By now, the whole world has learned of the subway shooting in the Sunset Park section of my hometown, Brooklyn, New York. The action eventually shifted to my own neighborhood, where the suspect left a rented van—two blocks from my apartment, on West 3rd Street and Kings Highway, in the Gravesend section of the borough.
As I noted on Facebook, law enforcement had cordoned off the entire area, with helicopters flying above. Leave it to my sister to find a moment of gallows humor in all this: “Just lock the doors. We don’t need any hostage situations on top of everything else we’re dealing with.”
The suspect has not yet been apprehended.* Thank goodness nobody was killed; let’s hope those who were affected survive and flourish.
But to all you New York Naysayers out there: Yes, there has been an uptick in crime in this city, in the wake of a pandemic and all the civil unrest that followed the George Floyd killing. I remember a city than in 1990 had in excess of 2,200 murders. Even with upticks in various crime categories, the city is nowhere near those horrific days of murder and mayhem. A cursory look at CompStat data shows massive declines across the last 29 years in every category—from murder and rape to robbery, burglary, and grand larceny.
This city has massive structural problems, but it is still a magnificent tapestry that draws its strength from its diverse neighborhoods. I’ve been a lifelong Brooklynite—and will be here until the day I die. Because, for me, this town is still the greatest city on earth.
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* Oh, yes he has!
