American Cities

[longbow51]

We were just reminiscing about great cities we had visited that are no more; NYC in the Giuliani years; clean, walk the streets without fear. Doorman at our hotel was a guitar guy, saw I was carrying a Baby Taylor (going to Jamaica) and gave me names of not-to-miss guitar shops.

Chicago, no crime downtown, Joes' Stone Crab, Lowrey's, Gibson's, Cubs, White Sox, Art Institute, Field Museum. Now taking your life in your hands.

San Francisco with no poop maps.

Could go on, but to be concise just reread Ed Abbey.

 

[Pucky Freak]

I agree with much of the rest of your post, but not this sentiment. It's not an either/or. Substance use/housing/poor job markets (often because once someone has a criminal conviction, they aren't all that likely to get a job to pull themselves out of the spiral) all contribute to crime. Where I live, the majority of the conservative population wants to incarcerate more people without addressing the underlying issues of substance abuse, mental health, and poverty. Bigger jails do little but breed more hardened criminals and give them a great place to network for when they get outside. Society has turned their back on them, so why bother living a different lifestyle? If society isn't going to step up and try to help their citizenry, crime is the inevitable result.

A good example is a parks and rec bond that was overwhelmingly shot down in my town recently. It was going to build a big new rec center for youths and invest in more programming to keep kids active.

The bond was shot down, and then there was another youth-involved shooting. A social media post went up about it and someone actually commented: "Don't these youths have something better to do?" They sure would... if only they had a rec center.

Oh, 100% no doubt. They are interrelated issues, but it is a Venn diagram and not a Rubik's Cube.

We both work inside the "system" and see these problems displaced rather than solved, all day long. No doubt many jurisdictions prefer to just contain the "problem people" to prisons and jails, creating another generation of fatherless children.

What I mean by crime problem is that when attempting to be soft on persons in the community struggling with mental health, homelessness, and/or substance use, there are legit criminal who exploit the lack of law and order for monetary gain. People literally move to LA and boost $950 of retail merch every day, knowing they can do it 365 days a year and never be arrested. Some of those thieves are homeless, mentally ill, and/or addicted to drugs, but others are not.

When there is insufficient will to arrest, book, and prosecute criminals, urban communities go to crap in a blink. I'm all for tackling social problems head on, but without law and order it's anarchy by default.

 

[longbow51]

Oh, 100% no doubt. They are interrelated issues, but it is a Venn diagram and not a Rubik's Cube.



When there is insufficient will to arrest, book, and prosecute criminals, urban communities go to crap in a blink. I'm all for tackling social problems head on, but without law and order it's anarchy by default.

There was a recent CNN clip where the topic was that NYC criminals would go to Florida to spend their ill-gotten gain. Question was asked, well why don't they just steal in FL? Well, in FL they would go to jail. Interviewer was shocked.

 

[rebjfan]

In the last couple months, I’ve been to Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas, Reno, and San Diego, which left me thinking the same thing you hear a lot- our cities are going to shit. San Diego could be super nice but the homelessness, open air drug use, people taking a dump on the sidewalk in front of a High-rise in the gaslamp district, etc. isn’t all that wonderful.
Then, a few weeks ago, we went to Nashville. What an example that things don’t have to be the other way. For someone that doesn’t even like cities or crowds, I really liked Nashville. It’s safe, it’s clean. The people are friendly, the food, even the hot chicken that can be ordered at scorching temperatures, are all wonderful.

What other American cities are like Nashville?


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It definitely is not Jackson Mississippi, someone will get shot there tonight. They can’t keep water on for the residents, they can’t keep the garbage picked up. Thugs have blocked the interstate through town so they could drag race, the cops showed up 30 minutes later.

 

[Nick87]

Chicago, no crime downtown, Joes' Stone Crab, Lowrey's, Gibson's, Cubs, White Sox, Art Institute, Field Museum. Now taking your life in your hands.

It's nothing like it once was. I didn't really care for going there then though either.

 

[longbow51]

Hey, the Cubs won the Series. And Joe's Stone Crabs are the best. Mentioned in Ian Fleming's Goldfinger, although the Miami location.

 

[Beignet]

We were just reminiscing about great cities we had visited that are no more; NYC in the Giuliani years; clean, walk the streets without fear.

Crime is still very low in NYC and much lower than it was under Giuliani. I’m in the city now and it’s still all gravy, despite the news. My only complaint is that it keeps getting more corporate and homogenous as the years go on. Maybe the Giuliani years were briefly the best of all worlds though, crime was on the decline but all the weirdo rock and roll art kids hadn’t been priced out. Those guitar stores have probably become into bank ATM vestibules and chain coffee shops.

 

[tarheel]

Burgers - this is really the spot you should be after

Steak

Wings

Good 'ol Diner

Yuppy Millennial Stuff


My favorite mexican falls outside of denver proper. though hit up la loma for decent plate of rellenos. brush up on your spanish and wander into basically any counter serve carniceria for what will be top notch mexican food.

Denver's dense hispanic population makes the majority of sit down mexican fare plenty good - throw a dart. there's too many to try.

Denver started going to crap back in the early 70's and I bailed out in '76; sad to see what the place has turned into, because back in the early '60's it was the neatest and cleanest city in the country, bar none.

My favorite Mexican is in Parker but can't remember the name of it, best tamales in town can still be found out near W. 38th and Sheridan; ask a local for the name of the place. I still love going to the Denver area, but it's mostly for the family.

 

[noharleyyet]

Watch out for buses with Texas plates in gentrified neighborhoods of sanctuary cities.

-Gov Irony

 

[TOGIE]

Denver started going to crap back in the early 70's and I bailed out in '76; sad to see what the place has turned into, because back in the early '60's it was the neatest and cleanest city in the country, bar none.

My favorite Mexican is in Parker but can't remember the name of it, best tamales in town can still be found out near W. 38th and Sheridan; ask a local for the name of the place. I still love going to the Denver area, but it's mostly for the family.

i used to live not far from w 38th and sheridan. i overall really enjoyed my time in that part of denver. was ready to get out when i did. and even since i left denver almost 5 years ago now, many parts of it seem to have already gotten worse.

it sure seems that everywhere has been going to crap since everywhere began to exist.... something i think i've learned in my short 32 years on this earth.

 

[hank4elk]

A city is defined as "a relatively permanent and highly organized centre of population, of greater size or importance than a town or village."

I've been to a few of those. Or they used to be...