Some nice observations; I just think NYC and suburban Chicago are apples and oranges.

I would have really enjoyed this author's treatment of the 2 elephants in the room: energy and demographics. The suburbs were a response to 28 cent per gallon gas and 100 million children born after WWII. Now that gas is approaching $4 per gallon and those 100 million people have trouble driving at night, what happens next?

What happens? Change. And as always those who are too slow to change are the ones who suffer.

This time it seems that America is too slow to change, so it might be America who suffers.