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Squeegee Guys Return to New York Streets
Rudy Giuliani wiped them away, but these symbols of urban decay have reappeared under Mayor Bloomberg.
The Big Apple is the city that never sleeps, but the massive layoffs on Wall Street and the precipitous drops of the markets have forced Manhattan to at least take a little nap.
If you talk to older New Yorkers who remember the FDR Depression, you might pick up on a sense of pride. Like veterans who survived a battle, senior citizens will tell war stories of how they adapted to an ailing America. Times have changed and now even cash-strapped students lug hundreds of dollars of electronic equipment with them to class every day with very little fear for their personal security.
The words “grit” and “New York” are no longer wedded since the Sex and the City image dominates the media and Times Square has become a major tourist attraction for family entertainment and not the seedy sex destination for lonely, suburban men or the workplace for entrepreneurial wayward women.
I came to Manhattan during the mid-90s and only caught part of what the city had been like during the crime wave of the 70s and 80s, when the yearly murder rate peaked just above 2,000, compared to the record-breaking 2007 total of under 500.
So, what does a guy armed with a dripping sponge attached to a stick and a bottle of diluted Windex have to do with a drop or increase in the rate of violent crime?
According to the theory espoused by law enforcement and explained in the book Fixing Broken Windows: Restoring Order and Reducing Crime in Our Communities, the devil behind delinquency was mostly in the details. The authors of the then-controversial study, George L. Kelling and Catherine Coles, argued that by controlling the minor infractions — graffiti, litter, and the symbolic broken windows — law enforcement primed the crime prevention pumps for curtailing the bigger crimes: drug dealing, rape, and, yes, murder.
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Matt Sanchez is a war correspondent and writer located in New York City, where he currently covers the United Nations. He's a frequent contributor to the Fox Strategy Room and a commentator on the French language program Kiosque.
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22 Comments
1. Typewriter King:Despite being called right-wing, I should point out that Giuliani never received the CPNYS (Conservative Party of New York State) endorsement, and instead ran on the Republican and Liberal Party tickets.
It’s strange hearing an opinion that Bloomberg is soft, after he’s banned transfats, and I believe even taking pictures in many public places? It superficially sounds like a further crackdown, but I guess it must be like San Fransisco, where so much is outlawed with lax enforcement.
Dec 1, 2008 - 1:33 am 2. Bill in NY:I cringed when I first heard about the reduction in police officers… now I see another indicator with the return of the squeegee men… the next sign to look for is the return of graffiti on the subways and with it… the increase crime rate. Regarding the removal of graffiti on subways, everyone (including me) said “it couldn’t be done”, and Rudi proved us all wrong. Rudi may not be the perfect conservative, but he’s the “Mayor” of NYC because he had his priorities right on what it took to clean up the city and make it a safe place to do business, and he stuck to them without trying to please all the special interests… that’s where Bloomberg and Rudi part ways. Bloomberg is a politician who wants to be loved, and he spends OPM to do it, without the priorities of a Rudi.
Dec 1, 2008 - 5:58 am 3. RW:Losing 1,000 police in New York is bad news no matter how you look at it. And the return of the grift on drivers is a perfect symbol of that result. Like any group, when there are massive layoffs, the incentives are reduced by the rank and file.
Wonder if they will allow this to fester.
Dec 1, 2008 - 6:43 am 4. Does Squeegee Guy Return Herald Return of Rudy Giuliani? | FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog:[...] Guy in New York City, Photo courtesy of Matt Sanchez Well, the Squeegee guys are back in New York City, apparently. Mayor Bloomberg will be seeking a [...]
Dec 1, 2008 - 7:05 am 5. Thinking Person:I think this should be our warning sign about prompting Bloomberg to run for President in the future. If NYC is returning back to it’s former crime-ridden self, why would we encourage Bloomberg to take on the country?
Dec 1, 2008 - 7:33 am 6. Pajamas Media » Squeegee Guys Return to New York Streets:[...] Pajamas Media » Squeegee Guys Return to New York Streets Despite being called right-wing, I should point out that Giuliani never received the CPNYS (Conservative Party of New York State) endorsement, and instead ran on the Republican and Liberal Party tickets. It’s strange hearing an opinion … [...]
Dec 1, 2008 - 7:40 am 7. John Link:Someone ought to poll the squeegee guys about their education and former careers. It would be sweet if respondents frequently use the terms “J-school” and “MSM hack”.
Dec 1, 2008 - 8:05 am 8. TexEd:Bloomberg will replace Hillie in the Senate. The money has already been paid to the governors’ family and friends (one of whom will replace Bloomberg); it is a done deal!
Dec 1, 2008 - 9:22 am 9. Rubicon:Bloomberg may or may not be a good Mayor. Rudi’s record shows he was a great Mayor. While “Squeegee Guys may not be a harbinger of bad times or worse times to come, most remember the times before the crackdown & they were NOT good times.
Dec 1, 2008 - 10:16 am 10. Thinking Person:So, Bloomberg has shown he would not be a good President, & if a Senator he will continue his liberal babble where he can do great damage to the rest of us.
TexEd….I’ve been hearing that it’s going to be a Kennedy of one sort or another who will replace Hillary in the NY Senate.
Dec 1, 2008 - 12:48 pm 11. njcommuter:When you discuss the loss of police officers, remember the very large number who are tied up protecting us from terrorists, including those in the NYPD’s own Intelligence departments. When you consider the cost of tracking the terrorists down and exterminating them, consider the cost we bear when we do not do so.
Dec 1, 2008 - 1:00 pm 12. grimhamundarson:It’s all about the money. While allowing the police dept to shrink, Mayor Mike is hiring more meter maids. You can’t ticket squegee men. Bloomberg has been enforcing laws that make money in this way from day one. There’s a coffee shop on Carmine St that allowed people to bring in dogs while Rudy the Nazi was mayor. Nanny Mike fined them into submission. Examples abound.
Dec 1, 2008 - 3:23 pm 13. Roger Godby:Rudy the Nazi? You brought up Nazis first grimhamundarson, so you lose.
Maybe he was strict, but the people kept voting for him. Personally, I can’t see why anyone would willingly live in NYC, but then I’m a flyover country hick in Asia. I don’t have to lock my door in either place.
Dec 1, 2008 - 6:33 pm 14. simone:Bloomberg is a bad major and does not know how to run a city.
Dec 1, 2008 - 6:46 pm 15. Karin:On my list of people I loathe, (Schumer, Biden), Bloomberg is right up there. I can’t stand a nanny in the first place, but his arrogance is beyond the pale. I thought people voted for term limits for a reason.
Dec 2, 2008 - 5:41 am 16. rocketeer:Thank God that Bloomberg is fighting the good fight against trans-fats and smoking. I guess all the real problems have been solved.
Why do liberals like to live like pigs? I don’t get it.
Dec 2, 2008 - 8:25 am 17. Flüge:Unfortunately Bloomberg pukes the prejudices on a certain group of people, maybe unintentionally, but the result is the same. Poor New York.
Dec 2, 2008 - 8:26 am 18. Little Banana:grimhamundarson, by referring to Rudy as a “Nazi” you completely undo any argument which you may have had
Dec 2, 2008 - 10:15 am 19. Will Sharpe:With everything important going on in the world at this moment, I’m glad PJ’s decided perform some real, substantial journalism. Squeegee Guys!!!!! Keep it up!
Dec 2, 2008 - 12:54 pm 20. Barrett:Bloomberg was an entrepreuner who built a good business.
That does not mean he is a good public policy maker. He has packed the mayor’s office with staff never seen before and cuts police force ranks instead.
As a businessman, you would have expected him to at least get the economic stuff right. Not! He is too preoccupied with banning transfats and leading the nanny state into New York City.
Now the city is falling apart all over from the MTA to a growing budget deficit. The squeegee man is another symptom of the rot allowed to accumulate under Bloomberg’s administration.
What does the statue of Che really say?
When will people learn that the government is not their friend and is never benevolent? The citizens of America are in the process of being screwed on the national, state and local levels like never seen before.
Dec 3, 2008 - 9:15 am 21. deguello:New York was never a good place to live,even in the “good days” Just read Garcia Lorca, Henry Miller, and Celine 3 diverse people who all stared into the life-killing abyss that is NYC, and were revolted..At present it’s a Liberal welfare dysneyland,run by spendthrift liberal scum voted in,by a vicious, economically ignorant electorate.It is a locus for stress,criminality(Wall Street’s)as well as more common street crime,dirt, heavy taxes,poor services,crowding, and crime. NYC’s subway “system” could only have been conceived by a sadist,its inept public schools are run by charlatans: it deserves to die.About the only service NYC renders to the Republic is as a magnet for the
Dec 5, 2008 - 6:26 am 22. XTC-Templates:many village idiots,who can avoid public ridicule in their home towns, and successfully pose as “artistes” in a city, whose culture is fascinated with dysfunctional freaks.NYC is a meatgrinder for the naive who think it offers opportunity;it does, in the same way that working in a Pennsylvania coal mine offerered opportunity, to desperate and starving european immigrants in the 19th century.Now,with, its last racket Wall st, gone, it will go into terminal decline. May it rest in hell!
Someone ought to poll the squeegee guys about their education and former careers. It would be sweet if respondents frequently use the terms “J-school” and “MSM hack”.
Aug 24, 2009 - 10:21 am