Curtis Sliwa on the exodus from New York City

The mass evacuation of Upper West Siders from NYC is in full effect...  They told me, "Curtis, first the pandemic hit us and now the quality of life is so bad."  The woman was almost crying. They said they survived the ’70s [as a young couple in the then-high crime neighborhood].  But then in a month, in July, the neighborhood was destroyed...

They said in the last month, there have been so many disturbed people in the streets, aggressively panhandling, defecating, urinating — [homeless people] leave the hotels and have no bathrooms to use.

These are the people who elected de Blasio, who live here.  It’s a progressive, liberal neighborhood. And now there’s a visceral hate here for him — the feeling that he has virtually singlehandedly destroyed this city.

~ Curtis Sliwa, Guardian Angels founder, "Fleet of moving trucks mark exodus from Manhattan’s troubled Upper West Side," New York Post, August 30, 2020