Tourists Flock To The Site Of Amadou Diallo's Death

They painted a big mural, so they want people to know what happened there and look at the spot. You don't paint a mural and then say "Don't look here!"

A friend of mine living down in New Orleans told me a similar story. Apparently, very soon after Katrina's flood waters retreated, a company set up bus tours of the lower 9th ward so people could gawk at all the destroyed homes and lives. This stopped very quickly when some impoverished survivors got so fed up with the exploitation that they started shooting at the tour busses.

Theres no way this is true. I've spent a lot of time in the lower 9th ward, the people there are used to spectators, tourists and volunteers. No one shot at anything. There are still tours of people who come down and look at the levee and the surrounding neighborhood.

"some impoverished survivors got so fed up with the exploitation that they started shooting at the tour busses." Keep it classy. It's a shame they didn't get washed out to sea when mother nature was doing its thing.

Good thing you're here to keep it classy!

I did the Perillo tour. Somehow, as always, we ended up at a Friendly's in Syosset.

I'm with you on this. You had to be there. Those who criticize you likely were not.

There was an incredibly sickening ghoulishness to the flocks of fanny-paced tourists with their kids in tow, backpacks on, camera ready to witness - what? not historic buildings, but a smoldering putrefying hole in the ground where the smell of dead flesh still wafted.

Isn't that in soundview? I'm sure there are some kids up there who would be more than happy to take your $55 dollars and anything else you might have on you to show you the real gritty NYC.

I guess if his mom doesn't mind, it's not too terrible. Just, um, sick. Reminds me of the time I was on the E train and this tourist asked me was this the train to 9/11. I pretended I couldn't hear him before finally asking "Are you fucking retarded??" He moved to the other end of the train car...

Good point. What ever happened to that 9/11 train? You know the one that pulled into the station but the driver continued without stopping knowing something was going on. Was it a 1 or a 9 train?

Regarding the Bronx tour, if the operators stopped for just two minutes at every crime scene up there, the passengers better bring a change of clothes and get ready for a two month trip.

it's hard to believe it was 10 years ago already. 10 years is a long time for a mother to live with the knowledge her son was gunned down right outside their door. if she doesn't mind the tours, in a way memorializing her son even more, i certainly can't say differently. i just hope the tourists spend some money at restaurants etc in that neighborhood, and all the money doesn't go to just some remote bus company.

I don't really have a problem with this. The tourists want to get a first-hand look at recent history. As long as they are reasonably respectful, I say good for them.

"would rather shell out for a four-hour, $55 trip that shows them a grittier version of New York City."

how can you not have a problem with this? this is sickening.

"ooo, look at the black people."

Will there be a push for more police violence as a way to boost tourism?

This is just as bad as how tourist visit the WTC site. Granted there maybe a symbolism of some sort but for a local it hits a sore note.

These are death-and-disaster tourists. Shortly after 9/11, I had to fight my way through crowds of them to go to work. They weren't there to help; they were there to gape and snap photos and generally enjoy the show. They are like vultures, feeding on the dead, and I got pretty sick of them. Someone finally lost it and started punching them out and breaking their cameras, and after that the police kept them away.

Anyone who has gone on a tour of the Whitechapel Murder sites or to the Tower of London is merely doing the same thing as these folks. Punching people out and breaking cameras -- maturity at its finest.

Splicer.. They were selling t-shirts and 8x10 photos of the planes hitting the towers while the site was still smoking. The Whitechapel Murders were at least in the 1800's.

I guess you had to be there. The ruins were still smoking, there were still dead bodies in it, there was that awful smell, and now you had to push your way through excited, gabbling tourists with gigantic cameras practically having orgasms on the spot. The whole business was revolting. Did you know these people later got into the site and interfered with the rescue work?

So now what: hate crimes as a source of income for the borough?