Editing Washington Heights, Manhattan (section)

====Crime drop and community improvement====
[[File:Heather Garden.jpg|thumb|Heather Garden, one of Fort Tryon Park's areas that was refurbished during the 1980s and 1990s<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forttryonparktrust.org/the-gardens-heather-and-alpine/|title=Heather Garden and Alpine Garden|access-date=July 25, 2021|publisher=Fort Tryon Park Trust}}</ref>]]
During the mid to late 1990s, Washington Heights experienced a drastic decrease in crime that continued through the 21st century. From 1990 to 2023, reported motor-vehicle thefts, murders, and burglaries each fell by over 85%, felony assaults, rapes, and robberies by over 65%, and grand larcenies by around 45%.<ref name="NYPD 33rd Precinct CS"/><ref name="NYPD 34th Precinct CS"/> The 30th and 32nd precincts to the south of Washington Heights, which cover most of [[Harlem]] north of 133rd Street, experienced just as drastic crime drops during the past decades.<ref name="crime map"/><ref name="NYPD 30th Precinct CS">{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-030pct.pdf|title=30th Precinct CompStat Report|publisher=[[New York City Police Department]]|access-date=February 5, 2021}}</ref><ref name="NYPD 32nd Precinct CS">{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-032pct.pdf|title=32nd Precinct CompStat Report|publisher=[[New York City Police Department]]|access-date=February 5, 2021}}</ref>

The crime drop, which was felt across all major U.S. cities, owed itself largely to the decrease in new users and dealers of crack cocaine, and the move of existing dealers from dealing on the streets to dealing from inside apartments.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/17/nyregion/where-has-your-neighborhood-drug-dealer-gone.html|title=Where Has Your Neighborhood Drug Dealer Gone?|last=Rohde|first=David|date=August 17, 1997|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=April 17, 2020|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/19/us/crack-s-legacy-a-special-report-a-drug-ran-its-course-then-hid-with-its-users.html|first=Timothy|last=Egan|access-date=April 17, 2020|date=September 19, 1999|title=Crack's Legacy: A special report; A Drug Ran Its Course, Then Hid With Its Users|work=[[The New York Times]]|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In Washington Heights, this meant a move back to the established cocaine dealing culture that had existed before the introduction of crack. As Terry Williams observes in ''The Cocaine Kids: The Inside Story of a Teenage Drug Ring'', many dealers from the pre-[[freebasing]] period put greater emphasis on knowing their customers and hid their operations more carefully from police, as opposed to dealers of the crack days who would deal openly and fight violently in the competition for the drug's high profits.<ref name="cocaine kids"/>

Many also credit actions taken on the neighborhood level in increasing safety in Washington Heights. In 1994, after years of advocacy from residents, the [[New York City Police Department|NYPD]] split the 34th Precinct to create the 33rd Precinct for Washington Heights south of 179th Street in order to devote more resources to crime prevention.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|170}}<ref name="nrprecinctsplit">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/09/nyregion/neighborhood-report-washington-heights-police-hit-streets-in-a-new-precinct.html|title=Neighborhood Report: Washington Heights – Police Hit Streets In a New Precinct|first=Randy|last=Kennedy|date=October 9, 1994|access-date=April 16, 2020|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Another local policing strategy was the "model block" initiative, first attempted in 1997 on 163rd Street between [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] and [[Tenth Avenue (Manhattan)|Amsterdam Avenue]], a location notable for the dealers who set up a "fortified complex" complete with traps and electrified wires to prevent police raids on their apartment.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|192}}  In an attempt to disrupt drug activity on the block, police officers set up barricades at both ends of the block, demanded proof of residence from anyone coming through, patrolled building hallways, and pressured landlords to improve their buildings.<ref>{{cite web|title=Police Practices and Civil Rights in New York City – Chapter 3|access-date=April 16, 2020|url=https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/nypolice/ch3.htm|date=August 2000|publisher=[[United States Commission on Civil Rights]]}}</ref> The program was controversial, facing criticism from the [[New York Civil Liberties Union]] and resistance from residents for its invasion of privacy.<ref name=CB/>{{Rp|193}} The initiative was later expanded throughout the city.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-violence-chicago-new-york-los-angeles-met-20150918-story.html|date=September 18, 2018|access-date=April 16, 2020|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|first1=Jeremy|first2=Annie|last1=Gorner|last2=Sweeney|title=A tale of 3 cities: LA and NYC outpace Chicago in curbing violence}}</ref>

As crime decreased, Washington Heights also saw a recovery of many of its community institutions, including parks.<ref name=CB/> [[Fort Tryon Park]] had fallen into a period of decline after the [[1975 New York City fiscal crisis]], when evaporated [[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation|Parks Department]] funds left its walkways and playgrounds in a state of disrepair,<ref name="fort tryon timeline">{{cite web|title=Historical Timeline Listing|publisher=Fort Tryon Park Trust|date=October 12, 1935|url=https://www.forttryonparktrust.org/historical-timeline-of-fort-tryon-park/|access-date=March 1, 2020}}</ref> and several corpses were found in the park.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/01/nyregion/body-of-young-woman-is-discovered-in-a-park.html|title=Body of Young Woman Is Discovered in a Park|date=May 1, 1989|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 26, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/27/nyregion/body-of-girl-9-is-found.html|title=Body of Girl, 9, Is Found|date=March 27, 1986|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 26, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>