Anarchy in New York? (Big Apple community)

[C C]

https://www.city-journal.org/anarchy-in-new-york

EXCERPT: . . . The Covid-19 pandemic led to the release of inmates from jails and prisons across New York. [...] Crime is up dramatically, as released inmates, now adjusted to a climate of permissiveness, resume criminal activity. ... In New York City, it feels as though things are getting out of control. When wildcat protests can take over the streets, blocking traffic at will while cops indicate they have been ordered to stand down, one observes a lack of order. Homeless drug addicts set up camp on lower Broadway and shoot up openly—a sight hard to imagine not long ago, but now common. Hotels on the Upper West Side have been converted into homeless shelters; when neighbors complain about random crime, public defecation, and harassment, local elected officials excoriate them as racists.

Late one night in July, I was walking my dogs around Washington Square Park. Earlier that day, I had noticed a car with Florida plates and a curious open storage area on its roof, jerry-rigged together with brackets and chicken wire, holding an array of clothes, camping gear, and household goods. [...] someone was sitting sideways in the driver’s seat, holding something between his knees. As I passed, he raised a large, compound crossbow, took aim at me through its scope, and pivoted in his seat, tracking my movement.

As soon as I was out of his range of fire, I called the police, who arrested him. They seized his crossbow—loaded with a quarrel, or bolt—and also a machete. [...] I looked him up on the Internet. He has a significant criminal history, including sexual violence and assault charges. ... It took about ten minutes to find out that this guy is seriously disturbed and has a documented history of criminal violence. Yet a few hours after he had pointed a loaded deadly weapon at a stranger, the justice system in New York City turned him loose, back to live in his illegally modified car... (MORE - details)

[Syne]

New York's no-cash bail has ensured a quickly revolving door for criminals.

Sane people need to either vote for their own safety or vote with their feet. Either means waling away for insane Democrat politicians now pandering to the farthest leftists.

[Yazata]

Big city life in many places is rapidly losing its attraction.

Young twenty somethings fresh out of college tend to move to big cities because that's where the nightclubs are, where the singles scenes are, where the cool cafes are, where the live entertainment is, where the stylish 'alternative' shopping is and where the cultural amenities like art galleries are.

Big-city schools are terrible and the streets are no place to raise kids, but that doesn't impact these young singles. So we tend to see the young college-educated demographic flowing into the big cities in their early twenties and flowing out maybe ten years later as they establish families.

But... cities no longer possess any of their former attractions. Certainly none that are still open in our age of lock-downs. Many will never reopen and things might never return to what they were. Cities are increasingly just overcrowded, hugely expensive, disease and crime ridden warehouses for excess people. Boring, sordid and dangerous, nowhere to go, nothing to do. Gathering in groups of people forbidden, but how do you avoid it in a place so crowded without staying in your apartment 24/7?

So the kids are asking themselves why they are paying so much for a tiny little studio apartment in a place that's suddenly so dead, boring and restrictive. And we are starting to see a reverse flow out of the cities.

Which will leave cities increasingly dominated by the other groups besides the hip college educated kids who are also attracted downtown like moths to a flame - drug addicts, criminals and the mentally ill. They aren't going anywhere.

The more cities turn their backs on and even seem determined to repel their more productive residents and transform themselves into giant social service agencies catering to the more disfunctional and troubled demographic, the worse it's going to get.

Covid might be what pushes some of the hipper big cities over the edge into the return of old-style urban blight.

[Syne]

But... cities no longer possess any of those attractions. (Certainly none that are open. Many will never reopen.) Cities are just overcrowded, hugely expensive, disease and crime ridden. Boring, sordid, dangerous and disfunctional.

Hear, hear.