Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

What framework they did have was undermined by blatant corruption, their governments controlled by private interests and by political bosses who, with their Christmas baskets and everything the baskets symbolized, marshaled hundreds of ignorant voters into vast, seemingly impregnable political machines. "With very few exceptions," asserted Andrew D. White, "the city government of the United States are the worst in Christendom—the most expensive, the most inefficient, the most corrupt."

Caro, Robert A. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York. Vintage Books, 1975.

I wonder how many post-Jane Jacobs community board meetings Caro has attended where the topic under consideration is the construction of new housing? He might need to write a new book.