Despite its never-ending promises to improve, New York City will assuredly fail to keep its promises. That is part of its history, for two centuries... and its corruption has only gotten worse. It operates in a milieu of delirium (that tenants don't need functioning apartments, employees don't need to be treated well, commuters don't need dependable public transportation, roads don't need to be fully operational, streets don't have to be clean, and taxes don't need to be applied to infrastructure). It can behave like that because it thinks that it has an endless supply of gullible people who want to be there.
Over the years, Lewis and I encountered many people who were lured to relocate into NYC. They came from other American locales, as well as nations such as Vietnam, Bangladesh, Iran, El Salvador, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and China. Disbelieving that they could have careers in any of the theatre districts across the USA, many actors, dancers, and singers flock to Manhattan. (Then, nearly all of them get "burned out" and start careers elsewhere). The same applies for professionals who dream of fortune$ in real estate, finance, and publishing.
It might (or might not) startle you to know that many people are tempted to live in overpriced NYC because of what they saw on American television. Many people believed the stylized/contorted imagery from TV shows like Sex and the City. As a matter of fact, the majority of American TV shows take place in NYC... as if this huge nation doesn't have anywhere else as worthy. NYC prefers to keep it like that: a funnel to feed itself. Since it "chews up and spits out" people at an alarming rate, it constantly needs new tenants/tourists/commuters.
The very first American sitcom took place in NYC. Classic comedies of the 1950s occurred there: I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, The Patty Duke Show, and Car 54 Where Are You? The 1970s and 1980s were full of NYC-themed programs: All In the Family, The Odd Couple, Kojak, The Jeffersons, Diff'rent Strokes, The Cosby Show, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Saturday Night Live, and Taxi. For decades, most TV shows have settings in NYC. For comparison, if you add up all of the TV shows that took place in Chicago, the quantity is only equal to the number of TV shows that took place in NYC, last year. Other significant cities, such as New Orleans, Boston, Dallas, St. Louis, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Seattle, or San Diego are barely acknowledged on American television broadcasting. Meanwhile, a behind-the-scenes force manipulates hundreds of TV shows to occur in NYC.
While alternative settings are discarded, more and more TV shows take place in a city that does the least to improve itself (or its citizens' quality of living). When you watch these shows, you do not see true images of the decrepit MTA subway system. You do not see honest portrayals of typical apartments; you see oversized places that are pure fiction for 95% of the urban population. You do not see accurate depictions of restaurants, climate, airports, gridlock traffic, bicycling infrastructure, costs, repair schemes, ongoing construction noise/debris, the foul-looking waterfronts, or the wastelands that surround nearly every bridge and tunnel. Those shows do not mention the dozens of crime-infested/impoverished Housing Projects. They hide the quantity of homelessness and lunatics raving at unseen provocations.
Such TV shows that contributed to a false image of a deceitful city are: Sex and the City, Friends, Mad About You, The Nanny, Caroline in the City, Younger, Spin City, City Guys, Lipstick Jungle, The King of Queens, Will & Grace, Third Watch, America's Next Top Model, What I Like About You, Project Runway, How I Met Your Mother, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty, America's Got Talent, Gossip Girl, Fast Money, Castle, Nurse Jackie, How to Make It in America, 2 Broke Girls, Smash, Baby Dady, Empire, God Friended Me, Feed the Beast, and Deception.
A mere handful gave accurate depictions: Law & Order, Orange Is the New Black, Elementary (seemingly cancelled after it made meddling conglomerate--similar to Facebook--into a villain), and Person of Interest (also cancelled prematurely after highlighting the dangers of unbridled technology). Prodigal Son was also cancelled, after it included racial violence by the NYPD that was unpunished by the city's officials. (Racial violence by the police was a hot topic throughout 2020-2021).
Recently, the creators of Hamilton (supposedly to encourage diversity, yet with outrageously expensive ticket prices for the show...which excludes diversity) made a Hollywood musical about NYC: In The Heights. There are hints of truth about NYC's grime and slovenliness, yet the film blithely serves NYC by telling audiences to remain in NYC, instead of leaving. Worse of all, the plot pivots on the USA's mightiest daydream: winning the lottery. It is also one of the city's oldest money-draining scams. Despite enduring crappy jobs, underpaid status, overpriced rent, racist downgrading, and deplorable infrastructure, they win the lottery... yet forgo their dreams of living on a clean seashore... to remain in their rundown city.
The pervasive propaganda about living in NYC is similar to Soviet propaganda about great their society was. As long as "a sucker is born every minute", and those individuals are tempted to relocate into a filthy, overpriced, lackluster city, NYC will resist investing sensibly in its future.
Going to NYC for a nice life is similar to going to casinos in Las Vegas hoping to win $10 million or going to Los Angeles hoping to become a world-famous movie star. They are the biggest lies.
