MORE THAN A LOCAL STORY – AT 7:46 A.M. ET:  How embarrassing.  A police union in the Democratic stronghold of New York City is warning the Democratic Party not to hold its 2016 convention in New York because...it's too dangerous.  I love it.  From The New York Times: 

A union of New York City police sergeants warned the Democratic National Committee on Tuesday against holding its 2016 convention in Brooklyn, issuing an open letter that doubled as a broadside against a mayoral administration with which some officers have grown increasingly frustrated.

In the letter, addressed to the group Mayor Bill de Blasio wooed during its visit to New York two weeks ago, the president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, Edward D. Mullins, said the city was going “backward to the bad old days of high crime, danger-infested public spaces and families that walk our streets worried for their safety.”

He presented a city overrun with “squeegee people” and other panhandlers, with shootings on the rise and morale among police officers flagging.

The city said it had enough hotel space to accommodate any guests, noting Midtown Manhattan’s proximity to the Barclays Center by train or car.

“The D.N.C. should choose another venue,” said the letter, which appeared as an advertisement in The New York Times and The New York Post. “Mayor de Blasio,” it continued, “has not earned the right to play host to such an important event.”

While shootings are up slightly, according to the de Blasio administration, the homicide rate has fallen 12.3 percent this year after a 20 percent decline in 2013, when there were 335 murders, punctuating a steep drop under the former mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg. The administration also noted that overall crime had fallen 3.6 percent this year.

Mr. de Blasio, speaking at an unrelated news conference in Brooklyn on Tuesday, called the union’s actions “opportunistic” and “irresponsible.”

“It’s fear-mongering to try and benefit their own position in contract talks,” he said. “Don’t stoke fear in the city we love.”

COMMENT:  Well, both sides have good points, and there is probably some union opportunism here.  But the fact is that the rate of decline in serious crime in New York appears to be dropping alarmingly.  As the story notes, the homicide rate dropped 20 percent in 2013, the last year of Bloomberg, and is down only 12.3 percent this year, the first year of the "progressive" DeBlasio administration.

Just as important, there is a changed "feel" to the city, a sense that it is, indeed, going back to the good old days, when crime-ridden communities were run by radicals who kind of liked the high crime rates because they ratified the radical view of society. 

Under DeBlasio, "stop, question and frisk" policing has been cut way back, despite evidence that it worked to reduce serious crime by reducing the number of illegal weapons on the street.

But, of course, New York is Hillary's state, and DeBlasio is her ally, and that will be a factor in any party decision.  If Hillary looks like she'll be the nominee, and wants New York, it'll be New York.  But would she actually want it?  Go back to 1968, when the riot-plagued Democratic National Convention was held in the Dem city of Chicago.  It hardly helped the presidential campaign of Hubert Humphrey.

Maybe Hillary would prefer a quieter place for a convention.

August 27,  2014