Do New Yorkers like to deny their city had problems before?

I'm a native Angeleno and I'm tired of hearing all this "I love NY. I hate LA" stuff. In the 70s and 80s, fact is, New York had so many problems with gangs, grafitti and homelessness and school dropouts. Do New Yorkers ever accept the fact that their city was very much like what LA is now? Or are they just brushing their past aside like as if it never happened?