The exterior of a neglected building at the corner of Spring and Mercer Streets, SoHo, was given a vivid new coat of paint sometime after curfew last night. The building, formerly gray, is now a mishmash of fluorescent colors — electric yellow, two shades of neon green, and cotton-candy pink. Letters apparently related to this act of vandalism were found this morning on the main doors of all major newspapers in New York. Their text is identical, and reads:
To those whose job is to open eyes, to promote awareness of issues and the spread of information: This is your wake-up call. First you must open your own eyes, and truly /see/ this around you, your environment, your city. View it through the perspective of a stranger, someone who has never seen New York, but only the enduring stories — the images of light and life, the thriving bustle of business. This is the Big Apple, in which everything happens to the tempo of the New York Minute.
And yet here we sit, letting it slowly decay.
What rebuilding happens now, happens in Midtown — in that which was blasted to the ground, left with not even a shadow of its former structure. It's true, rebuilding Midtown is a shiny, eye-catching political move — not much screams "look at me, I'm the elected official who made nothing back into something!" louder. But while this goes on, while the councils and congresses do nothing but waffle back and forth across the morass of sentiments regarding Evolved abilities, Manhattan is rotting from the inside out, piece by little piece.
You were all elected to represent the people: do not now abandon them. Go take a walk through SoHo, through Chelsea, through Harlem. /See/ what New York City is becoming. See the crumbling bricks, the broken windows, the peeling paint and spreading mold, the cracking asphalt and failed lights. The people who live in these places are /not/ pariah, and yet that is what you have left them to become; forgotten and dismissed, when they are entitled to clothing, food, and good shelter just like any other citizen. The government is responsible for helping them obtain these things in a time of need — and it is still a time of need, in this crippled city, for you have mistaken /rebuilding/ for /recovery/. A doctor does not perform a facelift on a patient slowly bleeding out from a gut wound; no matter how ugly the patient, he /stitches up the gut wound/ first.
We say this to the people of New York City: Look around you. Those of you who have comfort, sanctuary, plenty — do not let your eyes glaze over the sight of those who do not. And to those who have less — do not let yourselves succumb to resignation and apathy. Look at the places that are falling apart, the decay at the heart of our city — and look at the people around them.
Then do something, just a little something, to stop that entropy from spreading.
The NYPD is currently seeking information regarding the vandalism and its perpetrators.