Get them off street
NO good deed . . . A kindly Samaritan sees a man lying on a cold Fifth Avenue sidewalk, and drapes him with a coat. His thanks? The homeless man, identified by police as 25-year-old Xavier Israel, jumps up, attacks his benefactor and steals his wallet.
After all the disorder on our streets the past couple of years, you’d thought nothing could shock you.
Nothing, alas, could discomfit the de Blasio administration, but perhaps with a new mayor, Eric Adams, we can have a conversation about the meaning of “compassion.”
Despite the rhetoric of the left, New York City is compassionate. We spend $2 billion on homelessness, primarily for the shelter system, but that does not encompass the billions more we spend on things like rent subsidies aimed at keeping people from becoming homeless.
It also does not include the money and time donated by New Yorkers to charities.
But a large percentage, probably the majority, of those living on the streets are mentally ill, substance abusers or both. Attacking someone who is trying to keep you warm is not the sign of someone in their right mind.
Advocates will argue that Xavier Israel shouldn’t be sent to prison, and thanks to progressive District Attorney Alvin Bragg, that likely won’t happen.
But too often after that bit of “set him free” justice, what happens is . . . nothing. The person is put back on the streets and assaults someone else.
Been to Penn Station recently? There are people camped out all over, but the scary part for commuters are those mumbling or screaming profanities, reeling across the common areas with their hands down their pants, ready for a fight. Even eye contact will provoke them.
This is not right for them. Or us. They have time bombs in their heads, and the city does something only when they go off.
Progressives say this isn’t the job of police. Fine. But
consider that, under the previous administration, homeless “outreach” workers would walk through Penn Station and politely ask the homeless if they wanted some help.
Well, that was the theory anyway. An audit by state Comptroller
Tom DiNapoli found that the Bowery Residents’ Committee charged the city $1.4 million in expenses that were either unsupported or not allowed, including for a chartered-boat party. When The Post visited the group’s office in Penn Station, it was often closed.
Even when they were working, though, BRC was doomed to fail, for their offers were voluntary. What person suffering from schizophrenia is going to be able to decide what’s right for themselves? They are the people who attack someone giving them a coat.
Compassion isn’t saying “we can give you help. No? OK.” Compassion is “you can’t sleep here. We’ll take you someplace that you can, and we can get you the help that you need.”
New Yorkers shouldn’t have to literally give the coats off their backs to people sleeping on the sidewalk. And they certainly shouldn’t be attacked for it. We can fix that.
You can fix that, Mayor Adams.