Sleeping On The Streets Of Manhattan

08/15/03 00:00:00    

By Michael Mealling

Things have been quiet mainly because I had to sleep on the streets of Manhattan last night. I was caught in the blackout but was able to find a taxi around 4:00 am that could get me to Newark airport. I must say that the New Yorkers behaved themselves amazingly well, I saw a few impromptu street parties and what looked to be roaming bands of problem solvers. It seemed that the citizen based support system (block captains, building captains, etc) immediately fell back to their 9/11 originated rolls. No crime that I saw. Just that the 'street person' population of NYC increased to a couple of million last night. People just stopped walking and curled up on the sidewalk and went to sleep: business men, mothers and street people all sleeping side by side.

Sure, it was a minor inconvenience for my travel schedule, but the opportunity to see New Yorkers at their best was something I'm glad I didn't miss.