons twitch.

That might sound like $150 seats at Lincoln Center, but catching this performance actually requires a padded pew at Sixth Street Synagogue, between First and Second Avenues, home of the Ayn Sof Arkestra and Bigger Band, a Jewish ensemble founded by Greg Wall, the well-known sax-playing rabbi there, and Frank London, his friend and an accomplished trumpeter.

Believed to be one of only a handful of Jewish big bands in the country, the 15-piece group rehearses and plays shows in the Modern Orthodox shul. Lately, its music has added the Talmudic verse of Jake Marmer, poetry columnist for The Forward, the weekly Jewish newspaper.
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Darren Tobia Angelo Cabrera, 19, from the East Village performs “the flag” in Tompkins Square Park. He is a member of the NYC Parkour team, which performs gymnastic maneuvers against an urban backdrop.

The Local East Village takes a look at the fitness phenomenon known as parkour through a pair of reports. First, Community Contributor Al Kavadlo, a personal fitness trainer, offers a first person account where he tries out some parkour moves. Then, NYU Journalism’s Lesley Messer and Suemedha Sood report on four neighborhood teenagers who’ve formed a bond through their practice of the sport.

What began with a group of teens in France running and jumping through the city streets has turned into a worldwide fitness movement, with the East Village as one of NYC’s primary hubs. Tompkins Square Park has had a reputation for many different things over the years. You can now add parkour to the list.

Parkour involves training to overcome physical obstacles by adapting to the environment. If there is a ledge, you vault over it, if there is a tree, you climb it and if there is a gap, you jump it.
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As a hub of the Hare Krishna Movement in America, the East Village is a special place for followers of the Hindu sect.

But a small number of followers, calling themselves the Iskcon Revival Movement, splintered from the more mainstream religion and established their own temple on St. Marks Place in 1999, only to lose the lease last year.

Now, with nowhere else to go to practice their religion, Vani and Brahmabuta-Das Wulfhoop operate a makeshift temple inside their East Village apartment.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission recently announced that it has issued a landmark designation for Eleventh Street Methodist Episcopal Chapel on 11th Street between Avenues A and B. Still unresolved is the status of a proposal to extend a similar designation to the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection on Second Street near Second Avenue, a move so far opposed by church officials. NYU Journalism’s Gabriella Bass and Amir Shoucri report on the debate over the merits of “landmarking.”

On most days, Anthony Pisano sits outside of what appears to be a quirky store window display, complete with a neon sign that reads, “It’s time on 7th.” Music (usually Frank Sinatra) pours out of industrial-sized speakers onto the sidewalk on Seventh Street near First Avenue; Mr. Pisano chats with passers-by, urging them to go inside and “satisfy their curiosity.”

Considering the cases of old watches and vast array of other miscellaneous collectibles that are found inside, most visitors assume that they are entering an antique shop or gallery. But it’s not a store and nothing is for sale. The narrow, crowded space has been Mr. Pisano’s apartment for than 32 years.

Steven Hirsch Pete Hamill at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.

Earlier today, we mentioned how grateful we are for the strong turn-out at NYU Journalism Thursday night for a talk by Pete Hamill titled, “Down the Block.”

We’re now happy to be able to make available a complete video of Mr. Hamill’s remarks here.
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In this final look back at Primary Day 2010, The Local East Village spends some time with poll workers at P.S. 34 who describe how they get through a long, uneventful day.