NEW YORK POLICEMAN WATCHES CROWD GO BY IN DOWNTOWN, 2003-04-18 (photo)

New York Police Department officers stand guard along a New York city street on April 18, 2003. One of the world's most vibrant and most visited cities is fighting a fiscal crisis not seen since it teetered on bankruptcy nearly three decades ago, prompting such newspaper headlines as "It's already feeling a lot like the '70s crisis" that fill New Yorkers with foreboding. New York, often called the "capital of the world," has been sapped of money and morale by the slumping global economy, coming on top of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks and expensive round-the-clock security alerts. REUTERS/Chip East/FEATURE/LIFE-NEWYORK CME/GN