If New York City founders, it’ll be because of bad government — not the pandemic

As New York City begins to open up, I have to admit that I’m excited. I know it will be a very different city for a while, with many aspects of urban life canceled or curtailed. But still, I’m excited. For the past three months the city has felt like an empty stage set, full of grand buildings and boulevards but without many people. Now the city’s motley crew has re-emerged, lingering outside the cafes and bars, gingerly entering shops, or simply walking on the streets. Despite the masks, the space between tables and the limits on people in stores, urban life is coming back.

I know, I know. There are lots of people saying this pandemic is going to be the death knell for cities, that their density makes them petri dishes for disease, that people have discovered they don’t need to live in cramped quarters so close to work, that teleconferencing makes the office a relic of the past.

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