@mimsical @darius The cult of real estate has something to do with it, too. In NYC very few new public schools have been built in decades, and most of the new ones are like tetris pieces wedged into new private developments. Mostly, the city just divides and subdivides existing schools into different admins. Parks aren’t much different: very few new ones, lots of tiny public-private “spaces” a/k/a tax writeoffs. The common problem? Private real-estate is seen as inviolable. Unless you own a “blight” that’s in the way of the NYT’s new HQ, of course…