The #NYTimes editors begin an editorial on city policy by saying #NewYork is “the greatest city in the world.” Why did they think this was a good rhetorical device? Does sound urban policy depend on a city’s self-perceived ranking? If anything, the phrase demonstrates New York’s greatest problem: arrogance, which creates an inability to learn from best practices elsewhere. No European or Asian city would tolerate the infrastructure here, and cultural institutions are in their own bubble.