French
pols compare Paris to Bronx to highlight surge in crime in the City of
Lights. Bronxites offended by Parisian mayoral candidates using old
stereotypes of borough.
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said it was offensive that
French pols were comparing Paris to the Bronx to highlight a crime surge
in the French capital.
Comments (6)
By Jennifer H. Cunningham AND Joey Scarborough / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, December 16, 2013, 7:10 PM
Viorel Florescu/for New York Daily News
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said it was offensive that
French pols were comparing Paris to the Bronx to highlight a crime surge
in the French capital.
The Bronx is burning...with indignation.
Paris made a grand faux pas when mayoral candidates there debated the sources of a spike in crime in the City of Light.
Now, Bronxites are all fired up.
“Paris resembles the Bronx,” said former National Police chief Frederic Pechenard, who’s running for mayor of Paris’ 17th arrondissement, according to the website Quartz Daily.
Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. has led the terse rejoinder, aiming an appropriately tart Bronx jeer in the direction of Gay Paree.
“Enough already,” the beep said on Monday. “While we may not be home to the Eiffel Tower, we are the home to 1.4 million hardworking people who are proud of their hometown, and how far the Bronx has come.”
RELATED: SUBWAY FELONIES DOWN
Pechenard, whom the site called a “right-wing vote-bundler,” made his
gauche claim by way of arguing that Paris is in the midst of a downward
spiral.
His opponents waded into the cesspool, with Rachida Dati, a member of
the European Parliament, noting that “The Bronx is lawless.”
“Paris is not the Bronx,” Dati added, her nose presumably turned upward.
Well, ain’t that a kick in the old Pinstripes.
We’ve come a long way since the Summer of Sam, officials and residents said Monday.
Crime rates last year were among the lowest the borough has ever recorded, Diaz noted, and the borough boasted the strongest private-sector job growth in the five boroughs, according to a report from the city Economic Development Corp.
RELATED: VIDEO: INSTAGRAM PICS CREATE PARIS TO NEW YORK TRIP
Just last week, the City Council approved plans to turn the long-vacant
Kingsbridge Armory into the world’s largest ice-skating center.
“Yet here we are, once again, forced to defend our hometown from the slanders and libels of politicians thousands of miles away,” Diaz railed.
Bronxites Monday said it was jejune — and wrong — for French pols to politicize the borough and advance ugly stereotypes in a ploy to sway voters.
“No one anywhere in the state or the country or internationally should classify us in the Bronx as having the highest crime statistics,” said Sarah Caliman, 71, who has lived in the borough for more than 50 years and said the comment made her skin crawl.
“It absolutely offends me,” she added. “Read the right information and statistics if you are able to be in a glass house and throw stones. It’s discouraging.”
Another resident, Kevin Williams, concurred.
The 38-year-old has lived in the Bronx all his life, and he wanted to know if the French candidates had ever even visited uptown.
“I don’t see much crime here,” he said. “I hope people eventually stop seeing the Bronx as a dangerous place. It has gotten safer.”
jcunningham@nydailynews.com
Paris made a grand faux pas when mayoral candidates there debated the sources of a spike in crime in the City of Light.
Now, Bronxites are all fired up.
“Paris resembles the Bronx,” said former National Police chief Frederic Pechenard, who’s running for mayor of Paris’ 17th arrondissement, according to the website Quartz Daily.
Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. has led the terse rejoinder, aiming an appropriately tart Bronx jeer in the direction of Gay Paree.
“Enough already,” the beep said on Monday. “While we may not be home to the Eiffel Tower, we are the home to 1.4 million hardworking people who are proud of their hometown, and how far the Bronx has come.”
RELATED: SUBWAY FELONIES DOWN
Howard Simmons/New York Daily News
Yankee Stadium is a huge tourist attraction in the Bronx, a borough of some 1.4 million people.
“Paris is not the Bronx,” Dati added, her nose presumably turned upward.
Well, ain’t that a kick in the old Pinstripes.
We’ve come a long way since the Summer of Sam, officials and residents said Monday.
Crime rates last year were among the lowest the borough has ever recorded, Diaz noted, and the borough boasted the strongest private-sector job growth in the five boroughs, according to a report from the city Economic Development Corp.
RELATED: VIDEO: INSTAGRAM PICS CREATE PARIS TO NEW YORK TRIP
JACQUES BRINON/AP
French mayoral candidates are under fire for comparing Paris to the Bronx to highlight a surge in crime in the French capital.
“Yet here we are, once again, forced to defend our hometown from the slanders and libels of politicians thousands of miles away,” Diaz railed.
Bronxites Monday said it was jejune — and wrong — for French pols to politicize the borough and advance ugly stereotypes in a ploy to sway voters.
“No one anywhere in the state or the country or internationally should classify us in the Bronx as having the highest crime statistics,” said Sarah Caliman, 71, who has lived in the borough for more than 50 years and said the comment made her skin crawl.
“It absolutely offends me,” she added. “Read the right information and statistics if you are able to be in a glass house and throw stones. It’s discouraging.”
Another resident, Kevin Williams, concurred.
The 38-year-old has lived in the Bronx all his life, and he wanted to know if the French candidates had ever even visited uptown.
“I don’t see much crime here,” he said. “I hope people eventually stop seeing the Bronx as a dangerous place. It has gotten safer.”
jcunningham@nydailynews.com
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