Without a comprehensive public transportation system to overcome the greater city's distances, the middle class has become mostly car-bound and wary of the city's reputation for violent crime.

WSJ: A Historical Tour Shows Off Johannesburg's Present-Day Sights

In a deal structured by the city and the MTA, the financially strapped agency that runs New York's public transportation system and is selling its surplus properties to meet its growing deficits, the Jets would have bought the abandoned Hudson Rail Yards on Manhattan's far West Side for a new football stadium.

WSJ: New York Stadium Deals: Good and Bad