[wtc911]

Yep, I made two trips. One @ 1986 for business which was ok. The other to visit my wife's cousin, a Doctor in an upscale area barely touched by Katrina. This was eight months before the storm.

I was a cop in NYC in the early seventies when the city was as dangerous as everyone thought it was. Walking around NOLA in 2005 felt just like NYC at its lowest.

[Clemenza]

What people tend to forget is that in the 1970s into the early 1980s, there were some pockets of pure hell (SROs, Section 8ers, and projects) right next to some rather expensive blocks, especially on the west side. Central Park West and West End Avenue were OK, but in between was a no-go zone comparable to the Bronx.

Lets also not forget the proliferation of hustler hotels, er, arcades in and around time square, and the pre-gentrified East Village/Alphabet City, and one can see that even Manhattan was not immune to the problems of the outer boroughs.

Seems to me that things are under control in and around the Douglass Houses and the other projects in Manhattan. Any idea what happened?