As a Yankee fan I took my kids to the stadium under the Dinkins fiasco admin. I promised, NEVER AGAIN.
didnt go for years until the Yanks were once again playoff timbre and Rudy was mayor. WOW. you could walk the streets of the south Bronx again. and the people who sold their wares on the street (mostly illegal I suppose competing with Steinbrenners own souvenir and food business) were pleasant and polite.
Yankee Stadium as you cite is a perfect example.
That neighborhood was not only like a wasteland, it was like a war zone, you just didn’t place yourself in it. Then somehow, it got all cleaned up.
Now, you can even walk a few blocks away to a bodega (mini market) and buy a beer before the game. I’ve done it many times and even a couple of times parked my car on the street.
The transformation was nothing short of miraculous. David Dinky was a nightmare and just incompetent. Oddly now when I’ve been up to the area for games, I don’t even think about how it used to be.
That’s how radically the environment of criminality has changed. Amazing.