Rudy On The Protesters:
“Sleeping on the streets is a dysfunctional act. It harms the person, it harms society, it leads to unsanitary conditions that affect public health,” added Giuliani. “The first one who decided to sleep there should have been removed and then the second one, and the third one, and the fourth one and the fifth one.” “They can protest during the daytime if they want to, but if you want to stay over in New York City overnight, you got to rent a room, and if you’re homeless we got plenty of shelters for you,”
In 1991 during the Dinkins administration, I was shot at while walking through that block long underground tunnel that runs under 14th street between the Path trains at 6th avenue and the red line trains at 7th. It was about 8:00 at night and I was walking east. I had gotten about 1/3 of the way through the tunnel when some mixed race kid ran into it behind me followed by another kid who cut loose 5 rapid shots at him.
Ping Ping Ping, was all we heard as the bullets bounced and skipped along the tunnel walls past us, while we bystanders all dove onto the filthy concrete floor. I remember very clearly a matronly looking Latina woman hunching over her two kids about 30 feet from me in an effort to shield them from harm. No one made a sound until it was all over, and then the screaming began. But miraculously, no one was hit, not even the kid who was the target.
After his shots were fired, the shooter spun on his heels and ran back the way he came. Oddly, the kid who was the target paused for a few seconds, and then followed him back the same way - both of them leaving by the 7th avenue entrance or getting on a train. I never went back there to check. We bystanders spent a few moments confirming that none of us was hurt, and then went about our business with a bone chilling story to tell.
The strangest part of the story though was that it didn't make the papers, and wasn't reported on the news. One more shooting in the New York City run by David Dinkins wasn't newsworthy - especially if no one got hurt. There were 2,245 murders in there in 1990 and nearly as many in 1991, so unless there was a pool of blood, the media would simply ignore it. I went by there a few years later to see if I could find any trace of where the bullets had hit the walls but I didn't see anything. It was as if this moment where I could have certainly lost my life but for a little luck, had never even happened.
Just a few years later, in 1995 after Rudy Giuliani had been Mayor for a few years, the city was so much safer that I rented an apartment overlooking the river at 48th st and 8th avenue. Times square had been cleaned up by then, and was so safe that I was happy to live there. During the Dinkins administration it was whorehouses, porn theaters and sex shops, but Rudy made it into a venue suitable for families and tourists.
My point is, if Rudy says arrest the protesters, I'd be inclined to agree with him. Yes he's anti-gun; yes he has a sloppy personal life; yes he's been seen at least one too many times in a dress. But I know from experience that the man knows how to keep the streets safe. And no one is every going to be able to convince me otherwise.
3 comments:
Tom,
I grew up in northern NJ, leaving in the mid-70's for college. On the nightly news, I got to watch all the really cool riots, murder investigations and stuff as a young teenager. Visiting the city meant mugger wallets, kids washing car windows with bigger brothers on the side if you didn't pay, homeless on the streets you shouldn't make eye contact with. All that great stuff. That view of NYC has lasted with me.
Sure, intellectually I know the place is far more people-friendly than I remember. Emotionally? I want no part of it. This pansy lack of response to the OWS children does nothing to convince me that NYC is worth visiting, much less live there.
Ditto. Left NJ in '83. Prior to that spent much of my early childhood in the NYC of the late 70's. I have acute memories of my mother in the car, going back on visits, absolutely terrorized and getting hysterical when we would take a wrong turn somewhere in Far Rockaway and be driving, ever deeper, into some sort of post-apocalyptic horror set... except it was real.
"This used to be an Italian neighborhood, that was a Jewish neighborhood," etc.
I don't discount a strong economy for helping bring NYC back but I credit almost full responsibility for the turn around to Mayor Giuliani and his vision of what NY should be.
Does anyone remember the late 80's/early 90's NYT editorial about how NYC was ungovernable and perhaps the five boroughs should be cut into five separate cities i.e. five mayors? I don't think there was ever a retraction printed acknowledging the complete incompetance of the man then in power vs. Giuliani's subsequent strong leadership.
Completely agree w/Jim In Texas... I go back to visit family on occasion and even that is too much.
Back in the early 90's, during the dark reign of David Dinkins, I would regularly travel up to Columbia University from Hoboken to meet the girl I was dating at the time. I equate the trip as to a quest through the lands of Mordor:
Gangs of 'youths' intimating riders into 'lending' money.
Subway platforms turned into defacto homeless shelters. Crack addicted and the simply crazy babbling to themselves or menacing passengers.
Gauntlets of prostitutes, three-card monte tables, and hoodlums on the streets.
"Mugging by squeegee" should you decide to drive into the city.
When I got to my GF's apartment complex, the hallway was adorned with warning and reports of people who had recently been beaten and mugged. Women being the primary target. The sport of the attackers (now known as flash mobs) was to beat the victims even after they gave up their money.. for sport...
The Dinkins administration was hopeless and helpless. There used to be a tunnel that would allow you to walk from 33rd st up to midtown. It became infested with trash and vagrants. At one point, a young women was dragged behind one of those trash piles and raped. Response? Clean up the tunnel, drive out the undesirables, enforce the law? Nope... They closed the tunnel.
When Giuliani came into power, the changes were rapid and dramatic. Listening to the OWS rabble banging drum outside my office... I really miss Giuliani.
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