Getting a grip on city gripes<\/p>\n
New York, New York. The BS is up and the FU is down. Traffic up\/cleanliness down. Thieves are up\/work is down. Cannabis up\/groceries down. Prices up, but inventory down. Schooling up\/books down. Pupils are up\/teachings down. Fake diamonds are up\/real diamonds are down. Rents are up\/apartments are down. Citizens are up\/the mayoralty DOWN.<\/a><\/p>\n Cars up. Bicycles way the hell up. Inhabitants up\/laws down. Big stores closed. Trash is way up. Trash stays up. Movies open, nobody cares. Broadway open, so who cares<\/a>. Hospitals crowded\/nobody working. Walking streets late at night? NOBODY. Taking subway late at night? Nearly nobody.<\/p>\n But hey, enough knocking New York. You out-of-towners prefer Kansas? Wherever\u2019s Arkansas? Or what\u2019s called Wyoming? So go. Enjoy. Mazel tov.<\/p>\n Minute we discover where those places are, we\u2019ll help get you there. Nobody\u2019s standing in your way.<\/p>\n Manhattan, the busiest place in the world. Where something is always happening. Even though most of it gets unsolved.<\/p>\n Our once free and easy God-Bless-Us-America? Founded on nationalism, allegiance, flag-waving, loyalty and public fervor \u2014 even though our teeny Hizzoner might try to shrivel it down to teensy tiny.<\/p>\n He hates rich,<\/a> hates big apartments, slow bicycles, other religions and mutters our city isn\u2019t always friendly. Wrong. Where else can a mugger knock you down, heist your wallet then tell you, \u201cHave a nice day!\u201d?<\/p>\n Dining with a verse-atile killer<\/p>\n I\u2019ve seen other countries \u2014 other circumstances. Maybe not great guys \u2014 but I\u2019ve seen it. Years back I interviewed Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. Later sentenced to life in prison.<\/a> Guilty of ethnic cleansing and war crimes in Srebrenica. A $10 million contract on his head.<\/p>\n He arrived here 5 a.m. with two dozen guys brandishing Uzis. His hotel refused him. He then took an entire floor at another unthrilled hotel. Our State Department allowed him only a 10-block radius. Lunch was a nearby Chinese restaurant. And I was with him.<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet opinions and commentary from our columnists\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n He said: \u201cI lived in this wonderful city \u201974 to \u201975 studying poetry at Columbia. I had no money. I lived in a dirty West Side hotel with roaches. Now I want to revisit Central Park, Riverside Drive .\u2009.\u2009. and have a hamburger.\u201d<\/p>\n His wife then hit the pharmacy, filling huge shopping bags with aspirin, Band-Aids, Advil, Sudafed, salves for cuts, stuff for stopped-up noses \u2014 and then boarded their own plane for home.<\/p>\n Toeing the line<\/p>\n