It’s hilarious how out of town commenters will
tell NYC how to run a global capital as they reap financial benefits from our tax dollars.
People/ media forgetting that crime was historically low pre pandemic and will get back to those numbers.
We are emerging from a pandemic and things will never be the same for everyone.
6
Could it be that letting in so many illegal immigrants, who then cluster in NYC taking advantage of social welfare programs and swamping public health care and educations systems has led NYC away from it 20c roots as a diverse democratic system to one that is more like a third world megacity, full of corruption and lacking in any civil society and public spirit? When a group of people don’t follow the same laws as others and are incentivized to stay in the shadows, stay silent and work with exploiters, you have a recipe for civil strife.
12
I haven't been an NYC metro resident in over a decade but as a born and bred New Yorker, the only thing I know is that if I had a dollar for every time since my youth in the 60s that the city's been written off as doomed and then returned, I could actually afford to live there.
34
I pay high property taxes in the suburbs partly to be close to New York's cultural offerings. I haven't been to the city or on any public transportation (or eaten at a local restaurant) in two years. This will probably continue for at least another year.
11
People who cite the decreased murder rate relative to the seventies sometimes forget that trauma care is much, much better than it was in the seventies, thanks to advances from the Vietnam war. The number of shootings is approaching 1970s levels.
21
The reason for closed stores is the tax advantage. Land lords make more money by not renting at reasonable prices. This is devastating neighborhoods. Look for the money trail to figure out why the city is deteriorating.
18
My friends live in Chicago, in a nice part of town, and they don't get gas after dark because they're worried they'll get car jacked. They don't make unplanned stops in neighborhoods they aren't familiar with, especially not with their son in the car, in fear of violence. The same risks exist in cities all over the country and the world, and I'm sure there are parts of NYC where that is true, but it does not DEFINE this city the way it does other places. The NY times insists on promoting this narrative that New York is in decline, focusing on the negative instead of the millions of amazing people living together and accomplishing amazing things.
NYT, if you don't like it here... leave. Go doom scroll somewhere else and pass the mic to the people who know this is the greatest city on earth.
24
I moved to NYC in the 90s at 19 without realizing it was as unsafe as everyone is describing it. This is anecdotal, of course, but back then I never felt unsafe on the subway or walking the streets.
Fast forward to the past few months. I had a mentally ill person chase me up the steps of the 8th Avenue post office, literally blocking my way out, so that I had to run down a side entrance. I've had another mentally ill person spit in my face on 34th street.
The subways DO feel unsafe on the platform and in the subway cars, and I've yet to see one person face any consequences for not having a mask on on the subway car, as required by law. I even saw two cops get on the car and ignore the maskless person who was right in front of their faces.
New York City feels lawless. It's the first time I've felt unsafe here.
54
It's getting very old hearing people say that things aren't so bad, since "crime statistics are down". Of course crime statistics are down, a host of petty & some not-so petty crimes are not enforced by a police force who doesn't have the support of the city government.
People are not shoving other people off subway platforms, or ambushing police officers who have responded to a bogus domestic complaint, et cetera et cetera..... all because they lost their social skills because of the pandemic.
26
At the risk of interrupting the gloom, but NYC is leading the national turn around in the latest Covid peak; cases are down here by 70 precent in about two weeks. Back to you, doomsters.
6
Having lived in NYC under Giuliani, Bloomberg, and de Blasio (and worked for the city government under Bloomberg), I think de Blasio did a pretty good job in terms of accomplishing major things for the city (obviously crime declined dramatically while he also put an end to stop-and-frisk, universal pre-K, settling contracts with city workers, right to counsel for people at risk of eviction, paid sick leave, and lots more). However, I agree that the progressive agenda may be reaching a point where it is doing more harm than good. For example, the call to stop prosecuting offenses like subway fare evasion. I'm not sure what people think will happen to critical infrastructure that most of us rely on if people are allowed to ride without paying? How is that sustainable? Another thing De Blasio did was create a subway fare program for low-income NYers, so now it seems particularly galling to me to let fare evasion slide. If someone can't afford public transportation, they should qualify for that program. Otherwise, they need to pay to ride like everyone else so that we can preserve critical city services.
20
@JB
We are paying the DeBlasio mess right now !
Let’s not worry about the people jumping the turn styles -i see it everyday!
Let’s try and make the subways SAFE to travel on and consider all of the people that used buy monthly passes that no longer do - that’s where the MTA is challenged -
8
@JB did he, Deblasio do well when his wife lost $800M-1.8B in tax payer money for a faux mental health program?
11
I agree with the need to curb the lawlessness of bike riders and delivery people who ride recklessly on the sidewalks and are particularly threatening to seniors. I have seen more than one motorcycle on the sidewalks as well with traffic cops standing idly by. It's out of control and does not seem to concern any of our public officials. Of course the availability of guns makes everyone terrified of challenging theives who openly clean off drug store shelves of products in plain sight with no repercussions. Something must change. I have lived here since 1974 and was frightened then. But I am afraid in a whole new way.
12
Under the previous mayor stop and frisk was abolished, the police budget was cut, criminals got out of jail early, smoking weed became legal - I am sure there are many more examples. Yes, Covid can be blamed for almost everything, but the writers of this piece should have raised this topic as the current situation would not have been so harsh without DeBlasio's mishandeling of law and order.
27
The multitudes of food delivery people who now populate the city streets on motorized "bicycles" and routinely drive them in total disregard for the laws of the road may not be considered a crime problem, but it is a public safety issue and a public relations problem, too.
Similar to people sleeping in subways, anarchy on the streets gives the PERCEPTION that there is an anything-goes mentality abiding in this city -- a complete disregard of law enforcement -- even if crime statistics are down. And that's bad for business.
Perception is reality, as the expression goes.
Mayor Adams, please pull in the reins on the food-delivery industry. Not just on the drivers, who aside from pedestrians are putting themselves in danger every day, but on the companies they work for as well.
24
The 1970s seems to have become signatory of the bad old New York City that once was. The 1970s being the decade of my residency in the city. And compared to what’s being reported of conditions in recent times and in the now, it makes the New York City of the 1970s come off as a Utopia by comparison.
15
A common theme, guns, guns everywhere and for everybody. During the initial lockdowns, groceries, pharmacies, and gun shops, (yes gun shops) were deemed essential and remained open. Gun restrictions are being either limited, rolled-back or done away with entirely. Why are we shocked? Why?
13
Thank you for including Mary Garvey's voice of reason to counter the hyperbole of the interviewees who watch their phones for constant doom & gloom updates.
And someone should tell Richard Ravitch that we're in the midst of a global pandemic.
9
There seems to be this idea in the comments section that most NYers can just avoid the subway.... we cannot, actually, avoid the subway for the most part. Many of us don't have cars and need to take public transport to get anywhere. Being afraid of the subway is a HUGE problem... and honestly, being afraid of the subway right now is a normal reaction to what's been going on. Something has to give... and it's usually down to local community efforts.
76
NYC is doomed. Yesterday I needed to replace the lock on my apartment door, Sunday. I walked about 12 blocks to the nearest hardware store. Walked past about 7 hardware stores that either had reduced hours and were closed or went out of business. Every restaurant empty. For every moving truck with people moving here, you see 20 moving trucks with people moving out. It is horrifying but NYC is facing what Detroit faced. All of the skyscraper jobs leaving is no different then all of the automotive manufacturers closing.
22
@Dale As far as hardware stores internet shopping is also a big factor that has been amplified during the pandemic.
12
@Dale 7 hardware within a 12 block radius??...And no, we're hardly in Detroit "territory". You must've moved here in 2013...You're forgiven.
8
Welcome to a society where poor people hungry and in pain live and survive acting on primal instincts on what they see as vulnerable prey or threats to their well-being. This is it.
Victim blame all you want but that is that state of society we have arrived to and everyone is experiencing whether you like it or not.
Fear, discomfort, paranoia, always looking over your shoulder. Deciding to stay home because it's the smart and safe thing to do.
If you want to know what life is like in underserved communities on the poor crime ridden side of town, this is it.
If you want to know what life was like in pre industrial age cities or ancient cities with huge populations and little military to enforce law, this is it.
You want to know what living in a poor corrupt developing country, this is it.
It doesn't have to be this way but our country as a government and the people as whole masking and not acknowledging and ignoring society's issues for a very long time got us here.
8
@Jamie R you are well wrong.
from 2700 miles away, you are judging a people who have lived and fought many scourges. The Hugo-esque simile is off by miles.
Good people are here. They are not losing control from hunger. The drop in some social norms has had a dramatic effects, but those whom are living like the wild west are not the vast majority of working men and women in NYC.
Save your edifying for LA or San Francisco where it seems a lot worse than the Big Apple
14
@Jamie R From what my friends in Calornia tell me, San Francisco and the entire area are on crime-ridden, homeless clogged hellhole. And far, far worse then it is here in NYC.
11
Is it “some” or “many” who are fearful? Anecdotal stories like these are really not helpful.
8
@David Paul people are leaving the city in record numbers so how anecdotal is it?
5
On the contrary people are moving back, look at the numbers. Real estate has had a banner year and rentals are pre covid level
2
i grew up in nyc raised in brooklyn lived in hell's kitchen, lower east side and many other rough hoods in the 70's through the 90's and it was bad and although the crime numbers were worse then the vibe now is more ominous.. is it covid, the economic downturn? who knows but the spirit of the city seems broken.. having had four incidences on the the subways in the last few months i've even thought it's time to live elsewhere.. the city will come back it always does but when it returns it will be a changed place.. the spring will come and hopefully the sun and warmth will bring hope with it.. in the meantime i'll just keep my eyes open and look over my shoulder as i did in the new york city i grew up in years ago..
25
@rtfmidtown the "vibe" is more ominous because of media (social and traditional) hyperbole. Look at the statistics. NYC is FAR less dangerous than it was in the 70s.
4
my vibe is based on being harassed four times on the subways since november that's reality not media hype.. as i said i'll keep my eyes open and look over my shoulder.. no city for old men nor for old women for that matter
16
I don't understand why the media's metric for how the city is doing is the rock-bottom bankruptcy years of the 70s and the crack epidemic of the 80s-90s. Saying "yes things are worse but at least it's not 1991" is a pathetic excuse for our current state.
We do not have to put up with this and it only takes the courage of elected leaders in Albany and the City to turn things around. Vote leaders who will enforce the laws (including low-level quality of life offenses), uphold public order, and encourage decency with both carrots and sticks.
37
And the Princeton Club is facing foreclosure. Things are hitting rock bottom.
12
All things are relative. I lived in New York in the early eighties for five years, moved away and am now back in the city. There is no comparison to then and now. In the seventies and eighties you could not walk through Bryant Park because of all the drugs and crime, of course now you can't walk through Bryant Park because of all the tourists. Times Square was filled with sex theaters and just walking around that area made you want to take a shower when you got home. And how can any one forget the summer of Sam, blackout, riots, murder.
Living in the city now is like Disney land in comparison, albeit, the subways still do make me nervous.
19
@WG and Tompkins Square Park was a homeless encampment. It was scary to walk east of First Avenue. There were prostitutes in the Meatpacking District and hookers at Hunts Point. You said out of the park when it got dark. Morningside Park was littered with crack needles.
It's still a lot better now then it was back then!
5
Many police do support strict gun control laws in big cities.
But prosecutors make a mockery of gun control laws by releasing illegal gun owners within hours of arrest. No consequences for illegal guns.
21
@Gun Control
Chicago has strict gun control laws. Chicago police seized 12,000 illegal guns in 2021. Most of the illegal gun owners were released within hours of arrest.
13
There have always been mentally ill people roaming the streets and subways in NYC. I remember in the 1970s in midtown as a child, a woman screaming at my family. I think what is different now is that the mentally ill are more on edge- they pick up the fear that we all face with covid. There are no short term solutions- we need to invest in mental health care and services. We need places that provide medication and safety. Some people need to be institutionalized. But reality is we- won't - because people don't want to pay taxes to take care of any vulnerable people. In Iceland there are no homeless people- because they take of their citizens, they don't "otherize" them.
32
Ebb and flow, baby, ebb and flow. Yes, New York is going through a tough time and I wouldn't want to be Eric Adams right now for all the monies, but we will not go gently into that goodnight.
26
NYC will weather this, like every other challenge thrown its way. But it will take another year or two; ending the pandemic will go a long way (In the meantime I will avoid taking the subway if/when I visit)
I believe in the overall goodness of people, but it only takes a few bad apples will ruin life for the rest of us. (I am no Pollyanna, having seen a lot of the worst during my time in NY)
Please, everyone - as I said about a rude customer 'service' person I had to deal with at the start of the pandemic - tough times like this are precisely the reason we should all be nicer to each other, not more irritated and angry. We are all in the same boat, and a little kindness goes a long way. New Yorkers are much nicer to strangers than their reputation, so it's not a big ask.
12
@free press
Are you including being kind to police people? Casual cruelty to police is considered okay by many people who think they themselves are kind.
14
@free press Agree. New Yorkers are kind - rough around the edges but kind.
2
I would guess the vast majority of New Yorkers posting here would say that they "follow the science" when it comes to things like vaccines or masks, but the second it comes to crime statistics they know better than the experts based on what they've read in the news and how they feel. We truly make our own realities informed by our own biases.
10
What do you expect? Actions have consequences. What I have seen for many years is displacement of certain “groups” in this City. They stand on corners, have no job, were targeted with criminal records for minor offenses that assure they’ll never enter the mainstream in their entire lives. They see the hordes of other groups coming in, stepping into opportunity and great jobs, and general success. The have nots see this. But they no longer accept it, maybe subconsciously. They lash out. I’m not surprised to see a proliferation of random violence. There’s a huge cohort in this city that is very very angry. People get tired of abuse, including economic and societal abuse. I think Mayor Adams gets this. So I am optimistic.
13
After glancing at these comments I get the impression that NYC is inhabited by non compassionate, unreasoning individuals.
Or perhaps it is the GQP trying to amplify, in a concerted, organized fashion, that progressives need to be defeated. I see the same talking points in local publications and social media.
Imagine having the privilege of living there, of which only 1% can realize that dream, and all one does is whine.
I would like to know, in concrete details, what they suggest as an alternative solution. Not angry insults, but actual plans.
7
@mt I agree with you on those points.
1
When I grew up in Astoria in the 70’s and 80’s, there was a feeling throughout the entire city that we were all in it together. I don’t think that feeling which made this city great will ever come back.
26
Adams, please bring all the tools you have to this situation. Trash pick up, shelters, a functional court system, a rehabilitative prison system. But start with trash and the subways.
23
In cities throughout American there is no culture. The center of gravity of life and culture has shifted to the suburbs. There is nothing left of urban life but a dull, monochromatic and dangerous ethic where violence is excused. Public transportation is now housing for the insane and addicted. No one has children in cities anymore because there is no future in urban life, only decay.
Urbanites voted for this. I suppose we deserve what we get.
23
@Mick F
None of what you wrote about is true of New York. None of it.
New York's suburbs are as boring as ever.
14
New York city and all America will have to go back to the simple life no more crowds ,concerts theaters and the GOP unvaccinated will need to be told no jab you stay home.
3
I very respectfully disagree with Michael Wilson, et al. As a lifelong New Yorker, I know that New York City is more dangerous than it was in the 70s.
Before anyone talks about statistics and reports, which often are manifestly skewed (e.g., the tussle between state officials and former Mayor De Blasio over reports on school safety--the state said the city made schools look safer than they were), remember that "qualitative" data is used alongside statistical data in research.
Here goes: routine, even life-threatening crime in our streets, subways, playgrounds is manifestly more routine and pervasive than in the 70s. The city is more dangerous, as I'll explain.
In the 1970s, I was a teenager in East Flatbush, living in the Glenwood Projects--diverse, working-class Brooklyn--and attended South Shore High School. My friends and I, our parents, and grandparents traveled subways without fear--e.g., the No. 2 train, from Flatbush Ave. Aside from an occasional fistfight, it never occurred to us that spending time in playgrounds or on the corner would be dangerous.
Yes, bad things happened: they simply were not ubiquitous or routine, certainly not life-threatening. There was a palpable sense that assaulting others was still a risky business with consequences. There was still an expectation of order.
This is not a case of "rose-colored" glasses. People who were there readily agree. Something has changed--to paraphrase Yeats, the "center" no longer holds.
77
@Barry Moskowitz A solid analysis. Another angle that the insistence on past metrics obscures: the majority of New Yorkers were either not alive or did not live in the city during the 1970s, so comparing 40-50 year old data is a clear ploy to distract from a disastrous backslide into lawlessness and the breakdown of social cohesion. There are options between hopeless panic and pretending like things are more or less alright.
44
@A. And I will add something else: the demographic balance is off. New York can only live up to its hype if the pieces are in place, i.e., ALL of the socioeconomic groups living or milling about together fueling the famous energy. Up until 2019 one could still marvel at the continued relevancy of E.B. White's 1948 essay titled "Here is New York" with its description of the "three types of New Yorkers." As of March 2020 his perspective is officially dated. All three: the native NYer (me), the commuter (now working remotely) and the out of state wide-eyed hopeful here to "make it" have left. [relevant text in link below begins on screen page 12)
https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/campuspress.yale.edu/dist/b/3011/files/2018/08/Here-is-NY_EB-White1-yk0d8g.pdf
3
@Barry Moskowitz The plural of anecdote isn't data, even if you give it the alternative facts name of "qualitative data." Most people are given to thinking the things they hear about the most happen the most. This is the availability bias, a mental shortcut we take to make sense of the world.
You also demonstrated the recency bias, which is the technical term for rose colored glasses. Recent terrible events stand out far more in your mind than the hazy memories of your childhood.
8
I remember the 1970's very well and those years certainly had their challenges. However we need to stop comparing what is occurring now with what may or may not happened years ago and start listening to what people on the streets actualy perceive.
City officials and the media routinely run stories about how homicide rates are down, or some other statistic they care to distort. However, my experience living in a downtown urban environment is that the quality of life has never been lower, our streets never less safer. I meet on a regular basis with homeowners in our neighborhood and black or white, we are all seeing the same thing. Crime is rampant and the city is not dealing with it.
53
@joe, Those are all excellent points. Thank you.
2
Ok let's go over it again for the umpteenth time imo what history has taught us.
1-Crime rates go up and down because of demographics. Period. It is by far the number one factor.
2-It is made especially lethal and bloody by our cultural abuse gun sickness an aberration re our peer countries.
3-All somebody like Adams or the police can do is put a bandaid on it, ie keeping it from becoming anarchy.
12
Sure, Adams is our Mayor now and he needs to release some plans to keep risers safe - but are we ignoring the dereliction of duty of the NYPD?
Where is law enforcement? I’d like to see more actually policing and less standing around in groups of 4-5 chatting and on their phones. Pretty sure the Mayor doesn’t set your patrol route …
Why aren’t cops patrolling cars? Evicting the camping homeless from the subway stations? enforcing mask policies?
NYPD is dragging their feet becuase they’re still offended that BLM happened two years ago. Please get over your politics and protect and serve - your duty is to protect us all, not just the ones who watch the same channels as you.
38
@Nick Problem is the Courts decided years ago that their duty is not necessarily to protect and serve (or serve and protect) in cases including Castle Rock v. Gonzales and Lozito v. New York City (both of which have articles in the NYTimes' archives).
Long story short: we're on our own, and always have been. And the decline of our neighborhoods and nation will continue as the bodies stack up.
16
Police make arrests. It’s not their fault that progressive prosecutors don’t want to charge.
24
@N Living on the UWS I had an experience I'd like to share with you. My 13 year old daughter was in the subway one afternoon coming home from school when I huge guy grabbed her. He was completely delusional and wouldn't let her go. They were on the edge of the subway platform at he became more and more agitated. After having her tearful pleas for help ignored by multiple business men she only escaped when a tiny, old Black woman saved her by hitting her captor with her cane. When I learned what happened I went to my local precinct to report what had happened thinking the guy could strike again. My daughter had a very detailed description of her attacker. When I told the officers at the desk what happened they told me that it was the attacker they were worried about and that it was he who needed help! So no, the police do not make arrests! And thank god for one tough old lady!
17
Similar challenges are occurring nationwide. Maybe if the country stopped celebrating wealthy people who pay big money for 5 minute trips to "space" -- or $1000 "virtual" outfits in the "metaverse," as covered in a Times article today (with zero irony) -- we could focus on and solve issues that actually have a positive impact on the average citizen and humanity in general.
27
@Michael An absolutely stunning non sequitur. None of that is preventing anyone from also dealing with rising crime, nor would its absence immediately fill municipal coffers - which itself is a red herring, since all the funding in the world can't change the lack of effective policing that 2020 created.
22
"New York is far safer and stronger than in the ’70s."
That's a pretty low bar.
I was born in Brooklyn in the mid-1950s, went to school here, learned to drive here (my father took me to all sorts of neighborhoods, not just ours, to give me practice and teach me the "rules of common driving courtesy," as he called them) -- and I can tell you that the crisis we're in is unprecedented.
In the 1970s and 1980s, guys wanted your wallet (or pocketbook). Now, they bloody your face for the fun of it.
In the 1970s and 1980s, people released from Creedmore mostly hid out in subway tunnels. One notorious guy hung around the Upper West Side and pushed a female pedestrian into an oncoming car. By the 1990s, one was on East 86th Street, but he was removed when harassing passers-by turned into attacking them.
Alcoholics still populated the Bowery as they had even in the 1950s and 1960s although some neighborhoods had a local wino.
Now we have psychotics and substance-addicted derelicts everywhere. For two years they've been pulling down their pants in front of us, squatting, and losing their bowels or vomiting their lunches, or worse. They're still on our corner. Their stench is unbelievable.
Packages and furniture regularly disappear from off porches. Men try back doors and windows even in supposedly "nice" areas.
You bet things are worse today. Because politicians think criminals are victims, and crime, decay, and insanity are normal conditions of city life rather than aberrations.
101
@B. Can't agree with you more!
"In the 1970s and 1980s, guys wanted your wallet (or pocketbook). Now, they bloody your face for the fun of it."
Well said, random unprovoked crimes are a lot more scary than property-related crimes. Because you can be the most careful and it will still hit you anytime, that's why the PERCEPTION of safety is hugely down. That's where you get the "walking dead" vibes in NYC where its extremely toxic
We should charge unprovoked gruesome attacks more seriously than say, simple robbery or theft (resulting no injury). But of course, progressives are going to stop charging either as felonies.
20
So much commentary about the city’s woes compares today’s conditions with “the bad old days” , the 1970s.
For us, the biggest difference is that we could afford to live in the city in 1970, when, as broke newly-wed 22-year-olds, we paid $250 for a renovated studio on lower 3rd Ave.
We got memberships to MOMA, went to the theater, tried out little restaurants, went to the movies, including a showing of A Separate Peace in a theater near Bloomingdale’s, where we saw Jackie Kennedy stand up in a row near the front to signal to her children as they arrived.
We explored every inch of Central Park, rode the subways, rejoicing when we got a rare car with air conditioning. Every day, we walked back and forth to the West Village, our favorite neighborhood, but after dark we were careful to pick a route where there were some lighted stores.
We loved the city, having no more shining version with which to compare it. But our apartment was robbed twice, the building’s resident prostitutes started keeping a gun on the radiator in the doorway, and a friend’s head was bloodied by bottle-wielding street guy.
Unable to afford a slightly bigger apartment in a neighborhood with a playground and less street crime, we left when we had children.
Visiting often, we have enjoyed wonderful additions, the High Line, the beautiful string of parks along the Hudson, Brooklyn Bridge Park, a rejuvenated Lower East Side.
The city is way better than it was in 1970. Wish we could afford it!
10
@Horrified In Florida Trust me- you're still better off where you are(I still miss PB County)..only come up here for a 3-5 day vaca.
1
As a native New Yorker, I have zero hope.
Covid and violence on top of a city that was already transformed - since Bloomberg – as a playground for the enjoyment of affluent young professionals, rich people and tourists.
The inequality and stratification is massive and keeps growing.
Pre-Covid and continuing…
There has been affordable housing loss as small buildings torn down for luxury high-rises; neighborhoods destroyed as local shops have been replaced by chains, nail salons; less and worse bus and subway service but daily endangerment from bicyclists and the growing bicycle infrastructure; overflowing trash and rats; more luxury parks in affluent Manhattan (Little Island, West Side piers etc) but no green space in underserved areas; no place to walk due to new Covid restaurant street-shanties; supermarkets disappearing due to high rent; a dysfunctional and politicized school system and more...
We used to know our neighbors - but now our building is full of rotating affluent residents who order delivery and check their phones.
There is no longer a sense of neighborliness, community, cordiality. That loss is the worst - and so nothing to stay for any more.
29
@LS
You are so right. Bloomberg started it; DeBlasio continued it, and Adams is on record as favoring development for the rich
11
I was in NY in November, things were starting to roll again although I saw more shops and more business that were closed due to pandemic, but not different from other European cities as Madrid or Paris.
I do know that NY will recover again as many other large cities in America and Europe when all this omicron go away. Today somewhere, unknown for all of us, a composer is giving the final touches to the musical that will be a resounding success in Broadway in 2023, a writer is trying to correct the pages of that novel that will be number 1 in NYT Best Seller list for several weeks in 2023. This part of "invisible life" is running and is strong. When everything return to normal, NY will be that marvelous city that I do love so much every time I go.
16
When everything return to normal, NY will be that marvelous city that I do love so much...
NOT going to happen.
6
@FLombao But Madrid is clean and I saw far, far less homeless and insane people running the place. Plus, the subway in Madrid is clean and safe. I haven't ridden the NYC Subway because I'm frightened to death of getting killed. Not my experience in Madrid, or Barcelona which is in rougher shape than Madrid. And Paris is much more alive than NY and people are back at work, albeit a few days a week. To me there's no comparison.
13
@h king
That's what they said in the fifties when everyone left for the suburbs, the seventies during the financial crisis, 2020 when everyone left for the Hamptons or Upstate.
And yet, New York is still here, with new creative people moving in every day.
4
In the pre-cellphone era, there was more camraderie underground --there was shared griping and people were more attentive to threats to others. As a teen in the 80s I was nervous on the subways but it also felt like we were in it together. I find that people under 35 don't even respond if you speak to them-they don't expect it.
27
I think Eliza Xu said it best: "Life is too boring, it’s tiring." This is exactly what's happening in NY. No one goes into the office, so midtown is dead, restaurants are empty or boarded up, the sheds are disgusting and there is no more joy. And it's not only the commuters who aren't coming in. People who live and work in Manhattan aren't bothering to go into the office either because they don't feel safe on the subways, or because offices are empty and why go in to have a videoconference? And if you commute, who wants to go back to 2 hours on the train every day?? Unfortunately, the life of Manhatttan (unlike the other boroughs) depends on people coming in to work. When you're already out of the house it's easier to later on go to the theatre, restaurants, bars, etc. If you're hanging out in your joggers all day long, it takes a lot of effort to get dressed and go out. And like it or not, this is a business, oriented city. I'm not sure what we can do about this since the nature of work will undoubtly change, but it will take a long time for NY to come back. In the meantime, some of us have a life to live and are relocating to states or countries that yes, take Covid seariously, but where life is not so tiring and boring.
35
I don’t understand what police don’t adamantly and loudly support gun control. It’s their lives that are put in danger with guns everywhere
21
@Ng Hai
or avoid wearing masks. Or showing respect for those they "protect and serve"
Yup, life is full of oxymorons.
you'd think this would be a non-starter but for the hysterical and emotionally unhinged in our society.......esp .cops- (after all we keep hearing they are human beings too-and react like others)
7
We do have gun control in New York City. Guns are illegal here.
We also have gun runners driving down to South Carolina, buying guns cheap, and selling them here for a little more. These guys come out of the same neighborhoods as the gangstas who use them.
Swapping handguns for $500 iPads is a joke. A tidy profit can be made, and more guns are purchased.
Any crime committed with a gun deserves a 20-year sentence, period, no time off for good behavior.
If you don't like that, frisk them and confiscate the guns before they can commit crimes with them. And constantly.
Hurt feelings are no excuse.
9
Huh? Many police do support gun control. They are not a monolith.
10
I have lived in NY for the past 20 years. And in the past 6 months, I have really started in feel unsafe in NY, especially in the subways. There are hundreds of homeless people roaming the stations, platforms and the trains. We have always had homeless people before. But the folks we see these days are different. They terrorize and menace the riders. They scream in your face and threaten to harm you. I sincerely believe that Blasio and his progressive policies of the last 8 years have really jeopardized the physical safety of NYC inhabitants. I don't know what it's like in the 70s and I wasn't here. But I can say that NYC is at its lowest point right now since I moved here 20 years ago.
111
So where do we put the homeless?
4
@Ng Hai The homeless belong in institutions, group homes, or supervised housing as their needs warrant. They cannot be permitted to live in stations, on trains, or on the street. Many have criminal records and /or are afraid of other homeless who have criminal records. We need to take action on this NOW, Mr. Mayor.
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New York City was ruined by the money-takers long before coronavirus arrived.
20
This is a national trend. Some combination of Covid and police sick-outs means that there are fewer officers available at any given time.
Meanwhile everyone is under far more stress thanks to the pandemic.
As a result some places have more violent crime. In LA, killings by police are up too.
Let’s also recognize police PR when we see it. This wave of crime stories and how they’re reported reduces the political will to cut police budgets.
8
What has most visibly changed on a macro level, apart from the Covid crisis, is the number of visibly mentally ill people on the street -- thousands of them, ubiquitous and sometimes confrontational. Let's please be honest about that -- it's not, e.g., gun crime -- while tragic, those events are more isolated ones.
This crisis in turn was inevitable given the simple math of recent health care policies. Numerous health care mergers and decreased Medicaid reimbursements -- and enormously attractive profits for other health care pursuits -- have led to a steady decrease in available beds and other community mental health facilities.
Gov. Cuomo then hastened this trend by suspending the "Certificate of Need" applications which required hospitals to go through a public process before closing or changing services.
And the Covid crisis itself of course presented other, immediate health care needs.
So these folks either can wind up on the streets or in prison -- in fact, 12 percent of the NY prison population has a "serious illness" according to a recent report. That's a lot.
If we can find a way to assist the seriously mentally ill population, the subways and streets will seem and be safer.
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@JD The politicians and the "civil rights" lawyers colluded to close the mental hospitals. We need to bring them back to protect the mentally ill from the cold and hunger of the streets and to protect civil society from the violence and disorder that some mentally ill people cause.
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You hit the nail on the head. The reason why it is worse now than in the 70’s is because so many mental health services and hospitals are gone and many more guns in this country.
It shows the author's biases, to emphasize right at the top that NYS "is far safer and stronger than in the '70s", before you even begin to read the article.
NYC was a horrible place in the ’70s. No one felt safe, and everyone was rushing for the exits as fast as they could, businesses and residents. People are worried now, exactly because the continuous slide to the bottom, and the rising crime wave, homelessness, lack of care for the city, persistent in-you-face low level crimes and misdemeanors going uncared for everywhere, reminds people of what happened in the 70s and they see the direction.
As I've seen before in the NYTimes in other articles on this topic, the author is making sure to minimize the issue, 'it's not as bad as the 70s', in order not to make progressive policies and politicians look bad. Everyone sees through this game and has no more patience for it.
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@Jay Yes I completely agree. Using the 70s as a benchmark is very misguided and biased. I have lived in NY for 20 years now and it is at the lowest point.
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@Jay
I don't know if it's really to minimize the issue or to counter some of the attitudes that have pervaded this country for some years now. Everything that happens to modern American society is always the woe is poor us, the worst ever, no one has ever had to deal with what we have, etc.
You can point out that while things are far from good now - and perhaps getting worse - it does not directly make progressives "look bad" (whatever that actually means) any more than it makes conservatives look bad. The only thing along those lines that makes either side look bad is when they cling to the same stale rhetoric every time even when things get worse or just don't improve. From the right wing "lock 'em all up" to the left wing "we need more social services", the truth generally lies in the middle, with both points have some validity in certain circumstances. Yet we spend more time arguing about and defending which side is correct than actually doing something. Try stuff, and if it doesn't work don't fall back on ego and keep the same approach or the "we just need more of it" attitude. It doesn't work.
10
@Jay it shows the author's biases to state a fact?
the author points out that, e.g. there are less than a quarter of the number of killings nyc experienced in its high-crime period, b/c folks who have concerns about the situation today keep saying things like janet miller, and john cuban were quoted as saying in this article about how we're "going back to the ’70s."
people can claim what they want, including you, but facts are facts. the fact is that nyc is clearly less dangerous than it has been in the past. our crime figures right now are equivalent to those in bloomberg's third term. i've lived here for 20 years; every single crime stat is down drastically from when i moved here, which means they're all down *enormously* from the peak crime years of 30-40 years ago.
we can use concrete numbers: this "continuous slide to the bottom" you say has people worried has brought us from 292 murders in 2017 (the lowest number since the early 50s, even as people like you were claiming the mayor was ruining the city) to 488 now. in the 70s murders ranged from 1117 (1970) to 1733 (1979). in the 80s they reached 1905 and peaked in 1990 at 2245 before dinkins initiated the 28-year decline which lasted til 2018.
your fears are overblown, nothing you say will change that fact, and claiming that any mention of facts or context amounts to an attempt "not to make progressive policies and politicians look bad," is utter nonsense.
3
I just visited the city the first week of January for the first time since before the pandemic. It was a shell of of the city I once knew. Empty storefronts & closed restaurants. There are so many covid restrictions that many tourists are simply going elsewhere. And don’t underestimate the very high taxes & endless regulations in NYC which have driven away many people & businesses. Something has to give.
29
@Mike L It is possible to take Covid seriously and have a vibrant city. Rome, Paris, Barcelona and Florence have done it so NY can do it. What's the difference? Higher vaccination rates so more people go to restaurants, etc., people actually going back into offices, less crime and homeless people. NY is suffering from the horrible mismanagement by DeBlasio and it will take years to get back to normal.
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@Mike L
What did you expect during Covid? We take it seriously, unlike South Carolina.
5
@akamai
Then why do we have a worse mortality rate than SC, FL, etc?
3
Perhaps Mayor Adams can explain how is calling for tighter gun control measures square with his support of the police whose unions support Republican candidates who adamantly oppose even those modest of gun measures.
And I'm waiting to see if the police blame Adams for the shooting of the cops the same way they blamed de Blasio. I doubt they will and it demonstrates their hypocrisy when they say it's about their safety and not politics. Of course we know this is what is about as they felt Dinkins was a lousy mayor despite the murder rate beginning to decline while he was mayor and Giuliani a great one although he inherited that decline.
8
@Steve Guiliani was hated by most NYR's.
5
@barbara
So how did he get elected and reelected?
2
@barbara
If by NYR's, you mean Republicans, he was elected as a Republican, in every one of his campaigns.
3
It's hard to argue that this isn't anything but a depressing period but we should keep it in perspective. My parents grew up in the city during the Depression. My mom lived in a cold water flat in Hell's Kitchen, shared a bathroom with the neighbors and worked in the evening sewing dresses that my grandmother brought home from the dress making shop. My father had it somewhat better in that his family had their own house in Queens. When asked he said, we didn't have it too bad, we always had a roof over our head and food on the table. We were poor but so was everybody else, and a lot of people had it worse off. He and his brothers hustled for work doing whatever odd jobs came along to help make ends meet.
Fast forward a few years, my father and millions of his generation ended up in the most destructive war in history. My dad was lucky in that he was only slightly physically wounded while several of his friends died in combat.
As for today, the world moves in cycles. When Covid abates, we will get a lot of our lives back, but the city will have to adapt to the new normal, whatever that will be but history has shown us to be resilient. I'm in my 60's. Covid has cost me two healthy years of my life and at my age, I'm not sure how many healthy years I have left. However, we must keep going, be positive (and realistic) and try to improve our lot because that's what people do, otherwise, why bother getting out of bed.
30
My parents were just kids during the Depression. Their immigrant parents took any jobs they could get. Most neighborhoods were poor, but New York City was not riddled with crime.
My mother was a teenager during World War Two. She worked the late shift as an usherette in a Manhattan movie theater and took the subway home at night. She didn't worry that she'd be pushed into the tracks by a crazy man.
Yes, things are cyclical, but we cannot blame criminality on poverty.
79
Progressives think they are compassionate and that their policies are compassionate.
Letting obviously mentally ill, chemically dependent people live in the subway and regularly harass and intimidate other people isn’t compassionate to anyone. Electing prosecutors who don’t enforce public safety laws and release offenders, especially illegal gun offenders, right back to the streets , is not compassionate.
The protests had consequences.
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More cops will not solve that problem. Cracking down on crime won’t either because these folks will still get out of Rikers and be even more desperate than when they went in.
Progressives would prefer that halfway houses and other supportive residential housing existed for the mentally ill and substance abusers currently on the streets/subway. But no one wants those in their neighborhood nor wants to pay for it. Despite the facts long proven that it is cheaper to treat people with compassion and care than it is to ship them off to a substandard prison over and over.
17
@GF
So your answer is prosecuting the mentally ill and putting them into jail where they get no treatment? And if your concern is about protecting the lives of others, why not lock up those who refuse to get vaccinated or wear masks as they willingly endanger the lives of others.
19
@Gw
Progressives are all talk-no action when it comes to serious issues concerning the city. They spend more time championing issues such as removing statues in City Hall, or renaming and repainting streets in support of BLM.
Millions, if not billions of dollars, have been spent over the past few years on various initiatives for homeless and mental health services. What do they have to show for all this money being spent? High profile crimes that have become national news stories and an argument for the right-wing to label NYC as a crime-infested wasteland?
30
things will return to normal once the pandemic ends, sure you keep on believing that!
16
I see no good reason why The City does not reinstate Stop 'n Frisk immediately.
Next, I want to see The State bring back the death penalty. That's what people who kill subway riders, cops, Burger King cashiers, bodega workers, pedestrians and other such wholly innocent victims deserve.
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@MikeinNYC
A federal judge determined that Stop and Frisk is unconstitutional. The bias in which it was created and executed unfairly discriminates against communities of color and socioeconomically disenfranchised people. So the “one good reason” not to bring it back is the United States Constitution.
14
@MIKEinNYC this Democrat agrees 100%
20
But it’s the bodega workers, Burger King cashiers, pedestrians, and college students waiting outside their apartment building who were frisked. While the mugger robbed the old lady around the corner. Frisking was used to harass, not to stop crime. We need community policing. That is, police who walk in the neighborhood, who know the people in the neighborhood, and who can gain the trust of the neighborhood.
14
Much of this can be laid right at the feet of Bill De Blasio whom the times endorsed twice!
Also stop trying to divert to gun violence.
No one gets shoved in front of a subway with a gun, slashed in the face with a gun, smash and grab merchandise with a gun, randomly punched in the face with a gun.
These are the things that make us feel unsafe.
If only all the victims of these acts were profiled in this paper, even once.
But these victims do not fit a narrative where the criminal is already the victim, the police are the victimisers, and the rest of us are privileged former enslavers.
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@Frumious Bandersnatch
So if de Blasio is to blame, how come the murder rate didn't increase in all the other years he was mayor. And how is he responsible for the increased murder rate in virtually every other city? If he was that powerful, he'd have been successful in his run for president.
10
@Steve NYC was an outlier for 20 years on the crime and was the safest big city in the US. Now you are dabbling in "whataboutism" to defend a mayor who undermined a 20 year success story.
Broken windows policing works. Progressive policies don't.
13
Steve, both New York City's economy and its street safety were running on auto-pilot from the Bloomberg years.
It took de Blasio a while to empty the city coffers and let our quality of life degrade utterly, but by golly he finished the job.
11
Fear not. SCOTUS is about to arm the entire population of the City and all will be well again.
9
I’ve noticed that there apparently appears to be no law enforcement anymore. There are hundreds of officers standing around Rockefeller center doing literally nothing. Meanwhile there are no cops patrolling the subways or intervening when they see homeless people suffering psychotic breaks on 8th Ave.
36th street between 7th and 10th is a literal open drug market with people openly using drugs on the street. Don’t believe me? Just walk on over and see for yourself. The police are still pouting because of the BLM protests two years ago.
The mayor needs to get his act together and start cleaning up NYC.
116
@N There are plenty of cops patrolling the subways; the problem is that they don’t appear to be doing much of anything. Oh well, at least they wear masks now (some of the time, at least).
20
It's a futile exercise to arrest perpetrators, book them, be forced to release them, and do it all over again the next day. No wonder cops just stand around.
Especially when they get selectively videoed by cop-hating onlookers who put their videos on social media.
Then there are the ones who respond to 911 calls and get killed.
39
Yeah. They stand together, 3 or 4, at the stiles so kids don’t try to jump through.
This is a sobering article and fortunately one that ends with a. Reminder about why a city like NYC are so important. They are places where people actually interact. You have your friends of course, but you also have “your people” those whom you may not know well, but those who populate your life - the news guy, the woman whose checkout line you always choose etc.
One paragraph stood out for me.
“It feels like it’s getting worse, and I don’t know what they’re going to do to straighten it out,” said Michael Marcus, a barber trimming a customer’s beard in Harlem, just a block from that fatal shooting of the officer. “They have to think of something.”
While i agree that public officials have to take actions, i want to suggest that ALL OF US have to do something. We have to bring our best selves forward and watch out for others. Be alert on the subway, not just for yourself, but for your fellow riders. Help the transit police do their job and call one over. If you are angry about something, don’t sit on a horn, or yell at someone who is not responsible for what is really making you angry, take responsibility for your own feelings and do something productive with your anger - Pray, talk to someone, take political action, turn off the angry news - anything productive.
Kindness and caring cant solve every problem, but our society and our safety is all if our work and all of our responsibility.
32
@Jim S I agree! It's not "they" it's "us".
3
Worth the time to reflect here on that past so often romanticized.
6
The recent pandemic-sparked bump in violent crime is nowhere near the historic highs New York City once endured. But the news media keep sensationalizing the crimes that occur, with counterbalancing information about the actual level of crime and danger in the city deeply buried below paragraph after paragraph of horrific reports. Homeless, disturbed people are not criminals in any reasonable sense of the word. The roots of domestic and gang violence are economic, not caused by guns. The mayor's promise to get tough will do nothing to change these trends, nor will his plea for gun control -- witch is not going to happen on any scale that would see guns disappear from the city. The "toughness" charade will please Wall Street and the gun message will signal virtue to NIMBY liberals. But this is basically all a pantomime.
7
The increase in violent crime was sparked by the lawless 2020 protests. Our peer countries do not have this increase.
10
@arvay No it isn't. The city is markedly more dangerous and violent. And yes, I grew up here in the 70's so remember the bad old days. So what? Just because the past was worse doesn't mean we have to put up with living a garbage city now. Some of us pay a lot of money to live here and we have a right to expect only the best.
7
@N I agree, and the we the taxpayers are going to shell out millions of dollars to settle the lawsuits brought by citizens whose right to peacefully assemble was criminally violated by our over funded, over militarized police department.
The 70s is a horrific standard to measure against.
Crime is skyrocketing, particularly violent crime.
Commercial real estate vacancies are up due to the triple whammy of Covid on retail foot traffic, labor shortages, and learning how to work from home.
With a DA who sees criminals as the victim, working from home becoming standard, and labor shortages evolving towards permanent, prospects for conditions in NYC to improve within the foreseeable future would seem dim.
56
Similar things are happening in cities all around the country. Yes, covid is part of it, but let's face it....if this country didn't spend so much money on defense, the military, homeland security and spying on its own citizens, there would be plenty of money to lift and improve the lives of everyone in America. Inflation is out of control, yet millions are working for minimum wage, or close to it. Cities are 'booming' because of private investment, not from the reinvestment of tax dollars into roads, schools or public health. Inequality is growing into a monster because little is being done to 'float all boats', and as a result only a few can rise above the waves. This is not a recipe for long term success or public safety, in NY or anywhere else. Those in government need to wake up fast and deliver something to change this dynamic and restore balance. If they can't or won't the future looks grim.
39
I feel that I, myself, as well as the city, need to evolve to some new unknown form to survive. Forget “Normal.” New job, new circle of people, new set of values … each individual cell must stay strong to improve the greater body. I’d consider moving if there was a place I loved more or isn’t suffering on some similar level. The Future is an especially dangerous place, and I am determined to see if I’m strong enough to be a part of it. I want to be a part of it, New York, New York.
13
I’ve been avoiding the subway for a long time now, and it’s not Covid anymore. I used to take it multiple times a day to work, to meet friends, to appointments around the city, and wherever I was going. I recently took it to get into midtown for an appointment because I figured it would be more convenient than driving, and I was terrified the entire time. I and others around me were screamed at and menaced, both on the platform and on the train, by some homeless people demanding money and others who weren’t demanding money at all, but were apparently just violently ranting and seemed a minute away from a psychotic break. I won’t be in a rush to repeat that experience.
I am surprised but glad that the NYT is shining a light on the average New Yorker’s experience of feeling threatened and unsafe in our own city.
155
@KMT The $6.75 the outer Borough to Manhattan express buses look better every day. Not cheap but no screaming homeless people, no stench of human waste. And the buses have high-backed soft seats, usb ports, etc.
23
The mentally ill and the homeless need to be cleared from the subway system - it’s not a shelter, and unless they are traveling meaningfully to someplace, they are a menace. I don’t care what homeless advocacy groups say - there’s no reason to place the civil rights of this sick few above the safety of us all. A small percentage of sick people simply can’t co-exist in greater society, and that’s a fact. Bring back broken windows policing, stop and frisk, and institutionalization if that’s what it takes to get the city back under control - social justice policing hasn’t figured out how to actually protect the public yet.
145
This new mayor needs to stop talking the talk and try walking the walk.
There was a reason why the rank and file were not big supporters of the new mayor. It's becoming evident.
38
I live in a comfortable and wealthy part of town close to Central Park. My neighborhood has really deteriorated in the last 8 years and I can only imagine what others must be experiencing in less affluent areas. I am lucky that I can walk or take an uber or taxi wherever I need to go. I was never a fan of the subway when younger, but would ride them fearlessly and certainly if needed during inclement weather or if my journey was further than walking distance. What horrible individuals we have elected in the last 10 years to let our city rot the way they have permitted. A pox on all their houses. During the recent election the person running for City Council for the 5th district where I live and who eventually won was vacuous and uninterested in anything but her resume when I questioned her in person about concerns like homelessness, derelict shops, scaffold up for years, etc.. Not promising for the future.
164
@Scott I agree. For the progressive "left" - the criminals are now the victims.
14
I would feel a little more optimistic if our new mayor would stop the pop-up press releases each time there’s a horrible incident and start publicly announcing different programs and policies to address all of these issues ASAP. That’s what we hired him for plans not not mugging for the press. Get to work Erick! Enough PR
Longtime citizen and still in love with New York City
76
I emigrated from NYC after a violent attack by an armed ex-con in the St Marks Place subway station for the D train. I was not motivated just by personal security, but also by an impression that NYC was no longer a good place for young children. Now there is a large political movement in NYC that does not seem to care about citizen safety or providing a nurturing environment for kids. But this new mayor, Adams, is not beholden to that movement, and has got me daydreaming about leaving fjords, forests and conformity, and returning.
58
@greg starr hard to take your comment seriously, since there is no St. Marks subway station.
5
He means Astor Place.
6
@Equilibrist West Fourth
2
As someone born and raised in NYC (Queens) I never had a sense of fear. I took the train everyday to Junior High School in Queens then high school into Manhattan at the age of 13. Today, I avoid the subways at all costs and it is not just the covid. It is the same for my grown up children.
Something has to change.
142
@jefny
Something did change. Ignoring supposedly low level offenses is one reason. The bar for civility has been lowered. If NYC is not going to enforce these laws then there is no barrier to increased lawlessness. These are not nuisance offenses; they are the next level of the broken window theory, tarnishing respect for each other.
97
@ArtM
The physical deterioration of the subways began years ago, before De Blasio was Mayor and while the MTA was controlled by Cuomo, who got a free media pass for years despite his malign neglect.
5
@Michael Fiorillo
Wrong. Bloomberg used to brag about how no one had to wait more than five minutes for a subway train in stations that were cleaner than ever. The MTA head honchos pulled the rug from under DeBlasio. I call the MTA Board the Republican Mafia.
3