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Mara Gay
New York Needs a Turnaround to Show That Big Cities Still WorkJan. 10, 2025
Credit...Andrew Seng for The New York TimesAnyone paying attention could be forgiven for wondering just what is going on in New York, which lately seems hellbent on affirming the worst, most tired tropes of critics of big-city liberalism.
The crimes taking place in the subways are genuinely alarming. Over the holidays, a man lit a woman on fire on the F train in Brooklyn, killing her. The man, who is an undocumented immigrant, has pleaded not guilty and told investigators he was too drunk to remember what happened. It’s among the grimmest crimes in New York I can remember. On the same day, a man was stabbed to death on a train in Queens, and on New Year’s Eve a man was shoved in front of a subway train in Manhattan, fracturing his skull.
Felony assaults in the subway system are up 55 percent since 2019. Though overall crime is down throughout the city and homicides have fallen, felony assaults last year were up 5 percent over 2023, and the number of reported rapes was the highest since 2020.
Instead of leading New York to better days, Mayor Eric Adams has engulfed City Hall in corruption and scandal. Mr. Adams was indicted on federal bribery charges in September. Aides and top police officials continue to resign while under criminal investigation or indictment. On Monday, federal prosecutors submitted a new court filing saying that they had found unspecified “additional criminal conduct” committed by the mayor.
In less than two weeks, a man who rode to office describing American cities as places of “carnage” and New York a “city in decline” will occupy the White House. New York has rarely had more to prove. Its leaders will have to find a way to turn this story around, not only to improve the quality of life for residents but also to show America that big cities can still work.
Success will mean at last bringing an end to the spikes in many crimes that have dogged the city — particularly in its subway system — since the pandemic. New York remains among the safest big cities in the United States, but the statistics are often overshadowed by growing fear, which can hurt transit ridership and the economy. The new police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, is off to a promising start by shaking up the department’s old guard and its dysfunction, but the task ahead is daunting.
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