Nowhere else do they say we’ll take as many tired and poor as you’ve got. And don’t worry about the dough. Just send the tab down to that other guy over there. He’ll pay for it all…whether he wants to or not and he’ll keep paying, and paying, and paying. Whadya mean no, he’s getting tired of footing the bill? You’ll see. He’ll got to stay and he’s got to pay. Period.
Not anymore.
He’s not staying and he’s not paying. He’s leaving. One of the well-respected journals ran a recent story using a number that just popped off the page hitting readers right in the eyes. Both eyes. $41 billion. That’s the amount of wealth that’s left the Big Apple.
We’ve taken in the tired and the poor yearning to breathe free. Through taxpayer paid institutions they’ve been educated, trained, become critical to the growth of the national economy. Without them no cultural mix that makes Americans American.
So what’s new? We’re still doing it? Yes we are. But for how long?
The Mayor recently said we can’t handle any more. He said the migrants coming to New York from the southern border are overburdening a homeless shelter system whose overflow finds its way in real human form on our street corners and subway stations. The New York thing is to take care of everyone, set as many places at as many tables as we can.
Suppose we couldn’t do it anymore? Maybe New York City’s systems are overloaded or just not working? Or maybe we’re just plain tired and the people who pay the bills are fed up and figured they could live in places where everyone looks the same and you never have to know what the season feels like outside their non-New York house and condo windows.
It gets tiring taking on the nation’s problems, tired of being the place where social inequality gets repaired. It’s hard work being real New Yorkers.
City public school enrollments are down. So is the jail population. But the homeless humans and the mentally ill grow. There is no government plan that seems to work.
Then there’s crime. Up in all categories.
Our laws says we have to provide shelter for all who need. The guy who understands this better than we do is the Texas Governor Abbott. He is enjoying his days making fun of New York City and its mayor. It is a sure thing that he will get some votes as he is running for re-election by sticking it to the symbol of elite Yankees, New York. Abbott brags about putting new migrants who cross into Texas from Mexico on 36 hour bus rides north.
So we again are the place where the huddled masses yearning to breathe free come. Even if it’s against their will.
Abbott the Texas governor is on to something. He is likely to be re-elected by attacking New York and its virtue. A good strategy. And Mayor Adams–left with a sack full of disaster by his predecessor—might be wondering less and understanding more why the citizens he serves are tiring daily of the city that they wish would sleep.
