Los Angeles: A Ruined Paradise?

"Cities are not mere conveyances of public services. They have a moral purpose. The moral purpose of a great city is to shelter a maximal diversity of public settings in which citizens might acquire the ability to sympathize with the condition of others and act on those conditions by communal and political means.

...This city has failed to give its residents what they critically need: reasons to be faithful to each other that go beyond the politics of shared grievances. This city has not inspired faithfulness because it has not offered much that stands against the easy belief that no shared loyalties are possible at all."

Thanks to Chris Steins