[Magdalen] immigration / migrant situation --->Re: Professionalpanhandlers; was Loaned out.

[Jim Guthrie]

From: Mahoney, W. Michael

>Well, the Metropolitan Opera is neat and it would be nice to have to have
>some proper Jewish delis around.  But I can do without  Rikers Island and
>an awful lot of other big city stuff.  Moreover, were I old and poor, I'd
>far rather be here than in a big city.

>Cities are important.  But, having lived in a couple, I am glad to be where
>I am.

One can live where one wants, of course. But the point is that the poor can be 
served better if they live in urban communities than out in the country. I 
should add that rural people love to pay far higher taxes to support a social 
safety net that's half as good, right?

Even some ostensibly middle class people drift toward some cities at least. One 
of the largest cohorts of people moving to New York remains retired people from 
the Sunbelt. They retired in the 1960s near the golf course or canal for their 
boat, and now they're widowed (or widower), not able to see to drive at night --  
or maybe in the daytime, too frail to run a boat or even play golf, so move to 
New York City and take an apartment above a grocery store. Well, maybe 22 floors 
above the  grocery store, but shopping becomes easy, getting to the doctor is 
easy, getting to the movies or a show (or even the Metropolitan Opera!) is easy, 
and they can usually get meals on wheels in 30 days if they need it.

Some have never lived in NYC or a city approaching its size, but they’ve heard 
good things from former neighbors.

So, not only is the social safety net far more efficient and helpful in 
providing far better service, on average in a city, that social safety net 
creeps up the income/resources scale.

I would add that NYC has deteriorated -- you can no longer have your kids go to 
college at Zero Tuition, nor does everyone have free medical care available at 
City-Owned Hospitals (done in by Medicaid and the wider availability of 
insurance) but most of the social safety net abides.

Cheers,
Jim