Author: Pooneet Thaper (page 1 of 1)

The Broken Windows theory has some merit not in its effectiveness in policing, but rather its encouragement to maintain a relationship between the police and the community. The argument that the Broken Windows theory tries to make, namely that disorder, if left unaddressed, will lead to more serious crime, is a seemingly reasonable assumption but one that is too open to interpretation. Personal prejudices can quite easily be used to interpret “disorder” in a way that can quickly lead to profiling against minorities. The use of quotas would only exacerbate this problem. Eventually, a distrust of the police in these more heavily targeted communities would grow, as we have seen in recent years. One possible alternative to Broken Windows could be a reworking that removes this idea of attacking “disorder” and priorities instead the community based aspects of the policy. Community policing is such a philosophy that emphasizes the relationship between the community and the police by assigning police to communities and having them work with the members of those communities to identify and address problems. This personalized policing policy is being applied to the NYPD under Commissioner James P. O’Neill, who hopes it will help mend relations between communities and officers. The effectiveness of this new policy, however, has yet to be evaluated, but there has been less emphasis in the media about abuse of power by police or protests by groups such as BlackLivesMatter.

-Pooneet Thaper

The MoveNY plan for was an interesting attempt at addressing the issues of NYC’s commuters. Currently, an issue that impacts many commuters daily is congestion on the subway and the bridges into the city.  The MoveNY proposes a recalculation of the bridge tolls in order to decrease this congestion by encouraging the use of other alternative transportation, such as subway and pedestrian bridges. Moreover, the plan hopes to provide a fairer system for more of the city’s residents by lowering tolls where there is less traffic and a shortage of transit options and increasing tolls where the opposite is true. In addition, the plan is asking each commuter to contribute to the maintenance of the infrastructure they benefit from on a daily basis.

This may not play well with the drivers who would consider this increase a new “tax” on them. Furthermore, discouraging driving and encouraging people to use the subways without improving the crowded conditions in the subways at the moment would serve to increase congestion there instead. An interesting idea proposed is the construction of a line from Brooklyn, through Queens, and up to the Bronx. Such a plan could take billions of dollars and, considering the Second Avenue Subway’s construction time, possibly another decade. Until this and other alternatives are put into place, riders would have to deal with worse conditions to improve those of the roads.

Pooneet Thaper

The assessment that Mose’s only damaged New York would ignore any positive effects that his projects had on the city. It is true that the way Mose’s “reign” affected many poorer, non-white residents was detrimental to the standard of living in the city. As a result, these residents were displaced and marginalized, which further resulted in the development of more slums. Furthermore, the methods Mose used set a dangerous precedent for future political leaders in the future. The two-faced, organized corruption schemes could be, and were, implemented by others seeking political power and influence. His blackmail and defamation model, for example, were the same tactics made famous by Joseph McCarthy soon after. However, the contributions that streamlined development made to the city cannot be ignored either. In particular, the construction of Lincoln Center, modern highways, and the UN likely boosted the position of NYC as a cultural, national, and global center, bolstering a majestic image that may have helped fuel more tourism, and therefore business, to the city. Moreover, the development of parks, playgrounds, and beaches may have had a positive contribution, at least to the lives of those who could take advantage of them and the perception of NYC from nonresidents. Overall, it is unlikely that these positives, for the vast majority of the city’s residents, had an impact that was significant enough to outweigh the negatives. The merit of Mose’s building, it seems, is not seen from within as much as it likely is from without.