By Christopher Harper
For the first time in about a decade, I visited New York City. It’s a mess!
Although the city still has many sterling attractions, including museums, music, and sporting events, the Big Apple has hit hard times.
It reminds me of the 1990s when crime soared, racial tensions affected daily life, and the subways became a haven for crime and chaos.
Just before I arrived in town last weekend, a 34-year-old man was murdered on a subway near Union Square. That’s where I used to teach in the 1990s. Just after I left, a man slashed the legs of people on an East Side subway. I had difficulty sleeping because of the constant peel of police sirens, even in a relatively quiet neighborhood.
I spent about a dozen years in New York living and working on the West Side, which is generally considered a bit hipper and younger than the stolid East Side, where I stayed this past week to meet an old friend near the United Nations.
What surprised me on the East Side, which is generally considered older and wealthier, is how many restaurants had died from COVID. Many eateries closed, including McNally’s, a hangout for fans of the Mets and Buffalo Bills. Ironically, the locale is being turned into a healthcare facility.
Homeless people slept in the middle of the day on sidewalks across from the United Nations. I don’t remember the homeless situation being that bad when I lived in the city. However, a recent Wall Street Journal analysis found that homelessness had soared in recent months because of massive increases in rent throughout the country during COVID.
What really surprised me was the amount of dog poop on the sidewalks. Back in the day, I remember loud arguments if people left poop behind.
New York was never particularly friendly, but it seems even less friendly now than I recall. Almost no one makes eye contact or offers a hello or good morning. In a diner where my friend and I had breakfast, the waiter wore a face mask and seemed more interested in our finishing our food to seat another party than serving us.
When Rudy Giuliani became mayor in 1994, he faced many of the same problems that exist today in the city. He focused much of his time on the “broken window” theory of fighting crime. This theory states that visible signs of crime, anti-social behavior, and civil disorder create an urban environment that encourages further crime and disorder, including serious crimes. The theory suggests that policing methods target minor offenses such as vandalism, loitering, public drinking, jaywalking, and subway fare evasion help to create an atmosphere of order and lawfulness. Giuliani’s adoption of the strategy made New York a better and safer place to live.
It may be too late for such an approach.
I realize many New Yorkers will find this post offensive, but I now understand why thousands of people have left the city to find kinder and quieter climates.
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