New York City was once an iconic town.
As children, we swam in the East River with friends on hot summer days. Can you imagine doing that today?
Central Park had the reservoir and it was a criminal offense to throw anything into it.
The streets were clean and the pavements were more or less, even.
The gutters were cleaned regularly by men driving little carts.
There were very few parked cars. There were no trucks on Park, Madison, 5th Ave, or Central Park West.
Cars were fewer and no one raced their motors or pumped their horns.
The buildings were not covered for years at a time by scaffolding.
Although there were tall buildings they were neither so high nor so dense that one could not see the buildings or light and sunshine.
Stores were stores and people shopped.
It was fun to walk the avenues and see what was available.
Neighborhoods were patrolled by cops who had assigned beats and whom we knew.
And people who worked in the city could afford to live in the city.
Today, New York City, Manhattan specifically, is becoming increasingly a city for the uber rich and the homeless. The people who work here can’t afford to live here. A city where office buildings and stores stay empty, others are torn down and left as garbage dumps.
Every day brings more destruction. Obliteration of light and views.