An Inclusive Litany

6/8/97

In a "60 Minutes" segment titled "The Big Apple," Leslie Stahl reported that not all New Yorkers were happy with New York City's new reputation for cleanliness and crime reduction.

Author Fran Liebowitz told Stahl, "Why should Times Square be safe for children? I mean they have the whole rest of the country... [Mayor Giuliani's] kind of turning this from the you know, Big Apple to the Big Apple Pie.... I'm not romanticizing the gutter. I didn't move here when I was 18 years old because I heard how clean it was. You know. You came here because you thought it would be interesting. And it was. And it's significantly less interesting now."

Asked whether he had been to Times Square following the city's campaign to drive out pornography and prostitution, columnist Jimmy Breslin responded: "Yeah, with the celebration of the corporations on the signs? I love it. There's no dirt. No dirt at all. City dies unless it's got some dirt and a little raciness." Asked whether he thought it was a good thing to be able to walk down the street free of constant solicitation from prostitutes, Breslin responded: "Well who's gonna be there? What's on 42nd Street now?... Disney? I'll take the hookers."