He sees a chance for blood in the Bronx
For decades, Charlotte Street in the South Bronx was a symbol of New York’s urban decay. Riven by crime, unemployment and outright destitution, countless politicians — from Jimmy Carter to Bill Clinton — would visit the street, decrying the treatment of the residents of this unloved hellscape.
Democrats, by and large, were welcomed. Republicans were not. When Ronald Reagan visited in 1980, he was heckled to such an extent that he cut his visit short. Indeed, his experience was so scarring for the party that few followed in his footsteps for the next 50 years. Some 44 years later, however, no such treatment was visited upon his successor. Just a stone’s throw from Charlotte Street (now a tree-lined road populated by bungalows and 4×4 trucks) lies Crotona Park, where the former president is due to speak.
