Crime … up.

Temperatures … up.

Roads … battered.

Paint … peeling.

Streets … darker.

Drunks … drunker.

But …

Palm trees still make me happy. Like this city does. Tawdry. Contorted. Feisty, fetid and ever in-a-mood. If you love it here, all the former annoyances occasionally fade, like the sun over the last busted building. Leaving you with deepening sky and a deepening understanding that some of the best places and the best people are the most flawed.