My brother lives in Manhattan, people have no idea how insanely bad it is there. He sends me photos all the time of the blocks and blocks of stores out of business for good, boarded up, gone like a ghost town and the furniture and mattresses lining his street left behind by people who have moved out.
At this rate, you’ll be able to buy a Townhouse for $3 bucks. He said it’s like the movie Robocop when the police went on strike and all the thugs come out at night and do whatever the hell they want. He even sent me a video last month of these thugs walking down the alley where he lives, and stealing two bikes of his neighbor chained to a fence. He lives on the first floor so he has cameras everywhere, and they just nonchalantly walk down the alley, not a care in the world because they know they won’t be busted and clip the chain with a bolt cutter and off they go.
When a place gets to Lord of the Flies status, it needs be nuked from space.
The remaining taxpayers in these places (including businesses) will be clearing out (they are already); the high overhead costs of these dumps simply make no sense if they aren’t paying for the daycare provided by schools (in cases where they are “learning” remotely) and they aren’t paying for the physical safety of those who’ve put themselves on the wrong side of the lines in our low-profile race/class war.
Is your brother thinking about moving?