I watched as police body-slammed people on the pavement, handcuffed them, and carted them away. This was the bleak scene in my neighborhood almost four years ago. Now the picture is quite different, thanks to the Giuliani administration's refusal that night and others to back down from its hard line on neighborhood renewal. In August 1996, police finally drove the squatters from 13th Street, and, soon after, the city gutted and refurbished the squalid buildings they had occupied. Now they look clean, safe, and well managed.
Police cruisers patrolling now are a common, and benign, sight.
I'm no longer afraid to walk after dark in my neighborhood. Other neighborhood benefits have followed the squatters' removal. Restaurateurs are now willing to set up shop here. Back in 1994, a high-end French bistro, like the new Caf Margaux that today flourishes on 11th and B, couldn't have enticed even the most intrepid of the uptown taxi set to el barrio . Now the swells come willingly and often.