Ed Koch was praised — and good-naturedly cursed — yesterday in the Greenwich Village neighborhood that the former mayor called home.
“He was a wonderful man, and he’d give us his trademark quip: ‘How’m I doin’?’ ” said neighbor, Mary Torras, 58, “He had a wonderful presence. It’s tough to forget all he did for the city in the ’70s and ’80s. I would see him on the streets all over the neighborhood [in] Washington Square Park . . . He loved the city, and he loved this neighborhood.”
Mac Salmon-McFarlane, 58, a music promoter, remembered Koch as a legendary figure who was still down to earth.
“He had the best sense of humor of any mayor I remember, and I remember back to [Robert F.] Wagner,” he said. “Whenever I think of him, I remember my parents talking about Fiorello La Guardia reading the comics on the radio during the [newspaper] strike. [Koch] was like that. He was a personable mayor, not really a CEO type. He really had the spirit of New York.”
Lou Freedman, lived across the street, at 1 Fifth Avenue, was more blunt in his assessment of Koch.
“He was an SOB,” Freedman said, “He wasn’t afraid to step on people’s toes, both when he was mayor and after. He always said ‘hello’ to people. He was personable, but he was an SOB.”
Bob Abramson, 69, owner of the House of Oldies record store, said Koch was often spotted shopping in the neighborhood.
“He just seemed like a regular guy,” Abramson said. “I’d see him on the street, and he’d stop and talk to you for hours. He was so real. You believed him when he spoke.”