Posted on 07/16/2023 9:13:57 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
There is so much wrong with America’s cities, it’s hard to see why any contributing member of society would live and/or work in one of them. Some of the issues arise from far-Left local governance while others are generated by more widespread Leftist policy. These are coupled with an organic workforce evolution, as the USA transitions from an industry-based to an information-based economy. The result is urban areas caught in a downward spiral — and, as with any sinking vessel, threatening to suck everyone nearby down with them.
First, quick refresher on the compounding problems of urban areas. Chief among them is that big cities are dark blue, and thus they’ve become crucibles of Left-wing policy failure. Uncontrolled crime, roving drug and mental-illness zombies, and swarms of sanctuary-recipient asylum scammers are crowding out reasonable people and businesses. The normals who remain to take advantage of access to cultural events (such as they are) and restaurant variety are also subject to totalitarian social controls and two-tiered justice systems that punish them when they fight back against criminals. But no matter how desperate the situation becomes, city councils can be counted on to double down on woke policies, then double down again.
Businesses are fleeing. In the ones that remain, shopping for basic goods has become a frustrating exercise in waiting for an associate to unlock the case so you can grab a razor and some toothpaste. Add in today’s high interest rates, which make owning and running a business prohibitively expensive, and the writing is on the wall.
Large San Francisco commercial businesses, like hotels and malls, are simply walking away from their obligations, handing the keys to the banks with which their real estate is financed. Concurrently, major retailers are declining to renew leases and are simply closing their doors,
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
An article in The Atlantic last month called “The Next Crisis Will Start With Empty Office Buildings” paints a grim picture of what’s going down. First, the demand for office space dries up:
During the first three months of 2023, U.S. office vacancy topped 20 percent for the first time in decades. In San Francisco, Dallas, and Houston, vacancy rates are as high as 25 percent. These figures understate the severity of the crisis because they only cover spaces that are no longer leased. Most office leases were signed before the pandemic and have yet to come up for renewal. Actual office use points to a further decrease in demand. Attendance in the 10 largest business districts is still below 50 percent of its pre-COVID level, as white-collar employees spend an estimated 28 percent of their workdays at home.
With a third of all office leases expiring by 2026, we can expect higher vacancies, significantly lower rents, or both.
Next, the loss of commercial tenants and landlords causes urban fiscal pain:
Property taxes underpin city budgets. In New York City, such taxes generate approximately 40 percent of revenue. Commercial property—mostly offices—contributes about 40 percent of these taxes, or 16 percent of the city’s total tax revenue. In San Francisco, property taxes contribute a lower share, but offices and retail appear to be in an even worse state.
Empty offices also contribute to lower retail sales and public-transport usage. In New York City, weekday subway trips are 65 percent of their 2019 level—though they’re trending up—and public- transport revenue has declined by $2.4 billion. Meanwhile, more than 40,000 retail-sector jobs lost since 2019 have yet to return. A recent study by an NYU professor named Arpit Gupta and others estimate a 6.5 percent “fiscal hole” in the city’s budget due to declining office and retail valuations. Such a hole “would need to be plugged by raising tax rates or cutting government spending.”
RE: Chief among them is that big cities are dark
blue.
Guess I accidentally hit the space bar and it made a wrong impression about the problem. I guess.
They ruin the cities and make them useless for decent people to use and then they try to gouge us for the financial irresponsibility and losses due to urban crime.
Get your own money and keep your grimy hands out of our wallets, wokesters.
I truly believe that having a large scale transformation to a work-living model where people work in the same civil jurisdiction where they live is going to have tremendous positive implications for America.
You want to know why places like New York, Chicago and San Francisco became such dysfunctional dumps over the last 50+ years? It’s because so few of the people who worked in these places actually lived there … and therefore they weren’t constituents of the elected officials in these cities.
And how long have they been under total Democrat control?
The problem is one federal judge can make a city impossible to function.
San Francisco might be given an independent federal court and removed from the jurisdiction of the 9th Circuit.
The judges might be nominated by California’s governor, subject to Senate confirmation.
“swarms of sanctuary-recipient asylum scammers”
I have called for exiting from the Refugee Convention.
Quotes from the 1951 Refugee Convention:
Article 23 - Public relief
The Contracting States shall accord to refugees lawfully staying in their territory the same treatment with respect to public relief and assistance as is accorded to their nationals.
Article 17 - Wage-earning employment
....
2. In any case, restrictive measures imposed on aliens or the employment of aliens for the protection of the national labour market shall not be applied to a refugee...who fulfils one of the following conditions:
(a) He has completed three years’ residence in the country;
....
(c) He has one or more children possessing the nationality of the country of residence.
Article 34 - Naturalization [and getting the right to vote]
The Contracting States shall as far as possible facilitate the assimilation and naturalization of refugees. They shall in particular make every effort to expedite naturalization proceedings and to reduce as far as possible the charges and costs of such proceedings.
https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-relating-status-refugees
Article 44 - Denunciation [getting out from under the Refugee Convention]
1. Any Contracting State may denounce this Convention at any time by a notification addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
2. Such denunciation shall take effect for the Contracting State concerned one year from the date upon which it is received by the Secretary-General of the United Nations....
NOTE: I do not trust any politician to end leftist migrant mercenary-based political takeovers who has not called for invoking Article 44 to get the US out from under the Refugee Convention.
And my distrust extends to Trump and DeSantis.
The Refugee Convention must be removed from the Democratic Party toolbox by invoking Article 44.
I see what you did there. There’s no good outcome given a permanent underclass of violent, low IQ savages. They will be dealt with one way or another.
People like to laugh at California’s problems - blaming us for the election as if elections in California are not rigged.
However, CA used to have one of the top 10 economies in the world and that contributes to the US economy. California’s destruction impacts people nationwide. Also, California’s federal taxes subsidize roadways and other infrastructures in the heartland and other rural areas. So the diving CA economy will ripple out as well to negatively impact other states who hate California and its residents.
https://gothamist.com/news/fords-drop-dead-tactics-actually-helped-the-city
“two months later, Ford did provide $2.3 billion in federal aid to the city.”
“the headline and Ford’s dismissive attitude swayed enough voters to give Jimmy Carter New York State’s 41 electoral votes.”
“Had Ford carried the state, he would have carried the election.”
“researchers estimated that their ultra-white paint could reduce air conditioning use by up to 70 percent in hot cities like Reno, Nevada, and Phoenix, Arizona”
“they also developed an earlier ultra-white paint made from calcium carbonate that reflected 95.5 percent of sunlight.”
“We found that if you put different particle sizes in your paint, then each particle size can scatter and reflect different wavelengths and, all together, they reflect the entire spectrum of wavelengths in sunlight,”
In theory compact cities could be built in areas normally hotter than coastal California that would be painted and planted to have California climates.
Crystal Lagoons makes ocean blue bodies of water.
California needs to clean up its act.
That’s why Oakland, CA, has always been terrifying, because the loser leaders in the 70’s chased away property taxes.
1982-1983
Clear sign of a Narrative ballot rigging.
LOL-du bist klug
[There is so much wrong with America's cities,]
The truly important thing is to keep voting Democrat and keep putting Socialist / Woke / Progressive idiots on city councils and hope things improve!
Keep voting Democrat!!
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