No Upside to being a Crank

[oddlots]

Barry Ritholtz on an innovative NY program:

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/11...omplain-about/

Hey look, maybe you can improve public services rather than just shrink them to the point they can be drowned in a libertarian induced rage.

[Starving Steve]

Re: No Upside to being a Crank

Just reflecting upon my first trip to NYC, I won't even mention the backed-up toilets at JFK Airport nor the lack of soap in the soap dispensers in the Mens Room. The walkways outside JFK had rust. Everything in NYC had rust, plus tagging.

But the people in NYC were very helpful and very nice. And the NYC was not as big as I had imagined, plus it was liveable for people. City planners had planned habitat for people, not just habitat for birds and fish.

I won't mention the high school on top of the New England Thruway. But most of what I saw in Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn was OK, if you can tolerate living in a big city.

Here is an example: Co-op City in the Bronx. Each unit costs $50,000 to $100,000, and you get to own your own apartment in a co-operative. This might be a very liberal concept to West Coast snobs, but people of modest means can afford to own their own condo in NYC.

http.//www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/realestate/06live.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

Try explaining this radical concept (of making cities liveable) to city planners in Vancouver, BC or in San Francisco. Bring costs of living in big cities down.

Hungry? There were diners and dining-cars everywhere for people of modest means. A first-class lunch or dinner could be had in NYC for under $10, plus a tip.