I mean, I'm fine with that last one. Nobody in this city should really be driving.

MTA also controls most bridges and tunnels.

Okay, but the implication you're trying to make from that "fact" (arrest rates are not the same as crime rates) is unsupported by it. The only thing it proves is that you're a racist. Race is irrelevant here. And as I said, the data is skewed because black and brown communities are overpoliced. Looking at crime and wealth maps of the city is far more relevant despite what you're saying because the vast majority of crimes tend to happen in the community of the person committing said crime.

Dude, whether the data is accurate or not is irrelevant. The conclusion you're drawing from it cannot be drawn with that data alone. You're making way too many assumptions.

And yes, a person can be in poverty, but if they have a stable source of food and housing, then they're in much better shape than someone who doesn't technically fall below the poverty line but goes hungry every night so their kid can eat. These concepts shouldn't be particularly difficult to grasp.

Never said otherwise, but poverty is by far the largest cause of crime because it also causes all sorts of other societal issues that cause crime. Homelessness, mental health issues, low-quality education, overpolicing, etc.

And like I said in my reply to your other comment, this data doesn't say what you claim it does, and isn't even valid in the first place.

You haven't given me any relevant data. All you've done is given me correlations. Why not look at the actual income of convicted arrestees rather than using race as a proxy like some sort of nazi? You're also missing the nuance of economic insecurity vs poverty. A person can be impoverished and not economically insecure. Asian immigrant communities tend to have strong social support networks that make food and housing security less of an issue. Black and Latino communities are also far more heavily policed, so that data wouldn't be valid even if it did indicate what you claim it does.

Are you sure about that?

Also, it's not exactly hard to look at a crime heat map of NYC and see how it almost directly maps onto the income level of the residents in a given neighborhood. The only exceptions are places like Midtown that have tons of people in them, but very few actual residents so the crime rates get skewed.

Also, there's a reason why I specifically said economic insecurity rather than poverty. Those two things aren't precisely the same thing.

I mean, to be fair to him, the wealthy absolutely do murder, rape, and steal, they just have socialists and journalists murdered by others and steal from the people who made them wealthy in the first place.

Like I said, it's about economic insecurity. If people don't feel like they're at risk of going hungry or homeless they're far less likely to commit a crime. Part of it can be linked to desperation, but equally significant is the psychological effect of being or possibly becoming destitute. Stress greatly affects mental health, after all, and poor mental health also leads to crime.

Non-white collar crime is almost directly correlated to economic insecurity. Eliminate poverty and you also eliminate the vast majority crime.

Wow, it's almost like keeping people out of work and impoverishing them makes them more likely to commit crime.

By your logic you should need a license to have a phone or computer and store them in fireproof cases as well.

How about regulating the sale of batteries rather than making an affordable, efficient, and societally beneficial means of transportation more difficult?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-11/the-business-case-for-car-free-streets

It's really common sense. In cities, especially NYC, where walking is the primary means of transportation, the vast majority of business comes from foot traffic. Cars are loud and unpleasant to be around, meaning people are less likely to hang out when they're nearby. Remove the cars, and all of a sudden you have a lot more foot traffic. Look at places like Meatpacking now vs 5-10 years ago. Or Broadway, 14th Street, etc. All have far more foot traffic than before and business revenues are much better compared to nearby businesses on car-centric streets.

People in cars don't stop into places unplanned. They go directly to their destination, get what they need, and leave, usually never noticing any of the businesses they pass on the way, so they'll never know to even go to those places, let alone stop at them on the way to somewhere else.

So you don't think we'd be better off with 1700 fewer annual deaths, better air quality, lower expenses, better buses, more funding for transit, better accessibility, higher business revenues, and less noise? Cars are massively detrimental to urban society and their use should be curtailed as much as possible.

That's such a stupid idea, honestly. There's no valid reason for that. They don't have the capacity to injure others or cause damage the way cars do, they aren't societal detriments the way cars are, they aren't difficult or dangerous to operate like cars are. By your logic electric wheelchairs should be licensed as well.

And what about the hundreds of car fires that happen every year? Cheap, poorly made batteries being unsafe isn't a valid reason to ban all ebikes. The city should do a battery swap instead. But even with those bad batteries, they're still causing an order of magnitude less damage than cars do. 1700 New Yorkers dead every year, countless more with permanent health issues or life changing injuries, noise pollution, damage to infrastructure, damage from crashes, lost business revenues, tons of wasted space, slower buses, etc.

Difference being that banning cars would actually be good for the city.

While we're at it, why don't we ban cars?

Please.

Please.

It's better than letting cars sit there.

If you think this increases food costs, wait until you hear how much more expensive cars make literally everything from housing to bread.

Ticketing? What city are you living in? The NYPD doesn't give out tickets anymore.