Hizzoner aside, I don’t think NYC’s government is markedly more crooked than any other American municipality.

(NYC news is often national news, so there’s a double effect: transparency is a deterrent, and transparency makes the city look uniquely corrupt. If, say, Dallas had the same kind of persistent national coverage as NYC does, I’d expect to see roughly the same stuff.)

> very little that’s unique about NYC’s ability to build a great public transit system

Have you been to New York?

We’re uniquely dense, rich and collectivist. We have a long and proud history of public transit and a culture that doesn’t put social cachet on vehicle ownership. That’s entirely different from the rest of America.

> if somehow NYC could do it, what’s everyone else’s reasoning for not?

New York’s government is larger, and has a larger remit, than many countries. More practically: they haven’t.

> obscene amount of lobbying from your local car dealer baron, if you’re in Nashville (for example)

This isn’t being launched in Nashville.

As a former New Yorker, I’d like to hear what you think makes NY government uniquely corrupt. It doesn’t seem any more or less corrupt than anywhere else I’ve lived in the US.