It’s really tragic that you feel you cannot ask it IRL. And that’s just another symptom of a deeper problem I’ve been noticing.

In my opinion, one of the biggest damages caused to society in modern times happened because of white people (mostly politicians) who were acting or being omissive because of shame or guilty.

The solution is to build more housing (we need to build a heck more to make a difference), so that there’s no scarcity premium and everyone can pay market rates when renting or buying their own house.

Tenants should ideally be the short term only. Anyone who wants long term housing security should ideally own their own home: the ultimate solution.

But again, for that to be possible, we need a lot more housing supply.

You nailed the reason why we have this legacy of artificially lower cost housing: to subsidize artificially cheap labor.

Such legacy goes back in history when employers would directly provide housing to their employees, and obviously that would come with even lower wages, or even “free labor”.

In reality, the multiplicative gains of a high density economy should allow even low skilled work to be paid a lot more compared to a lowers density location. But the distortion in the housing market basically perpetuates a distortion in the labor market.

Some may consider that having a place to live is a human right. And reasonable people may have a reasonable debate about that.

But it takes a very narrow worldview and ideology to believe that having a place to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world should be a human right.

It's not just DWI drivers.

Crooked cops are also getting away with their cases dismissed because of the discovery requirements.

https://nypost.com/2023/01/31/manhattan-da-abruptly-drops-case-against-crooked-cop-joseph-franco/

Thanks to the amazingly coherent radical left ideology.

Some predatory deep-pocketed landlords love this bill, because it will allow them to gobble up more properties from smaller landlords.

Here's a comparison of the increase in violent felonies across those cities during 2022 compared to 2021: https://imgur.com/a/YbvYifw

If your hypothesis linking of Covid to crimes depends on the economy, you can look at the economy directly. Poverty in the US dropped to 20-year lows (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PPAAUS00000A156NCEN) during Covid. That puts a dent in the supposed link between economics and crimes nationwide.

But crimes, in NYC at least, climbed to 20-year highs for some crimes.

The gist is that you were trying to associate covid and crimes.

I get that you’re saying it’s not the sole cause, but even if factually true (your statement would still be technically true if Covid was not a cause at all), it’s still misleading in the overarching context of the conversation.

Even in the US, Covid didn’t hit every city at the same time. The staggered manner in which Covid hit US locations can be used to show a causal relationship of Covid and Crimes, if that exists. However there’s basically no evidence of that.

In fact, NYC got Covid waves earlier than most cities. But even in 2022 we had crimes still rising in NYC faster than other big cities like LA, Chicago and Miami.

COVID happened worldwide, but crimes didn’t rise worldwide.

If your logic about the bail reform is right, then you must also conclude that COVID is not what caused crimes to rise.

Even the most radical left is not surprised by this anymore.

Let’s see if the politicians will dig in and continue defending the status quo.

That’s a fair argument

Sure, but a settlement is even weaker than a preponderance of evidence, right?

The result of a civil lawsuit should be the stepping stones to a criminal case against the officer.

The status quo is the always the easiest. And we all know how well that’s going.

What is necessary to change the status quo is also hard:

1. Fire employees committing misconduct.
2. Fix the rule that need fixing.
3. Fight the lawsuits.

Doing 3 will help expose and solve 1 and 2 at the same time.

The evidence from the lawsuit plus judgement can be used as a clear just cause for firing someone. No?

It can also show actual damages caused to the city by the employee misconduct.

A mere settlement doesn’t have the same pull.

Stop the policy of settling every case and start fighting some cases.

Then people will stop bringing frivolous suits in hope for a settlement.

Then, for the cases that become actual losses in court, use that loss to fire the officers involved “for cause”. Can’t do that with a mere settlement.

The NYC police budget may seem like a lot, but compared to other cities, that's a small police budget relative to the overall city's budget.

NYC is under 10%.

LA is over 20%.

San Diego and Chicago are over 30%.

https://www.statista.com/chart/10593/how-much-do-us-cities-spend-on-policing/

Even taking the spirit of what they meant, this kind of reads "we could possibly have a rat in the pot, but no way we would serve it to the customer!"

> If "you" are not an imminent threat to "your" community, the court "must" forgo bail.

You must be thinking of another state, because that sweeping statement doesn’t apply to New York.

Courts in NY cannot consider public safety or threat to the public when deciding bail.

In general, NY courts are required to apply the “least restrictive measure” to ensure the appearance in court.

The exception is when the defendant is a threat to a specific and identified person (like in a domestic violence case).

But if it’s just a stupid person (say playing the knockout game targeting random victims), there’s nothing that the NY judicial system can legally do in practice to stop that person from reoffending as many times as they want.

I tried posting this twice. The first time it lingered in the queue until it got rejected.

This time I sent a modmail respectfully requesting it to be approved with an explanation and the mods responded in a very timely manner.

NYC invests in the "right to shelter" to the tune of 5k per bed per month.

At those price levels, swimming pool amenities are possible even in Manhattan...

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/live-updates/nypd-says-three-manhattan-shootings-may-be-connected/

>"I just want to commend the community members of the Upper West Side. Their quick diligence for calling 911, and the observations they made. These actions by this community up here allowed our precinct officers from the 20 precinct to quickly apprehend who we believe to be the shooter, firearm recovered, and no further incidents," said NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell.
>
>...
>
>A motive in the shootings still hasn't been determined, but investigators for now believe they're gang-related.
>
>Anyone with any information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via their website or via DM on Twitter, u/NYPDTips. All calls are kept confidential.

I say that as someone who lives in Manhattan, uses mass transit everywhere and loves walking and biking.

But even I still rely on cars once in a while, and I know that a lot of hard-working people that I care in my life depends on cars a lot more than I do.

That's going to put a dent on the MO of future Wolves of Airbnb.

>A wannabe rental shark who calls himself the “Wolf of Airbnb” was indicted in a scheme to illegally sublet more than a dozen Manhattan apartments while he refused to pay rent, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

https://nypost.com/2022/10/27/wolf-of-airbnb-indicted-in-nyc-rental-scheme/

>"Lawmakers are searching for other ways to close the agency's financial gaps.”

We all know what our NY legislative wants:

• Pretend fare evasion ($500 million per year loss) is not a problem.
• Cut costs by reducing train frequency and skimping on maintenance.
• Extract money from drivers.

He was arrested though.

I think the problem with an arrest warrant is that it’s only to bring him in front of a judge.

If the court can’t hold a trial right then and there, then they have to release him if it’s a misdemeanor.