New York Still Doesn’t Want Outsiders
If anyone’s wondering why I once compared New York City to Darfur, maybe a bit of it has to do with the fact that both are absurdly inhospitable to outsiders. And the “art installation” depicted above and discussed here provides good insight into said inhospitability.
I think the big issue with New York is that, unlike most places in the world, it does not welcome anyone. There are insiders and outsiders and if you have to ask which you are, you Do Not Belong. The implication here is that anyone not born and raised in the least friendly city in the world is automatically a “Tourist,” a word that probably might as well be “Terrorist” in the minds of many locals.
And before the fellow Meppers get all “What about Ellis Island?” on me, it should be clear that, like the country around it, NY’s days of offering solace to poor, tired, huddled, and such are long over. Both the US and NY may have had old traditions of caring about people without otherizing them, but those days have gone the way of disco balls and hoola hoops.
I’m more a Boston guy than a New York one, but this–“I think the big issue with New York is that, unlike most places in the world, it does not welcome anyone” (my emphasis)–is perhaps the funniest thing I’ve ever read.
Here’s Storey’s vision of heaven, just for some, you know, context:
http://www.dailycal.org/article/106108/berkeley_appears_on_list_of_cities_least_friendly_
Read your own article, Greg:
“Michael Stoops, executive director of National Coalition for the Homeless, said the title ‘mean city’ is not for the residents, but for the city itself.
‘We’re not calling the people of Berkeley mean: we’re talking about governmental actions,’ Stoops said. ‘The governmental entities, ranging from the city council to the police department are mean.'”
Yes, Berkeley has a bizarrely pro-development city government and a crappy Police Department. In NYC, every citizen is like the Berkeley PD, but to everyone else, not just the homeless.
Also, you’re right. Boston doesn’t welcome outsiders either. And neither does Arizona.
Oh, I did read my article. Perhaps you should have read more of it:
“Although people in Berkeley are fairly friendly to the homeless, many people ignore them, said Jim, a homeless man who usually resides at the intersection of Telegraph Avenue and Haste Street.
‘A lot of people won’t even respond,” he said. “They don’t even think I exist.'”
The point is that wild generalizations are never helpful, especially when they’re founded on very limited anecdotal experience, countered by the anecdotal experiences of the other Meppers. There are eight million people in the Big Apple, Storey. I promise you that most of those eight million–including, of course us–are not anything like the Berkeley PD. But this is Russ’s wheelhouse, so I’ll leave the argument to him.