Editing Manhattan (section)

==Government==
{{Main|Government of New York City}}
[[File:Municipal Building - New York City.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Manhattan Municipal Building]]]]

Since New York City's consolidation in 1898, Manhattan has been governed by the [[New York City Charter]]; its 1989 revision provided for a strong [[Mayor–council government|mayor–council system]].<ref>[http://www.abcny.org/pdf/Report%20on%20Ballot%20Proposals.pdf "Report on Ballot Proposals of the 2003 New York City Charter Revision Commission"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091001013817/http://www.abcny.org/pdf/Report%20on%20Ballot%20Proposals.pdf |date=October 1, 2009 }} (PDF), [[Association of the Bar of the City of New York]]. Accessed May 11, 2007. "Unlike most cities that employ nonpartisan election systems, New York City has a very strong mayor system and, following the 1989 Charter Amendments, an increasingly powerful City Council."</ref> The centralized New York City government is responsible for public education, correctional institutions, libraries, public safety, recreational facilities, sanitation, [[New York City water supply system|water supply]], and welfare services in Manhattan.

The office of [[Borough President]] was created in the consolidation of 1898 to balance centralization with local authority. Each borough president had a powerful administrative role derived from having a vote on the [[New York City Board of Estimate]], which was responsible for creating and approving the city's budget and proposals for land use. In 1989, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|US Supreme Court]] declared the Board of Estimate unconstitutional because Brooklyn, the most populous borough, had no greater effective representation on the Board than Staten Island, the least populous borough, a violation of the [[Equal Protection Clause]].<ref>[https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0489_0688_ZS.html Cornell Law School Supreme Court Collection: Board of Estimate of City of New York v. Morris] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130924104029/https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0489_0688_ZS.html |date=September 24, 2013 }}, [[Cornell Law School]]. Accessed June 12, 2006.</ref> Since 1990, the largely powerless Borough President has acted as an advocate for the borough at the mayoral agencies, the City Council, the New York state government, and corporations.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}} Manhattan's current [[Borough President]] is [[Mark Levine (New York politician)|Mark Levine]], elected as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] in November 2021.

[[Alvin Bragg]], a Democrat, is the [[New York County District Attorney|District Attorney of New York County]]. Manhattan has ten City Council members, the third largest contingent among the five boroughs. It also has twelve administrative districts, each served by a local Community Board. Community Boards are representative bodies that field complaints and serve as advocates for local residents.

As the host of the [[United Nations]], the borough is home to the world's largest international [[Consul (representative)|consular corps]], comprising 105 consulates, consulates general and honorary consulates.<ref>[http://www.consulsnewyork.com/about.htm About Us] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060619022104/https://www.consulsnewyork.com/about.htm |date=June 19, 2006 }}, Society of Foreign Consuls. Accessed July 19, 2006.</ref> It is also the home of [[New York City Hall]], the seat of New York City government housing the [[Mayor of New York City]] and the [[New York City Council]]. The mayor's staff and thirteen municipal agencies are located in the nearby [[Manhattan Municipal Building]], completed in 1914, one of the largest governmental buildings in the world.<ref>[http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcas/html/about/man_munibldg.shtml The David N. Dinkins Manhattan Municipal Building] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024160541/http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcas/html/about/man_munibldg.shtml |date=October 24, 2019 }}, New York City. Accessed November 20, 2016. "The Municipal Building was completed in 1914, but the first offices were occupied as early as January 1913. By 1916, the majority of the offices were full and open to the public."</ref>

===Politics===
{{See also|Community boards of Manhattan}}

[[File:Farley PO jeh.JPG|thumb|[[James A. Farley Post Office]]]]
{{PresHead|place=New York County, New York{{efn|''The presidential election results for the years 1876–1912 are not strictly comparable with the earlier and later ones because New York County included the [[West Bronx]] after 1874 and all of what is now the Borough of [[the Bronx]] (Bronx County, New York) from 1895 until The Bronx became a separate borough in 1914.''}}|whig=yes|source1=<ref>{{cite web | url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS | title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections | access-date=May 11, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323225526/https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/ | archive-date=March 23, 2018 | url-status=live }}</ref>|source2=<ref name="New York Daily Herald">{{cite news |title=The Popular Vote of the United States, in the Presidential Election of 1844 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-daily-herald-the-popular-vote-o/170641328/ |access-date=August 2, 2020 |work=New York Daily Herald |issue=5270 |page=1 |date=November 7, 1848 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>|source=<ref>{{cite web| url=https://web.enrboenyc.us/CD23464ADI0.html| title=Board of Elections in the City of New York 2020 Election Night Results President/Vice President| access-date=November 7, 2020| archive-date=November 7, 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107162601/https://web.enrboenyc.us/CD23464ADI0.html| url-status=dead}}</ref>|collapse=true}}
<!--{{PresRow|Year|Winner|GOP/Whig #|Dem #|3rd #|State}}-->
{{PresRow|2024|Democratic|113,921|533,782|12,930|New York}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|85,185|603,040|9,588|New York}}
{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|64,930|579,013|24,997|New York}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|89,559|502,674|8,058|New York}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|89,949|572,370|5,566|New York}}
{{PresRow|2004|Democratic|107,405|526,765|7,781|New York}}
{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|82,113|454,523|34,370|New York}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|67,839|394,131|30,929|New York}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|84,501|416,142|31,475|New York}}
{{PresRow|1988|Democratic|115,927|385,675|4,949|New York}}
{{PresRow|1984|Democratic|144,281|379,521|2,869|New York}}
{{PresRow|1980|Democratic|115,911|275,742|50,245|New York}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|117,702|337,438|5,698|New York}}
{{PresRow|1972|Democratic|178,515|354,326|2,022|New York}}
{{PresRow|1968|Democratic|135,458|370,806|23,128|New York}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|120,125|503,848|1,746|New York}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|217,271|414,902|3,394|New York}}
{{PresRow|1956|Democratic|300,004|377,856|0|New York}}
{{PresRow|1952|Democratic|300,284|446,727|16,974|New York}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|241,752|380,310|116,208|New York}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|258,650|509,263|4,864|New York}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|292,480|478,153|7,466|New York}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|174,299|517,134|19,820|New York}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|157,014|378,077|30,114|New York}}
{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|186,396|317,227|17,935|New York}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|190,871|183,249|89,206|New York}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|275,013|135,249|54,158|New York}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|113,254|139,547|12,759|New York}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|63,107|166,157|118,391|New York}}
{{PresRow|1908|Democratic|154,958|160,261|31,393|New York}}
{{PresRow|1904|Democratic|155,003|189,712|23,357|New York}}
{{PresRow|1900|Democratic|153,001|181,786|11,700|New York}}
{{PresRow|1896|Republican|156,359|135,624|16,249|New York}}
{{PresRow|1892|Democratic|98,967|175,267|10,750|New York}}
{{PresRow|1888|Democratic|106,922|162,735|3,076|New York}}
{{PresRow|1884|Democratic|90,095|133,222|4,530|New York}}
{{PresRow|1880|Democratic|81,730|123,015|636|New York}}
{{PresRow|1876|Democratic|58,561|112,530|289|New York}}
{{PresRow|1872|Democratic|54,676|77,814|0|New York}}
{{PresRow|1868|Democratic|47,738|108,316|0|New York}}
{{PresRow|1864|Democratic|36,681|73,709|0|New York}}
{{PresRow|1860|Democratic|33,290|62,293|0|New York}}
{{PresRow|1856|Democratic|17,771|41,913|19,922|New York}}
{{PresRow|1852|Democratic|23,124|34,280|436|New York}}
{{PresRow|1848|Whig|29,070|18,973|5,290|New York}}
{{PresRow|1844|Democratic|26,385|28,296|117|New York}}
{{PresRow|1840|Democratic|20,958|21,936|153|New York}}
{{PresRow|1836|Democratic|16,348|17,417|0|New York}}
{{PresRow|1832|Democratic|12,506|18,020|0|New York}}
{{PresRow|1828|Democratic|9,638|15,435|0|New York}}
{{end}}
The [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] holds most public offices. Registered [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] are a minority in the borough, constituting 9.88% of the electorate {{as of|April 2016|lc=y}}. Registered Republicans are more than 20% of the electorate only in the neighborhoods of the [[Upper East Side]] and the [[Financial District, Manhattan|Financial District]] {{as of|2016|lc=y}}. Democrats accounted for 68.41% of those registered to vote, while 17.94% of voters were unaffiliated.<ref>Grogan, Jennifer. [https://web.archive.org/web/20081216045315/http://web.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/election/2004/uptown_grogan01.asp Election 2004—Rise in Registration Promises Record Turnout], [[Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism]]. Accessed April 25, 2007. "According to the board's statistics for the total number of registered voters as of the October 22 deadline, there were 1.1&nbsp;million registered voters in Manhattan, of which 727,071 were Democrats and 132,294 were Republicans, which is a 26.7 percent increase from the 2000 election, when there were 876,120 registered voters."</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=NYSVoter Enrollment by County, Party Affiliation and Status |date=April 2016 |url=http://www.elections.ny.gov/NYSBOE/enrollment/county/county_apr16.pdf |publisher=New York State Board of Elections |access-date=July 30, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730140838/http://www.elections.ny.gov/NYSBOE/enrollment/county/county_apr16.pdf |archive-date=July 30, 2016 }}</ref>

Manhattan is heavily urbanized and thus powerfully [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] in federal elections. Over three-quarters of its vote has gone to Democratic presidential candidates in every election since 1988, and over 80% in every election since 2004. Manhattan has repeatedly held the record as the most Democratic out of all counties in New York at the federal level; this was the case in 2020 and 2024, for example. It voted solidly for Democrat [[Bill Clinton]] in both 1992 and 1996, and defied national trends by giving negligible votes to third-party candidate [[Ross Perot]]. Democrats continued to see large gains in Manhattan in the 21st Century, with [[Barack Obama]]'s 2008 performance and subsequently [[Hillary Clinton]]'s 2016 performance of over 86% being the best ever by Democratic presidential nominees; [[Joe Biden]] was not far behind in 2020. In 2024, [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[Donald Trump]] gained the best percentage of the vote (and the largest number of raw votes) for any Republican since 1988, even though Kamala Harris still managed 80% of the vote. This reflected similar rightward shifts across the state of New York and the nation as a whole in that election.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/ | title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/us/elections/2024-election-map-precinct-results.html?unlocked_article_code=1.xk4.VI7C.oXuhxhF7kYdB&smid=url-share | title=An Extremely Detailed Map of the 2024 Election | work=The New York Times | date=January 15, 2025 | last1=Datar | first1=Saurabh | last2=Marcus | first2=Ilana | last3=Murray | first3=Eli | last4=Singer | first4=Ethan | last5=Lemonides | first5=Alex | last6=Zhang | first6=Christine | last7=Smith | first7=Jonah }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/upshot/2020-election-map.html | title=An Extremely Detailed Map of the 2020 Election | work=The New York Times | date=February 2, 2021 | last1=Park | first1=Alice | last2=Smart | first2=Charlie | last3=Taylor | first3=Rumsey | last4=Watkins | first4=Miles }}</ref>

As of 2023, three Democrats represented Manhattan in the [[United States House of Representatives]].<ref name="govtrack.us 2018">{{cite web | title=New York Senators, Representatives, and Congressional District Maps | website=GovTrack.us | date=May 21, 2018 | url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/NY#representatives | access-date=December 29, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181230030025/https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/NY#representatives | archive-date=December 30, 2018 | url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Dan Goldman]] (first elected in 2022) represents [[New York's 10th congressional district]], which includes [[Lower Manhattan]], as well as a portion of [[Brooklyn]].
* [[Jerry Nadler]] (first elected in 1992) represents [[New York's 12th congressional district]], which includes the [[Upper West Side]], [[Upper East Side]], and [[Midtown Manhattan]].
* [[Adriano Espaillat]] (first elected in 2016) represents [[New York's 13th congressional district]], which includes the [[Upper Manhattan]], as well as part of the northwest [[Bronx]].

===Federal offices===
The [[United States Postal Service]] operates post offices in Manhattan. The [[James Farley Post Office]] in Midtown Manhattan is New York City's main post office.<ref>"[https://archive.today/20120721063948/http://usps.whitepages.com/service/post_office/67234?p=1&s=NY&service_name=post_office&z=10001 Post Office Location&nbsp;– James A. Farley]." ''[[United States Postal Service]]''. Accessed May 5, 2009.</ref> Both the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York]] and [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]] are located in Lower Manhattan's [[Foley Square]], and the [[United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York|U.S. Attorney]] and other federal offices and agencies maintain locations in that area.

===Crime and public safety===
{{Main|Crime in New York City}}
Starting in the mid-19th century, the United States became a magnet for immigrants seeking to escape poverty in their home countries. After arriving in New York, many new arrivals ended up living in squalor in the [[slum]]s of the [[Five Points, Manhattan|Five Points]] neighborhood, an area between [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] and the [[Bowery]], northeast of [[New York City Hall]]. By the 1820s, the area was home to many gambling dens and [[brothel]]s, and was known as a dangerous place to go. In 1842, [[Charles Dickens]] visited the area and was appalled at the horrendous living conditions he had seen.<ref>Christiano, Gregory. [http://urbanography.com/5_points/ "The Five Points"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429161308/http://urbanography.com/5_points/ |date=April 29, 2014 }}, Urbanography. Accessed May 16, 2007.</ref> The predominantly Irish [[Five Points Gang]] was one of the country's first major [[organized crime]] entities.

As Italian immigration grew in the early 20th century many joined ethnic gangs, including [[Al Capone]], who got his start in crime with the Five Points Gang.<ref>[http://www.chicagohs.org/history/capone.html Al Capone] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512025504/http://www.chicagohs.org/history/capone.html |date=May 12, 2014 }}, [[Chicago History Museum]]. Accessed May 16, 2007. "Capone was born on January 17, 1899, in Brooklyn, New York.... He became part of the notorious Five Points gang in Manhattan and worked in gangster Frankie Yale's Brooklyn dive, the Harvard Inn, as a bouncer and bartender."</ref> [[Sicilian Mafia|The Mafia]] (also known as ''Cosa Nostra'') first developed in the mid-19th century in [[Sicily]] and spread to the [[East Coast of the United States|US East Coast]] during the late 19th century following waves of Sicilian and Southern Italian emigration. [[Lucky Luciano]] established [[American Mafia|Cosa Nostra in Manhattan]], forming alliances with other criminal enterprises, including the [[Jewish mob]], led by [[Meyer Lansky]], the leading Jewish gangster of that period.<ref name=Smithsonian>Jaffe, Eric. [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/talking-to-the-feds-151425207/ "Talking to the Feds: The chief of the FBI's organized crime unit on the history of La Cosa Nostra"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181129054307/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/talking-to-the-feds-151425207/ |date=November 29, 2018 }}, ''[[Smithsonian (magazine)]]'', April 2007. Accessed November 20, 2016.</ref> From 1920 to 1933, [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] helped create a thriving [[black market]] in liquor, upon which the Mafia was quick to capitalize.<ref name=Smithsonian/>

New York City as a whole experienced a sharp increase in crime during the [[post-war]] period.<ref>Langan, Patrick A. and Durose, Matthew R. [https://s3.amazonaws.com/zanran_storage/www.istat.it/ContentPages/16185020.pdf "The Remarkable Drop in Crime in New York City"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303223256/https://s3.amazonaws.com/zanran_storage/www.istat.it/ContentPages/16185020.pdf |date=March 3, 2016 }} (PDF). [[United States Department of Justice]], October 21, 2004. Accessed June 4, 2014.</ref> The murder rate in Manhattan hit an all-time high of 42 murders per 100,000 residents in 1979.<ref name=Henshaw>{{cite web|author=Phil Henshaw |url=https://www.synapse9.com/cw/crimewave_nys2.htm |title=The Great Crime Wave |website=Synapse9.com |date=August 7, 2005 |access-date=February 26, 2022}}</ref> Manhattan retained the highest murder rate in the city until 1985 when it was surpassed by [[the Bronx]].<ref name=Henshaw/> Most serious violent crime has been historically concentrated in [[Upper Manhattan]] and the [[Lower East Side]], though robbery in particular was a major quality of life concern throughout the borough. Through the 1990s and 2000s, levels of violent crime in Manhattan plummeted to levels not seen since the 1950s,<ref>Southall, Ashley. [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/27/nyregion/new-york-city-crime-2017.html "Crime in New York City Plunges to a Level Not Seen Since the 1950s"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', December 27, 2017. Accessed August 6, 2023. "It would have seemed unbelievable in 1990, when there were 2,245 killings in New York City, but as of Wednesday there have been just 286 in the city this year — the lowest since reliable records have been kept.... If the trend holds just a few more days, this year's homicide total will be under the city's previous low of 333 in 2014, and crime will have declined for 27 straight years, to levels that police officials have said are the lowest since the 1950s."</ref> with murders in Manhattan dropping from 503 in 1990, at the citywide peak, to 78 in 2022, a decline of 84%.<ref>[[Daniel Dale|Dale, Daniel]]. [https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/17/politics/fact-check-manhattan-crime-trump-bragg/index.html "Fact check: Here's the truth about crime in Manhattan"], ''[[CNN]]'', April 17, 2023. Accessed January 3, 2024. "New York City publishes crime statistics on its website, so the truth is easy to find. In 1990, when the city set its all-time record for total murders, there were 503 recorded murders in Manhattan, which is one of the city's five boroughs. In 2022, Manhattan recorded 78 murders – a decline of about 84% from 1990."</ref>

Today crime rates in most of [[Lower Manhattan]], Midtown, the [[Upper East Side]], and the [[Upper West Side]] are consistent with other major city centers in the United States. However, crime rates remain high in the Upper Manhattan neighborhoods of [[East Harlem]], [[Harlem]], Washington Heights, Inwood, and [[New York City Housing Authority]] developments across the borough, despite significant reductions. After the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, there had been an increase in violent crime, particularly in Upper Manhattan.<ref>Marcius, Chelsia Rose; and Shanhan, Ed. [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/05/nyregion/new-york-crime-stats.html "Major Crimes Rose 22 Percent in New York City, Even as Shootings Fell"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', January 5, 2023. Accessed August 6, 2023. "The declines in murders and shootings last year appeared to be in line with similar drops in other U.S. cities, which, like New York, experienced a surge in such crimes in 2020 and 2021 amid the worst of the pandemic, criminal justice experts said.... Mr. Herrmann also noted that, based on his own analysis of Police Department data, the decline in shootings had yet to be felt in some neighborhoods long plagued by gun violence, including Brownsville and Bushwick in Brooklyn; Central Harlem and Inwood in Manhattan; and East Concourse and Claremont in the Bronx."</ref> Mirroring a nationwide trend, rates of shootings and violent crimes in 2023 declined from their peaks during the pandemic.<ref>Meko, Hurubie. [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/06/nyregion/shootings-nyc-crime.html "Shootings in New York Drop by a Quarter as Surge of Violence Eases; Murders and rapes were also down, part of a nationwide trend after a post-pandemic spike."], ''[[The New York Times]]'', July 6, 2023. Accessed January 3, 2024. "Shootings in New York City dropped by about 25 percent through the first half of this year compared with the same period last year, extending a downward trend after a spike in violent crime during the pandemic. The sharp drop, which mirrored similar decreases across the United States, came amid widespread fears about crime in the city, which officials have blamed for keeping workers and suburbanites cloistered in their homes."</ref><ref>Marcello, Philip. [https://apnews.com/article/trump-bragg-new-york-manhattan-nypd-4c0cb6ef067b2e3f2358ec9542c900cd "FACT FOCUS: NYC crime is not worst ever, despite claims"], ''[[Associated Press]]'', April 18, 2023. Accessed January 3, 2024."</ref><ref>Marcello, Philip. [https://apnews.com/article/trump-bragg-new-york-manhattan-nypd-4c0cb6ef067b2e3f2358ec9542c900cd "FACT FOCUS: NYC crime is not worst ever, despite claims"], ''[[Associated Press]]'', April 18, 2023. Accessed January 3, 2024.""CLAIM: Crime in New York City is the worst it's ever been, especially in the borough of Manhattan where Trump faces criminal charges. THE FACTS: While it's true that major crimes in New York City rose last year compared to 2021, criminal justice experts say crime levels were significantly higher three decades ago, and that the current levels are more comparable to where New York was a decade ago, when people frequently lauded it as America's safest big city.... 'Virtually every major crime category is lower in Manhattan now than it was last year,' he wrote."</ref>