 [NYPOST] Unless New York has completely lost its mind, the shooting in Times Square that maimed three innocent bystanders, including a 4-year-old girl, will galvanize the mayoral race.
The candidates, realizing the terrifying incident is going global because of the location, already are sharpening their language and promising more public safety. Even Mayor Putz, after denying the Saturday gunplay would hurt tourism, ordered a beefed-up police presence.
Those are encouraging signs, but they will not be enough to make the incident a lasting turning point. For that to happen, all New Yorkers must make their voices heard and turn up the heat on City Hall.
If voters say "Enough!" and show they’re mad as hell over the rising tide of crime and violence, then and only then will tough action follow the tough words. Otherwise, de Blasio and the candidates will soon give their attention to another shiny object.
After all, remnants of the "defund the police" movement are still pressuring the mayor, city council and prosecutors to further handcuff cops and coddle criminals. If they succeed, the city would be doomed to further crime and decline. We can’t let that happen. Everyone who cares about New York needs to grasp the significance of how far the city has fallen so far and how close it is coming to a tipping point of reverting to the worst days of the early 1990s. Saturday’s shooting, which grew out of a dispute among several men on Broadway, was an aberration only in its location. The rapid increase in violence and gunfire over the last two years has left no safe hiding place in the five boroughs.
For a snapshot of the cancerous mayhem, consider the opening of an official NYPD summary of April crime.
"Overall index crime in New York City rose 30.4% compared with April 2020, driven by a 66% increase in grand larceny (2,659 v. 1,601) and a 35.6% increase in felony assault (1,630 v. 1,202)," the report says. "Robbery saw a 28.6% increase compared to April 2020 (885 v. 688), and shooting incidents increased to 149 v. 56 in April 2020 (+166.1%)."
The report noted that only burglary had declined. Meanwhile,
...back at the palazzo, Count Guido stepped from behind the suit of armor, rapier in hand. Ciccolini snarled and reached for his own weapon...
murder is up 17 percent this year, and 32 percent over 2019. There’s nothing normal about those gigantic leaps — shooting incidents up 166 percent! If this isn’t an emergency, what would be?
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