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Why Are American Cities Squalid?

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Re: Why Are American Cities Squalid?

#31

Post by krapp »

rossdavidh wrote: post #6
janice1999 wrote: post #4

The answer is racism, see the story of Robert Moses [0]. [0] https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236...

Racism is real and a problem, but you could have an entirely all-white city in the US, it would still have this problem. In my own city, Austin Texas, the great majority of the homeless appear to be white. NYC has a black mayor, it hasn't (apparently, according to this article) made an appreciable difference.

I wouldn't say racism is the problem, but it is one of the problems. It can be the case that white people are disadvantaged by systemically racist policies originally intended to target black people. That urban planning sometimes had an explicitly racist element in its execution, such as American transportation infrastructure being laid out in such a way as to disenfranchise black communities[0], is a simple but unfortunate historical fact. The ripple effects of racism baked that deeply into infrastructure don't just go away when society becomes desegregated.

[0]https://www.kqed.org/news/11943263/americas-highway-system-i...

Re: Why Are American Cities Squalid?

#32

Post by 1letterunixname »

Americans don't realize how bad they have it, lack the courage and wisdom to organize effective protests about it, and the very rich have rigged the political and government structures to avoid investment in anything not for them.

Unfortunately, this means turning America into a grossly-unequal banana republic that includes either malicious neglect or malicious disadvantaging groups without power or influence. A proper response would be organized, collective action by those who are most at risk and impacted led by leaders with specific, actionable demands but, unfortunately, there is no appetite and the same Americans lack balls. The result is continued shrugging by some, squalid misery for others, stressful struggling for more, and easy privilege for a few.

Re: Why Are American Cities Squalid?

#33

Post by steveBK123 »

ehutch79 wrote: post #17
theGnuMe wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Squalid applies to maintenance and upkeep, not necessarily the presence of drug users and homelessness. So in the us it’s a budget and planning issue. Places with representation and money get stuff done and other places do not.. largely because nobody cares.

There's no budget, it got cut so multimillionaires could get tax breaks.

People love to throw this assertion at every American city problem, but really if you are rich in a blue coastal US city, you basically pay Western Europe level income taxes all-in.

A $1M income for a single person in NYC results in an all-in effective tax rate of 46% with a marginal tax rate a bit higher than that.

Plus we have fairly high property taxes so if you were to own say a 3 bedroom apartment commensurate with that income, you'd probably be paying another $30-50k in real estate taxes which is another 3-5% of your income.

I'm NOT saying let's cry for the poor millionaires, but I question that assertion that we just aren't collecting enough revenue.

We have serious rich mans cost disease in US cities where we just cannot spend money efficiently. See everything from homeless services / subway construction / etc.

Re: Why Are American Cities Squalid?

#34

Post by 1letterunixname »

303uru wrote: post #29
mancerayder wrote: post #5

Because we encourage it? If I am an IV drug user with no possessions, and a city promises the right to shelter (NYC as an example), decriminalization of hard drugs (NYC, SF, Seattle, Vancouver as examples), and volunteers or vending machines with Narcan are floating around, I would go to these cities from where I'm from. Cities were less squalid in the early 2000s, and somewhere in the decade that followed we decided…

The nicest cities in the world are far more relaxed and far more giving. As far as I see it the answer is simple. Americans hate paying taxes, love giving their money to the millionaire/billionaire class and jerk themselves off to being mad about homelessness and immigration.

Yep. There is a dearth of love in America and it is very sad.

You should've seen how empty the holiday food donation box for my apartment complex was. I swear only one other person donated anything.

Also, there are many more churches and religious organizations in cities that lack community outreach and are just a place for the congregation to gather once a week. This is in contrast to the very giving churches and food banks of the South.

Re: Why Are American Cities Squalid?

#35

Post by 1letterunixname »

theGnuMe wrote: post #12
mancerayder wrote: post #5

Because we encourage it? If I am an IV drug user with no possessions, and a city promises the right to shelter (NYC as an example), decriminalization of hard drugs (NYC, SF, Seattle, Vancouver as examples), and volunteers or vending machines with Narcan are floating around, I would go to these cities from where I'm from. Cities were less squalid in the early 2000s, and somewhere in the decade that followed we decided…

Squalid applies to maintenance and upkeep, not necessarily the presence of drug users and homelessness. So in the us it’s a budget and planning issue. Places with representation and money get stuff done and other places do not.. largely because nobody cares.

Yes. It also starts with apathy of space users and space maintainers springing from an embarrassing lack of pride.

Re: Why Are American Cities Squalid?

#36

Post by john-radio »

nkoren wrote: post #11
mancerayder wrote: post #5

Because we encourage it? If I am an IV drug user with no possessions, and a city promises the right to shelter (NYC as an example), decriminalization of hard drugs (NYC, SF, Seattle, Vancouver as examples), and volunteers or vending machines with Narcan are floating around, I would go to these cities from where I'm from. Cities were less squalid in the early 2000s, and somewhere in the decade that followed we decided…

Portugal decriminalised all drugs. It got a lot nicer, and certainly is now far less squalid than the US. So that theory is out.

I think the biggest difference here is that Portugal abolished prohibition, acting with unity as an entire country. That's very different than when cities or states do away with it, but there's unrestricted travel between there and thousands of counties next door or a few states away, where prohibition is in full force. Those counties get hit with not only an "on-steriods" version of the symptom in question, but also any other demographic patterns that are corrolated with it for any reason, such as (in the case of IV drug users) extreme poverty.

One frequent response to this point, is for someone to say "I'm open to decriminalization arguments, but I'm not supporting anyone who says 'The entire country has to adopt my policy in order for it to work!'" Which sounds reasonable, on its face, but in this case it seems like it really is the best option.

Re: Why Are American Cities Squalid?

#37

Post by 1letterunixname »

steveBK123 wrote: post #33
ehutch79 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no budget, it got cut so multimillionaires could get tax breaks.

People love to throw this assertion at every American city problem, but really if you are rich in a blue coastal US city, you basically pay Western Europe level income taxes all-in. A $1M income for a single person in NYC results in an all-in effective tax rate of 46% with a marginal tax rate a bit higher than that. Plus we have fairly high property taxes so if you were to own say a 3 bedroom apartment commensurate w…

You don't know high property taxes until you live in Texas: 2%/year. Your $2m ATX pad will set you back $40k in property taxes.

Re: Why Are American Cities Squalid?

#38

Post by tjansen »

"it has always been jarring to come home to the US, often from much poorer countries — in this case Bulgaria — to find that our infrastructure is infinitely worse"

In a way, the infrastructure is poorer because the US are richer. Better infrastructure means higher taxes, which not only cost money, but incentive. With enough money you can overcome the issues of poor infrastructure. Bad public transport? Uber is even better than good public transport. Bad roads? Buy a better car. Homeless in the city? Get a huge house in the suburbs.

Re: Why Are American Cities Squalid?

#39

Post by steveBK123 »

1letterunixname wrote: post #34
303uru wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The nicest cities in the world are far more relaxed and far more giving. As far as I see it the answer is simple. Americans hate paying taxes, love giving their money to the millionaire/billionaire class and jerk themselves off to being mad about homelessness and immigration.

Yep. There is a dearth of love in America and it is very sad. You should've seen how empty the holiday food donation box for my apartment complex was. I swear only one other person donated anything. Also, there are many more churches and religious organizations in cities that lack community outreach and are just a place for the congregation to gather once a week. This is in contrast to the very giving churches and fo…

Exactly. My NYC super lefty but super incompetent condo board put out the thanksgiving food drive box in the first week of December. Can't make this stuff up.

Re: Why Are American Cities Squalid?

#40

Post by steveBK123 »

1letterunixname wrote: post #37
steveBK123 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People love to throw this assertion at every American city problem, but really if you are rich in a blue coastal US city, you basically pay Western Europe level income taxes all-in. A $1M income for a single person in NYC results in an all-in effective tax rate of 46% with a marginal tax rate a bit higher than that. Plus we have fairly high property taxes so if you were to own say a 3 bedroom apartment commensurate w…

You don't know high property taxes until you live in Texas: 2%/year. Your $2m ATX pad will set you back $40k in property taxes.

NYC property taxes are extremely convoluted, but a $2M condo would probably be about $30k/year in property tax, with like $10k variance.

However, a $2M apartment is only going to be like a 2 bedroom, so a Texas $2M home owner might be in the market for more of a $3M-4M apartment in NYC, even accounting for smaller square footage, etc. With the proportional increase in taxes..

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