The homeless encampment rapidly spreading across twelve blocks along Manhattan\u2019s West Side is a warning to New Yorkers in every borough: Under Mayor Zohran Mamdani, this city has no interest in protecting you, your business or your property.<\/p>\n
The stretch of real estate from the Intrepid Museum to the Javits Center attracts tourists year-round, a boon to nearby stores and restaurants \u2014 but not if visitors have to step over human waste<\/a>, navigate around half-conscious drug addicts and hold their breath against the stench.<\/p>\n \u201cIf a mom (moms usually plan the trips) sees the stories and photos near the Intrepid, they will go elsewhere,\u201d warned Cristyne Lategano, New York City\u2019s former tourism czar.<\/p>\n Individuals walk past a line of yellow rice that lays alongside an unidentified male, as he sleeps on the sidewalk. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cTourism is a choice, not a requirement.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet when Mamdani was asked this week what he\u2019ll do about the growing eyesore, he waved away such worries.\u00a0<\/p>\n Not a word about the impact on working people, families and property owners.\u00a0<\/p>\n But their concerns are real: Homelessness turns a city street into a petri dish, encouraging communicable diseases like hepatitis A and tuberculosis to fester.<\/p>\n They spread illnesses like typhus, a bacterial infection spread by lice and fleas that California Gov. Gavin Newsom has labeled \u201cmedieval.\u201d<\/p>\n Bartonella quintana, a bacterial infection carried by lice that can cause heart failure in humans \u2014 common in the trenches of World War I and thought to have disappeared \u2014 is also popping up in homeless sites.<\/p>\n Diseases like hepatitis A and tuberculosis can fester with rampant homelessness. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cHomeless encampments are infectious disease time bombs,\u201d according to Louisiana coroner Dwight L. McKenna.<\/p>\n Tuberculosis prevalence in New York City<\/a> is already double the national average. Who needs more?<\/p>\n Encampments also mean crime, victimizing both the homeless and anyone nearby.<\/p>\n A study in Portland, Ore., found that crime within one block of an encampment is nearly triple the citywide average.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s the tourist hit that should make Mamdani sit up and take notice, said George Lence, an NYC tourism expert with Nicholas & Lence Communications.<\/p>\n The city and state stand to lose $7.5 billion in tourism tax revenue from this debacle, Lence warned \u2014 money \u201cthe mayor desperately needs to fulfill his campaign promises.\u201d<\/p>\n In Los Angeles, where leftist pols have allowed encampments to blanket iconic neighborhoods and landmarks, international tourism has plummeted<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n New York\u2019s landmarks are next.<\/p>\n But Mamdani cleaves to the ideology of the Democratic Socialists of America<\/a>, which opposes common-sense measures like clearing encampments.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s ideology on homelessness coincides with the DSA, who oppose any common-sense measures. Katie Godowski\/MediaPunch\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n Your rights, your health and the value of your home or your business are not legitimate concerns, according to the DSA. \u00a0<\/p>\n And Mamdani has a City Council majority on his side.<\/p>\n Carl Wilson, the Democratic council member representing Manhattan\u2019s West Side, admitted the encampments in his district \u201cthreaten public health, undermine public safety, hurt our small businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n But he stopped short of saying they must be swept immediately, suggesting the \u201croot causes\u201d of homelessness have not been addressed.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet opinions and commentary from our columnists\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Council Republicans, a small minority, recognize encampments as a signal of widespread city deterioration to come.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou can call 311. You can call 911. Your business can suffer. The\u00a0sidewalk can be blocked,\u201d said Staten Island Councilman Frank Morano. \u201cBut the city may simply decide it doesn\u2019t have the will to enforce basic standards of public order.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a dangerous erosion of the social contract between New Yorkers and their government.\u201d<\/p>\n Raw opportunism is also to blame:\u00a0The homelessness industrial complex is raking in money so long as the homelessness problem grows.<\/p>\n An encampment placed along the the sidewalk in Manhattan\u2019s West Side. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cSheter providers are paid to operate shelters. Outreach organizations are paid to conduct outreach.\u00a0 Contractors are paid to manage facilities,\u201d Morano said \u2014 but no one is rewarded when a homeless person becomes self-sufficient.<\/p>\n New Yorkers have two options: Move \u2014 or vote for political leaders who will put public safety and order first.<\/p>\n Florida bans municipalities from allowing public sleeping or unauthorized camping.<\/p>\n \u201cFlorida will not allow homeless encampments to intrude on its citizens or undermine their quality of life like we see in New York and California,\u201d \u00a0Gov. Ron DeSantis said.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the other extreme, some blue states are legitimating sleeping in the rough, public health and safety be damned.<\/p>\n New Yorkers have two options: Move \u2014 or vote for political leaders who will put public safety and order first. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n