A Tale of Two Cities, Indeed

Seven years after invoking Dickens, Mayor Bill de Blasio presides over a yawning safety gap in New York City neighborhoods.

Rafael A. Mangual September 7, 2020

In his 2014 inauguration speech, New York mayor Bill de Blasio said that he’d take on the city’s elite in the name of “social and economic justice.” When it came to his signature issue back then—economic inequality—he pledged, using a Dickensian theme, to “take dead aim at the tale of two cities.” But he also recognized that “our city government’s first responsibility is to keep our neighborhoods safe.”

Nearly seven years later, economic inequality under de Blasio hasn’t changed. But the unequal distribution of serious violent crimes like shootings and murders has gotten worse. There remain two distinct New Yorks, and as crime ticks up, the difference between them is growing more pronounced.

Through August 30, the city’s 290 murders and 1,004 shooting incidents represent year-to-date increases of 33.6 percent and 87 percent, respectively. Manhattan has seen 52 murders and 135 shootings this year. About half (65) of those shootings took place in just three of the borough’s 22 precincts—the 23rd, 25th, and 32nd—all in Harlem. In those precincts, killings are up more than 100 percent, year-to-date. By contrast, Manhattan’s 6th, 19th, and 20th precincts—which cover the West Village, Upper East Side, and Upper West Side—have seen just two murders and three shootings combined..........To Read More....