Given that I have been and still am a denizen of a small rural community in Alaska, I have been and remain an odd one indeed to be writing about the state of America's major cities and Democrat/leftist jurisdictions. If you've been reading my work for the last few years, or if you've read my book (and you should), you know I grew up in a rural setting in Iowa and am now a happy rural dweller myself. I have little time for cities, despite having lived in them for four decades. I find them unpleasant; crowded, noisy, and, to be honest, they smell bad. I like the clean country air of the Susitna Valley, and if that means I have to put up with the occasional moose and her calf wandering through the property, that's fine.
So, why am I still worried about America's cities? Because our cities are the beating hearts of our nation. Much of the country's economic activity happens there. Urban areas host much of the country's industry and academia. What's more, our cities used to be the pride of the nation, but that's less the case now. Case in point: New York, where the subways, despite years of promises, still aren't safe for law-abiding commuters — and where the Democratic Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani seems reluctant to directly address the problem.
City Journal's Nicole Gelinas has some information on the problem.
Early Monday, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani convened the press for an announcement. A civilian not privy to Mamdani’s advance schedule might have thought that the mayor would inform the public about the latest subway horror: the noontime Saturday killing of 26-year-old Darrel Rodriguez, commuting home from his job as a Midtown security guard, shot by a disguised, hooded, and masked gunman who, despite ubiquitous Manhattan cameras, has evaded a police manhunt for at least two days. (He is still on the run.) Instead, reporters who attended and members of the public who joined on YouTube to see the mayor were in for a spectacle: a grinning Mamdani bounding up to a podium to campaign-style music, against a backdrop of ebullient toddlers bouncing on an indoor jungle gym. “Good morning, my fellow New Yorkers,” he said to adults cheering and waving bright placards. “Today is an extraordinarily exciting day.”
What was the big news? Twelve thousand new childcare slots for two-year olds . . . beginning nearly a year from now.
So, a murder had occurred on the New York City subway over the weekend, and the mayor, in a public appearance, didn't even mention it? One might think that, in the name of exhibiting some basic leadership, that a murder on the subway would have at least merited a passing mention.
Here's the thing: Mayor Mamdani inherited a city, a messy, disorganized city, where even so homicide rates are relatively (for New York) low, but post-COVID violent crime rates are rising, and again, we once more see the disturbing trend of goblins committing a crime, being arrested and released, committing a more serious crime, being arrested and released, until finally they escalate to murder — and Mayor Mamdani issues a pious statement about affordability and whines about "gun violence." Given that New York's lax justice system is letting these people back out on the streets, time and time again, wouldn't "prosecutorial violence" be a more apt way to describe it?
Mamdani has also been uninspiring when it comes to incapacitating the severely mentally ill. In May, after no earlier interaction between the two, 32-year-old Rhamell Burke allegedly fatally pushed 76-year-old Ross Falzone down the subway stairs in Chelsea. Police had earlier detained Burke and brought him to city-run Bellevue Hospital for a mental evaluation, but he was soon released—hours before he pushed Falzone. The mayor promised an investigation, but he has yet to explain to the public what went wrong.
So far, this is what we've heard on the matter:
And here's the thing: Affordability may not be the win Mayor Mamdani thinks it is. He can't do anything about the major issues that can affect the nation's economy, like inflation, or gas prices, or food prices. These are all way above his pay grade, and that's going to become apparent to more and more voters as time goes on. So, he can play on murder rates going down, and he can trot out more examples of him spending money the City of New York doesn't have, but meanwhile, the rate of violent crime overall is headed up, especially in the subways. And those subways are, in many ways, the lifeblood of the city.
But here's the thing, and I'm going to tell you: The affordability issue, no matter how unrealistic Mamdani's plans are, still plays to his favor, given that so many of New York's productive residents have fled, leaving the dependency class in place. But crime is an issue for all New Yorkers — and, to employ a cliche that is in this case, nevertheless, accurate — it hits the poor people hardest.
New York was once one of the world's greatest cities. It could be again, with competent leadership. Zohran Mamdani is not that. But we've actually seen Republican mayors in the Big Apple before. Could Mayor Mamdani, in the crime issue as in other issues, step on his protuberance to the point where a young, charismatic Republican could oust the commies infesting Gracie Mansion? If so, it may well be the crime issue that tips the scale.
