Chelsea Residents Crave Return To Normalcy Amid Heightened Security
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Residents and workers in Chelsea are ready to resume a normal life following the chaos surrounding Saturday night's bombing.
As CBS2's Jessica Layton reported, some normalcy did return as 23rd Street reopened between Sixth and Seventh Avenues to pedestrians and later to traffic late Monday.
"All we can do is be vigilant and clean up the mess," said Oren Spiegeo, owner of King David Gallery which suffered thousands of dollars in damage.
Reggie Jackson said the blast went off outside his building and feet away from where he parked his SUV, shattering the windshield.
"Yes, it's frustrating. It was working when I drove it here," Jackson said.
Vigilance was on the mind for many New Yorkers as they acknowledged life goes on, but is different after the explosion injured 29 people.
"It's terrifying this is happening, but we can't stop living our lives," one person said.
Resident Maria Perez said, "I got to be honest, I'm not going to stop coming out, but I am scared."
Perez can't understand why someone planted bombs in Chelsea and Councilman Corey Johnson is wondering the same.
"It not a block you would think of as a target. It's not Times Sqare, or the World Trade Center, or Grand Central Station. It's very strange it happened here," Johnson said.
On Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo told New Yorkers to expect the highest security and police presence ever assembled -- which goes well beyond the police presence at the scene of Saturday night's melee in Chelsea.
"I was walking and there are so many police officers. I know it's necessary, but it adds too much tension in the city," Asma Tekbali told CBS2's Emily Smith.
Barbara Police lives in a home for the blind outside which the bomb exploded Saturday evening.
"They knew that this was a disabled area," she told WCBS 880's Marla Diamond. "What it was is they knew it was under construction, so anything can happen; anything can fall."
Ms. Police said she heard the blast from her seventh-floor apartment.
"Oh my God. The whole building shook and I heard glass. I heard everything," she said.
Two days after the blast, hundreds of state troopers and National Guard members spent the day armed and ready at city transit hubs including Grand Central Terminal -- a place considered a soft target.
The United Nations general assembly is meeting this week, which includes President Obama addressing the crowd for the last time.
There were also Coast Guard boats in the East River, and some folks heading into the city on Monday, admitted that they would feel safer outside of Manhattan.
"I don't want to get scared and sit at home. I don't want them to feel got us scared," Leo Ostrovsky said.
Clinical Psychologist Dr. Harris Stratyner said there's a difference between feeling anxiety and stopping your routine.
"If you get into that mindset where you say I'm worried, I don't want to go into the city today. Then that's a form of anticipatory anxiety," he explained.
With grid locked traffic from a giant world leader meeting, construction, and an explosion New York has become a city with people under a lot of pressure.
"Crazy that it happens a week after 9/11, but we have to stay strong, go about our business, and it's amazing we caught the guy so quickly, and we have to hope," Dan Platt said.
For Kalil at the Garden of Eden Grovery Store on 23rd Street, time is money.
"We need money, we want to work," he told 1010 WINS' Darius Radzius.
Business was slower Monday, while 23rd Street was closed between 6th and 7th Avenues while police investigated the bombing.
While the blast rocked a Chelsea neighborhood, it was evident in a nearby diner that the kindness and heart of New York was unshaken.
"We believe always you have to help people when they really need you," Malibu Diner owner, Alex Grimpas told CBS2's Scott Rapoport.
Grimpas owns the Malibu diner at West 23rd Street near 7th Ave.
Since Sunday morning the staff has been churning our meals for blind and visually impaired people at a nearby apartment building who had their kitchen damaged in the explosion.
They prepared 200 meals on Sunday, and 200 more on Monday in conjunction with the Red Cross.
The meals are for people like Debra Zanca who may not have had one otherwise.
"I think it's great that they're doing that. Thank god," she said.
"These are the people that really need us," Grimpas added.
An act of kindness towards NYPD officers after the explosion has gone viral. Cops guarding the scene on Sunday were surprised and grateful when an employee from a nearby Starbucks brought them free coffee and bags of pastries.
The exchange was short, but it said so much.
The employee who said his name was Jermaine later explained that the NYPD ran toward the danger on the day of the explosion.
He said bringing coffee to officers who were probably working long shifts was the right thing to do.
That spirit of community and compassion was extended by the Standard Hotel on the High Line which used social media to offer free hotel rooms and dinner to residents affected by the explosion.
The hotel confirmed that it provided 40 such rooms.
Back at the blast site security was so tight that some blind people from down the street had to provide ID before being let back into their apartments.
The NYPD's kindness and vigilance was largely applauded.
"We're well protected I think," Richard Shuback said.
At the man-made barrier on West 23rd Street, owner San Chulpayev was thankful to be open for business, and for the swift response.
"We're thankful that the situation is somewhat under control. That they found the person responsible for what happened," he said.
He and other residents now have a craving for normalcy after terror touched home.
