NYC will take longer to recover from de Blasio than 9/11, ex-NYPD commissioner Kelly predicts
'The city has a very different feel than six months ago,' Ray Kelly tells 'Cavuto: Coast to Coast'
New York City will take much longer to bounce back from the radical policies of Mayor Bill de Blasio than from the devastation of the 9/11 attacks, former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly told Fox Business Network's "Cavuto: Coast to Coast" Friday.
Kelly, who began his second stint as police commissioner months after terrorists brought down the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, recalled that "north of Canal Street [after the attacks], restaurants were open, people were living their lives in the other boroughs of New York City.
EX-NYSE CEO: 9/11 IS DAY OF REFLECTING ON WHAT MADE AMERICA GREAT
"Now the problems of the city are all over the five boroughs," he added. "People are moving out in significant numbers. De Blasio has lost the police department. They are reluctant to take proactive measures such as they were doing just or six or eight months ago, so it's different."
Kelly told host Neil Cavuto that he is "pessimistic" that New York can bounce back in the short term, saying the current malaise brought by the coronavirus pandemic and racial unrest "has a feel or sense of being much more long-lasting."
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
"[De Blasio] has been a disaster," he pronounced. "I don’t see anything changing significantly, unfortunately, until he leaves office and even then it's gonna be a bit of a crapshoot.
"We see virtually nobody on the streets ... you do see traffic, there's automobile traffic, but there's virtually no pedestrian traffic," the former commissioner added. "The city has a very different feel than six months ago. People are anxious. People are worried about their own safety."