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Hmm.....Well, I gave my opinion with the facts that "I believe" pertain to the original question posed.
I explained in detail comparing the look of both cities, music and culture, etc; also using photos (Which all didn't properly link but all are on the same page that's linked.)
Even a bit of crime, but it seems that most posters here want to only focus on crime, and let's face facts, crime in the 70's was near totally different than it is today, or has been in at least 32 years or longer. No one's getting mugged per se' nor are thugs battling with switch blades, chains , and brass knuckles.
How many old abandoned factories and tenement fires does one see in their city these days? How about tire fires, and trash fires in the subway tunnels? How about the racial makeups of African Americans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Jamaicans, Haitians, Columbians, Irish, Italians, Jewish, Brazilians, Eritreans, Russians, Ethiopians, Somolians, West Indians, West Africans, Nigerians, Greeks, Armenians?
These are the residents I recall growing up in the 70's in the various neighborhoods I lived in as well as my relatives... My family up in New York either had the same residents in their immediate or the overall area in their borough. Queens and The Bronx.... Just my opinion.
Those 27 years are arguably the worst period of time that any US city has suffered through outside the decay of Detroit. It was New York's nadir and it's an astounding miracle that the city made such an incredible comeback so quickly (thank god!)
I wouldn't wish that era upon any city today.
Somehow, a lot of Baby Boomers seem to think that the urban conditions of that era were "normal," even though a lot of factors were incredibly abnormal. An astonishing crime wave (that some attribute to mass lead poisoning), huge federal subsidies for highways and tax incentives for suburban sprawl, poisonous racism, and widespread abandonment are never "normal."
If you want to see similar conditions and crime rates, travel abroad.
Somehow, a lot of Baby Boomers seem to think that the urban conditions of that era were "normal," even though a lot of factors were incredibly abnormal. An astonishing crime wave (that some attribute to mass lead poisoning), huge federal subsidies for highways and tax incentives for suburban sprawl, poisonous racism, and widespread abandonment are never "normal."
If you want to see similar conditions and crime rates, travel abroad.
Nowadays, it seems like the city that's closest to NYC of the 1970s is Detroit. Detroit was the fourth largest city in America by 1940, and by 1950, it had 1.8 M people living in it's limits, but nowadays, much of the city is a shell of it's former self. There's no Hudson's Store, the Lafayette Building was demolished, the old Tigers Stadium on Michigan and Trumbull is no more (should've been saved and preserved, IMHO with the legendary ballparks like Fenway Park and Wrigley Field), Michigan Central Station, while the structure is being saved, there's no future as to whether rail service will continue, especially since that station is closer to Canada than the New Center Station, and the city seems to be sinking deeper and deeper in not only debt, but also irrelevancy ass cities like Phoenix, San Antonio, San Jose, and Austin's national profile starts to rise.
What Detroit needed to do was to make sure to at least save it's infrastructure, like committing towards building a true heavy rail subway and commuter rail system, not the Woodward Ave light rail, which I consider to be a joke and a civic embarrassment, since the city continues to lose population as of today, as well as a horrible school system, sky high tax and insurance rates, and dangerous neighborhoods. This isn't slamming Detroit, but this is saying that Detroit could've at least had a million people in it's city limits had Detroit lowered it's costs to lure the Olympics in 1965 rather than allowing Mexico City to take the 1968 Olympics.
Hmm.....Well, I gave my opinion with the facts that "I believe" pertain to the original question posed.
I explained in detail comparing the look of both cities, music and culture, etc; also using photos (Which all didn't properly link but all are on the same page that's linked.)
Even a bit of crime, but it seems that most posters here want to only focus on crime, and let's face facts, crime in the 70's was near totally different than it is today, or has been in at least 32 years or longer. No one's getting mugged per se' nor are thugs battling with switch blades, chains , and brass knuckles.
How many old abandoned factories and tenement fires does one see in their city these days? How about tire fires, and trash fires in the subway tunnels? How about the racial makeups of African Americans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Jamaicans, Haitians, Columbians, Irish, Italians, Jewish, Brazilians, Eritreans, Russians, Ethiopians, Somolians, West Indians, West Africans, Nigerians, Greeks, Armenians?
These are the residents I recall growing up in the 70's in the various neighborhoods I lived in as well as my relatives... My family up in New York either had the same residents in their immediate or the overall area in their borough. Queens and The Bronx.... Just my opinion.
I still se this stuff in Philly and Bmore (all the time in BMORE) hell I’ve even seen all of it in Boston and Hartford. I even see hand made gang jackets Warriors Style, in Bmore. The only thing I don’t see are chains as weapons..but stores in Boston, Hartford and Bmore sell all types of brass knuckles, mase and switch blades. My friends in Boston used to carry police batons/bricks knives in their bags circa 2005-2015. Not saying Boston is anywhere like NYC in the 70s-just that this stuff is common elsewhere. The number of criminals has dropped and the sophistication has risen but there are still street thugs. I know some young kids carry tasers..
We also need to realize .... that mighty NYC was brought to its knees by the mid-70s. It WAS bankrupt. Despite it officially did not declare it since President Ford ... ultimately finally agreed to government loans and a new state of NY governor did too.
Really, ALL citywide-services were cut-back drastically. Fire, Police trash even, street sweeper and crime skyrocketed. Times Square was XXX shops and hooker-central. The subway trains covered in graffiti.
The city had some claim also. That this was proof of America's fall coming then, or the city to just fall completely. It still had plenty to move forward again from and not look back though and did.
The thing is that it wasn't just NYC. White flight had started after the war and after 20 years and aging infrastructure, displacement from the interstates and a host of other issues... well it was a perfect storm.
The cores of most (if not all) U.S. cities were suffering.
We also need to realize .... that mighty NYC was brought to its knees by the mid-70s. It WAS bankrupt. Despite it officially did not declare it since President Ford ... ultimately finally agreed to government loans and a new state of NY governor did too.
Really, ALL citywide-services were cut-back drastically. Fire, Police trash even, street sweeper and crime skyrocketed. Times Square was XXX shops and hooker-central. The subway trains covered in graffiti.
The city had some claim also. That this was proof of America's fall coming then, or the city to just fall completely. It still had plenty to move forward again from and not look back though and did.
No city is that bad today.... IMO.
I'd say Detroit is up there, although the 2010-2015 period was essentiallty the nadir. There was:
*Virtually no chain retailers
*1/2 of the streetlights weren't working (including on busy main thoroughfares). The system has since been completely overhauled.
*A ton of city blocks were lined with vacant/crumbling hulks that the city couldn't afford to demolish (the city is now actively tearing down these structures)
*Police stations would close at night (they're now open 24 hours again)
*Buses no longer ran 24/7 (this has been restored)
*Trash collection was getting increasingly spotty, while bulk trash collection was done away with entirely (this has since been outsourced to contractors)
*Average Police/Fire/EMS wait times were 60 minutes (this has improved)
*Numerous prominemt skyscrapers were vacant/abandoned (many of them now have been renovated).
*Over 400 homicides were reported.
It was literally like "Escape From Detroit" during that time. 2012 was Detroit's equivalent to 1975 New York.
Last edited by citidata18; 02-03-2019 at 02:05 PM..
You mean blight? I'm not asking about what city looks like 70's NYC but which city has the most similar economic conditions and culture.
Youngstown, Ohio?
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