The subway is such an integral part of New York City, it’s a little strange to think of it being introduced to the city.

This 1904 picture was taken in the evening and shows the Times Square IRT subway entrance.

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Can you imagine New York City looking this clean and beautiful today? No overcrowding, no garbage, no vagrants. I’ve written about this several times but…I’m doing it again!

When I research stories, I look at pictures of the area when the crime was committed. Cold Heart is about a murder in 1903 in Buffalo. Has It Come to This?  is about a murder in 1900 in Savannah, Missouri but also had some significant connection to nearby St. Joseph. The cities were lovely in 1900; they looked clean, inviting, and well cared for. When I look at contemporary photos of the same places, the decay is devastating! You could say the same about many US cities.

Why? Societal problems like littering, graffiti, drug addiction, and violence are nothing new. They existed in 1904 but we don’t see a hint of it in the photograph of the subway, nor in old pictures of the other cities I mentioned. A lot of people had horses back then so they also had animal manure to contend with.

Today we have crime fighting tools and technology and numerous shelters for the homeless. We also pay a tremendous amount in taxes—partly to pay for city employees and maintenance. Despite these  advantages and an influx of money,  our cities look rundown and filthy.  A magazine once described Savannah, Georgia as a beautiful woman with a dirty face. That is a great description of many American cities.

If our cities could be so lovely in 1904 when they dealt with the same problems with fewer resources, why can’t we demand our cities be made clean and safe again?  If the people who lived in 1900 could see how their cities look today, they would cry and wonder why we tolerate it. I think the answer is that most people don’t realize cities haven’t always been rundown and dangerous, and they don’t have to be now.

There’s a correlation between the beauty of your surroundings and neighborhood safety. Clean, orderly places send a message that residents care about their city. They won’t tolerate people sleeping on the sidewalk or harassing passers-by, taking drugs, or littering. Broken windows theory is based on the same idea in reverse. If there is obvious evidence of crimes like vandalism, you get more vandalism. Your surroundings impact your mental health and ambitions too.

A ray of sunshine: I’m impressed by Daniel Lurie, the mayor of San Francisco. He took over when the city was in a terrible condition, thanks to the policies of one disastrous politician after another.  He has a long way to go, but the new mayor has made progress toward rescuing the city. Lurie is an heir to the Levi-Strauss fortune. In other words, not a career politician and not in need of money.  He’s motivated by a love for San Francisco, which goes a long way with me. Let’s hope Mayor Lurie can restore San Francisco to glory. It can be a model for other cities!