Phillip Kalantzis Cope

A sampling of reader reactions to posts that have appeared on The Local.

Brendan Bernhard’s post about Mast Books on Avenue A and its distinctly East Village vibe resonated with readers.

Amy Bull wrote:

“This seems to sum up the direction “modern society” is taking. Books become artifacts, newspapers a luxury. So what becomes of the tactile pleasures which used to make up our delgihtful every day routines? Morning coffee with the paper and curling up with a book on the couch…”

Michael Hoinski added:

“take your blogs, your mp3s, your kindles, so i can have my trad pubs, my vinyl, and my sweet, glorious hardcovers.”

Readers also responded to Mr. Bernhard’s piece about the CBGB’s era band Television.

Tony B. wrote:

“I’ve never dug Television, though I did love a lot of the music at CBGB. Ned Sublette comes gracefully to mind. Your story, however, gets Television’s appeal across to me.”

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Phillip Kalantzis Cope

A sampling of reader reactions to recent posts that have appeared on The Local.

Two recent posts regarding development in the neighborhood — Suzanne Rozdeba’s article about the developer of 35 Cooper Square’s refusal to maintain the historic site and Mark Riffee’s interview with Anne Guiney, the director of the Institute for Urban Design — resonated with readers who are concerned about the changing face of the neighborhood.

Sam offered a defense of the developer of 35 Cooper, writing:

“This is absurd.

I’m all for the preservation of historical buildings to retain the charm, character and elegance of previous generations.

But this man owns this property and at the end of the day, he should be allowed to do what he wants with it.

If people cared so much about 35 Cooper, they should have done something about it before it became an eyesore and, more importantly – public hazard.”

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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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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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