Cops Gone Wild, NYC

So I’m waiting for the light to change so I can cross the street. Three women are standing next to me gossipping. A NYPD van screeches up to the curb and a female cop yells out the window with a tone of panic: “Clear the corner! You can’t block the corner!”

This went down at the corner of West 125th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue. It’s Harlem’s Main Street, and there is a vibrant street scene there. People are constantly hanging out, hawking stuff, wolfwhistling, what have you. Blocking the corner? Who the hell ever heard of such a concept before?

Pre-RNC, the NYPD is spinning its wheels, fingering triggers itchily, worried sick because there are no plans whatsoever for dealing with whatever may go down.