"... stared the manager in the face, grabbed a bag of Utz chips, and walked away. The manager asked him to give back the bag. The man idly swung the pipe through the air. A group of 20-somethings edged farther down the platform. The manager, an older South Asian man, went back to his stand and opened a thermos to pour himself a drink. After the thief wandered elsewhere, I asked the manager if this happens regularly. He shrugged. What was he supposed to do? And what should a thoughtful New Yorker want for the subway system? More police or fewer? More social workers to better serve the unhoused population, or more forced evictions from stations to get the rest of the city moving more freely again? And was it embarrassing, antisocial, racist, and a betrayal of your city to admit you’d rather pay for an Uber? One of the proudest New Yorkers I know told me she now avoids the subway after 10 p.m. She didn’t feel great about it but couldn’t take it anymore. She had finally seen one too many penises."
From "Who’s Afraid of the Subway? Riding every line in the days after the Sunset Park shooting" (NY Magazine).
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66 comments:
Progressive policies have killed NYC. I have NO DESIRE to ever go back, and I went often. Progressives are ruining EVERY American city. It's really sad...
"One of the proudest New Yorkers I know told me she now avoids the subway after 10 p.m. She didn’t feel great about it but couldn’t take it anymore. She had finally seen one too many penises."
Sure sure. THAT'S why she stopped taking the subway. lol.
Something missing from that otherwise-graphic description of the newsstand encounter.
Party like it's 1979, baby.
"She had finally seen one too many penises."
I put the over-under on the number of penises a NYC female will/has seen in her life at approaching 8-10,000. But sure...the subway penises are the deal-breaker.
Bitches please. Everyone on planet Earth knows how many penises you've seen. You can tell us you're afraid of being murdered...it's ok.
thank you democratic party. Thank you for all the riots. Thank you for all the crime. Outstanding job Joe. You do you.
I was in Denver for a medical appointment, at one of the large and ever growing medial campuses. Construction under-way. Anyway - the sidewalk was pushed into the road with large concrete barriers on one side and scaffolding creating a make-shift safely tunnel. I began my walk-thu when I see a man with his penis out - peeing against the side wall of the concrete barrier. I quickly turn around, exit, and walk down the street instead.
I felt a bit bad for the guy as I didn't want to embarrass him. He was wearing a jacket that advertised his being a Vietnam Vet.
The homeless crisis has reached critical mass. Not to mention the other problem - the drug - thief - transient problem. and that's all up and down the front range.
I would find NY city unbearable, I'm sure.
This is what the left wants for us all.
The rich people of course don’t have to deal with this. The wealthy and the poor are just ganging up on the middle class.
Too many after 10 PM penises. Sounds worse than a Disney corporation board meeting.
Last time I looked NYC was a Democracy. Don't like crime? complain to the pols, and vote for Pols who will get tough on criminals. But do they? Nope. Instead, they vote for the same people over and over.
Old punchline: "A conservative is a liberal who has been mugged."
This story is reporting on 1970s-style NYC once again. Sex clubs in Times Square, graffiti covering subway cars, and "white flight" to the suburbs. This time around remote work has gutted NYC and other high-density urban cores, so it's upper-income driven rather than race driven. This mixes semi-retirement flight to The Hamptons or Florida with living a paranoid shut-in's Amazon/food delivery lifestyle.
Message to all failing US city-states: The old economic model is dead. You are zombies and have lost your historic economic advantages.
Wile E. Coyote is hanging in mid air and starting to look at the canyon below.
Well, life in New York is certainly more complicated in unnecessary ways that it needs to be. The previous post discussed pounding martinis, while this one talks about having to accept subway crime as a side 'benefit' for staying faithful to New York, and the next post describes not having enough regard for sex workers when buying those fetishful things that they use in their trade.
So much to think about for New Yorkers. Takes a special kind of person to live there, I guess. It's what I've been told my entire life, but it used to mean other things than it does today.
As for the subway issues, I loved this quote: "One of the proudest New Yorkers I know told me she now avoids the subway after 10 p.m. She didn’t feel great about it but couldn’t take it anymore. She had finally seen one too many penises."
First of all, too many penises is known to mess up any room. So she makes a good point there. But it's so typically a lefty thing to apologize for defaulting to common sense over appearing to support "social justice" by avoiding the subway after 10pm. Hell, I avoided going into the City of Detroit the entire last decade I lived in that area (back in the 80s). Subway? Hell, I avoided the city. It's called rational self-interest. Staying alive is more important that today's cause. Especially when that cause has evolved into something so obviously bad and wrong.
One of the proudest New Yorkers
She? Is she also white? Asking for readers of the New Yorker.
I find this type of speech pattern a method of applying shaming to all those found not proud enough. And I suspect the author would find issues with MAGA, yet will fail to notice how their editorial could be described as Make New York Great Again.
I have no pity for any of these New Yorkers- you reap what you sow.
Isn't it Great? Living in a zoo?
And an interactive zoo, better yet!
The best part is, this is coming Everywhere. I'm in Des Moines for a family reunion, and have had 3 days of animal watching. We have lost our cities.. All of them
Anyone who says "unhoused population" is not someone to be taken seriously. You automatically know that the article is garbage and offers no sane solutions for the problems at hand.
NY media normalizing depravity. Dog bites man.
"People living in subway stations and on trains wasn’t new, and many New Yorkers were now enlightened enough to know that someone in this situation should be viewed with empathy, not fear."
I generally think that "gaslighting" is an overused term, but this article was quite the exercise in it.
NYC's implosion proceeds apace.
It might help to stop tying into one what are really multiple issues. Yes, more police and more ejecting troublemakers in the subways if that's what it takes to make riders safe. And yes to more police and parks control to keep the homeless from taking over scarce R&R space, and yes to cracking down on drug use in public and yes to social workers and programs to help the mentally ill who make up the bulk of the homeless population and yes to making the lives of those capable of holding a job just miserable enough that they get a job or just leave.
Here in Texas we have the DART line in Dallas, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, that is. Can get a bit spooky at 2 AM riding alone.. BUT, everyone in Texas packs a gun..well you have better assume that gents... We also have 'Stand Your Ground' law. Try to rob someone and that may be the end of you.
Thus people behave themselves, least most of the time. Now we do have 'rising crime'.. but then with COVID gone kaput we have lots of more travelers.
"A report to the DART Board of Directors shows Group A Offenses increased 28% in 2021 compared with the year before. Arrests rose 44%.
Group A Offenses include Assault, Robbery, Homicide, Human Trafficking, Burglary, Vandalism, Sex Offenses and Drug Crimes.
There were 314 total offenses and 259 total arrests. DART also wrote more citations, including fare evasion and increased trespass warnings."
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/dart-riders-express-concern-over-crime-and-schedule-changes/2872311/
Notice the number of ARREST. And notice 'group A' includes vandalism?? What is vandalism doing in rape, homicide, robbery? That make the stats look bad when instead you see an increase in vandalism.. not robbery or murder or such.
Anyway, we have more law enforcement AND people have GUNS.
NYC has neither.
Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?
Lol. They feel so guilty about any instinct toward self-preservation.
Is it *wrong* to count the number of dudes hanging out on the platform? Am I going to be solved onto the tracks? Oh dear, shouldn't there be more social workers around? Certainly not - ugh - police.
They can't even take their own side on this issue. No that would be terrible!
It's every large Democrat-controlled city.
Here are LA Metro surveillance videos...
https://vimeo.com/701346094?embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=171977019
Since the author thought race important to the story, telling us that the attendant was South Asian, omitting the race of the thieving pipe boy was an obvious attempt to keep the narrative intact.
I expected "B/D/F/M platform" to be some sort of sexual identity manifesto.
These vagabond shoes...
The Morti-ni Socialist - some people think that martinis are elitist but I think everyone should be able to sip them.
I thought this was for some other-world country, like China or Taiwan. But then realized they would never stand for that kind of shit.
Ah, a "young man". Maybe even a "teen". Or a "youth".
Young Lives Matter!
New York, like most Progressive controlled cities, is now a dystopian theme park. Put ticket booths on all entrances into the city and you are in business.
Paul,
Group A Offenses include Assault, Robbery, Homicide, Human Trafficking, Burglary, Vandalism, Sex Offenses and Drug Crimes.
Never mind the vandalism. How does one commit "Burglary" on a Metro system?
Carol said...
... Oh dear, shouldn't there be more social workers around?
========
where do Proud New Yorkers expect such social worders to live ?
"She had finally seen one too many penises."
And that's just the women showing out. The men are even worse.
“where do Proud New Yorkers expect such social worders to live ?”
Why, the subway, of course…
@Rabel
"And that's just the women showing out. The men are even worse."
It's why they didn't mention the women. They aren't biologists.
"Plaster caster" would scoff.
I don't think that most people are aware that this problem of crazy violent street people is at least 90% down to cheap plentiful methamphetamine. The shit that is out there these days turns people into zombies.
We are paying an awful price for closing down the free state mental hospitals in the 1970's and 80's. During the same time period it became practically impossible to involuntarily commit addicted, unstable, mentally ill people thanks to the ACLU. Even if we changed involuntary commitment laws there is no place to put these folks. So they wander the steets in their own personal hell, and make life hellish for the rest of us. The best infrastructure project for all of America would be a massive project to rebuild the State Hospitals, to reform our civil commitment laws and to provide custodial care to the poor souls that need it. I was a young public interest lawyer while all this was going on, and it was the ultimate in trendy, sexy litigation. We are allowing the beneficiaries of our concern to be treated worse than stray dogs in the name of what?? It changed me from a flaming liberal to a conservative.
Old and slow said...
"I don't think that most people are aware that this problem of crazy violent street people is at least 90% down to cheap plentiful methamphetamine. The shit that is out there these days turns people into zombies."
An article I read said that NYC is just now catching up to the rest of the country in the popularity of meth and the number of users and makers is growing.
If so, they're going to miss the good old days of crack and heroin abuse.
If I can expose it there,
I can expose it anywhere...
rcocean said...they vote for the same people over and over.
NYC had 20 years of Giuliani and Bloomberg--law and order mayors. After one foray into woke idiocy with de Blasio, they put the police chief in charge. So...no.
Screw all of them who vote their moral superiority until the pipe hits home.
Which means almost all of them.
And by home, I don't mean the chattering classes: I mean the working-class chip seller. Or cop. You vote in hundreds of thousands of illegal Chinese to deliver your food and groceries and booze to you while they sleep ten to a room; you persecute law enforcement and border control; you call people racists who don't agree with you, then you bitch that you are inconvenienced with the consequences of your choices when your temporary slave labor gets mugged delivering a nice Merlot and Cantonese Chicken to your apartment as you type away about how vile people are in places like Alabama.
Perverse politics lead to perverse results. Who knew?
"An article I read said that NYC is just now catching up to the rest of the country in the popularity of meth and the number of users and makers is growing."
Probably a function of distance from the Mexican border. According to Sam Quinones in The Least Of Us (highly recommended if you want to understand what has happened to us), the new approach to making meth, using precursors manufactured in China and shipped to Mexico, makes a drug that is very different from what bikers used to cook. Probably, there are no "makers" in New York. You don't cook the stuff in somebody's abandoned camper any more, they produce it by the ton in modern factories in Mexico.
Do you people complaining about beatdowns and murders and the shoeless on the subways not realize that The Met Gala is coming up next week!
50 shades of empathetic.
"She had finally seen one too many penises."
Apparently that is not the case at CNN as they took Toobin back.
I put the over-under on the number of penises a NYC female will/has seen in her life at approaching 8-10,000.
Geez, you think NYC women are like Wilt Chamberlain?
Mandatory death penalty for looting.
Mandatory 5 year sentence (no parole) for any theft over $1.
I don't fucking care anymore.
Assholes and deadbeats deserve to rot in prison.
This isn't people stealing bread to feed their children...
Who was it who decreed that "diversity" means making criminals comfortable and unthreatened? I like polite and law-abiding people of all races, creeds, preferences, etc. It's the people who cannot or will not follow social rules that I hate. Am I crime-ist?
We are paying an awful price for closing down the free state mental hospitals in the 1970's and 80's. During the same time period it became practically impossible to involuntarily commit addicted, unstable, mentally ill people thanks to the ACLU.
The ACLU was part of it but two movies are also to blame, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is one and "The Snake Pit" is another. The public got the idea that psychotics are just like you and me. "The Snake Pit" was made before anti-psychotic drugs were available. Cuckoo's Nest was made when good drugs were available for psychosis and has less excuse.The cost of shit-hole cities might get to be more than people are willing to pay. All that money wasted on "The Great Society" is depressing. Shows how competent our "expert" class is.
@James K
"Geez, you think NYC women are like Wilt Chamberlain?"
NYC women have the highest 'N' on planet earth. Wilt on his best day wished he could have those digits.
I found this a surprisingly good article. No real answers. Acknowledging that the subway has always had its share of nutballs (some harmless, some not so.) But also noting that there’s a different vibe today…it’s not back to normal, which was generally safe but required a habit of alertness. Seems like today requires heightened alertness because the safety level has dropped.
Escape From New York was supposed to be a cautionary tale, not a how-to guide. Frankly, there's no way I'd even visit New York right now, let alone ride the subway. The city's regime has made it plain that they stand foursquare with the violent criminals and psychopaths against the law-abiding citizens. Not worth risking life and limb to visit Fun City these days. I went in 2018 and it seemed safe enough, and I rode the subway without feeling any fear. Nowadays, no way.
Why does New York City, and for that matter, other large U.S. cities, have such problems with crime on mass transit systems? I have traveled quite a bit in past years to foreign cities, and I have never seen this sort of issue on their subways or trains. What is it about our big cities that either encourages or tolerates bad behavior? I certainly never see this in our little town of 30,000 just outside of Houston.
NYC had 20 years of Giuliani and Bloomberg--law and order mayors. After one foray into woke idiocy with de Blasio, they put the police chief in charge. So...no.
DeBlasio was elected twice. Eric Adams retired from the Transit Police with the rank of captain.
@Clyde
"I went in 2018 and it seemed safe enough, and I rode the subway without feeling any fear."
How many penises did you see?
After a “B/D/F/M” platform juxtaposed with BDSM fashion I need to hammer another martini.
"After the thief wandered elsewhere, I asked the manager if this happens regularly. He shrugged. What was he supposed to do?"
He's supposed to pull out his gun, point it at the guys head, say "put down the bag, put down the pipes nd leave here."
And if the guy doesn't do that he should shoot and kill him
And any jury should find him "Mot Guilty, did society a favor"
And that's what should keep on happening until the authorities decide they're going to shut that crap down
rsbsail said...
Why does New York City, and for that matter, other large U.S. cities, have such problems with crime on mass transit systems? I have traveled quite a bit in past years to foreign cities, and I have never seen this sort of issue on their subways or trains. What is it about our big cities that either encourages or tolerates bad behavior?
The Left wants to destroy American society, is why
Those countries with safe mass transit, is because none of the major parties want to burn their society to the ground
What is the law-abiding citizen supposed to do in the NY subway today? Mind his or her own business? That's not enough to get safely home. There's a non-zero probability of being accosted, robbed, beaten or worse. Should the prudent rider start to carry? If so, what rules of engagement: brandishing is OK to scare off trouble, but actually using is not? Using is OK but for God's sake make sure your cameraphone has the whole transaction in gorgeous cinemascope? Using is not OK unless the assailant tries a Trayvon (tries to wrest your weapon from you)?
Nobody knows the rules that will avoid trouble or will minimize the cost of such trouble as may come. This pool of ignorance is not being addressed by the authorities. They have outsourced the entire conundrum --of safe and decent behavior in the face of gigantic new unknowns-- to the poor schmucks who trusted their vote to them.
And people wonder why Bernard Goetz acted as he did.
I moved from a city that averages one murder per day to a city that averages one murder per year. The most observable differences are the first city is 66% black, and the second city is 99% white.
If your local authorities can't or won't suppress the criminal activity then the solution is to live where people don't behave that way.
Then again we don't have a subway here, so I needn't worry about being pushed in front of the trains.
@ RideSpaceMountain
Zero. But then, I suspect pervs doing the wangle-dangle get their jollies doing it to women, not other men.
Hey wince here's the soundtrack to your post... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcADqxnQA_4
Sorry... "Wince"
Rsbsail: it's the sensitivities.
I could not recall the number of penises I had flashed at me or shoved in my face on public transportation and in public libraries in Atlanta in the late 80's and early 90's. At least a dozen before I stopped all but necessary public transit. I was even robbed in a university library while studying for my LSATs. I reported every crime but never had a single transit or university police report taken, even when I demanded it. That shows you the worth of crime statistics.
But I had a platform to complain and was asked to advise a few facilities on how to improve conditions. We armed the library security guards in downtown Atlanta briefly: one soon shot another over some minor argument in the children's book section, and so then it was back to untrammeled penises. The librarians wanted porn filters on the computers, but the ACLU fought for the rights of homeless men to openly jerk off in front of female librarians and customers over the rights of people to use libraries to read books without filthy perverts jerking off left and right. The librarians wore rubber gloves and refused to re-shelve books alone.
The ACLU did not take up the librarians' rights, of course. Their first female national president, Nadine Strossen, was too busy pushing what they called "a woman's right to porn" around that time. Seriously. National tour.
Flashing is a day job for rapists, one veteran detective told me. It's true: rapist sexuality is hard wired to shock and fear, even transiently. Of course we could have arrested them, but there was an unspoken rule to not prosecute for "mere flashing." It drove the street police crazy, but they had to follow orders. More proof that crime stats are useless. Emory University asked me to help make their library safer after a serial masturbator cornered several women in the upstairs stacks and committed frottage into a student's face, but, predictably for their woke dishonesty, they asked me simultaneously to keep quiet about it because, you know, sensitivities.
I wish the few sane people left in New York City well. I wish the ACLU and similar fools a daily hoisting on their own petard.
That wish, at least, seems to be coming true, though you should see the security at ACLU offices. Nobody gets to wander into the ACLU and frottage their staff. Forced frottage is for the little people. We're back in 1991. NYC should re-elect Rudy or just shut up. In the polling booth, they actually are asking for it.
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