I've been coming to this city for a long time. I've always been taken with it; it's an unbelievable place, in terms of size, content – the whole deal is completely unique. If you can't find what you're looking for in NYC as far as material or experience, you are just not trying hard enough, because somewhere in the 5 boroughs is what you're looking for.

One aspect I've never been completely able to wrap my head around (that's a figurative wrapping, people. I don't think it's possible to wrap one's head physically around, say, a sandwich, without serious damage to one's, uh, head.) is the sheer volume of people. I say volume instead of number because the movement of the masses is more akin to plate tectonics at its most violent than millions individuals moving in their own way. I've always resisted the urge to live in NYC because the whole city seems to suck the life out of the individual, not to mention the money. I mean, you should see some of the dumps that are renting for $2,000 a month.

My opinions have run the gamut as well, from complete intoxication (literal and figurative) to absolute disgust. When I was just a teen, the city was more on the sinful and intoxicating side. I was too suburban to understand the real treats that the city had to offer. I spent a lot of time in mid-town early on, then ventured to Brooklyn and Greenwich Village, and soaked up the so-not-Borders bookstores and record stores. I even went to a show at CBGB/OMFUG, which is where some cool bands like the Ramones, Blondie and the Talking Heads got started. The name stands for Country Blue Grass Blues/Other Music For Uplifting Gourmandizers, whatever the fuck that means.

Then I got sick of it. The place was absolutely disgusting. Ed Koch and David Dinkins seem like decent guys, but the place went to shit on their watch. I remember thinking, I could be in the worst neighborhood or the best neighborhood, but I wouldn't know because it all smelled like stale piss. So I stopped going for a while.

Then I went again sometime in the mid 1990s to see REM at Madison Square Garden, and I noticed it was a different place. For one: significantly less noticeable piss smell. It was still evident on the subway, but what public transportation doesn't come with piss as a standard installation? Also, it was cleaner and the odds had been much improved that you wouldn't get nailed by an automobile when crossing the street due to much higher levels of enforcement at intersections.

This came with a price – and if you don't believe me, ask Amadou Diallou or Abner Louima. Cops under Mayor Rudy Giuliani were empowered to be more aggressive in reducing crime, many times before it occurred. In some cases, no crime was occurring, but that didn't stop NYC cops from shooting Diallou 41 times when he was reaching for the identification they asked him for. Or, when considering the case of Louima, Diallou may have gotten off easy. Police took issue with Louima during a street festival, when at best what he may have done was be a wiseass. The cops took him back to the station house and topped off the beating by jamming a nightstick up his ass. During Rudy's reign, that was part of the price of safety.

Rudy's background as a hardcore anti-crime guy caused him to overstep rights and decency during the time between his election and September 11. However, his strong management and organization of the city are among the primary reasons that NYC has bounced back so strongly after the September 11 attacks. Other reasons are the resilience of the people and the commitment that businesses and community organizations made to standing up to the attackers.

Make no bones about it however; this is a changed city because of those attacks. Standing in parts of the city where you used to be able to see the towers is chilling. Walking by fire and police departments and hospitals and seeing the shrines with pictures and messages makes you understand the guts the attacks ripped out of the city. For me, any vision of the towers can be too much, as my uncle worked to build those towers and I never looked at them without thinking of him. Case in point, I had HBO on while getting ready in the morning recently and Crocodile Dundee II came on. The movie's opening scene includes a great shot of lower Manhattan from the harbor and when they showed the towers...man, I welled up. The only other time someone might have gotten emotional is when the guy who green lighted this piece of crap movie cried after getting fired for doing it.

(As a brief aside, can you believe that they made another Crocodile Dundee movie that came out in 2001? I mean, what does Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski have on these studios? Who is allowing this shit? At least porn will be profitable and more appropriate for children!)

Anyway, New York City remains an enigmatic place. It's a place worth visiting over a period of time to check out its evolution. It doesn't smell like piss anymore. Let's hope the new mayor, Mike Bloomberg (worth about $400 million; must be a regular guy like you and me) does it right.

Some sites to chizeck:

http://www.platetectonics.com - Plate Tectonics
www.nyc.gov - New York City Official Site
http://www.cbgb.com - CBGB & OMFUG
http://september11.archive.org/ - September 11
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Hogan,+Paul - The Crock that is Dundee

Fingers Maloney