[robocat]

Small sample, but in New Orleans, the US isn't even capable of maintenance.

I'm a tourist at the moment and everything looks like it is falling apart. The existing roading infrastructure is crumbling (apparently there's an Instagram about the worst examples). Everywhere I've driven, the roads are worse than earthquake hit Christchurch. Yet there is so much amazing old infrastructure that reeks of massive past investment.

Commonly I see power poles listing tipsily (or even broken); cable wires loose or hanging.

One bridge over the Mississippi has rust patches everywhere and needs a paint.

Is it just New Orleans, or a more general issue across the US?

[508LoopDetected]

New Orleans is built on top of a fishbowl-shaped sponge, as far as its foundational land is concerned. Road repair costs reflect this, but of course the other side of the coin is the decades worth of local government corruption here that makes any major progressive infrastructure changes feel like a perpetual pipe dream. At the same time though, it's one of the most beautiful cities in the country for endless historical + cultural reasons. You could say New Orleans is a highly concentrated gumbo of both the "good" and "bad" of some uniquely American ingredients. I love it here and hate it here; I get jealous when I visit other cities, but then I greatly miss home. Weird place.

[ghc]

This reminded me of a particularly relevant Paul Graham essay: https://paulgraham.com/usa.html

For what it's worth, it's not quite so bad everywhere. In New England infrastructure decays faster due to the weather, so most of our infrastructure is more frequently maintained or replaced. There's definitely some blighted areas, but the image of quaint New England towns with covered bridges is not a lie, and gentrification has caused local governments in our richer cities to invest more in infrastructure. This leads to a dramatic difference in appearance between e.g. New Orleans and Boston.

[jb1991]

Everywhere. The US has an infrastructure problem. Whenever I return to visit I can’t believe my eyes.

[amanaplanacanal]

The way things are funded in the US is pretty crazy. New projects usually rely on federal government grants, but that money normally can't pay for maintenance. So states and cities have to pay for their own maintenance. The federal government just prints new money for these new projects.

Everything is so car oriented and spread out, that there isn't enough value to tax to pay for the maintenance on all the spread out infrastructure. So states and cities are always on the brink of default, scrambling to maintain all this stuff.

[selimthegrim]

I live in New Orleans (happy to meet for a coffee!) one thing to keep in mind is that the roads cost $7 million a mile to pave because of the subsurface.

[robocat]

I'd love to meet for a morning or midday coffee. I've got a temp number here - which I've put in my HN profile. Personally I like coffee from Marzocco espresso machines - my local cafe here is Cherry Coffee Roasters in Gretna, but I'm happy to meet anywhere in the city with parking or within 2 hours drive of the city.

Happy to meet anyone else too.

Background: I'm a geeky type open to everybody; I don't like being judgemental. Travelling because I retired as soon as I had the minimum necessary to have a basic house plus a small retirement fund (as soon as the SaaS company I helped found could meet that goal). I picked LA to travel to because I liked the sarcasm and honesty I received here previously. To avoid disappointment: I have an awesome girlfriend so I'm not fishing for a date.

Cheers

[selimthegrim]

Sent you a text - look forward to meeting!

[robocat]

Edit: Please resend. I looked at iMessage settings and I needed to also enable my US number for iMessage. Not sure that was the problem but it seems like a reasonable guess.

Was: Didn't get any SMS or iMessage and I've got no idea why. I've double checked everything, and I just forced Amazon to send me a verification SMS which I received on that number. I admit so far I've only had heartache with iMessage screw ups. Maybe due to dual eSIM : I have my roaming NZ number for SMS "two-factor" verifications and NZ calls, and my Metro/T-Mobile for data and US calls. I am avoiding doxxing myself since HN publishing feels so permanent. How about you reply here with a time and place for Thursday or Friday? I will check in the morning. I don't know why I'm continually surprised by my modern tech roadbumps -- I see everyone else struggle (regardless of age or skill)!

Edit extra: I really don't understand why it doesn't fallback to SMS if the number isn't enabled in iMessage... I'll also do a test tomorrow noonish from a friend's US phone. I've used dual SIM before without problems, but always in countries with lots of Androids, so I didn't need iMessage setting because SMS worked (and in other countries there's often a different messaging app that everyone uses so maybe I wouldn't notice iMessage failing)

[selimthegrim]

Your given location is fine as is its other branch but earlier next week would be better for me. I'll resend in the morning.