‘It’s all political’: New Yorkers grim on decaying city, believe ‘nothing’ will come of Biden’s visit

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President Biden is due to visit New York City on Thursday with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in tow for a sit down with NYC Mayor Eric Adams over rising violent crime in the city. Some New Yorkers, however, are less than optimistic that any real change will come from the mini-summit, considering it to be a photo-op for political gain and nothing more.

“I think it’s a total waste,” one woman told Fox News of the president’s visit to the city. “He’s going to do absolutely nothing to help New York City.”

“Political – it’s all political,” the 75-year-old lifelong New Yorker continued. “That’s why he’s coming. No other reason.”

Senior administration officials said that some of the strategies to be discussed are Biden’s so-called “zero-tolerance” policy for gun dealers who violate the law, more support for local law enforcement, more programs for teenagers and young adults, and initiatives to help formerly incarcerated individuals “successfully reenter their communities,” Fox News reported.

WATCH the video from Fox News Digital here.

As BPR reported, the president’s visit comes on the heels of two young NYPD officers, Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora, being mourned by thousands at two funerals only days apart. The partners were ambushed upon responding to a domestic disturbance call in Harlem in late January.

Fox News reported that New York City saw 485 people murdered last year, which is a slight increase from 2020. It also experienced a sharp rise in alleged hate crimes and an increase in almost all categories of major crimes. Additionally, subway crimes are up 65 percent so far in 2022.

“I cannot believe what’s happened in this city,” one resident told Fox News. “Crime is out of control.”

“I know people who won’t get on the subway,” another woman said. “People rearrange their day around it…it definitely has an impact, especially for women.”

One woman who owns a business in Manhattan said, “My customers, they’re very afraid, after 5 o’clock, to walk in the city.”

“My mom calls me every night, she’s scared to go out,” a construction worker told Fox News. “Unfortunately, where she lives at, crime is up in the Bronx.”

As well, the unintended consequences of arguably foolish and disastrous policy reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be ignored in crime-ridden cities like NYC.

“A lot of people are doing bad,” the man continued. “You know, COVID – when people don’t have money, crime goes up.”

One woman said, however, that she believes the tsunami of crime in the city began even before the pandemic.

“When they passed the bail and discovery laws, the state legislature passed them, Cuomo pushed them through, and it’s changed everything,” she said, referring to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

“Sadly, no one is caring, nobody’s taking care of these issues,” she continued.

The DOJ said they will work with state and local law enforcement to address the “most significant drivers of violence in each district,” including to “get repeat gun violence offenders off our streets,” and added that New York City’s Gun Violence Strategic Partnership, which Biden and AG Garland will reportedly discuss on Thursday with Adams, is “one model of the strategies Justice will help expand nationwide.”

For many New Yorkers though, all that talk of lofty goals is pretty cheap.

“Every president, they sell dreams. Let’s see what happens,” one man said.

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