Tourism is big in New York City. When it goes down, city officials and businesses notice with lament. When it goes up, workers in Time Square, likewise, notice with lament. Tourists bring their dollars (euros, yen, rupees) to our city. In return we provide them with the story, sights, sounds and smells of the greatest city in America.
If there were to be, say, a member of congress who was an unofficial representative for all those who come to enjoy the attractions and amusements, few could claim the title like Jerrold Nadler. His district is basically New York City’s version of Epcot Center.
The Natural History Museum!
The Empire State Building!
Lincoln Center!
The World Trade Center site!
The Brooklyn Bridge!
Coney Island!!!
It’s almost as if, in carving up the 8th congressional district, the single largest constituency of concern was the Tourists. The Tourists, as those of us living in New York know, are a sensitive, curious class of people. Clutching their folding maps and wearing unironic “I Heart NY” shirts–their socks and shorts up a bit too high, their regional accents and skyline fixated glances a little too revealing–they are easy to spot. Were we natives to live up to the outside world’s narrative of us as wild beasts in a wild jungle, these Tourists would be easy prey.
Yet they come; they visit, they spend, they leave actually hearting New York. Part of this can be attributed to their patron saint of vacationing, a representative who works to keep the points of interest places worth coming to. Whether it’s helping the city fund and improve Coney Island, or working with other elected officials to bring a space shuttle to the Intrepid, Congressman Nadler takes care of his Tourist constituents.
But do the Tourists, upon returning home, remember?
If we look at what passes for political discourse around the country these days, the answer is a resounding, “Ya betcha heck no.”
Gay rights, ACORN, health care reform, socialism–whether directly or not, the issues of the day seem to put a glowing red dot on Nadler’s forehead where right-wing culture assassins take aim. Often (thought not always) the missives denouncing the issues Nadler supports or is associated with come from afar.
While they’re enjoying the view of western Manhattan from the Top of the Rock, the Tourists are really looking down on the front lines of the political and social culture war.
But that’s not what the Tourists see. They see the things that make New York City an amazing place to visit. They see the cultural capital of America. They see the history of success and failure, from Wall Street to the Lower East Side tenements, that have helped make this country the amazing place it is..
And its great that that’s what they see. But do they see that all that history, all that striving and pushing and pulling, has produced the Jerrold Nadler’s of the world? Perhaps woven into all that makes New York City such an amazing place to visit are the reasons Nadler takes the position he does on so many divisive issues. Perhaps a solemn visit to Ground Zero or a hot dog from Nathan’s on the boardwalk are just as valuable to America and her Tourists as securing equal marriage laws for gays and repealing the Patriot Act.
Seeing this and remembering it when they got home would show that the Tourists really do heart New York–and their unofficial congressman.