Violent crime is on the rise in the Big Apple’s busiest tourist hub, even as Mayor Eric Adams is set to deliver a State of the City address in which he raves about how much safer the five boroughs are.
NYPD crime statistics show that as of September 8, compared to the same period in 2023, robberies in the Manhattan North Precinct are up more than 90% and crimes are up nearly 73% – where tourist hotspots like Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Plaza. , the Theater District and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Burglaries have also risen by 58%, while the police department has dealt with three murders – one more than the same period last year – and a further two rapes, from seven last year to nine this year.
“Society is a mess, and all we can do is pray,” a security guard at Eighth Avenue and West 47th Street told The Post on Sunday.
“Every day there’s something going on, whether it’s drugs or homeless people,” the worker said.
One local said vagrants in the area can be particularly troublesome.
“They are disturbing the people living in the building,” the source said. “They’re blocking the stairs. We won’t let them stay, so we have to tell them to leave. That’s why [security] are here.”
Manhattan North’s statistics are in stark contrast to citywide figures for the same period, which show an overall 2.5% drop in crime across the five boroughs, including a nearly 13% drop in homicides.
“This is a beautiful block, problems come in waves, and when they arise, we draw attention to it and it will be resolved,” said a 55-year-old resident, who gave his name as Ojo. “We have had problems with vacant buildings on this block, but since that has been resolved, things have been going well. We have a block association, so that helps a lot.”
Citywide burglaries are also down nearly 9% year to date.
The softer statistics are expected to be the centerpiece of Adams’ State of the City address Monday.
A representative of the mayor said in an email to The Post on Sunday: “Public safety and justice are the prerequisites for prosperity, and since day one of this administration, we have been completely focused on protecting New Yorkers.
“Since the start of this administration, we have taken more than 18,000 illegal guns off the streets, implemented policies to reduce August shootings to the lowest number known for that month, reduced robberies on our subway network to the lowest number in August. has made history and seen a decrease in crime for eight months in a row.
“The NYPD is filled with dedicated officers who continue to work and deliver for this city every day.”
Several residents and merchants in Manhattan North said that while the numbers this year are dismal, they are better than in the recent past.
“It’s definitely safer than COVID times,” said 51-year-old local Adam Richardson. ‘Of course we have the problems with the shelter and the shelter, but I think it has certainly improved a lot.
“Much, much less spraying. That used to be a real problem.”
Another resident, Sal Baker, 42, agreed that things have improved.
“Much better than a year ago. Much, much better,” he said. “Last year it was terrible.
“There used to be needles everywhere, so it was a big problem when people walked their dogs,” Baker added. “Not just needles, but also the little pink and purple capsules of medication that contained fentanyl.”
Yet underground can be a different story.
As The Post reported Sunday, homicides in the subway system are up 60% this year.
While overall transit crime is down, eight people have died on the subway so far this year, up from five in the same period in 2023.
According to the earliest public data from the NYPD, there have never been more than five murders in the subway system in a single year between 1997 and 2020.
But North Manhattan, which sees a steady stream of tourists — especially as the holidays approach — has been an outlier lately when it comes to violent crime.
According to NYPD statistics, there were 158 robberies in the area this year through September 8, compared to 83 during the same period last year, for a 90.4% increase.
Police also reported 204 crimes in the area, compared to just 118 last year, or an increase of 72.9%, while the number of burglaries rose to 139, up from 88 last year, equating to an increase of 58 %.
Even the NYPD’s neighboring Midtown South Precinct, which saw an overall crime drop of more than 10% last year, reported four murders – two more than last year – and 20 rapes this year, compared to 10 in the same period last year . , as the statistics show.
Midtown South includes other megasites in the city such as Penn Station, Madison Square Garden and Greeley Square. It also contains a busy block so well-trodden that it’s called the ‘Strip of Despair’.
Merchants along the Eighth Avenue corridor said open-air drug use, emotionally disturbed vagrants and brazen shoplifters have become a way of life along the street.
“It’s like we’ve been bombed,” one resident said in an earlier Post report. “It’s a bad situation. You see money changing, you see the crack pipes being lit, you see people fighting.
“You don’t want to get stuck in the middle of that.”
