Police are looking into two separate incidents that occurred in the neighborhood over the weekend.
On Saturday around noon, a 46-year-old man was found dead in the third-floor stairwell of the building at 47 West 90 Street. The identity of the man, who was from Long Island, has not been released. A police spokesman said there’s no clear sign of criminality, but it’s still under investigation. The man’s body was sent to the medical examiner for further study.
On Sunday afternoon, a 23-year-old Brazilian tourist was stabbed in the torso by another man in Columbus Circle. Police got the call at 1:23 p.m., and the victim was transported to Cornell Hospital and considered “not likely to die,” a police spokesman said.
“There may have been a verbal dispute,” the spokesman said.
NBC reported that witnesses believed the attack was random.
Witnesses say the attack appeared unprovoked and completely random, and that the man had a small knife and appeared unstable. Police were still searching the area for him hours later.
“There was a tourist guy inside this area and the homeless guy came around him and hit him in his back and got away,” said food vendor Ahmed Mahar.
No arrests have been made and police had no description of the assailant.
Deblasio = letting homeless roam the streets = tourist stabbed by homeless man (no mention of a homeless man who stabbed someone on the C train?)
Under de Blasio total major crimes were down 4.1 percent in 2016 from 2015, and nine percent compared to 2013 (former mayor Michael Bloomberg’s final year). There were 2 percent fewer grand larcenies in 2016 compared to 2013, 19 percent fewer robberies and 26 percent fewer burglaries. Homicides in New York City are down 4.8 percent in 2016 compared to 2015, and they’re at basically the same level as 2014 and 2013.
I do understand that you want to use this incident to support your belief. google “confirmation bias”.
Are you saying that DeBlasio has a policy that is different than Bloombergs with regard to letting the homeless “roam the streets”? Could it be that there are just more homeless? Could it be that there is something different in the attitude of the police, and if so, is that also DeBlasio’s fault?
I agree that there are more homeless visible since DeBlasio got elected. I just am not sure how it can be said to be DeBlasio’s fault, as such.
This was going on under Bloomberg, and Ghouliani before him. This is NOT just a Deblasio issue.
Take off your bigot’s cap.
There have been homeless in NYC for years, true but things are now very different.
NYPD has been ordered to not act on quality of life issues as progressives view it as harassment. The perp in this case has frequented the area, based on the description.
Under previous mayors NYPD could pick him up for peeing in the street, harassing passerby’s etc. That way he would go through a hold and hopefully get the detox/meds etc he needed. Today that will get you command discipline very quickly. I have to laugh though because the one place were people are still made to move along is Gracie Mansion. Recall the NY Post reporter a few years ago that tested it. The mayors staff repeatedly came out to the NYPD guard shack and told the officers on duty to move the homeless.
Why don’t you elaborate on the fact how NYPD was ordered not to act in this case? Be specific please.
nyc council decriminalized many of these quality of life crimes, over the strong objections of the dept.
Dept changed the way shootings are classified
lowering those numbers if no one was hit
Patrol guide followed to the letter, proactive actions on quality of life issues sharply discouraged as media, the city council and mayor pushed the agenda that quality of life crime enforcement was targeted at communities of color.
DejaVu – How tiring the charge of “bigot/racist” and all the other “phobes” from the alt/looney left has become…all three mayors were white males, so there’s no bigotry.
the bigotry lies in the hostility that Giuliani and Bloomberg expressed towards the Black and Hispanic communities, whereas De Blasio is, rightly or wrongly, perceived as friendlier and more sympathetic to those communities.
Giuliani was notorious for his outright racism, which has continued to this day.
Bloomberg was much better with many of the optics, but still instituted the horrible racial profiling version of “stop and frisk” (yes, that was Bloomberg, not Giuliani). almost every Black male that i know under the age of 50 was stopped multiple times under that policy.
it doesn’t take much time reading the comments on WSR to see that a lot of the De Blasio haters are also bigots. Not all, and perhaps not most, but there is a hard core who try to use any instance to defame entire communities. it has a negative effect on the entire comments section.
UWSHebrew,
Because you want facts and instances, and not just fear to inform your judgement, I offer these:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/12/opinion/rudy-giulianis-racial-myths.html?mcubz=0&_r=0
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2016/11/16/more-on-the-time-rudy-giuliani-helped-incite-a-riot-of-racist-cops/?utm_term=.0286fb6c99ce
To call Giuliani a racist is disgusting. He was anti-crime, including putting the Italian Mafia in prison, and he of course is of Italian heritage. Giuliani was the best thing to happen to NYC in decades.
agreed (with Deja Vu)
crime is down under De Blasio… and way, way down from 2000 and 2001 (last years of Giuliani era)
Shhh – our resident Righties are frightened by facts.
Good point.
Before DeBlasio, you never saw homeless people roaming the street and no one was ever stabbed.
I’m not a fan of the current mayor but I am a fan of reality.
Of course there were homeless people roaming around in the Bloomberg and Giuliani era. There were plenty of crazy people too. I guess you’ve forgotten what it was like here in the 80’s and 90’s. The same homeless woman has been panhandling Broadway on the streets for at least a decade now. How soon you forget…..
What’s new is the influx of Seattle and Berkley type homeless-by-choice white kids who are coming here and parking themselves on the street, reading books, drawing on pads, hanging with their dogs. They’re clearly not drug addicts because they’re too engaged in their activities. That’s something we never used to see.
And, by the way, there’s just as much dog s-t as ever. Something no Mayor has ever done anything about.
Such a preposterous claim was never stated or even so much as implied by UWS Hebrew.
Did you honestly not realize that stating, of a given situation, that beginning from a certain point it “has deteriorated rapidly” (UWSH’s actual words) is entirely different from claiming that said situation had not existed prior to said certain point?
Apparently not enough of “a fan of reality” to allow it to keep you from fabricating a strawman and then using to take a cheap swipe at someone you obviously harbor little good will toward*.
(*Some months ago UWS Hebrew told of an incident in which he had verbally confronted a hostile stranger. In response, at least two and possibly more people here urged UWSH, for his own safety, to avoid such behavior. Someone then posted a comment to UWSH, encouraging him to disregard the aforementioned cautions and to boldly and defiantly persist in the very behavior that they had cautioned him against. Was that someone not you, “OriginalMark”?)
I have now found the thread I was referring-to and confirmed that the comment in it which effectively wished UWSH dead, was indeed posted by someone calling himself “OriginalMark”:
https://www.westsiderag.com/2017/06/21/woman-stabbed-on-107th-street#comment-350799
Brings to mind the title of that August 16th Ann Coulter column that I had linked-to in a previous thread, When Liberals Club People, It’s With Love In Their Hearts.
Independent, your obsession with me is charming if not a little odd.
But UWSHebrew is a big boy. I’m sure he can handle the sarcasm.
But it’s nice that you are here to defend him. You’re bravery is remarkable.
Any point you were trying to make, Independent, is lost in your unnecessary verbosity.
Now see? That response was short and pithy.
Nicely done!
Enjoying that echo chamber, the two of you, I see. Nice and cozy, safe and comfortable, I’m sure.
LOL jen – ya think?
I have a work colleague who does the same thing. His emails are painfully wordy and his message becomes immediately lost.
I am not associated with OrigionalMark, whose comments diverge widely from my own.
Self-gratification is perfectly healthy.
This comment from OrigionalMark is a good example of how much our comments differ.
Mostly, I comment about the neighborhood on this neighborhood blog.
OrigionalMark like to self-gratify.
Don’t worry Mark. I think people realize that I’m the smart one,
Umm, independent, are you not aware that there are things called “facts”?
Are you not literate enough to read what UWSHebrew said?
You type an excess of words to embarrass yourself.
Do you have a lawful suggestion for how to deal with the problem?
Genuinely curious.
All I know is Bloomberg continued the policies that Giuliani implemented in dealing with the homeless, and since DeBlasio came into office, the homeless situation has deteriorated rapidly and as you can see, it is literally life-threatening, to all of us. I don’t remember the homeless being so ever-present since the early 1980’s.
UWSHebrew,
It’s just that you keep commenting that the neighborhood is suddenly unsafe, and we all need to fear for our lives.
That is just not the case.
Aren’t these your words: “it is literally life-threatening, to all of us.”?
Mark,
It’s just that you are stating things I never said. Look at my original comment, did I say ANY of the things you just said I did?
I’ve lived on the UWS for 42 years. There were plenty of homeless before the current Mayor.
Your statements about the homeless are complete nonsense.
MARK — what does your 1997 article have to do with HOMELESS stabbing people.
UWSHebrew,
I kinda’ remember this: “2 Teen-Agers Held in Stabbing Death of Man Found in Park”
MAY 24, 1997
https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/24/nyregion/2-teen-agers-held-in-stabbing-death-of-man-found-in-park.html?mcubz=0
Do you recall two stabbings by homeless men on the Upper West Side in the span of a week in your 42 years of living here? I DON’T THINK SO.
Re”the man … appeared unstable.”
Calling all sector cars vicinity Columbus Circle: apprehend for questioning any males appearing unstable … ummm … wait a sec … ummm we will be sending an MTA bus … ummm make that two MTA buses to hold suspected perps.
I hope you get on that bus.
There seem to be a lot of “unstable” people who frequent Columbus Circle. Is there any way to address this issue (besides an overhaul of how we deal with the homeless and mental health issues in this country)?
No, so “we deal with the homeless and mental health issues in this country.”
All the SROs became hotels for the world’s affluent tourists=homelessness. Just capitalism at work. More to follow. As more tourists die and tourism falters rhe hotel rooms will go back to being SROs.
Every person who is on the street, walking, standing, running, sitting, lying down, any activity, HAS to pay $20 to the city for the right to use the street, DAILY.
The homeless most likely don’t have that kind of change, and will not be allowed on the streets.
I hope all you people who are so anti homeless folks will adopt this ruling.
Most of us already do…it’s called City taxes and its way more than $20.
This may be an unpopular view, but the “bike rental” hucksters need to go. Usually 4-5 at the top of subway exit steps. Another dozen or two wandering around harrassing tourists. Then you have the group targeting Citibike renters at that kiosk. Just adds to the overall “feel” of the area in a negative way. Bike rentals are fine, but in an organized manner.
GG, I’m not a proponent of aggressive sales tactics, but do you really support monopoly of Citibikes or monopoly in general? Why there can’t be other offers? Again, not a fan of the aggressive behavior described above.
Hey Jen,
Yes, I agree with you 100%. My statement wasn’t really that clear. I meant that the aggressive behavior was the issue. I think there should be as many options as the market supports.
Citibike is nice but there should be healthy competition from lots of smaller bike shops as well. Why not?
Agreed.
These guys are all over the place in the southern part of the Park and some get kind of aggressive.
Tourists don’t need to be intimidated into renting some crappy bike when CitiBike is all over the place.
There oughta be a law!
Homeless people have stabbed people. Those with homes have stabbed people. I see no correlation.
The correlation is that if the laws were still on the books that allowed NYPD to pick up this guy when he was seen repeated acting strangely and accosting people in a nonviolent but scary way, he might not have been on the street to do this attempted murder and had gotten the help he needs
thank you Robert, for being the rare person on here who replies with logic and not hyperbole and ignorance.
I had a similar thought when I read UWSHebrew’s comment: “the homeless situation has deteriorated rapidly and as you can see, it is literally life-threatening, to all of us.”
His generalizations are so hyped. I guess when he reads that spouses sometimes kill each other that all partners are at risk.
Two stabbings by homeless men on the Upper West Side in the span of a week and I am labeled as “generalizations that are hyped”. Your ignorance blinds you.
Have you considered moving to a safer place?
It sounds like your life is terrifying.
Actually, that wasn’t a sarcastic question.
It really does sound your like is terrifying and I really do wonder if you’ve considered moving because of your fear.
Do you not understand the meaning of “sarcasm”?
Have you considered putting your sarcasm to rest and looking in the mirror and realizing what a self-righteous, smug creep you are?
You sound like an hysterical old Jewish lady like my mother….wait, MOM? is that you??
Nobody ever said life in the city was easy or perfectly safe. You need to toughen up a little. Hold your head up and walk the streets of NYC with confidence, shoulders back…you’ll be fine. And I can’t stress this enough, you probably aren’t going to get stabbed. And if you do it probably won’t even be that deep and chicks love scars.:)
Hmmmm…and now that I think about it. You never see my mother and UWSHebrew at the same time in the same place. And, they both voted for Trump…hmmmm…very suspicious.
Wow, where to even begin with a comment like this…The offenses go well beyond mere “microaggressions”…
“UWS Hebrew” sounds, to you, like “an hysterical old Jewish lady”? Perhaps you’d care to elaborate and clarify for us just how that differs from a mere, generic “hysterical old lady”?
Imagine that statement of GG’s with “Jewish” replaced with, say “Muslim”, “black” or “Latina”? Would we ever even see such a comment here? (To say nothing of sexual identity; G-d help any poor soul who would so much as think of that in this context.)
What’s most offensive here, though, would have to be the blatant lack of respect that you exhibited toward your own mother. Rather appalling, really.
Including UWS Hebrew; he never said or even suggested that life in the City —anywhere in the City– was ever “perfectly safe”. Yet, as I pointed-out in my previous comment, that “little” fact did not stop a certain hostile and smug individual from (a) claiming that UWSH had effectively made the preposterous claim that “Before DeBlasio, you never saw homeless people roaming the street and no one was ever stabbed.” and (b) smugly mocking UWSH for such an obviously preposterous claim– one that he never made. And this smug and hostile individual did all this in a post that he concluded by priding himself on being “a fan of reality”!
“Chicks”? You mean young fowl? Or is that how you refer to women? That would seem rather remarakable, would it not, for someone, such as yourself, who prides himself on being such a “Respectable”*?
(*As opposed to a mere “Deplorable”, such as myself.)
Yeah, Jean Shepherd seems to have gotten away with it but that was 40-50 years ago.
But let’s imagine, for a moment, that you had merely written “Women love scars”. Would even /that/ (without any such loaded word as “chicks”) have amounted to anything less than an example of what your fellow Respectables have decried as “toxic masculinity”?
You comment read: ““the homeless situation has deteriorated rapidly and as you can see, it is literally life-threatening, to all of us.”
I do not feel ‘life-threatened’. Nobody I know feels ‘life threatened’. Many commenters on this very thread do not feel ‘life threatened’
So don’t say that I am ignorant. Instead, why don’t you be honest and say that YOU feel ‘life threatened’ and stop hurling insults at others who do not feel EXACTLY as you do. It’s a sign of narrow-mindedness and displays a lack of personal insight.
UWSHebrew,
Yes, solving homelessness is an important priority.
But you know that laying this problem at the feet of the Mayor, as if he is the sole cause and solution is incorrect.
You can use your heightened concern about this issue to learn more about the causes of homelessness and the detailed solutions proposed.
MARK — can’t you get it through your head that when homeless men randomly stab people in the area of which you and I reside, that it is indeed “life-threatening”? Just because the odds of it happening to either of us are astronomically low, it does not mean that what I stated is not true. Unlike getting hit by a bus or getting mugged, this phenomenon of homeless attacking people that could lead to a person being killed is new and somewhat preventable, if we had a mayor who CARED ABOUT NEW YORKERS instead of CARING ABOUT HIS NATIONAL PROFILE because he wants to be elected POTUS.
aren’t you the person who pointed out that he is living in a state of fear? which is ludicrous, as he lives in one of the safest sections of one of the safest large cities in the world.
I am really beginning to worry about the gigantic scope
of the homeless problem all over our streets…….it makes
our city and our neighborhood so unattractive while we are
all paying huge rents to live here. It erodes the quality of
life big time.
A plan must be sought that make sense and implemented
immediately.
Why is our City not doing this?
Careful, F. Ames. As you can see, voicing your concern about the declining quality of life will get you kicked in the teeth here, especially if you’re a tax-paying, market-rate renter or condo owner who wasn’t born within 100 yards of Verdi Square. (And pssst – and never, ever bring up silly stuff like, you know, your family’s safety and junk like that!)
Psst.. I’m a market rate condo owner.. lived in one since 2002..: should I still psst about the fact the homeless are people and should be treated as such and not an inconvenience according to some who view them as garbage?
What I think …psst.. some newly minted UWS apt owners or renters refer to any kind of humanity as “communism”, “socialism”, naïveté and such. Whereas in fact they simply lack empathy, compassion and care only about their own conveniences. Let people die so they can live comfortably. Very shameful mentality and unfortunately I don’t know what to do to change it. And they have a nerve to preach their disgusting attitude.
Jen, personally I think there’s an extreme attitude and lack of empathy on both sides of the street. Your own comment that someone who has legitimate concerns about the welfare of themselves, their family, or their property is “disgusting”, and your assumption that those same folks wish the homeless would “die” is a case in point. Not everyone has the answers. With regard to F. Ames, is he not allowed to make his comment (sans an empathic solution to the problem) without getting jumped on as being self-centered, uncaring, etc.? I think that’s unfair. On the other hand, if a commenter is outward in a mean-spiritedness to those in need, or wishing harm on them, then of course we’d have the right to respond in kind. In F. Ames case, I didn’t see it that way.
yay Jen!!
Let me get it straight – your problem with the homeless is only that it makes the neighborhood unattractive ? You are not bothered by the fact that there are people, living and breathing, with all sorts of issues, are being on the street? You are worried about your taxes not letting you live in a pretty picture but you didn’t mention that your taxes should be applied to fix this issue?
I guess we know where a lot of the issue originates from. In the countries that apply their taxes towards issues like that there are no homeless and it works for everyone. But the main point is the mentality – he comment above is extremely selfish and not human, worrying about their own conveniences and ready to sucrifice human beings to achieve that.
Sorry to say Jen, but this is the normal attitude of most NYers. Please tell me what you are doing personally to help the homeless situation and I might think differently of you. Otherwise you are just one more of “those people” who like to criticize, call attention to the shortcomings of others, and do absolutely nothing about the true issue at hand. SO TIRESOME!
seriously? Jen has to show you “what she is doing personally to help the homeless” before she can criticize a self-centered comment?
talk about a double standard!
Which is that you don’t like seeing homeless people on your way to get bagels or a latte. That’s the real issue and of course “how much you’re paying to live here”. You’re not a real New Yorker.
“it makes our city and our neighborhood so unattractive while we are all paying huge rents to live here. It erodes the quality of
life big time.”
Sorry for any inconvenience caused you by people without homes. Sounds like that is very unfair to you.
ummm… i suggest you do some research. the Mayor has put forward an extensive plan for over 90 new long term shelters.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/28/nyregion/bill-de-blasio-new-york-homelessness-plan.html?mcubz=1
plan yes. but it was dead on arrival in the city council which has to approve the $$$, locations, etc for it
Surprise, surprise even the most liberal city council members have evoked the cities fair share law and refused to have a shelter added in their districts. Remember all the noise about getting the diesel burning trucks that hauled garbage off the streets to cut down on asthma rates and pollution? As so as they found out it would mean a garbage barge loading pier in each borough they dropped it.
Car 54 where are you?