Liberal Forum

Cannonpointer » Yesterday, 11:19 pm » wrote: ↑

Yesterday, 11:19 pm

And why would that be? Everything else you can name get CHEAPER at scale. Why would urban living necessarily be different?

More people in a smaller area should make everything cheaper. CERTAINLY mail delivery, yes? And fewer blocks to police means less need be spent policing - yes?

AI told me there are approximately 120,000 city blocks across the five boroughs of New York City. This estimate covers all residential, commercial, and industrial blocks in Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island. There are 33,000 uniformed cops. That's ,26 cops per block. 

In contrast, there are 11,000 blocks in Seattle, which employs 13,000 cops. That's ONE cop per block - a little over. So you can see where a city at scale SHOULD be much cheaper to police. Clearly, New York IS much cheaper to police. 

New York has so many advantages over most American cities it's ridiculous. So it has little excuse for failure other than piss poor management. Yet you suggest that it is "set up" for failure. On what flawed logic do you base this claim? Do you have any idea how much easier it is for businesses in a city where the primary mode of transportation is the **** SIDEWALK? How much cheaper it is to provide a grid when the number of people per INCH of pipe or wire is in the hundreds? 

America's small towns have to provide a grid that is over extended and sparsely used. New York's grid is densely used, creating massive advantages over just about every other grid in the country. I am interested to hear what financial disadvantages you believe are created by packing people into high buildings and having them pay for public transport.