Fed-up New Yorkers still want to flee the Big Apple as crime surges: Nearly 40% of workers in Manhattan want to leave due to violent incidents on the subways and rampant homelessness - with 84% saying the city has gone to hell
- A recent poll of more than 9,000 NYC workers revealed that 40 percent of those working in Manhattan wanted to move away due to rising crime
- About 48 percent of those working in the other four boroughs agreed
- Of those polled, 84 percent said conditions in the city have worsened in the last two years, particularly with violent subway crimes and homelessness
- Only 38 percent of workers felt optimistic about the future of the city while 63 percent said they were pessimistic or unsure about the city's fate
- It comes as the city continues to see a rise in violent crime after reporting a nearly 60 percent surge last month
New Yorkers working in Manhattan are so fed up with rampant crime that 40 percent said they want to leave the Empire State - with eight out of 10 people saying the Big Apple has gone to hell, according to a recent poll.
The Morning Consult poll, conducted for Partnership for New York, surveyed 9,386 adults working in New York City from February 17 to March 11, with many voicing their frustration over the soaring crime and homelessness that has gripped the streets and subways.
According to the poll, 74 percent of respondents said that safety has gotten worse in the city since the start of the pandemic lockdowns in March 2020, with 82 percent saying homelessness has also worsened.
Overall, 84 percent of respondents said conditions in the city have gotten worse over the past two years, with more than half agreeing that conditions have greatly deteriorated.
'Safety, homelessness, and mental illness rank as top issues for New York City's private sector employees,' Morning Consult wrote in its findings to Partnership, whose more than 300 members employ more than 1 million people in the city. 'They are resisting return to the office until something is done to address them, particularly on public transit.'
In all, 40 percent of those who live in Manhattan want to move away while 48 percent who live in the other four boroughs are also looking for an exit plan.
The poll results come as New York City is experiencing a major crime surge, with the New York Police Department's February crime statistics showing an almost 60 percent increase in felonies compared to the same time last year.
New York City workers said they were fed up with the rise in crime and homelessness in the city, according to a recent poll of more than 9,000 employees. Of those polled, 84 percent said conditions in the city have worsened in the last two years
About 40 percent of those working in Manhattan wanted to move away due to rising crime (left) while 48 percent of those working in the other four boroughs agreed (right)
About 74 percent of respondents said that safety has gotten worse in the city since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, with 82 percent saying homelessness has also worsened
When it comes to crime in the city, 85 percent of workers said not enough was being done to address assaults, 77 percent said not enough was being done to tackle gun violence and 57 percent said there's too much shoplifting
Among the key findings in the poll, 74 percent of public transit commuters agree that safety has gotten worse in the two years since the pandemic began.
The poll found that 61 percent of people listed safety as the 'most important' issue the city needed to address on public transit, with 15 percent saying it was homelessness.
One of the employees told surveyors: 'Safety needs to be the number one priority. I need to feel safe commuting. I need to feel safe walking. I need to overall feel safe about my environment and general surroundings.'
When it comes to crime in the city, 85 percent of workers said not enough was being done to address assaults, 77 percent said not enough was being done to tackle gun violence and 57 percent said there's too much shoplifting.
The poll went on to reveal that only 38 percent of workers felt optimistic about the future of the city while 63 percent said they were pessimistic or unsure about the city's fate.
Yet despite the bleak outlook, a wide majority said they wanted to help their city with 72 percent of respondents saying they were committed to New York and want to help its revival.
It comes as a blow to the city and New York Mayor Eric Adams, who vowed to crackdown on crime and homelessness, particularly in the subways, but has little to show for it.
The poll found that 61 percent of people listed safety as the 'most important' issue the city needed to address on public transit, with 15 percent saying it was homelessness
The New York subway has been ground zero, after an alarming 73.3 percent increase in underground incidents - including 182 in February alone.
Hate crimes also have doubled since last year — with anti-Asian attacks more than tripling and anti-Semitic attacks complaints up by a whopping 54 percent over the same time last year, from 134 to 207 incidents.
Overall crime in the city is up more than 45 percent since last year, with 4,736 felony assaults reported so far this year compared to 4,003 last year, a more than 18 percent spike.
Robberies saw the largest uptick with 3,351 cases report so far, a 45.6 percent rise from last year.
Rapes have also seen a dramatic spike with 360 cases reported compared to 247 during the same time last year, a nearly 31 percent jump.
The number of shooting victims continues to go up as 284 cases were reported so far this year, a 17.4 percent increase.
Overall crime in the city is up more than 45 percent since the same period last year
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Crimes don't appear to be slowing down any time soon as in less than a month, five Duane Reade pharmacies in Manhattan and a pharmacy in Brooklyn have been targeted by teens who jump counters and make off with opioids like codeine and oxycodone, and the antihistamine, promethazine, police told the New York Post.
Police are investigating if the same group of teens is behind the string of robberies; the thieves have a grab-and-run system down, cops said.
'They know what they want, they're in and out quickly,' a Manhattan cop told the Post. 'They're probably just selling them for quick money.'
The most recent drug-theft targets were two Manhattan Duane Reades, two miles apart, hit within 12 minutes of each other. On Wednesday, a group of thieves hit a Duane Reade store at 2069 Broadway shortly before 5:20 pm.
The robbers made it appear as though they had a gun and asked, 'Where the oxycodone at?'. They fled in a car, the Post reported.
In Midtown, a Rite Aid store closed its doors earlier this year after having $200,000 worth of products stolen in just two months. CVS has also been plagued by a 300 percent increase in retail theft nationwide since the pandemic began, the company confirmed to DailyMail.com.
Police are investigating if the same group of teens is behind the string of robberies, but said the thieves have a system down.
In less than a month five Duane Reade pharmacies in Manhattan and a pharmacy in Brooklyn have been targeted by groups of teens robbers. Police said the gangs of teens are making off with codeine and other narcotics including oxycodone and promethazine
In the subways, a 14-year-old boy was the latest victim of violence after a gang of four brutally beat him at the Van Siclen Avenue station in Brooklyn
After the vicious attack, which took place last Monday, the gang were seen fleeing the station to unknown whereabouts.
The victim sought urgent medical attention at a local hospital.
He suffered swelling and bruising in the attack, according to city cops, who have put out an urgent plea for information about the gang.
Recent victims of horrific incidents include a scientist pushed down the stairs and hit with a hammer 13 times, and a woman whose face was smeared with feces by a man released three times without bail on other charges.
NYC Department of Health and Hygiene expert Nina Rothschild, 58, was thrown down the staircase at Queens Plaza, Long Island City in late February.
Rothschild fractured her skull and was hospitalized in critical condition, but has since began a recovery.
The 43-year-old victim of the feces smear has not been identified, but perpetrator Frank Abrokwa, 37, is now back behind bars.
Abrokwa, whose record includes more than 44 arrests, is being held at Rikers Island on $15,000 bail.
New Yorkers are not the only to suffer from the city's high crime rate as a 33-year-old French lifestyle guru and cryptocurrency expert was shot multiple times in the legs and groin when a man attempted to rob his six-figure designer watch last Friday.
Shocking footage shows one gang members filming a selfie while the boy, 14, is beaten up
Pierrick Jamaux, 33, (pictured inside the ambulance) was shot multiple times in the legs and groin during an attempted robbery outside his hotel in NYC on Friday
French-born Pierrick Jamaux, who was visiting from Hong Kong, was getting out of an Uber with his model wife, Sarah Watts, 26, and another person at their hotel in Midtown when a man approached them and demanded Jamaux hand over his Richard Mille watch, the New York Post reported.
Jamaux told police the man then opened fire before he could react, striking his legs and groin and causing him to fall to the ground as the man tried to rob him.
Police said the other person with the couple, a 25-year-old woman, jumped on the gunman's back to try and stop him before the shooter pushed her off and fled.
New York Police Department officials said five shell casing were recovered from the scene and that Jamaux had multiple entry and exit wounds on both legs.
During the month of February, the NYPD reported a 58.7 percent increase in total crime
As crime was reported to have been up by 60 percent last month, multiple crime categories saw shocking jumps, including car theft, which soared by nearly 105 percent; grand larceny, which jumped nearly 80 percent over the previous year; robberies, which surged 56 percent; a 44 percent bump in burglaries and a 22 percent spike in assaults. Rapes also saw a terrifying 35 percent rise in February.
Christopher Herrmann, a former Crime Analyst Supervisor with the NYPD and a Professor in the Department of Law & Police Science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told DailyMail.com he finds the statistics extremely worrying.
'All of these numbers are bad, to be honest,' Herrmann said. 'Generally, increases and decreases in crime would be in the single digits. These new numbers are not good.'
Herrmann argued the increase can be traced back to lax bail laws, which frequently allow perpetrators to walk out of jail soon after being arrested - a situation that leads to more repeat offenses.
'There are certainly enough cases of people being released from incarceration who should have stayed in jail,' he said.
Herrmann added that the new numbers for February - typically a low-crime month due to weather and other factors - portend poorly for the rest of the year to come.
'There is no easy solution - these are longer term problems,' the crime analyst said. 'This is a new crime rate... People should be worried.'
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