Tale of two cities.

The steps on the left are the “Joker” steps in the Bronx that Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (who isn’t from here nor does she represent the Bronx) and others think tourist should stay away from because it’s for New Yorkers.

The steps on the right are the 16th Ave Tiled Steps in San Francisco. There are lots of these staircases all over the city that can be discovered and enjoyed. They are beautiful, scenic and a joy to see when you find them.

Yes, tourists can be a headache if they are loitering near your home, but it’s not like folks want to see much in this part of the Bronx on a regular basis anyway. Maybe instead of shooing people away, throwing eggs at them and discouraging people from enjoying a simple thing like this, tell them about all of the other amazing things that exist in the Bronx.

There is still a lot of culture here. You have the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, Wave Hill, The New York Botanic Gardens, The Bronx Zoo, Port Morris Distillery, S & S Cheesecake Inc, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, The Edgar Allan Poe Cottage, The Hall of Fame for Great Americans, The Museum of Bronx History at the Valentine-Varian House, The Woodlawn Cemetery and Conservancy, The Van Cortlandt House Museum, Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum, Little Italy, Louie & Ernie’s Pizza, Mon Amour Cafe and Yankee Stadium.
If things are left to up AOC and those who to like to scare people with money away, we’ll have less tourism dollars, big business and economic growth.

I bet most New Yorkers reading this haven’t been to more than one of these places. Too many never get outside of their neighborhood anyway.

I prefer the delightful and charming steps I see on the right to the unattractive and plain ones on the left.