For all the recent talk of NYC returning to the fabled bad old days of violence and squalor in the wake of the recession, it seems the area around Tompkins Square Park is leading the charge. The bigger media have largely been overlooking the story, but ever since intrepid Bob Arihood of Neither More Nor Less started reporting it, it's started to pick up steam, however quietly. The story in question revolves around a series of violent confrontations between a cluster of "Crustys" (young, self-styled pan-handling punk rockers with a pronounced disdain for authority and basic hygiene -- hence the name "Crusty") and a roving gang of stick-&-bottle-wielding Puerto Rican youths. While that might sound like an outtake from an updated version of "The Warriors," this isn't really a frivolous anecdote. On Friday night, the first of these clashes arguably culminated in the death of a 26 year old woman from the Crusty contingent. Saturday saw further action, prompting the NYPD to lock down Tompkins Square Park on time for the first time in a while. Arihood is continuing to update events as they unfold.
Despite its comparatively squeaky-clean incarnation today, Tompkins Square Park has remained a lightning rod for conflict, but these events have significantly ramped up the unease. The term "wilding" -- a curious verb first coined by the NYPD following the infamous attack on the so-called "Central Park Jogger" in 1989 -- has been strangely revived. Despite that and the other sensationalist aspects of the story -- the colorful terminology, the whiff of racial tension, the speculation that the victim may have died from a heroin overdose as opposed to injuries from her brutal beating -- it's frustrating that the media isn't taking more of an interest. As Jeremiah from Vanishing New York suggests, had Friday night's victim been an investment banker instead of a "crusty" (a seemingly juvenile, cartoony lifestyle that is easy to dismiss and summarily dehumanize), her death and the accompanying incidents would be taken more seriously (and getting more ink). As one of the dreaded "stroller-pushers" of the neighborhood (and one who routinely pushes that stroller right through Tompkins Square Park), maybe I don't have a horse in this particular race (cue predictable, knee-jerk chant of "die yuppie scum"), but is this recent spate of violence something any of us -- from any stripe of the community -- really want to see a return to?
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