Mayor Bill de Blasio
needs to end the policy
of requiring our
NYPD to enforce social distancing.
Now more than ever, we
need our cops to focus on
the real criminals taking
advantage of this pandemic,
which is causing more havoc
at the expense of innocent
New Yorkers. For example,
commercial burglaries were
up 169 percent in April compared
to last year.
In addition, there has
been a 55 percent increase
in robberies in our subway
system compared to last
year, despite an over 90 percent
decrease in ridership.
Also, our subway has become
a rolling hotel for the
homeless, making it an even
more nerve-racking experience.
Despite the fact that there
are already MTA rules prohibiting
using the trains as a
hotel, City Hall has thus far
turned a blind eye to this out
of control problem. Just last
week, two homeless individuals
were found dead. Mayor
10 COURIER LIFE, MAY 8-14, 2020
THE RIGHT
VIEW
Bob Capano
de Blasio should utilize the
NYPD to address this issue,
and ensure our essential
workers feel safe getting
to and from their important
work rather than using them
to oversee New Yorkers enjoying
the sunshine and nice
weather with their families
and friends.
As one veteran train operator,
Yann Hicks, admitted,
“I don’t really want to
ride the trains anymore because
I’m afraid to ride the
train. The trains are overwhelmed
with homeless, and
you never know what’s going
to happen.” I think most
New Yorkers who must still
use the subway today would
agree.
Police Benevolent Association
President Patrick
Lynch, who also just called
for the end of social distancing
enforcement by the
NYPD, summed up the misplaced
priorities of City Hall
succinctly when he stated,
“Meanwhile, those same
politicians are still watering
down our laws, releasing
real criminals and discouraging
proactive enforcement
of fare evasion and quality of
life issues. As a result, our
subways are in chaos and
we have hero nurses getting
mugged on their way to our
hospitals. As the weather
heats up and the pandemic
continues to unravel our
social fabric, police officers
should be allowed to focus
more on our core public
safety mission.”
With the continued antipolice
sentiment that has
been fueled by our politicians,
especially the mayor,
do we really expect there
not to be any confrontations
when a cop attempts to enforce
social distancing? Indeed,
last weekend in the
East Village when officers
were following the mayor’s
order to enforce social distancing,
three people were
charged with resisting arrest.
One of them was also
hit with assault of a police officer
and menacing charges.
Continuing this practice
is asking for even more confrontations,
and we know
that when things get heated
the mayor will turn his back
on our cops.
Adding more issues to
social distancing enforcement
by the NYPD, there
have been mixed messages
on this and the wearing of
masks. A recent tweet from
the NYPD showed an officer
handing a mask to someone
strolling on a crowded pathway.
As Councilman Joe
Borelli (R-Staten Island) accurately
tweeted, “We can’t
go on where it’s literally
a ‘No mask? No problem’
tweet and you’re handed a
free one, but two miles away
you’re given a court summons.
Can’t be ‘open streets
for fresh air’ but ‘there’s too
many people out.’”
Once again, Borelli
proves to be almost a sole
voice of sanity and common
sense at City Hall.
If the mayor wants to enforce
social distancing, he
should consider using his
bloated City Hall staff of “senior
aides” and “special assistants,”
or traffic agents
since they have more time on
their hands with alternate
side of the street parking
suspended. But, for the sake
of our essential workers and
law abiding New Yorkers, let
cops be cops.
Bob Capano has worked
for Brooklyn Republican &
Democrat elected officials.
He has been an adjunct political
science professor for
over 15 years. Follow him on
Twitter @BobCapano.
OPINION
Let police offi cers be police offi cers
Quarantine and the ‘third quarter effect’
Lately I’ve been thinking
about the ruts and
obsessions people find
themselves in. Here at this
paper, my conservative
counterpart’s columns are
almost always about law and
order, whereas mine seem to
be about powerlessness and
isolation.
Studies of astronauts in
orbit or scientists isolated
in Antarctica have identified
what they call a “third
quarter effect.” At the beginning
of a long-term mission,
participants are anxious yet
excited, then they move on
to depression and boredom,
then, normally shortly after
the halfway point, they
become aggressive and irritable.
We are embarked upon
an isolation mission of uncertain
duration. We are
long past the honeymoon
phase, yet I suspect we are
not yet even close to the halfway
point. The uncertainty
surely makes the whole
situation worse. It seems
clear that many of us are
depressed and bored. We’ve
been an aggressive and irritable
country for a long time,
but I think we’re getting
worse. At least that’s what
my social media addiction
seems to be showing me.
Last week I suggested
some ways people can organize
to help themselves, because
it appears government
help is mostly not coming.
However, most of us don’t really
want to deal with other
people any more. This has
been true for a while. We
hold increasingly disparate
beliefs, and it’s frustrating
to acknowledge others’
points of view that feel
so wrong-headed. Both our
entertainment systems and
Amazon keep us from sallying
forth to compromise:
who wouldn’t want to get exactly
what they want delivered
to them at home, without
having to interact with
the messiness and uncertainty
of others?
We felt this way back when
other people were merely inconvenient,
but now that
others are possible dangers
to us, or we to them, our
aversion has exploded. We
are increasingly interacting
through Zoom or other video
chats, which may be an improvement
on a work meeting
— because one can more
easily hide how much one is
ignoring or annoyed by the
others — but seem to turn
every other sort of interaction
into overlong and awkward
work-like encounters.
I think we have slipped
into isolation and atomization
because we hate change:
the current system allows
some of us to avoid having
to accommodate ourselves to
others. But even though the
dominant feeling of this crisis
is one of stasis, the only
true constant in the world
is change. The old and current
system of living is not
sustainable. We are living
amidst economic and ecological
crisis, and this crisis
will persist past the current,
interminable pandemic.
Relying on distant strangers
who we are richer than
will destroy us one day. We
must become less specialized,
we must focus more locally,
we have to adapt and
grow and share or we will
perish.
Nick Rizzo is a Democratic
District Leader representing
the 50th Assembly
District and a political consultant
who lives in Greenpoint.
Follow him on Twitter
@NickRizzo.
WORDS OF
RIZZDOM
Nick Rizzo