New York stories
Sir: As a lifelong resident of New York City, I must take issue with Andrew Neil's Diary (18 April) in which he praises the `Giuliani effect'. He obviously didn't notice the filthy streets due to sanitation cuts, the overcrowded schools, insanitary restaurants abetted by a cutback in health inspectors or the unemployment rate of 9.3 per cent more than double the rate for the nation as a whole. Even the crime statistics bear some watching as they are unaudited, and more than one precinct commander has left under a cloud for fudging the figures to keep the mayor happy.
Mr Neil seems to ignore that we have the greatest boom in the financial markets in history, yet New York, the world's financial capital, must still pay hundreds of millions in tax incentives to keep these major com- panies here. This 'corporate welfare' would not be necessary if the New York he wrote about really exists outside the minds of developers such as Mort Zuckerman, whom he quotes, and those who hand out press releases for the administration.
It will be interesting to see what the 'Giu- liani effect' will be should the markets cor- rect and the unemployment rate in Ameri- ca equal that currently enjoyed in many EU countries, 10 per cent. The massive lay-offs in the financial sector would indicate a greater increase in the city to between 20 and 25 per cent. Let's see what happens then and hope that Mr Neil doesn't confuse being lucky, i.e. being mayor during the great boom, with being smart, i.e. really solving the problems.
Steven M. Craig
P.O. Box 1035, Gracie Station, New York, NY, USA
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