Our cities are becoming dystopias and the process seems irreversible.
The best hope would be to follow the path of Detroit into bankruptcy... which cleared away the dead wood and allowed the city to revive itself naturally.
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Full conversation · 8 posts
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Level 1
That has been the view from cow country forever
In reality, crime is way down in every big city. But dystopia is coming.
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Level 2
Your derisive tone toward everyone outside of Castalia (from Magister Ludi) is noted.
Everyone without a degree from an elite university is a rube... right?
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Level 4
Joel Kotkin wrote the article. He’s a Berkeley grad.
He’s a Fellow in urban studies at Chapman University.
He lives in Orange County.
You are not very good at condescending.
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Level 1
When state courts deem public pension benefits a constitutional right, it's over, just when
That's the building block for fiscal ruin, which is only exacerbated by graft and the handout machine.
Imposing corporate abuse, neglect and greed on deserving victims.-
Level 2
A Dem Mayor we both know showed how to resolve pension issues among many other challenges for big
cities. For those who don't know about him, or have forgotten what he did, here's an AI summary of his accomplishments...
Care to 'Compare and Contrast' with how our Country is being managed right now?...
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AI OverviewYes, Sam Liccardo helped stabilize and eventually restore San Jose's budget and depleted city services during his two terms as mayor from 2015 to 2022. [1] (https://www.localcandidates.org/politicians/sam-liccardo)
Financial Recovery and Pension ReformResolved Pension Crisis: When Liccardo took office in 2015, San Jose was reeling from a severe budget crisis driven by skyrocketing pension and retirement costs that had triggered police departures, hiring freezes, and deep service cuts. [1] (https://samliccardo.medium.com/back-story-how-weve-righted-the-budgetary-ship-and-why-it-matters-to-you-3dde2aaa2dcd), [2] (https://www.localcandidates.org/politicians/sam-liccardo)
Compromise Agreements: He negotiated settlements with 11 municipal unions to reform retirement benefits, saving taxpayers billions over decades. [1] (https://newdealleaders.org/leader/sam-liccardo/)
Balanced Projections: By his final year in office in 2022, these reforms helped lower retirement costs for the first time in two decades, allowing the city to project balanced long-term budgets. [1] (https://www.sanjoseca.gov/Home/Components/News/News/4188/4699)
Service and Staffing RestorationRebuilding Police: The budget stabilization allowed San Jose to rebuild its depleted police department, adding hundreds of officers and bringing back dedicated foot patrols. [1] (https://www.samliccardo.com/about), [2] (https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-police-department-sjpd-officers-plan-to-walk-the-streets-beat-cops-foot-patrol/)
Restoring Services: Liccardo’s budgets progressively restored funding for core services that had suffered cuts during the Great Recession, including emergency response, libraries, and after-school programs. [1] (https://www.localcandidates.org/politicians/sam-liccardo)
Surplus Departure: When he termed out in 2022, he left the city with a budget surplus and improved credit ratings
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End of conversation