Monday, November 11, 2013

Gun Shots In Bryant Park About As Ominous As It Gets

We couldn't ask for a more symbolically fraught news event as we stand on the precipice of the DeBlasio administration than an open-air murder attempt mayhem at Bryant Park.

I don't think any locale in the city symbolizes the transformation from the drug-addled, dystopian nightmare of New York City in the bad old days to the rejuvenated, safest big city in America New York of the Guiliani/Bloomberg era.  "Needle Park" as it was known was a hive of the drug trade and a wasteland of homeless junkies that threatened innocent passers-by.  It was a "no go zone."  Right there, in the heart of midtown Manhattan, adjacent to one of the city's best recognized landmarks and top cultural institutions, was a park that all sensible people studiously steered clear of.  It was the essence of tragic municipal dysfunction.

And then came the transformation.  Bryant Park today is a treasure for New Yorkers, a valued respite during the workday and a culturally and socially rich venue on nights and weekends.  You really cannot understate the vastness of the improvement from Needle Park to today's reclaimed Bryant Park. 

A 15 year old witness, who wasn't alive to know what Needle Park was all about, nonetheless, captures the city's understanding of Bryant Park and the NYC of the last two decades.
Shocked skater Brenda Sabater, 15, of Manhattan, called the park “the safest place you could be.” 
“This is the last place I thought something like this could happen,” she said. “I’ve seen stuff like this happen, but never in a place I felt safe.”
The big question - is this a sign of things to come?  Will DeBlasio's give a shit attitude toward quality of life policing turn back the clock?  Will we revert to Needle Park, or some 21st century facsimile thereof, again?


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