NYC homeowner arrested after standoff with squatters who illegally took over her $1 million property

I was responding to your statement that I explicitly replied to.

To recap, you made the claim (without any evidence that crime in NY can't be reduced. I simply provided evidence that crime in NY can be and has been reduced.

 

Bill, reduced on paper, is not the same as reduced in practice.
I gave an example in another thread where stats on paper are off significantly because of underreported crimes and burglaries, assaults etc.

One would say economy is good, yet its been long time that I'm been driving on a major street that has fast food restorants, Taco bell, Del Taco, El Polo Loco, and many other franchises.
Around noon the lines in drive throu used to be good 30 min wait, now its like an abondoned businesses, at times not a single car. I pointed this to my wife, as we drove by many of those franchises.
I'm not a fan of fast food but I told her that a month ago when I was in hurry and hungry I got 4 regular items and ended up paying 35$. That was last time and I'm no longer going to use that fast food, it ridiculously expansive.
We drove by another popular fast food that used to have long lines, and there was only one car in the drive through and one in the parking lot.
Homelessness and businesses closings, product quality went down and people are talking, they don't agree with what's on the paper and the value of the paper. It's still good in comparison to many other places, but people say it used to be better.

 

$8-10 each is a bit steep, but not that unusual, in my experience. It wasn't unusual a few years ago, either. It's why I usually order from the "value menu" at those kinds of places.

 

Also, lots of those businesses sell a lot through online delivery services now, so you can't really tell--their overall business might be greater than before the pandemic. There won't be a queue of cars around the block, and there will be fewer in the parking lot.

 

On the ground I see no customers, I used to go there when kids were little.
It was very affordable. Now I see fast food ghost town.

 

You would see delivery drivers taking place of regular customer drivers. But I see almost deserted, abandoned franchises.
I hope you are right, but wouldn't delivery drivers replace regular customers, even if they take few orders at a time?

 

Mmmmmm.....Thai...

 

It's been this way in New York City for many years. A huge chunk of their sales are delivery. It's why eating out at a restaurant in NYC is relatively cheap compared to most anything else in the city.

 

A government --- doing something SMART. What a novel concept. "Hey, Ottawa! Seen this?"

 

Restaurants that use delivery to get products to customers don't have to pay as much for laundry services, cleaning staff, etc. Disposable food containers and flatware are much cheaper than investing in china and stainless steel knifes, forks, and spoons. The orders come in electronically, so there is less need to hire servers who make errors when taking orders.

In the B.C. (before covid) era, it would have been hard to imagine that a restaurant like McDonald's would deliver. Today that makes up such a big proportion of their business that they've developed their own apps and offer specific promotions for delivery.

In many areas, people no longer spend 40+ hours in an office. At best they are present 2 or 3 days a week, and an increasing number are not present at all. B.C. they would have lined up around the block in their cars for lunch. Today, if they're not eating last night's leftovers, they're ordering delivery from their favorite restaurant. Not just office workers--here in NYC construction workers will order and have food delivered to them in the field.

 

Forgot to mention: lots of "empty" restaurants are now running as ghost kitchens, preparing food orders for as many as 10 to 20 "name" restaurants, especially those with meme names or named after celebrities and influencers. IHOPs do this a lot.

 

Here's another NYC innovation: Zoom cashiers in the Philippines working at a NYC Japanese fried chicken joint...

So there wouldn't even be a car in the parking lot for the cashier, if L.A. restaurants started doing this...
https://www.404media.co/sansan-chicken-zoom-cashier/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter

 

Johann, I don't think I've ever heard anyone say, "Oh, let's go out for Canadian tonight!" There might be a business opportunity there.

 

Busted, by gosh!

 

Poutine is a viable dish to organize a restaurant or stand or truck around: a poutinerie.

Traditional French Canadian cuisine like tourtières (meat pies).

Chinese Canadian cuisine has scratched together some absolute gems including ginger beef and fried macaroni.

 

Poutine...gravy over fried cheese curds, right? Who, outside of French Canada, would eat it?