{"id":224768,"date":"2021-04-11T23:51:27","date_gmt":"2021-04-11T20:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/any-more-tourist-attacks-and-visitors-wont-ever-return-to-nyc\/"},"modified":"2021-04-11T23:51:27","modified_gmt":"2021-04-11T20:51:27","slug":"any-more-tourist-attacks-and-visitors-wont-ever-return-to-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/any-more-tourist-attacks-and-visitors-wont-ever-return-to-nyc\/","title":{"rendered":"#Any more tourist attacks, and visitors won’t ever return to NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Any more tourist attacks, and visitors won’t ever return to NYC<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s an economic-development idea for Gotham\u2019s political class: How about we stop shooting and stabbing our tourists?\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the past few months, visitors from Kansas to Belgium have braved a pandemic and lockdowns to visit our city\u00a0\u2014 and the Big App<\/a>le has \u00adrepaid their love with violent crime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The latest victim is Chris Ruby of Kansas City, who came into town as part of his 2021 goal of seeing a baseball game<\/a> in every stadium. After taking in a\u00a0Mets game last week, Ruby was on Eighth Avenue, walking from Penn Station to his hotel, when a stray bullet wounded him. A week earlier, a young couple and their baby from Belgium were walking in Lower Manhattan when a madman attacked them, slashing all three.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All four victims of these two attacks survived. Ethan Williams, 20, wasn\u2019t so \u201clucky.\u201d Last October, the Hoosier was sitting on the stoop of his Airbnb in Bushwick when he, too, was hit by a stray bullet. He died immedia<\/a>tely.\u00a0<\/p>\n

New York should want to keep its visitors alive and in one piece just because it\u2019s more hospitable that way. But we also have a hard-headed economic reason: We need our tourists more than ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Office workers have proved they can work at home and are in no hurry to come back \u2014 plus, Gov. Cuomo is about to raise taxes on the executives who make the decision whether to stay or to go.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Zoom can\u2019t replace in-person tourism, and people around the world have been cooped up in their houses for more than a year. They want to come see us, as these hardy early arrivals show.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And we need their money. In 2018, the 65 million people who came to Gotham for business or pleasure spent $46.4 billion, \u00adincluding $13.5 billion on hotels, $10.2 billion on food and drink and $5.5 billion on entertainment, according to NYC & Co, the city\u2019s tourism arm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"
An empty Times Square on December 31, 2020.<\/figcaption>
Photo by Noam Galai\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That\u2019s 400,000 jobs, or two-thirds of the more than 600,000 \u00adlocal jobs still missing after last year\u2019s mass layoffs. A full 52 percent of the city\u2019s leisure and hospitality jobs were still lost as of February, meaning 237,500 out-of-work people. That\u2019s a big reason why our unemployment rate is 12.9 percent, twice the nation\u2019s.<\/p>\n

If you are a local who misses Broadway or a favorite museum, you should care, too \u2014 Manhattan cultural institutions can\u2019t survive without out-of-towners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you are in Kansas, though, thinking of taking a trip<\/a> later this year, and you read a headline in The Kansas City Star<\/a> blaring \u201cStray Bullet Hits Kansas Tourist Near NYC\u2019s Times Square,\u201d are you going to pick our city as your first post-COVID trip? How about if you\u2019re watching the Indianapolis local news<\/a>, and see a story about honoring Williams with a local skate park in his name?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because the family attacked in Lower Manhattan were Orthodox Jews, that crime made global news in the Orthodox community. As borders open up, Chinese and other Asian visitors may be reluctant to return, too, fearing our recent spate of hate crimes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 1990, it was the death of a Utah tourist, Brian Watkins, in a Manhattan subway station that spurred The Post to implore then-Mayor Dinkins to \u201cdo something!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

What could New York City do now? Our leaders could have prevented at least two of the recent crimes with a functional criminal-justice system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"People
People seen at Times Square on March 25, 2021.<\/figcaption>
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brannovan Martinez, quickly \u00adarrested after shooting Ruby, was loose pending assault, harassment and drug charges from January. The area where he allegedly shot Ruby is increasingly troubled, with a stabbing death nearby last \u00adNovember. In a different era, \u00adpolice would have used disorderly-conduct and other low-level \u00adarrests to deter the small-time nuisances. The low-level toughs spend much of their time dealing drugs or getting into shoving matches with each other \u2014 until they shoot someone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Darryl Jones, who allegedly \u00adattacked the family in Lower Manhattan, was on parole for a 2011 robbery and attempted murder. Neither man just \u201csnapped\u201d without warning. (Police have made no arrests in the Williams case.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

With Manhattan still mostly empty, several pols, including Cuo\u00admo, have floated the idea of converting empty hotels into highly subsidized \u201caffordable\u201d housing. This self-defeating proposal \u00adassumes the tourists will never come back. A few more shootings and stabbings, and the grim prophecy may fulfill itself.<\/p>\n

Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor of City Journal.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Twitter: @NicoleGelinas<\/a><\/em>\n <\/div>\n