It's tempting for New York City to greet last week's Sixth Street murder of United Healthcare chief Brian Thompson with an eerie sense of relief. It's never a good thing when someone is shot dead on the street, but at least this crime wasn't another “random” attack.
The poor guy could have been targeted for personal, business, or ideological reasons. anywhere.
Wrong: Given the circumstances, this is yet another blow to a fragile Gotham.
Yes, New York has always had more than its fair share of assassinations, including John Lennon and Meir Kahane, as a world-famous city that attracts superstars, business and political leaders.
However, each such event must be viewed in its context. Is a particular assassination just another bullet of lawlessness in a dangerous and unpleasant city, or an anomaly in an otherwise safe and pleasant city?
When Lennon was killed in 1980, there were 1,814 murders in Gotham. For more extensive felonies, the New York Times called This year is the “worst crime year in New York City history.”
In 1990, the year Kahane was killed, the city's situation was even worse, with 527,257 felonies, including 2,262 murders. No one was safe, so why should important people be any different?
Since 1990, crimes, including homicide, have steadily declined until 2019.
Now, Thompson's sidewalk murder in the heart of Midtown has brought an end to nearly five years of crime and insecurity.
After nearly 30 years of steady decline, homicides increased by 53% from 2019 to 2021, the highest increase in such a short period of time. Homicides remain 14% above 2019 levels, with no signs of returning to that level anytime soon. Felony cases are up 30% from 2019.
And random chaos reigns: Thompson's murder comes just two weeks after Ramon Rivera was released on supervised release without bail on a recent theft charge. provided A Rikers man was sentenced to one month in prison for a repeat theft and robbery that resulted in the fatal stabbing of three suspects in central Manhattan.
And Thompson's killing occurred the day before a teenage immigrant stabbed another immigrant to death, also in central Manhattan. It's a five-minute walk from City Hall Park, an area normally filled with armed police.
Murder case in the southern half manhattanThere have been 23 homicides so far this year, including Midtown and Downtown, which is 80% higher than the annual average total from 2015 to 2019.
In the 2010s, as crime steadily declined and city streets generally felt safe, a masked man could shoot an executive in front of a famous Midtown hotel as the sun rose. The fact may have been ignored as an abnormal situation.
Moreover, the culprit was masked. Until early 2020, videos of masked assailants would have seemed out of place and offensive in New York.
Now men on mopeds and electric bicycles, fully masked, pass us by. every day — It’s not because of the weather or the coronavirus.
Seeing a fully masked man lurking in the alley between 6th and 7th Avenues arouses suspicion, at least as much as we've all learned to walk around over the past five years. There is no such thing.
Another reason Mr. Thompson's murder bodes poorly for New York is that the public execution of a top executive has prompted heightened security in the financial and business world.
It is not yet known whether Mr. Thompson's murder was a one-off or the beginning of a terrorist campaign against the CEO.
Strict security is do not have It's easy in a densely populated city like New York. Yes, hotel conferences will be able to scan attendee badges, and more executives will be able to drive directly to their hotel or business garage in an SUV with darkened windows.
However, this type of security is not foolproof. Most hotels are still relatively open spaces, allowing people to meet in lobbies and restaurants. Additionally, many older office buildings and private residences do not have door-to-door garage access.
Also, this kind of security is not convenient. There's a reason there was once a popular belief that millionaires and poor alike rode the subway.
Depending on the level of security required, never If you're entering a crowded or uncrowded space with strangers, and you literally can't cross the street from one hotel sidewalk to another without risking your life, New York is for you. It's not the location.
Businesses are better off setting up shop or holding conferences on car-based suburban campuses where access can be easily controlled and monitored.
It's not New York's fault, just as it wasn't New York's fault that 9/11 caused companies to temporarily reconsider living in high-rise buildings.
But I can't control things within Our control, that is, the general level of crime and disorder, is that we can't do it Control has an even worse effect. It's all at once, not one or more.
Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor for the Manhattan Institute's City Journal.
