election day in the flatiron.

The financial crisis has dominated headlines lately, but economic worries weren't the main issue for Flatiron retailers and customers this Election Day. "Business has been slightly slower than usual, but that's not my main focus in this election," Jlee Maldonado, 26, who works at Alma Salon and Spa on East 21st Street and voted for Obama, said. "My family is thinking about healthcare and education. I want to see the end of the war."

Obama's foreign policy was the deciding factor for Roseline Dipty, 28, a manager at the Universal Force Healing Center. However, the economic issue played a small role in her decision. "McCain's tax cuts just seem like what we're already seeing with Bush," she said. "Obama seems more focused on helping individuals, not corporations."

Hilda Davis, 51, who headed to the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park after voting, echoed Dipty's sentiments. "Obama just seems like he will create more jobs for regular people," she said.

But most agree that the economic issue isn't at the forefront of the election. Monica Gmochowska, a financial controller at Full Picture, one of the many Flatiron public relations firms, hasn't seen much change in business recently. She also doesn't think that the candidates' economic policies really matter. "Economic stimulus isn't so much about who the President is, but about Congress's actions. Bills have to pass the House and Senate first," she said.

Others were swayed by simpler reasons. "I have more good feelings about McCain," Amy Nelson, 21, a salesgirl at the East 20th Street pet boutique Trixie+Peanut, said. "I voted mostly on intuition."

hmm.

"My mom worked at the Met Life building. So did Don DeLillo's mom. If you want to raise a kid who wants to be a writer, work at the Met Life in an office facing Madison Square Park."

- Pete Hamill

on new york.

"It'll be a great place, if they ever finish it."

- O. Henry a.k.a William Sydney Porter, American writer and Flatiron resident
(1862 - 1910)