Why this image of NYC as a crime ridden cesspool?

[slackerinabox]

I'm from NYC and assumed that our rough streets were among the roughest in the country, until I grew up and started seeing more of the U.S. Chicago, Batlimore, St. Louis, Atlanta, Detroit, Philly - just some of the many places that seem to have far more boarded up houses and crack dealers roaming the streets than NY. Heck, I got lost driving around Omaha and ended up in the hood - that shit was scary!

Yet people continue to be so "terrified" of NYC Subways and continue to think of NYC as the deadliest place on the planet... Why is that?

 

[Jeeebus]

pre-Guliani memories? and popular tv

 

[slackerinabox]

pre-Guliani memories? and popular tv

Yep, I proudly voted across party lines as soon as I could, because NYC pre-Guliani was pretty shady. But that was.. 10 years ago? Crime in NYC continues to go down and down, even during the recession.

 

[BrownShoes]

 

[krunchykrome]

People still think it's dangerous/deadly? I think the general understanding is that NYC is pretty safe now, and crime has drastically gone down.

 

[HannibalX]

That movie is so terrible.

 

[Crono]

Residual image.

 

[FoBoT]

i blame Kirt Russell and John Carpenter

 

[raystorm]

Yea, I suppose all the popular nyc based tv shows/dramas during the 70's and early 80's plus the whole "bronx is burning" incident didn't help with the city's image. Its nothing like that anymore and hasn't been for a long time.

Shit, I remember when Times Square and the surrounding area was all porn, pimps and whores. Of course everyone knows its all tourist and disney stuff now.

Who actually thinks NYC is a crime ridden cesspool these days?

btw..I love those gritty 70's and early 80's shows and movies that took place in NYC. (ie: French Connection, Fort Apache: The Bronx, The Warriors..shoot..even Beat Street was fun).

 

[slackerinabox]

People still think it's dangerous/deadly? I think the general understanding is that NYC is pretty safe now, and crime has drastically gone down.

Lots of my new in-laws are smart, working class people from the mid-west. There's a common belief among them that NYC and the subways in particular are basically havens for homeless people, pimps, and gangs... I've gone weeks without seeing a bum on the train during normal hours (4 AM is a different story)...

 

[Queasy]

Yea, I suppose all the popular nyc based tv shows/dramas during the 70's and early 80's plus the whole "bronx is burning" incident didn't help with the city's image. Its nothing like that anymore and hasn't been for a long time.

Shit, I remember when Times Square and the surrounding area was all porn, pimps and whores. Of course everyone knows its all tourist and disney stuff now.

Who actually thinks NYC is a crime ridden cesspool these days?

btw..I love those gritty 70's shows and movies that took place in NYC.

Yeah, that's pretty much exactly why. The 70s and 80s were not kind to NYC and it earned the cesspool image for good reason.

 

[slackerinabox]

Yea, I suppose all the popular nyc based tv shows/dramas during the 70's and early 80's plus the whole "bronx is burning" incident didn't help with the city's image. Its nothing like that anymore and hasn't been for a long time.

Shit, I remember when Times Square and the surrounding area was all porn, pimps and whores. Of course everyone knows its all tourist and disney stuff now.

Who actually thinks NYC is a crime ridden cesspool these days?

btw..I love those gritty 70's shows and movies that took place in NYC.

Oh, I adore NYC 70s cinema.. The original Pelham 4-5-6 was awesome, though the 4-5-6 now goes through pretty high rent areas, which is pretty ironic

 

[Saint Nick]

You were in Omaha and did let me know?

We should smoke a bowl.

 

[HannibalX]

Manhattan may be a lot cleaner/less crime but the surrounding metro area seems about the same to me. The same can be said of Chicago. Visit downtown Chicago today, the streets are clean, no bums, no trash, no hoods standing in dark alleys - the surrounding metro though, it's about the same. The dirty, gritty downtown from years past is gone.

Always fun to watch tourists taking the train from O'Hare to downtown, you go through some rough areas. Whenever those doors open you see the tourists squirm a little further until they're at the back of the train.

 

[vi edit]

Ever talk to a normal, law abiding citizen of New York? If they are that mean and abusive...I don't even want to know what the criminals are like.

I joke. But only a bit.

I used to work tech support for a stock broker. We had large client base out of New Jersey and New York. Seriously...those people were some of the most rude, foul mouthed and abusive people I've ever had the displeasure of trying to help.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Because it is. I grew up in the country, small town Texas, and it's a big jump to NYC. we never had shootings, stabbings, muggings, etc. I'm guessing in NY that's pretty common stuff. So for someone like me when you say NYC I think crime ridden. If you compare it to Detroit or something like that than it's probably not too bad.

 

[vi edit]

Oh and I can attest....North Omaha up by the airport is indeed freaking scary. I lived in Omaha for a year. If there was a murder, shooting, or stabing that happened in town....it happed there.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Any big city will have lot of crime and be quite scary. Toronto is probably one of the worse ones here in Canada. I'm usually not scared of that stuff, but no way would I want to be walking alone down town Toronto. Criminals smuggle guns from the US and just go on a drive by shooting spree just for fun.

 

[slackerinabox]

You were in Omaha and did let me know?

We should smoke a bowl.

Ha - my in laws live there (and extend into Missouri). I was there during the big Christmas snow storm, a bowl would have been a nice escape! Not that I know anything about the geography, but I guess they're near the Walmart on Blondo

Also, there's this strange hole in the wall (on a college campus?) Soul Food joint that's AWESOME

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Any big city will have lot of crime and be quite scary. Toronto is probably one of the worse ones here in Canada. Criminals smuggle guns from the US and just go on a drive by shooting spree just for fun.

Lol Canada's ghetto! Come to the US and go through a real ghetto.

 

[BrownShoes]

It's all like this, yo'!

 

[slackerinabox]

Ever talk to a normal, law abiding citizen of New York? If they are that mean and abusive...I don't even want to know what the criminals are like.

I joke. But only a bit.

I used to work tech support for a stock broker. We had large client base out of New Jersey and New York. Seriously...those people were some of the most rude, foul mouthed and abusive people I've ever had the displeasure of trying to help.

Here's what's really funny. I'm a native - us native New Yorkers are the kind of people who get in the middle of the road to direct traffic during a black out... We're mostly the offspring of people who came recently to this country to make a better life for themselves, and we have that spirit. A new wave of hipsters arrived from their liberal arts colleges in Ohio and act like the NYC cliche - rude, pushy, asinine. They're only acting this way to fit in and not get taken advantage of, though us native New Yorkers can spot them a mile away.

 

[hanoverphist]

I used to work tech support for a stock broker. We had large client base out of New Jersey and New York. Seriously...those people were some of the most rude, foul mouthed and abusive people I've ever had the displeasure of trying to help.

my ex did cust service for a convenience store chain and told me the same thing. she hated taking calls from ny and nj but i always got good stories when she got home lol.

i dont think nyc is any worse than any other large city, i just think they are unnecessarily rude most of the time. i also didnt have too much trouble wandering around omaha, st louis or any parts of la either.

 

[vi edit]

You guys might fall over each other with pleasantries in your every day encounters...but get you on the phone when you aren't happy about something....

uhg

 

[Crono]

Here's what's really funny. I'm a native - us native New Yorkers are the kind of people who get in the middle of the road to direct traffic during a black out... We're mostly the offspring of people who came recently to this country to make a better life for themselves, and we have that spirit. A new wave of hipsters arrived from their liberal arts colleges in Ohio and act like the NYC cliche - rude, pushy, asinine. They're only acting this way to fit in and not get taken advantage of, though us native New Yorkers can spot them a mile away.

It's hard to generalize in any way about New Yorkers, even in a good way, but your view of New Yorkers fits a bit better than the stereotypical rude New Yorker image.

Wasn't there some recent study that showed the happiest and most depressed places in America? If I remember correctly, New York was pretty low on the happiness scale, probably because it's so dependent on the economy of the country and even the world.