Thread: Fleet of moving trucks mark exodus from Manhattan’s troubled Upper West Side

Fleet of moving trucks mark exodus from Manhattan’s troubled Upper West Side



By Laura Italiano

August 30, 2020 | 12:53am | Updated

15

Mass Evacuation Today from Upper West Side.






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Moving trucks were out in force on Manhattan’s Upper West Side on Saturday — leaving Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa practically tripping over them.

“The mass evacuation of Upper West Siders from NYC is in full effect,” Sliwa, who lives on W. 87th Street, lamented, blaming the city’s decision this summer to house hundreds of emotionally disturbed homeless and recovering addicts in neighborhood hotels.

A mayoral candidate, Sliwa has been organizing and often leading Guardian Angels patrols of the area.

“They were stacked up,” Sliwa told The Post of the four trucks he saw as he took a morning walk on Saturday.

Stopping at each truck, he was told each was heading out of state.

No sooner had Sliwa stepped out of his apartment building — where nine out of the 12 units are empty — than he saw the first moving truck of the morning.

It was the eighth truck he’s seen on his block in less than two weeks.

“The moment I walked out on my block, near Central Park West, there was a moving truck. I asked where you going, and they said, ‘Virginia,'” he said.

“They told me, ‘Curtis, first the pandemic hit us and now the quality of life is so bad'” Sliwa said.

“The woman was almost crying. They said they survived the ’70s,” as a young couple in the then-high crime neighborhood. “But then in a month, in July, the neighborhood was destroyed.”

On his way to his local deli at West 87th Street and Columbus Avenue, he saw the second truck.
“They were heading to Concord, New Hampshire,” Sliwa said.

The third truck was nearby, on Columbus at West 84th Street.

“They were moving to Tennessee. The driver told me ‘We’re working morning, noon and night’ to move people out of state.”

The fourth truck was at W. 75th and Central Park West.

“It was a young family,” a mom and dad, and a little boy and girl.

“They were moving themselves down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina,” Sliwa said.

“They said in the last month, there have been so many disturbed people in the streets, aggressively panhandling, defecating, urinating — they leave the hotels and have no bathrooms to use,” Sliwa said of the new homeless neighbors, who he believes are also victims.

“These are the people who elected de Blasio, who live here,” Sliwa said. “It’s a progressive, liberal neighborhood. And now there’s a visceral hate here for him — the feeling that he has virtually singlehandedly destroyed this city.”



https://nypost.com/2020/08/30/fleet-...per-west-side/