Crime Spikes in New York City

We are in the crest of a crime spree in New York City and I’m wondering why this is happening now.  Is the economy finally so poor and far-reaching that the forgotten and misbegotten are now finally rising up from the streets to take back what was lost in this economic downturn?

A 400 percent increase in murders in tony Williamsburg; a 400 percent increase in rapes in Sheepshead Bay and a 250 percent increase in killings in Washington Heights are all troublesome statistics that have Mayor Michael Bloomberg and police officials concerned.

“We worry every day about trying to make this city safer,” Mayor Bloomberg said Monday.

Can a billionaire really be an effective mayor of a massive metropolitan city when he cares more about soda pop and calories than he does about the daily safety of his citizenry on the street?

Although crime has fallen an enviable 35 percent since Bloomberg took office, in the past year it has risen in 34 of the city’s 76 precincts, and alarming spikes in some neighborhoods could lead to the first city-wide increase in decades.

According to the NYPD:

• The 100th Precinct in Rockaway, Queens has seen a 37% increase in crime
• In the 34th in Washington Heights it’s up 24%
• In the 77th in Crown Heights it’s up 21%.
• In the 113th in St. Albans, Queens it has spiked 17%
• In the 76th in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn it’s up 11%

What New York City needs right now is a person of the people to be the next mayor.  We don’t need political insiders or any more rich folk.  We need the eyesight and the morality of an everyday person who understands the how and the why of the blue collar struggle.  We need a mayor who reflects our values and informs our morality.  We need a mayor who knows suffering and how to remedy human pain with a longing and an understanding that will hurtle us through this lousy patch of fiscal disgrace and national melancholia.