New York City's Contemporary Issues

At the end of the 20th century, New York City can point to a number of important accomplishments. Partly because of a spectacular reduction in the crime rate between 1990 and 1998, the city is no longer among the 150 most violent American cities.

The streets have been cleaned, the panhandlers removed, and the subways repaired. The city also cleaned up 42nd Street, which as late as 1994 was typified by sex shops, prostitution, and a barely disguised drug trade. As a result of these changes and the publicity accompanying them, many tourists have flocked to the city.


Several major challenges remained, however ----

1. First, the infrastructure of the city, and especially the century-old sewer and water mains beneath the streets, was rotting and at times collapsing altogether.

2. Second, the loss of manufacturing jobs has meant that many local residents have been excluded from the expanding employment market. Thus, the gap between the rich and the poor has become greater in New York than in most other U.S. communities.

3. Finally, the public schools, with more than 1 million students, were too often failing in their primary mission.

Although the Board of Education operated some of the best schools in the nation and many public school graduates have achieved distinction, the system remains troubled by high truancy and drop-out rates, by occasional violence on school property, and by deteriorating buildings.