New York can also manage to win a World Series without allowing the city to be taken over for the night by violent, destructive mobs. That's because they have a much better funded, and well-run, police force.
Every time they have temporarily relaxed drinking laws to try something similar here like DC movie night it resulted in brawling, stabbings, street hobos showing up to scream gibberish and aggressively pan handle, and the audience got so wrecked ambulances had to be called. It's like the heavy regulations that the West Coast cities screws into society creates a community that turns to bedlam the moment those chains are temporarily removed.
Consider that 25 year CHP officers can collect lifetime pensions at the highest pay, including overtime accumulated from previous years and cashed out. At a US inflation adjusted bond discount rate of 0-1% typical over the past decade and usual life expectancy tables, that adds up to 1.5-3 extra years of pay in pension benefits for each year of service. That's computed according to what you'd have to put into a 401(k) to pay for the pension; the state of California is putting somewhat less into CalPERS and hoping to get bailed out by private sector taxpayers or the Federal Government someday. (CA isn't doing as badly as MA or IL or some others on pension funding, though)
NYC is paying much more rationally and budgeting better than other big city and coastal governments which is one reason there are enough cops there to keep order.
Could you provide a source for this? I checked the salary database for the city and county of San Francisco and, while there were 2099 people in the police department with total pay over $100,000, nobody had total pay of $500,000 - and the maximum was $345,000.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/databases/?appSession=45847910566...
I have no clue if this extra pay would be shown in city salary databases, but I wouldn't be surprised if not.
Then generous pensions kick in. CA cops and firemen usually get full pensions after 20-25 years but the pension is paid not just on salary but a multiple of final year vacation and comp time. Pensions can be 2x-3.5x final 'base' salary and higher than any overtime adjusted salary. CalPERS is hoping for 5% above inflation returns but for a decade has made about 1%. At 1%, you essentially have to save or take on future liability for the whole pension during working life. No private employer provides these benefits after 20-25 years or on this basis at all because it would mean bankruptcy.
Public finance allows it so the total compensation of a cop getting $200k in salary, adjustments, and benefits is often over $500k all in. Some of that will be the bankruptcy and bailout.
Google "Vallejo firefighter bankruptcy" for details of CA's future public safety service.