New York’s Darkness to Vancouver’s Cold Indifference

From New York’s Darkness to Vancouver’s Cold Indifference – Are We Really So Far Apart?

By Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita

There was a time — not too long ago — when New York City was the international symbol of urban darkness. Crime was rampant, violence was a daily norm, and people stopped caring. They walked by as others were mugged, attacked, or worse. The infamous 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese in Queens became a chilling story told around the world — a young woman was stabbed to death outside her apartment while dozens of witnesses reportedly watched or heard and did nothing. Later reports suggested the story was exaggerated, but the truth didn’t matter as much as the impact: we were shocked by the apathy.

Times Square in the 1970s and ’80s was filled with porn theaters, drug dealers, and prostitution. The Bronx was literally on fire as landlords abandoned buildings, and crime was so common that no one flinched at screams in the night.

It’s easy to shake our heads and say, “Wow, how awful that must’ve been.”

But… we’re here now. In Vancouver. In Surrey. In 2025.

And I have to ask:
Have we really changed? Or have we simply arrived at the same place?

I’ve seen people — real, living humans — lying on sidewalks. Not just asleep. Not just high. Some I am certain were dying… and everyone walked by. No one checked. No one called 911. People just stepped around them or over them, eyes on their phones, rushing to whatever mattered more in that moment.

I’ve watched the life fade from faces, and still no one flinched. I’ve stood stunned while others looked away. And I ask myself and ask you reading this:

What if it was YOU lying on the ground?
From a heart attack.
A stroke.
A brain aneurysm.
Collapsing from heatstroke on a scorching sidewalk in July.

Wouldn’t you want someone to care?

What we’re experiencing now in Vancouver and Surrey is not just a housing crisis or a healthcare crisis. It’s a human crisis. One of connection, of compassion, of consciousness. And while we point fingers at corrupt systems and broken governments — rightly so — we also need to point inward.

Because what makes a city truly dark isn’t just crime or poverty.
It’s when people stop giving a damn about each other.

We’re there now. We’ve arrived. And we should be screaming that from every corner.

But maybe, just maybe, by speaking out, sharing what we see, refusing to look away — we can begin to pull ourselves back from that edge.

So I ask again, with love and urgency:
What kind of world do you want to wake up in tomorrow?

Because we're building it today, with every choice we make to care… or not.

💔😢

– Tina Winterlik / Zipolita