In the 70’s New York was on edge. Crime was rampant, the theatre district
doubled as the porno district, and every inch of the subway was covered with
Graffiti. I distinctly remember taking
the train from Brooklyn into Manhattan and seeing the signs that read “fight crime,
hide your jewelry.” It wasn’t a nice place.
It was cold, dark, sad, and violent.
I always loved New York.
I knew that underneath the trash, rats, and edgy people there was still
a great city. I knew they just needed an
extreme makeover.
In the 90’s that makeover happened. Giuliani came in, and cleaned the dirt off the city, and made it
the shining apple it once was. The
streets were cleaned, the subway was graffiti free, crime went down, and people
seemed more relaxed…for New Yorkers….Hey, it’s still New York, not L.A.!
I have taken my kids to the city almost every year to
visit. We regularly see the sites, ride
the horse and carriages (another city gem de Blasio wants to ban) and see a
show. It has only been a year since de
Blasio took office, and what a change I can see already.
To my utter shock, there were topless women in thongs
walking up and down the street in Times Square taking pictures with tourists
for money. This is taking place in an area heavily trafficked by families with
small children. These women are “working”
in front of several theatres running Disney productions such as Wicked, The
Lion King, and Aladdin. This area also
has flagship stores for Disney and Toys R Us. These girls are working alongside
others who are dressed up as characters from kids shows such as Elmo, Batman, and
Cookie Monster. They are all targeting the many families touring this area. Think about it, Elmo and strippers are
soliciting patrons side by side. After
seeing all of this, I asked myself…with de Blasio in charge, is New York starting
down a path to that city of the 70’s? Is
Times Square going back to its checkered past?
New York has always had very liberal laws on the books. The reason these women are not getting
arrested is that it is legal for women to be topless in public on New York City
streets. This is considered “art.”
Amazingly, this “art” and other trash seemed to disappear under Giuliani. As a result, New York has profited greatly
from cleaning up their act, tourism has been increasing steadily in the city
for years. Will families be willing to pay the Disney prices of $250 per ticket
to go see The Lion King if they don’t have the Disney atmosphere they expect to
go with it? I doubt it. For the same
price, you can fly your family to Orlando and vacation stripper-free.
I guess in the end, New Yorkers are going to have to decide
what kind of city they want to be. I
think many have either never known, or have long forgotten the New York I grew
up with in the 70’s. I love New
York. It is a city like no other. I hope the people living in the greatest city in the world fight to keep it that way.
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