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> Look at almost any public service or space in New York, and you will see that it has been diminished, degraded, appropriated.

I'm not sure I agree here, NYC's parks are great and seem to be constantly improved.

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Yeah, same with the wonderful new bike lanes, public plazas, ferry system, new bridges, new subways, etc. This is a nostalgia piece that misses the days where bars in the UWS where cheap because it was a hole (aka when my parents lived in the UWS).

This still exists, in roughly the same form - it's called Baltimore.

It's funny, a few years back after I realized New York was "over", I went to Baltimore and _loved_ it.

Parts of Baltimore are actually extremely nice places to live.

Definitely agree, I love Prospect Park and Central Park is obviously a gem, but it's the small parks here and there that made a big difference for me. Here's hoping that as we stop giving public space for people to park their private car property on, we can have even more little parks here and there.

You do realize that through meters, licensing, registration, and gas taxes, that they are shouldering more of the burden, yes?

Road infrastructure in the US is primarily funded by general taxes (e.g. income and property taxes):

https://uspirg.org/sites/pirg/files/reports/Who%20Pays%20for...

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