NYC sucks (rant)
 

This city and its taxation schemes are goddamn ridiculous. I swear it is a communist state. Who would think you can't take a left turn on 25th Street while heading northbound on 3rd Avenue? Well now I do, after $180 in penalties, and 6 points on my license.

I swear to god this whole damned city is built around taxing its most productive members of society so that city government can cause a massive wealth transfer to a bunch of poor, shiftless, unemployed, welfare-sucking idiots.

NYPD set up a trap over the weekend and the cop was literally writing up a car every 3 minutes for this violation. Strictly a revenue raiser. It makes me sick.

Im going to pay almost $50k in income tax to NYC this year, and the goddamn city government needs another $180 from me? Plus of course, whatever sales taxes we're going to pay to the city.

Why can't this place be run like Texas? The best government is the government that governs least.

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

You are paying New York City $50,000 in taxes this year and you are complaining about a measly $180 ticket that you received for making an illegal turn.

I don't get it.

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Who would think you can't take a left turn on 25th Street while heading northbound on 3rd Avenue?

[/ QUOTE ]

Apparently not you. If you feel you've been wronged, challenge it in court.

[ QUOTE ]
I swear to god this whole damned city is built around taxing its most productive members of society so that city government can cause a massive wealth transfer to a bunch of poor, shiftless, unemployed, welfare-sucking idiots.

[/ QUOTE ]

Health and welfare will make up less than 10% of the NYC's outlays in the 2006 fiscal year. So I guess it is a 'massive wealth transfer', if you think 10 cents on the dollar is massive. If you're claiming you pay $50k in taxes to NYC (a number I'm truly amazed at) because of "a bunch of poor, shiftless, unemployed, welfare-sucking idiots", you'd still be paying $45k even if NYC didn't provide them with a dollar's worth of services.

Wonder what it would cost if the cops took off and left NYC to its own devices -- that is, I wonder how much it would cost you to hire some personal security guards to escort you around town (again, remembering the cops left town, took the courts with them, etc.)? Maybe pvn can jump here and answer this. I bet it might cost something close to, if not substantially more than $50k -- although since I like my government, and the rather swell protections (not to mention safe and predictable business and living climate they've provided for me), I'm not really in the market for such things and haven't given it much thought.

[ QUOTE ]
NYPD set up a trap over the weekend and the cop was literally writing up a car every 3 minutes for this violation. Strictly a revenue raiser. It makes me sick.

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess you weren't the only who didn't realize you can't take a left onto 25th while heading northbound on 3rd.

[ QUOTE ]
Im going to pay almost $50k in income tax to NYC this year, and the goddamn city government needs another $180 from me? Plus of course, whatever sales taxes we're going to pay to the city.

Why can't this place be run like Texas? The best government is the government that governs least.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is something stopping you from moving to Texas? That may explain why NYC can't be run like Texas -- or why, despite the unfriendly tax-payer climate you believe you're in, you still choose to live there. Perhaps -- just perhaps -- they're related (in other words, consider if the reason you're paying so much in taxes is also why you choose to live there; even if the links aren't particularly direct).

I don't know. Just a guess. Think it over.

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

Awesome avatar, I can't believe he hit the water bottle.

How much are you making that you pay 50k in local income?

Re: HEY COLA ADD A STAR PLEASE
 

If you are paying $50,000 in NYC taxes, then you are making over $1.1 million.

Obey the law or stop whining about paying a ticket for an amount that is an infintesimal percentage of your income.

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

1. There is only one reason to live in NYC: professional opportunitites (particularly in financial services, but to a lesser extent also in professional services). Obviously those who choose to remain in the city do so for this reason.

2. As far as the "wealth transfer", Im not just talking about direct subsidies, but Im also including indirect wealth transferring subsidies such as public education, low income/elderly subsidies, public medicine, etc. Obviously, an urban city like NY needs a certain amount of spending for "public goods" like police, fire, sanitation, transportation, and parks--and this drives a certain amount of the tax. However, there really isn't a reason to have this deep support structure for poor/elderly etc. Those people should be in low cost states. To the extent that they continue to live in NYC, they are economic parasites--net consumers of far more in public services than they contribute in tax revenues. NYC is "progressive taxation" taken to insane heights--anti-property owner, anti-business, anti-taxpayer. If NYC were to reduce its subsidies, those who rely on it would leave and go elsewhere, into (hopefully) economies where their economic contributions would be closer to their actual consumption. Sounds heartless, but Im a big believer in private communities and privatized everything--obviously a self-serving position, but that's Adam Smith at work for ya.

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

I hate NYC too. Guess what, I voted with my feet and moved. If you don't like something, either get away, or DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

[ QUOTE ]
There is only one reason to live in NYC: professional opportunitites

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmmm. It also has more to do then probably any other city. The diversity of food, theater and other sorts of entertainment, schools,... diversity of culture, the energy of the city, etc. I'd say anyone who thinks the only reason to live in the city is professional opportunities must be blind.

[ QUOTE ]
Obviously those who choose to remain in the city do so for this reason.

[/ QUOTE ] That's funny. I like when someone says there's one obvious reason why 10 million or so people choose to do what they do.

Honestly, this is the goofiest over-reaction to getting a parking ticket I've ever heard.

The signs are pretty easy to read on the streets that prohibit turning in certain directions. I suppose if you've never driven in the city before and were too freaked out to read the signs you could blame it on anxiety and ignorance. But it doesn't sound like you have an excuse.

Its no one's fault but yours that you got a ticket. So... stop your ranting about shipping old people off to other states, pay your ticket and learn to drive.

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Im going to pay almost $50k in income tax to NYC this year, and the goddamn city government needs another $180 from me? Plus of course, whatever sales taxes we're going to pay to the city.


[/ QUOTE ]

Congratulations! In this single post, you've managed to:
<ul type="square"> 1. Rant, vent, let off steam.
2. Announce you inability to follow simple traffic regulations.
3. Flaunt/brag about, your income.
4. Bring attention to the city of NY.
5. Illustrate the effectiveness of the NYPD.
6. Express your feelings about those less fortunate.
7. Favorably publicize the state of Texas.[/list]
I'm impressed. I'd need at least 4.


[img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

oops, forgot one - gave me a good laugh!

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

Christmas is coming. Ask Santa for a bus pass.

Re: HEY COLA ADD A STAR PLEASE
 

[ QUOTE ]
Obey the law or stop whining about paying a ticket for an amount that is an infintesimal percentage of your income.

[/ QUOTE ]

These are two separate issues that you are trying to link for the purposes of whipping out the old class warfare card.

However they are intellectually discrete.

1. Obedience to laws. Yes, obviously, I agree that when you break laws, you need to face consequences. This is not the issue.

2. Normative propriety of taxation rules and spending priorities. This is my objection, and it has nothing to do with whether I should obey the law.

Let me use the police department as an example. NYPD is the largest PD in the country (about 3x more uniformed officers than LAPD, for example, even though it covers a much smaller territory).

LAPD has as its number one priority, law enforcement. It is a "hard core" policing organization focussed on interdicting crimes, solving crimes, patrolling, etc. It is highly effective, and has basically been the wellspring of every major policing advance--the SWAT team, the air unit, the police academy, etc. LAPD officers are the best in the country, man for man.

NYPD is a much less effective law enforcement organization. Its officers are less professional. It has lower physical fitness standards and academy qualifications than LAPD. NYPD's policing doctrine is much more about "standing post" than actively fighting crime.

NYPD is a perfect prism through which you can view most of city government. It is a city government overrun by bureaucracy, sinecures, union turf, hidebound programs and pseudo-public works projects, etc.

All of these spending programs are supported by a ridiculous, anti-taxpayer revenue collection system. A huge amount of city government is dedicated to the collection of revenues, as opposed to the provisioning of services.

This is worth bitching about.

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

[ QUOTE ]
1. There is only one reason to live in NYC: professional opportunitites (particularly in financial services, but to a lesser extent also in professional services). Obviously those who choose to remain in the city do so for this reason.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, I think NYC is alot more than workers in the financial sectors (I really enjoy visiting/touring NYC, as does my wife -- and I don't believe any of our enjoyment is derived by the fact that Goldman Sachs has a big office there); but I also am of the belief that the financial sector flourishes in NYC specifically because the state (and by that I mean, the city government) is proactive. Read on.

[ QUOTE ]
2. As far as the "wealth transfer", Im not just talking about direct subsidies, but Im also including indirect wealth transferring subsidies such as public education, low income/elderly subsidies, public medicine, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

Almost everything you mentioned there (low income/elderly subsidies, public medicine) is either included in the 10% that falls under the umbrella of "health and welfare" part of the NYC city budget that I mentioned in my last post, or falls under the jurisdiction of a federal social service program.

Public education (the other 'indirect subsidy' you mention) is, of course, NYC's biggest expenditure (with uniformed safety officers a distant second). I can't help but think the financial sector, and all professions that thrive in NYC, do so precisely because there is a highly-educated workforce available at a close proximity. I think it also should be noted that your tune has changed slightly -- initially, you were paying so much in city taxes because of those blood-sucking, leeching welfare bums. Now you're saying it's the welfare-bums and 'school children' -- which is a little like saying my diet is high in cholesterol, due in large part to the fruit and vegetable diet plan I use...and in that diet plan, I also make a daily trip to McDonalds and order a Big Mac. Perhaps not the best analogy, but I think you get where I'm going.

You've either decided that it's not just those bums that are costing you a pretty penny, or you associate/identify public school children as being synonymous with parasitic, welfare-dependent, poor, shiftless idiots.

[ QUOTE ]
Obviously, an urban city like NY needs a certain amount of spending for "public goods" like police, fire, sanitation, transportation, and parks--and this drives a certain amount of the tax.

[/ QUOTE ]

As in (when combined with the interest paid on NYC's debt) about 30% of your tax burden. (FYI, public education also makes up about 30% of your tax burden -- so 60% of your taxes go to finance: schools, police, fire, sanitation, transportation, parks, city administration, etc. -- about 6 times what NYC pays out in social services -- yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and yes, Virginia, it costs a boatload of money to keep big cities safe, clean, and educated).

[ QUOTE ]
However, there really isn't a reason to have this deep support structure for poor/elderly etc. Those people should be in low cost states. To the extent that they continue to live in NYC, they are economic parasites--net consumers of far more in public services than they contribute in tax revenues. NYC is "progressive taxation" taken to insane heights--anti-property owner, anti-business, anti-taxpayer. If NYC were to reduce its subsidies, those who rely on it would leave and go elsewhere, into (hopefully) economies where their economic contributions would be closer to their actual consumption. Sounds heartless, but Im a big believer in private communities and privatized everything--obviously a self-serving position, but that's Adam Smith at work for ya.

[/ QUOTE ]

You're certainly entitled to those opinions, and I'm fairly convinced you can find other localities that have a tax paradigm closer to your liking. But you stay in NYC because of the many prosperous opportunities that exist there -- opportunities, I would add, that exist because the population is highly educated; a population that is enticed to come (and stay) because NYC is (relatively) safe, clean, exciting, livable, etc. climate -- a climate, I would argue, that is due in no small part because you pay alot in taxes to have such a climate created.

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Public education (the other 'indirect subsidy' you mention) is, of course, NYC's biggest expenditure (with uniformed safety officers a distant second). I can't help but think the financial sector, and all professions that thrive in NYC do so precisely because there is a highly-educated workforce available at a close proximity.

[/ QUOTE ]

Public education is a huge subsidy in NYC. Contrast the way public education is principally funded in California (and most places), i.e., by property taxes. When funded through property taxes, education is a use tax. When funded through income taxes, it is a wealth transfer. Very few of the most productive (i.e., taxpaying) members of NYC would choose to send their children through the NY school system. This is why God created Connecticut.

You also seem to be under the illusion that the NY public schools somehow churn out the vast majority of NYC's elite educated workforce. This is wrong. NY public schools churn out ill-tempered, barely-literate/numerate clerks at Duane Reade who can't make proper change. NY's talent pool is drawn from a worldwide source--people who were high achievers wherever they were before, but who came to NYC for the financial opportunities the city offers in just about everything--finance, prof. svcs., advertising, medicine, etc.

The NYC DOE and federal DOE are abominations, and among the worst aspects of today's welfare state.

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

No one lives in NYC because it is clean and safe. And the people working in its high end industries do not come from the public schools.

NYC has lots of insanely rich people who can afford to isolate themselves from the shithole they live in. Some commute all the way from another state. They pay taxes only because they work there, and they work there only because that is where all the money is (based on historical reasons). It's a filthy horrible city and I'm glad I'm leaving.

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Public education (the other 'indirect subsidy' you mention) is, of course, NYC's biggest expenditure (with uniformed safety officers a distant second). I can't help but think the financial sector, and all professions that thrive in NYC do so precisely because there is a highly-educated workforce available at a close proximity.

[/ QUOTE ]

Public education is a huge subsidy in NYC. Contrast the way public education is principally funded in California (and most places), i.e., by property taxes. When funded through property taxes, education is a use tax. When funded through income taxes, it is a wealth transfer. Very few of the most productive (i.e., taxpaying) members of NYC would choose to send their children through the NY school system. This is why God created Connecticut.

You also seem to be under the illusion that the NY public schools somehow churn out the vast majority of NYC's elite educated workforce. This is wrong. NY public schools churn out ill-tempered, barely-literate/numerate clerks at Duane Reade who can't make proper change. NY's talent pool is drawn from a worldwide source--people who were high achievers wherever they were before, but who came to NYC for the financial opportunities the city offers in just about everything--finance, prof. svcs., advertising, medicine, etc.

The NYC DOE and federal DOE are abominations, and among the worst aspects of today's welfare state.

[/ QUOTE ]

Even if education is a wealth transfer, who cares? The children of rich people do not deserve a better education than the children of poor people. it cannot be argued that rich children did anything to deserve their wealth other than happen to pop out of the right vagina. Society as a whole is much better off if everyone has an opportunity to obtain a good education

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Even if education is a wealth transfer, who cares? The children of rich people do not deserve a better education than the children of poor people. it cannot be argued that rich children did anything to deserve their wealth other than happen to pop out of the right vagina. Society as a whole is much better off if everyone has an opportunity to obtain a good education

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes yes, John Rawls, I understand the arguments here. But the Adam Smith in me, as opposed to the moral philosopher says, "So what? I only care about educating my kids. And I dont want to pay to educate yours."

I do reluctantly recognize, however, that it is fundamental to our American notion of upward mobility that access to basic education should one of the responsibilities of government.

But setting aside the philosophical point, as a practical matter, NYC DOE does a miserable job of educating children. Another example of incompetent city government propped up by a ravenous tax collection scheme.

I hate paying taxes into this system, because while I dont completely reject the goal of the system, I find the means that city government is using to be so incompetent that I resent being conscripted to support that failing system we call "public education"

Re: HEY COLA ADD A STAR PLEASE
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Obey the law or stop whining about paying a ticket for an amount that is an infintesimal percentage of your income.

[/ QUOTE ]

These are two separate issues that you are trying to link for the purposes of whipping out the old class warfare card.

However they are intellectually discrete.

[/ QUOTE ]

WTF??! Who are you kidding? _You_ are the one that linked your income and taxes to the $180 ticket. Now you complain when someone responds on your own terms? What a joke.

[ QUOTE ]
1. Obedience to laws. Yes, obviously, I agree that when you break laws, you need to face consequences. This is not the issue.

[/ QUOTE ]

See above. You linked the consequences to your income. Not us.

[ QUOTE ]
2. Normative propriety of taxation rules and spending priorities. This is my objection, and it has nothing to do with whether I should obey the law.

[/ QUOTE ]

Then why mention your lawbreaking (and its consequences) at all?

[ QUOTE ]
This is worth bitching about.

[/ QUOTE ]

Spare us. You choose to live in the city. You could live right accross the Hudson and commute in on the Path in 15 mins and save your precious $50k subsidies of the "shiftless". You don't like it, move. There is no NYC commuter tax (contrary to lehighguy's post).

Re: HEY COLA ADD A STAR PLEASE
 

[ QUOTE ]
_You_ are the one that linked your income and taxes to the $180 ticket.

[/ QUOTE ]

I linked the issues as an illustration of how the entire NYC revenue system is corrupt--it soaks the taxpayers through confiscatory income taxes, steep sales taxes (which I mind less), then at every turn tries to collect more money through thinly disguised additional taxes such as revenue-generating traffic traps, insanely effective meter enforcement, so-called "surcharges" put on top of tickets, etc. (A reasonable response might be that these are "use" taxes, but in truth, they are not. They are designed as revenue enhancing items.) I would have less objection if NYC actually enforced traffic rules that mattered, such as blocking the box or double parking. Zealous enforcement of such rules would improve the quality of life in the city by reducing congestion. However, NYPD Traffic never appears to enforce these rules, and instead spends all morning writing hundreds of tickets (Im not exaggerating here) to motorists who make a left-turn where absolutely every "normal" rule of the road would have permitted it. (In fact, I cant think of a single intersection on a small street in which a left turn on a green light isn't permitted. Obviously im excluding things like lefts across big streets like 42, 23, etc.) The signs were put up, and the trap was set, solely for revenue generating purposes, not for traffic enforcement/flow control. This is hidden taxation, and its outrageous.



[ QUOTE ]
Spare us. You choose to live in the city. You could live right accross the Hudson and commute in on the Path in 15 mins and save your precious $50k subsidies of the "shiftless". You don't like it, move. There is no NYC commuter tax (contrary to lehighguy's post).

[/ QUOTE ]

This point is totally valid. I have voted with my feet, so by staying in the city, Im voluntarily subjecting myself to its irrational taxation schemes.

Re: HEY COLA ADD A STAR PLEASE
 

[ QUOTE ]
NYPD is a much less effective law enforcement organization. Its officers are less professional. It has lower physical fitness standards and academy qualifications than LAPD. NYPD's policing doctrine is much more about "standing post" than actively fighting crime.


[/ QUOTE ]

After the train bombing in Spain last year the first US government organization to start investigating the scene was the NYPD. Yes, even before the FPI.

in addition the NYPD must be doing something right, total crime is down 8 percent in the last year.


NY crime
here are some interesting quotes....

"New York City ranked 221st out of 240 cities across the nation on the total crime index"

"The City’s murder rate of 7 per 100,000 of population in 2004 was half that of Los Angeles and Chicago which were 13.5 and 15.5 respectively"

"Over the past four years, the murder rate in New York City declined 12% (2004 compared to 2001) compared to a national decline of only 0.5% during the same period."

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Even if education is a wealth transfer, who cares? The children of rich people do not deserve a better education than the children of poor people. it cannot be argued that rich children did anything to deserve their wealth other than happen to pop out of the right vagina. Society as a whole is much better off if everyone has an opportunity to obtain a good education

[/ QUOTE ]

You have to compromise freedom to do that.

Let's say I'm a hard-working and smart man, and I make it rich. I have a kid, and I love him. I want to provide a good, healthy, happy life for him.

Why can't I do what I want with my money?

Re: HEY COLA ADD A STAR PLEASE
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
_You_ are the one that linked your income and taxes to the $180 ticket.

[/ QUOTE ]

I linked the issues as an illustration of how the entire NYC revenue system is corrupt--it soaks the taxpayers through confiscatory income taxes, steep sales taxes (which I mind less), then at every turn tries to collect more money through thinly disguised additional taxes such as revenue-generating traffic traps, insanely effective meter enforcement, so-called "surcharges" put on top of tickets, etc. (A reasonable response might be that these are "use" taxes, but in truth, they are not. They are designed as revenue enhancing items.) I would have less objection if NYC actually enforced traffic rules that mattered, such as blocking the box or double parking. Zealous enforcement of such rules would improve the quality of life in the city by reducing congestion. However, NYPD Traffic never appears to enforce these rules, and instead spends all morning writing hundreds of tickets (Im not exaggerating here) to motorists who make a left-turn where absolutely every "normal" rule of the road would have permitted it. (In fact, I cant think of a single intersection on a small street in which a left turn on a green light isn't permitted. Obviously im excluding things like lefts across big streets like 42, 23, etc.) The signs were put up, and the trap was set, solely for revenue generating purposes, not for traffic enforcement/flow control. This is hidden taxation, and its outrageous.



[ QUOTE ]
Spare us. You choose to live in the city. You could live right accross the Hudson and commute in on the Path in 15 mins and save your precious $50k subsidies of the "shiftless". You don't like it, move. There is no NYC commuter tax (contrary to lehighguy's post).

[/ QUOTE ]

This point is totally valid. I have voted with my feet, so by staying in the city, Im voluntarily subjecting myself to its irrational taxation schemes.

[/ QUOTE ]

Have you ever bothered to research how underpaid NYC cops are? To give you a hint, I'd estimate conservatively that Long Island cops make 30-40% more on average, and they're in much less danger, higher tax base notwithstanding. Take the subway once in awhile. See who the real hard workers are in New York.

Re: HEY COLA ADD A STAR PLEASE
 

[ QUOTE ]

NYPD is a much less effective law enforcement organization. Its officers are less professional. It has lower physical fitness standards and academy qualifications than LAPD. NYPD's policing doctrine is much more about "standing post" than actively fighting crime.

[/ QUOTE ]

The NYPD is the only police department in America that doesn't need or use the Secret Service to help protect the President when he visits, so I think it's blatantly wrong to say that they are anything less than one of the most effective police departments in the country.

Re: HEY COLA ADD A STAR PLEASE
 

Believe me, I know how poorly paid NYPD cops are. My example of NYPD was really meant more as a dig at city government, and less at the department per se.

That said, it is pretty clear that although NYPD has been influential (particularly with east coast agencies such as Philly, Boston, even Chicago), it is generally agreed that LAPD is by far the better department. In fact, the leaders of most "west coast" influenced departments like LV Metro, LA County, San Jose, Ft. Worth, etc. originally came from the senior ranks of LAPD.

In general, LAPD is credited with "professionalized" policing. East coast departments like NYPD can take credit for some interesting experiments like community policing, and crime pattern analysis, but for the most part, NYPD is a laggard.

The other major influence is the feds, particularly FBI/DEA/ATF, but mostly in the area of investigations (and to a lesser extent, tactics). Feds aren't really "police".

Re: HEY COLA ADD A STAR PLEASE
 

[ QUOTE ]
The NYPD is the only police department in America that doesn't need or use the Secret Service to help protect the President when he visits

[/ QUOTE ]

You are 100% wrong.

The NY office of USSS handles protection for POTUS when he is in town. As with all Presidential details, they coordinate with local PD for things like perimeter and route security. When the President visits the UN, USSS coordinates with DSS. However, the advance planning, motorcade security, sniper cover, and close protection details are all handled exclusively by USSS.

Re: HEY COLA ADD A STAR PLEASE
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The NYPD is the only police department in America that doesn't need or use the Secret Service to help protect the President when he visits

[/ QUOTE ]

You are 100% wrong.

The NY office of USSS handles protection for POTUS when he is in town. As with all Presidential details, they coordinate with local PD for things like perimeter and route security. When the President visits the UN, USSS coordinates with DSS. However, the advance planning, motorcade security, sniper cover, and close protection details are all handled exclusively by USSS.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm curious as to where you got your information from, as mine came from members of the NYPD who are repsonsible for exactly what you attributed to the USSS.

Re: HEY COLA ADD A STAR PLEASE
 

[ QUOTE ]
After the train bombing in Spain last year the first US government organization to start investigating the scene was the NYPD. Yes, even before the FBI.

[/ QUOTE ]

I find this difficult to believe. Anything terrorism related goes through the NY JTTF. Maybe NYPD dispatched investigators to the scene who arrived before the feds, but this had to have gone through JTTF.

[ QUOTE ]
NYPD must be doing something right, total crime is down 8 percent in the last year.

"The City’s murder rate of 7 per 100,000 of population in 2004 was half that of Los Angeles and Chicago which were 13.5 and 15.5 respectively"

[/ QUOTE ]

Crime is definitely down in the city, and the NYPD deserves some of the credit for that. (Although declining drug usage and an increasingly healthy economy were principally responsible for the turnaround.) Los Angeles remains a very violent city, by comparison.

Im surprised you didnt mention that the current LAPD chief, Bratton, is an ex-NYPD and Boston chief, and is credited with a decline in crime rates during his respective tenures. (LAPD had historically had a tradition of choosing insiders for the Chief position. Problems with Ramparts, Rodney King, etc., and a federal consent decree forced the introduction of outsiders.)

However, you cant just compare crime rates in LA and NY. LA just faces different issues, principally illegal immigration, and Hispanic/Black gangs, which in turn drive a violent drug trade. NY doesnt have this problem nearly as much as LA.

Re: HEY COLA ADD A STAR PLEASE
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm curious as to where you got your information from, as mine came from members of the NYPD who are repsonsible for exactly what you attributed to the USSS.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have my own personal contacts within law enforcement, principally through prosecutor offices, although also with various police departments and federal agencies. I also have a good friend who works as a top-tier private security contractor, both inside and outside of CONUS. He has worked protection details with the Marshals service, for private sector clients, and is currently doing convoy protection for a PMC in Iraq.

You could also look at this to see how presidential security in New York is handled: DHS press release

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

Ok, let me get this straight:

You made an illegal turn and got ticketed for it, so now you're whining that New York city must be a "communist state"?

Christ, you Bush voters are a stupid and whiny lot [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]


q/q

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

Well since you asked

[censored] me? [censored] you! [censored] you and this whole city and everyone in it. [censored] the panhandlers, grubbing for money, and smiling at me behind my back. [censored] the squeegee men dirtying up the clean windshield of my car. Get a [censored] job! [censored] the Sikhs and the Pakistanis bombing down the avenues in decrepit cabs, curry steaming out their pores, stinking up my day. Terrorists in [censored] training. SLOW THE [censored] DOWN! [censored] the Chelsea boys with their waxed chests and pumped up biceps. Going down on each other in my parks and on my piers, jingling their dicks on my Channel 35. [censored] the Korean grocers with their pyramids of overpriced fruit and their tulips and roses wrapped in plastic. Ten years in the country, still no speaky English? [censored] the Russians in Brighton Beach. Mobster thugs sitting in cafés, sipping tea in little glasses, sugar cubes between their teeth. Wheelin' and dealin' and schemin'. Go back where you [censored] came from! [censored] the black-hatted Hasidim, strolling up and down 47th street in their dirty gabardine with their dandruff. Selling South African apartheid diamonds! [censored] the Wall Street brokers. Self-styled masters of the universe. Michael Douglas, Gordon Gecko wannabe mother fuckers, figuring out new ways to rob hard working people blind. Send those Enron assholes to jail for [censored] LIFE! You think Bush and Cheney didn't know about that [censored]? Give me a [censored] break! Tyco! Worldcom! [censored] the Puerto Ricans. 20 to a car, swelling up the welfare rolls, worst [censored]' parade in the city. And don't even get me started on the Dom-in-i-cans, 'cause they make the Puerto Ricans look good. [censored] the Bensonhurst Italians with their pomaded hair, their nylon warm-up suits, their St. Anthony medallions, swinging their, Jason Giambi, Louisville slugger, baseball bats, trying to audition for the Sopranos. [censored] the Upper East Side wives with their Hermes scarves and their fifty-dollar Balducci artichokes. Overfed faces getting pulled and lifted and stretched, all taut and shiny. You're not fooling anybody, sweetheart! [censored] the uptown brothers. They never pass the ball, they don't want to play defense, they take fives steps on every lay-up to the hoop. And then they want to turn around and blame everything on the white man. Slavery ended one hundred and thirty seven years ago. Move the [censored] on! [censored] the corrupt cops with their anus violating plungers and their 41 shots, standing behind a blue wall of silence. You betray our trust! [censored] the priests who put their hands down some innocent child's pants. [censored] the church that protects them, delivering us into evil. And while you're at it, [censored] JC! He got off easy! A day on the cross, a weekend in hell, and all the hallelujahs of the legioned angels for eternity! Try seven years in [censored]' Otisville, J! [censored] Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and backward-ass, cave-dwelling, fundamentalist assholes everywhere. On the names of innocent thousands murdered, I pray you spend the rest of eternity with your seventy-two whores roasting in a jet-fueled fire in hell. You towel headed camel jockeys can kiss my royal Irish ass!

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

You have a great eye for the city. You should be a writer.

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

[ QUOTE ]
I swear to god this whole damned city is built around taxing its most productive members of society so that city government can cause a massive wealth transfer to a bunch of poor, shiftless, unemployed, welfare-sucking idiots

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Seems pretty smart. Go where the money is for the cash and use it where the votes are. Darn smart!

I mean only a state with politicians who flee state lines to avoid a vote and a governor ready to invoke terrorism laws to get them back (or some such nonsense) could come up with scheme where they build a system around taxing the poorest in an attempt to cause a wholesale transfer of wealth to a bunch of shiftless, martini drinking, capitalists.

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Why can't this place be run like Texas? The best government is the government that governs least.

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Oh, in the previous para, texas was just an example. However, that reminds me, isn't Bush from Texas? Of course his handout for the rich was at the federal levels!

Seriously though:
I do suspect that your tax bill in Waco will be less. Your state, city, sales, federal, and other tax bill will be less. Your marginal rates for all will be lower, you will keep more of the money you make. Thats for sure. So, why the heck are you in NYC anyway?

When do we see the last of you? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

[ QUOTE ]
You have a great eye for the city. You should be a writer.

[/ QUOTE ]
FWIW I believe this is a monologue from the book and/or movie "25th Hour."

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

ok, this thread is basically dead, but I want to clear up a couple of pieces of misinformation:

First, if you think the public schools are so bad in NYC, you should check out the private ones. They suck too. Why do you think the best schools in NYC (Stuyvesant, Townsend Harris, Bronx Sci, Hunter (which was chosen by WSJ as the best high school in the country, private or public)) are public?

About local taxes, you realize that for all the local taxes you pay, that's less you have to pay in federal taxes? In part because local taxes are so high, blue states receive less money per dollar contributed to federal taxes. You should be much quicker to complain about something like farm subsidies or spending in New Orleans than public schools.

[troll]For the record, I'm not trying to change your mind about this. You're a conservative objectivist, and you're beyond help.[/troll]

Also, Kyle, great quote. Edward Norton = motion picture Jesus.

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

[ QUOTE ]

This city and its taxation schemes are goddamn ridiculous. I swear it is a communist state. Who would think you can't take a left turn on 25th Street while heading northbound on 3rd Avenue? Well now I do, after $180 in penalties, and 6 points on my license.


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I'm so glad you got a ticket. The turn restriction on E25th was put in place because there is a mid-block crosswalk used by Baruch College students to go from building to building. We are already dodging enough traffic as it is to get from class to class with the existing crosstown traffic.

You have nothing to complain about, there are clear signs on 3rd ave indicating no turns and you ignored them or weren't paying attention.

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

NYC would really suck without poor people

<font color="white"> please don't make me clarify, just think about it </font>

Re: NYC sucks (rant)
 

[ QUOTE ]

First, if you think the public schools are so bad in NYC, you should check out the private ones. They suck too.

[/ QUOTE ]

no they dont, if you choose wisely

[ QUOTE ]
Why do you think the best schools in NYC . . . are public?

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they're not. hunter is the only one of those schools that I would consider really good. the science schools have some huge problems.




OP- so leave.