I am lucky enough to have been to New York City several times. One of my favourite trips was last summer when my wife and I attended the wedding of our son (who studies there) and his wonderful, delightful fiancée (who teaches there).

We gained a marvellous daughter-in-law during that visit.

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But two trips stick out in my mind today when I think about the crime and human waste in Edmonton’s own Downtown.

One visit was in the late 1990s when the famous Times Square was a dumpster fire, too, just like our own Downtown, although not as bad. The other was a trip in the early 2000s after crime had been more than halved and a vibrant street life had re-emerged.

On the first of those two occasions, New York had one of the highest violent crime rates in the U.S. Armed muggings were common.

Times Square was a cesspool of pawn shops, porn stores, strip joints, junkies and shabby hotels that made no secret their rooms were for rent by the hour.

There were streetwalkers on nearly every corner.

When I returned six years later, there........

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