Byrne Finds Himself a City to Live In

Perhaps using his Talking Heads song "Cities" as inspiration, David Byrne penned a piece for the Wall Street Journal about his ideal metropolis. Byrne lives in New York, of course, but also travels more frequently than most of us, so he's got a lot of crazy European ideas! As for his hometown, however, he says the locals wouldn't be the ideal folk to populate his city; "New Yorkers are viewed as being tough as nails, no-nonsense but with hearts of gold—or maybe just gold-plated. This might not be the sensibility I would choose if I had a choice." Don't take it personally, because he still says our nightlife is probably the best, and maybe even our security! "For example in parts of New York's West Village, as author Jane Jacobs pointed out, the streets are rarely abandoned and there are almost always some locals hanging out, so everyone sees a little bit of what's going on. The community has eyes and ears, and everyone behaves accordingly. In my perfect city I'd feel that sense of neighborliness—that people weren't in my business, but that I would be a familiar sight, as they would be to me." What else are we good for, New York?