NYCs homeless camp chaos puts all of New York and Mamdanis big plans in danger

The homeless encampment rapidly spreading across twelve blocks along Manhattan’s 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.The stretch of real estate from the Intrepid Museum to the Javits Center attracts tourists year-round, a boon to nearby stores and restaurants — but not if visitors have to step over human waste, navigate around half-conscious drug addicts and hold their breath against the stench.“If a mom (moms usually plan the trips) sees the stories and photos near the Intrepid, they will go elsewhere,” warned Cristyne Lategano, New York City’s former tourism czar.“Tourism is a choice, not a requirement.”Yet when Mamdani was asked this week what he’ll do about the growing eyesore, he waved away such worries. Not a word about the impact on working people, families and property owners. But their concerns are real: Homelessness turns a city street into a petri dish, encouraging communicable diseases like hepatitis A and tuberculosis to fester.They spread illnesses like typhus, a bacterial infection spread by lice and fleas that California Gov.Gavin Newsom has labeled “medieval.”Bartonella quintana, a bacterial infection carried by lice that can cause heart failure in humans — common in the trenches of World War I and thought to have disappeared — is also popping up in homeless sites.“Homeless encampments are infectious disease time bombs,” according to Louisiana coroner Dwight L.

McKenna.Tuberculosis prevalence in New York City is already double the national average.Who needs more?Encampments also mean crime, victimizing both the homeless and anyone nearby.A study in Portland, Ore., found that crime within one block of an encampment is nearly triple the citywide average.But it’s the tourist hit that should make Mamdani sit up and take notice, said George Lence, an NYC tourism expert with Nicholas & Lence Comm...