Now, here’s a rich statistic: Nearly every neighborhood in the city has fewer violent crimes today than the Upper East Side did 20 years ago.
Mayor Bloomberg offered that startling data during the annual Medal Day ceremony yesterday at Police Headquarters, where the names of six cops were added to the memorial honor roll in the lobby.
Describing the contributions of those cops to their relatives, the mayor cited the 36 percent decline in crime under his administration and “strategies that are working” to keep violence in check.
“These accomplishments would have been unthinkable just decades ago,” said Bloomberg, who has lived on the Upper East Side since coming to New York in 1966.
“Back then, Manhattan’s Upper East Side was considered one of the safest parts of our city. Today, nearly every single precinct in the city has fewer violent crimes than the Upper East Side did back then.”
The numbers compiled by the NYPD showed there were 1,708 violent crimes — murder, rape, robbery and felony assault — reported in the mayor’s swanky nabe in 1993.
Last year, only East New York in Brooklyn recorded more crimes in the same category, 1,852.
Second closest was Brooklyn’s Ocean Hill/Brownsville neighborhood, with 1,292.