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Mayor Johnson should take note of Giuliani and Bloomberg
• A LITTLE over 18 months ago, I decided to move to New York, good career prospects and a change of scenery, having lived most of my life in Camden.
Living in Manhattan, near Times Square, has vastly changed my opinion of what Londoners should and should not put up with.
New York had severe problems a few years ago, but with the introduction of mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg, and their attitude of “zero tolerance”, the city is now a clean, safe, comfortable place to live and work. You can walk the streets at any time of day, without having to worry.
I’m not saying that America doesn’t have severe faults, its president being the main one, but New York is a pleasure to live in.
If a person puts a foot wrong, they are arrested and indeed convicted and sentenced. Not slapped on the wrist and let out of prison within a few months, only to reoffend.
I tend to come back to London once every three months, and can only say that the crime, tension, filthy streets and overall lack of social conscience, is quite frankly disgusting.
The same old faces, committing the same old crimes, even the footbridge between Maiden Lane and Camley Street, used even more than it was four years ago when a feeble, half-hearted attempt to clean it up failed. Drug deals and users openly on the canal and streets, hordes of undesirable dogs and their owners, gangs of aggressive youths. The most aggressive dog you see in New York is a chihuahua in a bag.
This is most certainly not confined to Camden – it seems to be the whole country.
Having brought friends over to visit, it’s simply embarrassing.
The police and council must be banging their heads against brick walls as the courts constantly let them down. Though, of course, if you get a speeding or parking fine, that will be enforced beyond belief. The priorities are wrong. I trust mayor Johnson will take a leaf out of the Giuliani and Bloomberg’s of this world, get tough and adopt a zero tolerance approach, before it’s too late and the far right take control – or maybe that’s what it needs.
Tim Hadley
Elm Village
Management Company
Carol Street, NW1
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