Is there still lots of crime in New York ?
1. muggings / killings in central park
2. prostitution
3. ghettos
4. gangs
5. prostitution
6. drug dealing
7. garbage all over Park Avenue
I visted New York last summer. I was stranded there and I had to spend the night at a hotel. The food in the hotel was expensive ($50 for 3 hamburgers). And the hotel room was freezing cold.
A cab driver took me for a drive around New York. It was during the evening. I saw Times Square all lighted up. The saw the Brooklyn Bridge , the Empire State Building , where 9/11 happened, Statue of Liberty , etc I paid the cab driver $100. He really wanted $110.
I took some pictures , but not many turrned out. Pictures were too dark. I’ll probably never visit New York again in my life. I’m not rich enough to travel often. I visited Palermo , Sicily last summer. It was beautiful there. I missed my plane and there were no flights available back home. That’s my reason for being in New York. I visted New York by accident.
I saw New York in movies , but I never dreamed of visisiting it. In the movies , New York is shown as a city with bad neighborhoods , crime , etc
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6 Comments | Add your own
You mentioned prostitution twice
You visited last yeqr and you ask about the 1970′s. I don’t understand.
The city is much improved since then, Muggings happen in Central Park occasionally, but they go down without violence usually. I don’t think that there has been a killing there in a while.
Street prostitution still exists, but it is way down from where it was. I think thta the internet had a lot to do with that. And stepped up enforcement.
Ghettos are less. The city has changed their basic urban renewal concept emphasizing low density occupant-owner situations above large scale housing projects. It is more manageable for them and a better neighborhood as a result.
Gangs are less. During the ’70′s they were everywhere, mostly but not exclusively black and latino groups.
Drug dealing is less obvious thabn it was, but I am sure that it is still a big problem.
And Park Avenue is clean, as I always remember it being.
I am sorry that you had a bad experience here, but I assure you that it is not typical. Plan a trip here and you will see it in a much better light. $50 for three burgers is ridiculous unless they were great. With all the trimmings and beverage, too. Sightseeing is best done on your own, Much cheaper that way, too.
Plan a trip. Stop by here for advice first.
New York city is the most Beautiful place on earth and it is one of the safest major city’s in the country.
if you ever make it back check out park slope ( neighborhood of Brooklyn) and greenwich village ( area of Manhattan)
It has change a lot since the 1970s. The crime rate is down, Times Square is cleaned up, even Park Avenue is once again a Grand Boulevard.
Good luck
I know someone who went to a posh upper East Side restaurant. Dinner for two cost $850 plus tip. Some say it was a crime.
I moved to NYC in 1977 – I was not quite 18. I remember the late 70s very well. I still live in NYC today.
First of all, there was NEVER garbage all over Park Avenue! There were garbage strikes, sure, during which bags of garbage piled up for a few weeks. But it is not as you describe it. Doormen piled them up! And it didn’t go on forever.
Yes, there was drug dealing and prostitution in parts of the City, and NYC was far more dangerous back then. But it didn’t effect how I lived my life much. Okay, I was much less likely to want to go to certain parts of town, particularly after dark. But I went out, I rode the subways, I enjoyed the City. (And I ignored the guys who whispered “Blue smoke” and “loose joints” as I walked past them in Washington Square Park.)
But there were good things about the City then, too. It was MUCH cheaper to live here. Subways were half fare on Sundays. A student or an artist or performer could afford to live in Manhattan. There were quirky little shops that had individual personalities to them.
Some things have changed and you got me if it’s better or worse. Times Square is a good example. Times Square in the 70s was a horror! Prostitution and crime were a part of the scene in Times Square back then. I’d leave a Broadway play (which I could afford to go to back then, because tickets were so much cheaper, btw) at 11 pm and RUSH to the subway to get out of that area! But today, it’s MUCH safer and cleaner and all…but I’m not sure it’s better! It’s really artificial and not at all like NYC! I hate the new Times Square. But then again, the old one was just awful as well.
Why did you compare it to the 1970s?
I lived in New York city then and have been told it is much better since then.
You wont see the headline in the Daily News – “Obama to New York: Drop Dead”.
Needle Park near W. 72nd St. subway station, near the Astoria Apartments.
There were drug addicts in Bryant Park.
I experienced a garbage strike, a transit strike and a blackout.and Elvis death.
John Lennon’s vigil outside the Dakota that night.
The LL train still had some cars with leather straps.
Ohrbachs, Gimbels, Korvettes and Alexanders.
Bella Abzug’s crazy hats. Abe Beam was mayor then Ed Koch: “How am I doin’”
I saw famous people, Jackie Onassis, Beverly Sills, Pope John Paul.
BMCC in Times Square next to Tango Palace dance hall. Elevators not running, no heat in winter. Wonderful.
No parking, slipping on icy streets, Sabrett hot dogs, Fox’s U-bet, Newsday, CP Zoo, the Bowery hobos, the Chelsea Hotel, Donnell Library, Ray’s Pizza, Chock Full o’Nuts, Nedick’s hot dogs, White Castle hamburgers.
I love New York.
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