NYCs business leaders are in denial about crime in the Big Apple

Crime in the Big Apple isn’t “down” no matter how many times you read those headlines – but the city’s business community can’t seem to let go of the fantasy, On The Money has learned.Leaders of our business class are touting declines of certain crimes as proof that the city is safe for workers and entrepreneurs.And to be fair, it’s partly true: Murders are down nearly 50% over the past 16 years, and almost 34% lower than they were just two years ago. Shootings, meanwhile, are down around 27% from two years ago and down more than 50% since 2012, which would have been the final years of Mike Bloomberg’s mayoral stint.But that’s not the whole story.

Felonious assault complaints are nearly 77% higher than 16 years ago, and about 1% higher than just two years back.Transit crime continues to escalate; it’s 7% higher than 2010 and 1.2% over the past two years.

While grand larceny has recently fallen, it’s still 22% above its Bloomberg levels.And here’s where things get downright scary: Rapes are up 4.6% over the past year, and hate crimes more than 6%.The contradiction was recently brought to my attention by a top litigator at a big Manhattan law firm who served in the Justice Department under George W.Bush and who knows his way around NYPD’s so-called CompStat crime reports that get published weekly.“The city also has two glaring problems: an epidemic of rape and hate crimes AKA criminal antisemitism,” my source tells me.

“Over the past two years, rape is up more than 30%, and 73% since 2010.”“Yes, the murder rate has dramatically declined.Ditto shooting incidents,” he added.

“But those figures only tell part of the story.”To be clear, I get why city business leaders are looking at the proverbial glass half filled.It’s no fun running a company under the yoke of Zohran Mamdani’s incompetent, socialist mayoralty that seeks to tax anything that moves to fund his ever-growing welfare state. Looking at the bright side of cr...