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I agree with the other comment that the city has never looked so good. Just a few days ago, I was actually thinking while on the subway that the city has probably not been as well-governed since the days of La Guardia in the 1940s.
You should just imagine what it was like as recently as 1995. I was in Penn Station, and this homeless guy was openly masturbating in the men's room. Everyone ignored him, of course. Remember the squeegee men?
And a few weeks ago, the NY Times ran an article about how, surprisingly, the band of homeless young white kids who normally show up in Tompkins Square for the summer in "Krusty Korner" did not show up this year.
I haven't noticed much in my neighborhood, it is a very stable place. But out and about, I have. I work in LIC, and the slightly shady areas outside of Hunter's Point are getting slightly shadier. One of my coworkers got mugged walking to work the other day, he lives on Roosevelt Island and got mugged right after he walked into the Queens side of that little bridge on 36th. I had never thought of it as a particularly rough area, but I don't go there frequently so I don't know for sure. But it still surprised me a little. Also I've noticed more junkies/addicts in the LIC subway stations as well.
This was predicted three years ago. Luckily for New York the ruling class has a base here and most of the trillion dollar bailout went to New York. This was like a degenerate gambler accepting a fresh new $20K marker during a Saturday night in Vegas after tapping out early. Fresh with more borrowed money the party continued post 2008 like nothing was wrong but disaster looms. Like a gambler taking out more and more markers to stay in the action eventually every gambler -with synthetic finance, derivatives and currency trading nothing more than a virtual casino- has to hit rock bottom.
Right now New York is like a gambler at the end of a three day bender in Vegas. Lost big money, smells kind of bad, has been using illicit substances and showing the signs of a heavy conscience wracked with the burden of insurmountable debt. The signs you see around town are the societal signs of a "morally degenerate gambler" in distress. Like the "Arab spring" eventually people are going to be sick of being looted by capitalism and revolt will break out in the streets.
What I've noticed an increase of in the past couple years are:
1) More people sleeping in the streets, even in mid-town Manhattan
2) Increase of pan handing ( on the streets, subways, people offering to pump gas for you at the gas station)
3) Streets becoming less sanitary ( I move my car for alternate side street cleaning, yet I see no evidence that the street was actually cleaned)
If your working, it's hard to notice since it hasn't effected you, but there are a lot of people in NYC who are struggling through this recession.
I told ya'll many times over. Doomsday is coming. It's coming fast.
Everything is becoming worse. In a recent trend, we suddenly notice bums, panhandlers and general decay in areas we didn't notice it before. Is it simply perception? Might we not have a clear picture of what's going on and jump to unfounded conclusions? No! This city is heading straight to hell, otherwise known as the 70's and 80's.
You can already see the signs: crime, unsanitary streets, people bothering you at vending machines - the signs are clear! The Nostradamus in us can't be fooled! Look around you! People look more pissed and scared! I have seen two fights in the subway this week end when I hadn't seen a single one for over 6 months! Coincidence? NO!!!!! The subway is decaying quickly! In only one week-end! Soon, I won't be able to use the subway without carrying a weapon for protection.
I'm telling you ya'll. Leave this sinking ship while you can. We've all been seeing this recent trend as of late. What trend exactly? Don't ask me. But it's bad. Reaaaaaaaaal bad!
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gamblers in distress
