Wow, sounds like you don't live in the same NYC I do. I know some things have gotten worse over the last few years, but most parts aren't the dystopia you're making it out to be.
Driving here is worse than taking public transit. Two hours to get from my place to Manhattan (unless it's 3AM)? No thanks. Not to mention where the heck do you park when you get there? That could kill another hour. Then you have constant road rage incidents, plus 90% of the people here can't drive (although that seems to be a problem nationally, not just in NYC).
Blame our for-profit medical system for that one. We pay twice as much for inferior outcomes compared to other first world countries. It's not a unique problem to big cities, either. I've known people who travel all over the country, and tell me hospitals in many rural areas are positively third world. You might have some great general practitioners who are vested in their patients, but better hope you never get anything serious enough to land you in a hospital. And maybe if you didn't incur six figures of debt to go to medical school more people would become doctors to help relieve the work load.
This is why I won't live in an apartment. Anywhere, not just in NYC. We're in a paid for house in eastern Queens. Thankfully we left the housing projects back in 1978.
If you think things are bad now, I guess you missed the 1970s through mid-1980s. I used to take the subway to high school. Every third train got taken out of service. The ones that did run were all covered in graffiti, plus half the doors and lights didn't work. Yet I made it. I'll admit the subways have been backsliding the last few years but they're not even close to what they were at their worst. Getting the mentally ill homeless out would help a lot.
Maybe because people love to emphasize their differences instead of seeing what they have in common? I've noticed this has gotten a lot worse over the last 6 or 7 years, and especially since the pandemic.
You're right about the ridiculous rents. IMO this is really the biggest problem in city right now. That's the city's fault for not upzoning areas, along with
speculation driving housing prices through the roof (actually that's a national problem).
I have a lot of issues with what both schools and parents shove down their kids' throats. A lot of the hatred you mentioned earlier is learned at home.
We thankfully got rid of that clown. Not that Adams is much better but at least he's not super far left like the moron before him.
I've lived here my entire life. The biggest mistake we made with the police was getting rid of beat cops. They walked the neighborhoods, knew people, and their presence helped deter crime. Then someone got the bright idea to stick most of them in patrol cars. They also removed the residency requirement, which was another huge mistake. 9/11 made things worse as police forces nationally militarized. End result of all these things is the NYPD became more like an occupation force than a police force. That's why policing became political. The police had to be reigned in. Even my late father, who was a LEO, told me the current crop of cops are a bunch of thugs. Not all of them, but enough to give the entire force a bad name.
Who keeps selling these dirt bikes and ATVs to unruly youths? That's who the city needs to go after. Shut down any store that sells them. And do the same with any gas station that sells them gas. These vehicles are 100% illegal to own or use in NYC. Stop them at the source. Cops aren't going after them on the streets for the simple reason chasing them down is going to cause more problems than it solves. What happens if bystanders get killed in the middle of a chase? Big lawsuit for the city.
