American Cities are Squalid

Jeffrey Carter Substack ^ | 17 Jan 2024 | Jeffrey Carter

[Rummyfan]

Two years ago I was in Berlin and the subway system there was so clean you could eat off the fliers of the stations. Here at home, I am ashamed.

[Jamestown1630]

It’s not new, though it’s worse now.

In the late 80s-early 90s I met a woman from France who complained about how dirty DC was. She said that in her country, if you were stuck in a traffic jam, there were nice things to look at; but here everything was filthy.

Of course, there are parts of Paris now that are really filthy, too.

[kiryandil]

“According to plan”

[MinorityRepublican]

It’s not new, though it’s worse now.

True. But our cities got better. From 2000-2020.

[Jane Long]

Good article, good comments.

[Jamestown1630]

Yes; Union Station in DC was a wonderful place to go or be stuck if your Metro train broke down. Now it’s a homeless camp.

[SaxxonWoods]

Cities are for people crazy enough to live in them. The rest have left by now. We left in 2009.

[Rummyfan]

I was talking to some friends. They live near San Francisco. They don’t go there anymore. It’s too dirty. It is too full of bums and homeless. It’s too full of poop and needles. They didn’t know how it would change and just settled on accepting what is. When I mentioned that Democrats ran the city for generations and that if people voted Republican instead, maybe things would change their mouths hung open and there were blank looks on their faces. Even then, they didn’t understand.

I have family south of Atlanta in Clayton County. They NEVER go into Atlanta but they know why they don’t.

[frank ballenger]

Squalid....

Mayor Adams: Whatever that word means I think I’m finally getting recognition for my leadership here.

[Rummyfan]

Coming from a Frenchwoman that is something.

[ought-six]

I haven’t been in or to a city since the day I retired many years ago. And I have no intention of going to one in the future.

[Rummyfan]

Floors…..

[MinorityRepublican]

Yes; Union Station in DC was a wonderful place to go or be stuck if your Metro train broke down. Now it’s a homeless camp.

DC is probably the best example here. They did a great job of cleaning up the city. Now all the federal employees are working at home. The cops are no longer enforcing the law. All the restaurants are closing now. The Wizards and the Capitals are relocating to nearby Virginia in 2028.

[x]

Before COVID and the BLM riots, there was talk that cities would have a renaissance. Suburbanites would retire, downsize, sell their homes and move into or closer to the cities. That’s not going to happen now.

And what possible justification could there be for opening the border when we already have so many people sleeping in the streets?

[Bullish]

You mean big-shot democrats can’t run anything? Every city they gain control of quickly becomes a shithole.

[Jamestown1630]

It’s been intermittently a disaster since the first Home Rule mayor, Walter Washington, lost out to Marion Barry. Some have done better than others; but the current one is a dimwit disaster. (I say that as one who, when Bowser was first elected, had hopes that she would do a good job. But she’s turned out to be just another political hack whose backbone can’t stand up to anything.)

[Rummyfan]

No they cannot run anything. They can however wring every dollar of graft out of a system while leaving a dried-out useless husk for the citizens to deal with.

[dfwgator]

I must admit, I’ve always wanted to go to Moscow to see their subway stations. You can bet they’re as clean as a whistle.

[Jamestown1630]

It was quite a while ago...

[Rummyfan]

Further, the people who keep electing deserve what they get. But does it have to effect all of us?!