When Rudy Giuliani was mayor, his policy toward the homeless could be summed up in two words: tough love.
Mayor Bloomberg, however, has shown himself to be “more compassionate, less punitive,” said City Councilman Bill de Blasio, chairman of the General Welfare Committee.
Giuliani launched numerous crackdowns against street dwellers, including one that included a threat to arrest sidewalk residents who wouldn’t move on.
“There were times when we romanticized it to such an extent we invited people to do it,” claimed the ex-mayor.
Critics charged Giuliani’s policies were certainly tough, but without the love.
Supporters applauded the clean-ups for improving their neighborhoods.
His successor hasn’t announced any sweeps that targeted the homeless. But that doesn’t mean he’s abandoned all of Giuliani’s policies.
When the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church insisted it had the right to shelter homeless people on its steps, Bloomberg continued to fight a lawsuit the church initiated before he took office.
In their first week on the job, Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly declared that they wouldn’t accept any deterioration in the city’s quality of life.
Bloomberg has also learned perceptions can’t be ignored.
Aides say they’ve detected no rise in complaints about the homeless, though they concede more may be visible around the city because security concerns after Sept. 11 have dried up their usual out-of-the-way haunts.
But after a meeting with business leaders two weeks ago, the NYPD is focusing anew on a problem that has now bedeviled four mayors.