New York Faces Dramatic Consequences of Crisis

[bijou]

The global financial crisis began in Manhattan, and its effects are being felt far more strongly there than elsewhere. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the situation is critical. Millions are fighting to keep their jobs. Is what is happening in New York today a harbinger of the fate of the rest of the world?

They still remember how things used to be. That's part of the problem. New York's heroes, the men and women who only yesterday considered themselves the knights and conquerors of Manhattan, remember all too well what New York was like in the 1970s -- the era before seven-figure salaries came to the Big Apple.

They remember -- and they see the signs. That's why they're afraid.

Cathy used to be a banker. Today she is homeless and living in Tompkins Square. She thinks about the heroin and the stench. In the 1970s, Cathy had a small apartment not far from here on Orchard Street. It was broken into three times. She remembers the burning cars and broken glass, the plumes of smoke and the cops who shouted "**** you!" every time they lashed out.

Restaurateur Fred Austin says he had the doors taken off the toilet stalls at Katz's restaurant because of the junkies. If they were going to shoot up in front of all his guests, he at least wanted them to feel embarrassed.

Tom Birchard, the owner of the Veselka diner, says he adopted the New York walk in the 1970s: fast, determined, always scanning two blocks ahead, looking behind you every 10 steps or so, staying more than arms-length away from doorways, and crossing the street or even turning around altogether if two or more black men came towards you.

Aside from the murders, the whores and the knowledge that areas like Harlem and the Bronx were strictly out-of-bounds for whites, Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the subway was the worst thing about New York. "The subway was hot and never on time. Everything was damp and grimy, and full of trash," that is how he recalls the days when people went in and never came out again. "It was an inferno."

Only Grace on Wall Street says she isn't afraid of becoming poor again. That was during our first conversation, six months ago. Grace Dolan Flood said her fear lay elsewhere. "I'm afraid I may have lived the wrong life," she said. "You spend so many years, put so much energy in, and suddenly you're out. And then what?"

It's the New York 2009 feeling: A mixture of doubt, worry, and fear. Fear that it won't be worth all the investment, the effort, the constant battles. Fear of drugs in schools, of playgrounds becoming crime scenes again, of broken windows, of decline. Fear of a future that feels like the past.  ...

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,648448,00.html

Quite a long piece, not all those featured are terribly sympathetic characters though.