Wrong signal
Taki
TNew York here's a whiff of déja vu in the air, déjà vu as in David Dinkins, the first black mayor of Noo Yawk and probably among the worst the Bagel's ever had. Dinkins came just before Giuliani, but served only one term, thank God. He was and is a very nice man, but boy, did he turn this place into a pigsty in four short years. A very dangerous pigsty to boot. Under Dinkins crime skyrocketed, cops became demoralised to the extent that they resembled the London fuzz of today, business fled to the suburbs, while restaurants and bars all over the five boroughs went broke as folks were too scared to go out at night. When a Korean deli owner overpowered a black thug whom he caught shoplifting, a racebaiter by the name of Al Sharpton organised a boycott of a string of Korean-owned botegas near Coney Island. For weeks on end, rabble-rousers and their rent-a-mob intimidated and threatened anyone intending to enter. It got so bad, I took out a fullpage ad in an upper east side paper appealing for those who believe in justice and freedom to go over the bridge and shop. I don't think a single soul did, at least according to the owner. Dinkins did not lift a finger, nor did the cops. So much for bravery.
Then came Giuliani, and with his zero tolerance and total refusal to meet with race hustlers and welfare pimps, police morale went ballistic, and — presto — the Bagel became a shiny apple in no time. It took Giuliani and the cops two years to turn things around, and perhaps another two for Bagelites to get rid of bad habits. As a result, living in the city the last four years has resembled the way people lived in Fifties movies, with friendly and helpful neighbours, clean communities, peaceful subway trains, and crime way down. But as I said, there's a whiff of déjà vu in the air.
Bloomberg's first act was to go and kiss some black ass, as in Sharpton's. It was a symbolic act, meant to unify, but it sure gave the wrong signal. Even worse. Hizzoner named Ray Kelly as police commissioner, Kelly having honourably but disasterously served in the David Dinkins fiasco. In the time since Bloornie became mayor there's been a 22 per cent-plus rise in shootings, the murder rate has shot up (pun intended), so much so that alarmed officials said the city would pay $100 for every privately owned firearm turned in to the NYPD over the next 30 days. To top things off, Kelly disbanded the police department's hugely successful anti-gun unit — and it didn't take long for the bad guys to get the message. (The gun-buy-back approach originated during the Dodge City days of Dinkins. but I guess Kelly is a thinking man's Irishman, believing if you fail once, try and fail again and again.) There were 53 homicides in April alone, up from 33 in the same period last year. So while mayor Bloomie is opening up the city's wallet to pay crooks for their guns, the good citizens of the Bagel are taking an old-fashioned approach to fighting crime: They're calling the Guardian Angels.
Yours truly noticed things changing almost from the start. Zero tolerance meant bicycle riding on the sidewalk was verboten. with tickets issued on the spot. Well. forgedaboudit. There are more penhandlers on the subways, more graffiti and more people pissing in public. But not to worry.
The liberal judges, too, feel it's time to loosen the reins. One murdering thug killed four people in 1996, including a young mother of five, during a robbery at a Brooklyn social club. He faces the death penalty, the first since Governor Pataki restored it. But his lawyers argue that the jury should never have heard that one victim pleaded for her life saying, 'I've got five babies.' They also claim that the jury should have heard he was sexually abused as a child. The Court of Appeals is made up of seven of the most left-leaning judges in the country. I'm taking bets that the guy will avoid the injection, and everyone is welcome to bet. Far from being a deterrent, New York's death penalty law makes a mockery of justice and laughs at the sanctity of innocent human life.
But I digress. It could be worse. And it is. I'm finally on my way to London, where I read that I will have to move aside when that creep Jack Straw is driven in his government Jaguar to lunch with his ugly friends. This is the last straw. I'd rather be attacked in the Bagel than humiliated by Straw in London any day. Jean-Marie Le Pen, where are you now that I really need you?
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