Asymmetrical Information

It is no accident that cities that allow veto democracy have ski-high housing prices. And all the left wing activists who are really active own property and stand much to gain from making housing scarce.

Anyone remember a little town called Brooklyn?

I guess we started calling the "local crank" a "community activist" just about the same time we started calling "winos" a "housing-challenged individual with substance abuse issues".

hey, i'm just here because we share a surname, and i'm wondering why. i think your blog is way too wordy for me. i like my simpletons version, thank you.

New Yorkers have nobody to blame but themselves. Scapegoating and excuse making have been the norm. Sadly, I don't expect anything to change in the near future. Far too many citizens are similar to the drunk who has yet to hit bottom. They are not even willing to buy a cheaper brand of beer. Nothing will occur until these folks have to proverbially squeeze Sterno through a dirty sock and mix it with orange juice.

One of the interesting issues for anyone interested in New York City is whether a state and municipality can reform itself in the face of stultifying regulations, a surplus of heavy-voting public service employees, and high taxes. We know it took the fall of the Soviet regime to reform the Russian system; what will it take for New York to reform itself? Can it or will it continue to drag along like a zombie?

Let me get this straight. This place which is blessedly free of overregulation is New Jersey? I dont know if your non-East Coast readers realize that New Jersey is a developer's worst (well, apparently second worst) nightmare of planning boards, zoning boards, building codes and enviornmental regulation. On top of this, some 600 municipalities are crammed into this tiny state, all of which are teeming with boards, commissions and unique ordinances, rules and regulations. If NYC is this much worst than New Jersey, things are trulu desparate.

"If NYC is this much worst than New Jersey, things are trulu desparate."

Wow, I think you are starting to get the picture! New York is truly a &%$#@ mess. The sitation is indeed desparate.

"New York is truly a &%$#@ mess. The sitation is indeed desparate."

My suggestion for the WTC site: The "William S Clinton Memorial Garbage Dump". NYC probably needs garbage dumps more than high-rises.

OK, back to being serious... Almost anything built there (except the WSCMGD) is a future terrorist target. So another high-rise stuffed full of potential victims isn't a great idea, quite aside from the questionable economics.

“"New York is truly a &%$#@ mess. The situation is indeed desperate."
Yes, but the bars are smoke-free now!”

We are now engaging in some tongue in cheek humor at the expense of New York City. Still, it is downright bizarre that a New Jersey is perceived as some sort of Libertarian mecca by many individuals and companies residing in the Big Apple. Do you want to think about something really wild? What would happen if a low tax Texas was New York’s next door neighbor?

The WTC was slowly but most assuredly becoming irrelevant about the time of the attacks on 9/11. The Internet and the other communications advances we now take for granted are eradicating the need for such a large building. Some thirty years ago, it was a virtual nightmare to open up a call center. Today, it merely takes a few weeks to renovate an empty office space into a location handling hundreds of telephone lines.

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