It's nasty to say, but the main over-arching problem is that the public sector just doesn't attract very productive Americans, and this situation is amplified i

It's nasty to say, but the main over-arching problem is that the public sector just doesn't attract very productive Americans, and this situation is amplified in New York. Nothing gets done, wages are uncorrelated with productivity, bureaucracy is crushing, and advancement is nearly 100% political. Someone with the talent and drive to actually get a new subway line built could earn $200K trying to, knowing they're nearly guaranteed to get nothing done, or earn $1M down the street in finance. Easy choice. So instead the subway-building bureaucracy is staffed with people who are indifferent to actually getting things done and often couldn't get the job done if they had to, and are mostly ok with that. This is reversed in much of the rich world, where the private sector doesn't pay that well, and it's hard to get fired, and there's great prestige in working in the public space.