first of all, he takes out a huge fire insurance policy. so as he goes to these junkies, and he says, listen, you see that empty apartment on the top floor? i m going to turn my back. you take all of the lead pipes that are in there, but i have one request please. before you leave turn on the water. and the water comes down, driving everybody else out. they then hire an arsonist, and sets fire to the building, they collect all the money, and they leave. anthony: i remember it well. i remember those few years. things were bad. are things, borough-wide, are things getting better? lloyd: is the bronx better? absolutely. there is more home ownership in the south bronx than had ever existed in history. that doesn t mean that we have reached utopia. we have not. how long it will take? i m a historian. i look in the other direction. uh, i would say my crystal ball is cracked.
pastrami, some pickles, with a black cherry soda or a cel-ray of course to drink. lloyd: the world series is going on. howard cosell is on the air. suddenly you see a tongue of flame ricking up into the, uh, up into the sky. and he says, this is the kind of thing that jimmy carter saw, ladies and gentlemen. the bronx is burning. the old image of the bronx as middle class, perfectly mobile, healthy area had survived up until 1977. this shattered it. anthony: right. the bronx was burning like the story, and that stuck. politicians making the south bronx a poster child for what was hopelessly wrong. would always be wrong. would never, we were told, get any better. so we now have what you call a slumlord, essentially. lloyd: yes, right. anthony: who s snapping up large numbers of buildings. lloyd: yeah. first of all, he takes out a huge fire insurance policy. so as he goes to these junkies,
was hopelessly wrong. would always be wrong. would never, we were told, get any better. so we now have what you call a slumlord, essentially. lloyd: yes, right. anthony: who s snapping up large numbers of buildings. lloyd: yeah. first of all, he takes out a huge fire insurance policy. so as he goes to these junkies, and he says, listen, you see that empty apartment on the top floor? i m going to turn my back. you take all of the lead pipes that are in there, but i have one request please. before you leave turn on the water. and the water comes down, and the water comes down, driving evybody else out. they then hire an arsonist, and sets fire to the building, they collect all the money, and they leave. anthony: i remember it well. i remember those few years. things were bad. are things, borough-wide, are things getting better? lloyd: is the bronx better? absolutely. there is more home ownership in
poster child for what was wrong, would always be wrong, would never, we were told, get any better. so you now have a slum lord, essentially, snapping up large numbers of buildings? that s right. first of all, he takes out a huge fire insurance policy. so he goes to these junkies and he says, you see that empty apartment on the top floor. i m going to turn my back. you take all of the lead pipes that are in there, but i have one request, please. before you leave, turn on the water. and the water comes down, driving everybody else out. they then hire an arsonist, set fire to the building, collect all the money, and they leave. i remember it well. things were bad. are things getting better? is the bronx better? absolutely. there is more home ownership in
slum lord essentially. right. who is snapping up large numbers of buildings. first of all he takes out a huge fire insurance policy, so as he goes to these junkies and says, listen, you see the empty apartment on the top floor. i m going to turn my back. you take all of the lead pipes in there, but i have one request, please. before you leave, turn on the water, and the water comes down driving everybody else out. they then hire an arsonist and sets fire to the building. they collect all of the money and they leave. i remember it well. i remember those years. things were bad. are things borough, are things getter better? is the bronx better? absolutely. there is more homeownership in the south bronx than ever existed in history. that doesn t mean it is utopia. how long it will take? i m a historian, i look in the other direction. i would say my crystal ball is