(H/T Instapundit) This is profoundly unsurprising to me:
Broadway star Patti LuPone gave an interview to the DC gay mag Metro Weekly, in which she unloaded several strange bursts of liberal celebrity-speak. The most notable one was resenting Rudy Giuliani for cleaning up Times Square into an “arcade” and wishing Times Square was “tawdry and dangerous again.”
In case you thought there would be absolutely no one who missed drug dealers and prostitutes dominating Times Square (other than those people), there is Patti LuPone…
I happened to be looking for work/working in the City during the Giuliani years, and I remember having to cut through Times Square before Giuliani cleaned it up. It is almost impossible to describe the before and after, but here goes: you ever see a science fiction movie or television episode where the heroes go back in time, accidentally change history for the worse, and come back to the present to discover that their favorite place is now some kind of grimy hell? Yeah, reverse that and you have what happened to Times Square. It was great.
And I have been listening to a particular type of liberal – the ones that would like to be hipsters, only they can’t grow the requisite beards* – bitch and moan about the loss of such a terribly, terribly romantic spot for over a decade. The weird part? The way that they look at you when you point out that NYC is not a theme park; it’s a city where people work, live, and might perhaps be inclined to walk through Times Square without tripping over a pimp or a crack pipe every twenty paces or so.
Moe Lane
*No, they’re almost never female liberals. Ms. LuPone is almost unique in that regard.
I visited several cesspits around the Pacific rim during my Navy years, and I found nothing romantic about the stench, or the filth, or the crime, which was all pre-cleanup Times Square offered, without the exotic location. I have no idea what could be wrong with anyone who thinks that lancing such a festering sore and applying disinfectant was a bad thing…..
They should quit complaining and come Detroit, they’ll LOVE it here. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting ‘tawdry and dangerous’….
So, what’s it like, living in a place where Robocop would be an improvement?
I would not have taken Junior Cat to see the Empire State, Statue of Liberty, and (this was post-9/11) where the World Trade Center used to be .. if Times Square hadn’t had a Toys R Us instead of doped-up whores. Wouldn’t have gone myself, either. I’m pretty obviously a tourist, and therefore a mark.
Mew
Trick question, Robocop would be an improvement to ANYWHERE. Hey, we’re coming up on the second round of the largest property tax auction in history (seriously, record setting). 22,000 tax-forclosed homes in Wayne County (Detroit) being auctioned off with opening bids of $500.
JeffV if your going to bid on one be reaaallll careful. My oldest was looking at one place, my wife researched it and found there were all sorts of problems i.e., liens and liabilities, back taxes that would have to be paid. He did the smart thing and decided to pass on it.
I would wait until the city gets desperate and starts Forcing lein-holders to settle for bupkis first. I would also be looking at bulldozing a couple acres and hiring a couple marines to set up a farm… A scary-well defended farm.
Mew
Acat, that was what I was thinking would be the value of most of these places, knock a few over an build a fortified zombie shelter. No, I would not consider buying one of those on a bet.
Their good for materials if you want to do the dismantling. Hard wood form old growth forests, Brick, not much metal most of it’s been stripped out. But some of the materials is stuff you cant get anymore.
I’ve thought of that, actually. There’s a reclaimation place not far from me that sells that sort of thing for pretty high dollars. Oak interior doors, old cornaces, lighting fixtures, heating grates, you name it. I think the cost of dismantling and site clean-up would eat up any profit, though. Not to mention having to keep an eagle eye on my equipment in those neighborhoods….