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Mara Gay
By Mara Gay
Ms. Gay is a member of the editorial board.
Anyone paying attention could be forgiven for wondering just what is going on in New York, which lately seems hellbent on affirming the worst, most tired tropes of critics of big-city liberalism.
The crimes taking place in the subways are genuinely alarming. Over the holidays, a man lit a woman on fire on the F train in Brooklyn, killing her. The man, who is an undocumented immigrant, has pleaded not guilty and told investigators he was too drunk to remember what happened. It’s among the grimmest crimes in New York I can remember. On the same day, a man was stabbed to death on a train in Queens, and on New Year’s Eve a man was shoved in front of a subway train in Manhattan, fracturing his skull.
Felony assaults in the subway system are up 55 percent since 2019. Though overall crime is down throughout the city and homicides have fallen, felony assaults last year were up 5 percent over 2023, and the number of reported rapes was the highest since 2020.
Instead of leading New York to better days, Mayor Eric Adams has plunged City Hall into corruption and scandal. Adams was indicted on federal corruption charges in September. Police collaborators and senior officials continue to resign while facing investigations or accusations of criminals. On Monday, federal prosecutors filed a new court filing saying they discovered unspecified “additional criminal conduct” committed through the mayor.
In less than two weeks, a man who rode to office describing American cities as places of “carnage” and New York a “city in decline” will occupy the White House. New York has rarely had more to prove. Its leaders will have to find a way to turn this story around, not only to improve the quality of life for residents but also to show America that big cities can still work.
To succeed, after all, it will be necessary to put an end to the increase in many crimes that have affected the city – especially in its metropolitan formula – since the pandemic. New York City remains one of the safest primary cities in the United States. In the United States, however, the statistics are overshadowed by growing fear, which may harm public transportation ridership and the economy. New Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch is off to a promising start by shaking up the department’s old guard and its dysfunctions, but the task ahead of her is tough.
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