The NYT published an article where people in different neighborhoods of New York City described what life was like there. Here are some excerpts, starting with a lady resident reporting from Chelsea, a trendy, expensive, and largely gay section of Manhattan:

In 2011, a 328-bed facility for people with mental health, drug and behavior issues opened on our street. Since then, the quality of life has deteriorated, with constant drug use and dealing, public urination, panhandling, ranting, and other anti-social behaviors.

This is quite common in New York for homeless shelters to open in the most exclusive neighborhoods, in the name of diversity. Since most people don't have cars, they have the privilege of paying sky-high rents and then navigating smelly, begging, menacing, and often dangerous homeless people blocking narrow sidewalks. It's liberalism at its best. Maybe they could use a good human waste map, like San Francisco has.

A year ago we formed a block association that is working to use green initiatives such as beautifying our block to improve the situation for everybody. We have applied for grants to help us bring the people of the block together to make the block more beautiful. We are a long way from solving our problems, but one result of our work is that our block, which includes businesses and residents, has become a community.

I wonder if the drug addicts and insane people are part of this person's sense of community. I like how they like to paper over all the insane and dangerous people wandering around the streets with the idea that if they plant a few shrubs, everything will be ok.

Here's an excerpt from someone who lives in the East Village, a lower class, also homosexual neighborhood:

Avenue A dotted by empty storefronts like a row of rotten teeth where small businesses have been rent-hiked out by landlords dreaming of chain stores;

Those scheming landlords! All they think about is making money on their property!

a long-running homeless encampment under the scaffolding around the school

The best of both worlds, all in one place!

— broken down by day, reconstructed by night; on weekends, the sidewalks swagger with caterwauling young affluents getting their drink on, while status cars, stretch S.U.V.s and Ubered sedans hover curbside

It sounds wonderful. Believe it or not, but the East Village is considered one of the trendiest neighborhoods in Manhattan.

Here's a quote from someone living in Harlem:

The state of our block has deteriorated over the last year. Garbage pick-up is erratic and less regular. A speed bump in front of school requested (and promised) for over a year is not delivered. Six-week response for trash/rodent complaints to be addressed by visit from Sanitation Department. Graffiti now increasing and no response from city to complaints. Open drug dealing on our corner increasing over the last year.

The city, with its massive property taxes, sales taxes, and city income tax (with a top rate of 3.8%), obviously doesn't have enough resources to handle these basic problems. I think taxes have to be raised, don't you?

And here's a quote from someone who lives on Staten Island:

Potholes -- you can’t go two blocks in any direction without having to dodge craters in the streets. Two cars had to be towed away having blowouts caused by a deep pothole on Foster Road.

Again, I'm sure that New York City government employees are on a skeleton staff (only 325,000 of them, according to Wikipedia) that are paid barely minimum wages. I think the rich need to pay more of their fair share. After all, if they're only paying a top federal rate of 39%, and a state rate of 8.8%, and a city rate of 3.8%, and some minor property and sales taxes, they can certainly afford to pony up and and give back to the community, can't they? I'm confident that more government spending is the answer, aren't you?

Seriously, though, you won't find these problems in small towns with a fraction of NYC's budget nor with a fraction of NYC's tax base (remember, NYC has the financial industry). It's another example of the failure of big government.

In the interest of fairness, the NYT article also talked about neighborhoods where residents were relatively happy, on the outskirts of the Bronx and Queens, where people talked about having a suburbanlike lifestyle, in the city. But however happy they seemed, if these residents lived a half mile to the north or east of their current locations, they'd have larger lot sizes, no city income taxes, and much lower property taxes.

Personally, I can't really understand anyone wanting to live in a big, expensive pedestrian city like this where no matter where you live you are forced to go face to face with the worst unsolved problems of society every day.

Pedro Gonzales is the editor of Newsmachete.com, the conservative news site.