New York City's Violent Crime Problem

As a wave of violent crime washes over America’s bluest cities, New York City seems to have escaped the worst. In San Francisco organized criminal looting gangs have caused high scale boutiques to board up. Everyone knows that the toxic mix of woke mayors and woke prosecutors has given criminals the green light.

And yet, despite the best efforts of our pathetic mayor, Comrade de Blasio New York City has been lagging. This is not to say that Soho did not see its fair share of looting during the George Floyd insurrection, but things seem to have calmed down since.

Apparently, it’s all surface appearance. At a time when the major commercial tenants, they would be financial service firms, have been begging their employees to return to the office, bankers and other well-dressed executive types seem now to be in physical danger-- for walking the streets or using public transportation.

Bank of America has even told its younger staffers to “dress down,” to look more like common proles than like successful executives.

The New York Post reports this morning:

Amid a surge in some New York City violent crime, Wall Street bigwigs continue to encourage younger staffers to come into the office — but to do so with caution.

At Bank of America, senior executives have quietly encouraged younger employees to “dress down” to attract less attention as they make their way to B of A’s tower at 1 Bryant Park.

These execs have told their staffers that dressing up, or wearing anything with a Bank of America logo, could make them a target. One bank employee told On The Money he is on high alert after he spotted someone with a knife near the office during a recent trek to the Manhattan office.

For those who do not know New York, Bryant Park is behind the Public Library, at 42nd St and 6th Avenue. It is in Midtown West.

What are the statistics?

The city reported a 15 percent increase in felony assaults over the past 28 days, as of Nov. 28, when compared to the same period a year ago, according to NYPD statistics. (Murder rates have surged 42 percent over the past two years, but remained largely flat over the past year.)

One executive now carries a Taser to his office in Midtown:

One top executive at a large money-management firm even recently began carrying a Taser as he commutes to his Midtown office, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told On The Money.

The Far West Side has now become the Wild West, with danger lurking around every corner:

In areas surrounding Hudson Yards, the problem has been especially acute: For commuters coming into Penn Station or the Port Authority Bus Terminal, walking the few blocks to the Far West Side after dark on largely deserted streets, except for sometimes menacing vagrants, can feel dangerous, sources told On The Money.

Bank of America is adjacent to Times Square — and like Hudson Yards, many employees use Penn Station and Port Authority as transportation hubs en route to the office.

The banks are addressing the problem by offering shuttle and car service for employees who work late:

Some companies like Citibank are offering employees private shuttles so they can avoid public transportation altogether. And most major banks will offer employees car service if they work after-hours.

Obviously, it’s not just limited to the Midtown financial district. Wall Street has seen a spike in violent crime of late:

It’s not just Midtown where crime has taken center stage. A Wall Street source who works downtown told On The Money “it’s been a topic of conversation on the floor frequently over the last few months.”

“Some people I work with have been accosted … I’d say it’s becoming frequent, if not common,” the source said. “There’s probably a dozen incidents that I saw, or have been involved in,” the person said — mostly verbal, but some physical, the person said.

Why then would anyone want to come back to work in a Manhattan office? For now, the percentages of occupied offices are far too low.

And, dare we mention the obvious point-- are members of one sex more likely to be more afraid, and thus less willing to come back into the office. The crime wave is certainly contributing to the fact that females are less likely to want to go to the office.

“Undoubtedly, part of getting people back to the office in NYC is about making the streets and subways safer,” Ronn Torossian, CEO of PR firm 5WPR told On The Money. “I would venture less than 50 percent of people are back to the office full-time — and I don’t know if that ever changes in NYC.”

He said only 35 percent of his 275 employees are back at his firm’s Park Avenue headquarters, where staffers work with people in the finance and other corporate industries.

Of course, the era of de Blasio is going to end next month. So, good New Yorkers are placing their hope and faith in the new mayor, Eric Adams:

Still, some are optimistic the impending mayoral regime change could usher in a new era of safety and prosperity after the mayor-elect ran on a public safety platform.

“I’m encouraged that Eric Adams will take a hard line,” one Wall Street executive told On The Money. “But it’s almost like he can’t get her soon enough to restore law and order.”