Hello, I'm City Journal editor Brian Anderson.

Thanks for joining us for the Ten Blocks podcast featuring urban policy and cultural commentary

with City Journal editors, contributors, and special guests.

Starting in the 1970s, the South Bronx became a synonym for urban decline.

The northernmost borough in New York City, located just across the Harlem River from Manhattan,

the Bronx saw many of its neighborhoods devastated by a cycle of crime and poverty.

Even as the rest of the city of New York came roaring back during the 90s and 2000s, the Bronx seemed to have been left behind.

Not anymore. Today, the Bronx is back. Joining me to discuss the surprising revival of the once

burnt out borough is Nicole Jelineas, Searle Freedom Trust Fellow at the Manhattan Institute,

a contributing editor of City Journal,

and a columnist at the New York Post.

Nicole's new essay, The Bronx Is Up, will be the starting point for our discussion.

It's available in our latest issue and on our website.

Thanks, Nicole, for coming by.

Thank you, Ryan.

Now, just how bad did the Bronx get back in the 1970s?

Well, it got pretty bad.

If you look at the first part of the 1970s, the murder rate tripled in just five years.

And there were lots and lots of stories about the growing threat from the unregulated illegal guns, the growing drug trade,

you know, more and more murders over drug disputes, robberies, and so forth.

So it just became a very unsafe place to live.

You know, the State Assemblyman and Michael Benjamin, I spoke to members when he was mugged

...