Thirty-five years ago, I was at a conference in northern Manhattan watching a group of seniors watch the sun go down. As the twilight began to turn to darkness, one group after another of clearly frightened elderly people headed for the door.
Darkness does such things in crime-riddled cities, even at meetings on public safety hosted by the local police substation. It was night in New York and I had nowhere to stay but my apartment. (Related: Suzanne Downing: The homeless crisis is ravaging the once-metropolitan West Coast)
In less than six years, it has become a different city. The children returned to the park. Elderly people roamed the boulevard around the clock, and those who wanted to be were once again blazing their way into the bright lights of Gotham.
Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his Broken Window crackdown strategy (courtesy of Manhattan Institute scholars) had a dramatic impact not just on crime, but on the city’s current state. For the first time in modern memory, the five boroughs felt safe.
The whole world has noticed. Cops from all over the world have flocked to New York City to learn the miraculous police tactics that saved a city labeled “unmanageable” just a few years ago. Things got even better under Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who stepped down after three terms in December 2013 and was replaced by progressive Mayor Bill de Blasio.
I couldn’t help but think of those seniors when the University of Siena announced statewide this week investigation It shows that fear has once again captured the hearts of New Yorkers. Nearly two-thirds (61%) reported being afraid of becoming victims of crime, and more than half (51%) reported being afraid to appear in public. New York City’s numbers are even worse, with nearly 40% of residents saying they’ve purchased a home security system in the past year. Thirty-five percent purchased pepper spray or tasers.
What happened?
Ideology is the answer. Isn’t it always the case?
For De Blasio and the race-obsessed political left, New York’s phenomenal progress was a farce. Too many young people of color were being arrested for misdemeanor crimes and getting criminal records.
what’s their answer? Undo Broken Windows, a strategy that focuses on small-scale crimes to forestall large-scale crimes, decriminalizes so-called quality-of-life crimes such as turnstile jumping, and eliminates most police riots. and outlaw undercover operations. Progressive city officials then successfully lobbied Albany for a cashless bail law, which really put the nail in the coffin.
Within just a few years of Mayor de Blasio’s inauguration, the crime rate — the violent crime rate — began to rise steadily. The city that has been called the safest big city in America suddenly feels terrifying again. Aggressive young homeless people, many of whom have mental health problems such as addiction, seem to be everywhere now, and the New York City Police have been virtually barred from doing anything about it. .
There is a palpable sense of lawlessness that borders on chaos on the streets of New York City today, and the smell of illegally sold marijuana wafts around every corner. The impact doesn’t stop there.
The MTA is now losing hundreds of millions of dollars each year to turnstile jumpers who know this law doesn’t really apply in New York anymore, and illegals that have disappeared from the pockets of petty criminals under broken windows. The pistols began raining death again. .
It’s worth noting how horribly messed New York City has become in the last decade. Political moderate and former New York City Police Chief Eric Adams is much better on crime than Mayor de Blasio, but the prevailing liberal views among New York City officials are still gospel.
Most of the old people in 1988 are gone now. They are steadily being replaced by people my age, staring out the window at the looming darkness.
William FB O’Reilly is a Republican strategist from New York.
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