Both articles shed light on the misperception of the government to identify the true problems of the city while attempting to solve the issues by placing a bandaid on a large wound. Angotti points out that the community has always wanted to become more involved in the processes of the city’s development as proven by the various grassroots revolts by students, religious institutions, and labor unions. However, public officials have never placed a consistent importance on the communication of the neighborhood and those living in it. This problem is reflected on the inequality of the school system as well as the impact of the fiscal crisis on communities. The plight of industry and commerce in the 1970’s illustrated the lack of police and fire department response and deterioration of various neighborhoods. During this time, government officials were at a loss of how to deal with the in-rem housing, pushing the squatters to buy the buildings when the real estate industry had no incentive to buy the unvalued properties. The city auctioned off vacant lots as well with no implemented policies dealing with the long-term effects of New York City.

Deborah and Rodrick Wallace bring a focus on the inability of the city government to mold its policies to the issues of the current time and its problems. They discuss the lack of alternative policy options and lack of small preventative care actions that could have avoided the spiraling of urban decay such as fire department redlining city neighborhoods. It seems that history will continue to repeat itself until the city government chooses to produce a long-term goal for the city.