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Progressives have destroyed the great cities of coastal America
Crime, shoplifting, drug taking and homelessness have now consumed the once-dynamic centers of the US
This isn’t the first time America’s coastal cities have felt entropic – soaring crime rates in the 1970s drove many people away. But then they were drawn back to cheap dwellings in large run-down brownstones and began gentrifying.
This, combined with an overhaul in policing and a much tougher approach to crime, turned the likes of New York and San Francisco into beacons of desirability.
But – and I speak as a passionate anti-Trumper – years of Democratic rule have destroyed the likes of New York and San Francisco, turning them into dystopias of anarchy, jamborees of unpunished violence, theft and vandalism.
In a particularly grisly turnaround, New York, once the most Jewish-feeling city outside of Israel, has become home to some of the Western world’s most disgusting anti-Israel activism, with marches, demonstrations and of course the staggeringly vile, criminal encampment at Columbia and others colleges.
Who would have thought that New York would become a city in which kids wearing surgical masks, wrapped in the garb of Islamic terrorists, would yell “Zionists get out” from the top of their lungs for months on end?
Nothing could be more symbolic of this grim and foolish descent than the arraignment last week of New York mayor Eric Adams on five counts of bribery, wire fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations.
Among other things, Adams, a former police officer who became mayor three years ago with a promise to be tough on crime, is alleged to have taken $100,000 (£75,000) in luxury travel perks from a Turkish businessman and official in a cash-for-influence arrangement.
The truth is I’ve never liked New York, but I could recognise its appeal for others. On a recent trip, though, I had the fright of my life on the subway in Brooklyn, with a maniac roaring through the subterranean walkway threatening anyone in his path, including me – he then leaped the turnstiles as the man behind the ticket desk watched, exclaiming without moving an inch.
The nutcase could well have been armed, and I had read about the “trend” of knocking women onto the subway tracks, and the guy who knifed the back of two women’s legs in the same day on the subway in June 2023. My heart took a while to calm down.
