Batman's waste of money on gadgets instead of infrastructure

[FaxModem1]

In the Inaccurate Fan Myths thread, this was posted: [url]http://sfdebris.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3761&start=10#p59457[/url]

Another one: I've heard the old chestnut "Bruce Wayne spends all his money dressing up like a bat to punch poor people when he could use his money to fight the sources of crime!". First of all, all the soup kitchens and after school programs in the world aren't going to stop the likes of the Joker or Ras Al Ghul, they're called *super* criminals for a reason.

Second, Bruce Wayne hosting a charity ball (which is then crashed by a supervillain), or his company inventing some new tech (that is stolen by a supervillain) is basically a Batman cliche at this point.

I responded thusly here: [url]http://sfdebris.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3761&start=30#p59647[/url]

Another one: I've heard the old chestnut "Bruce Wayne spends all his money dressing up like a bat to punch poor people when he could use his money to fight the sources of crime!". First of all, all the soup kitchens and after school programs in the world aren't going to stop the likes of the Joker or Ras Al Ghul, they're called *super* criminals for a reason.

Second, Bruce Wayne hosting a charity ball (which is then crashed by a supervillain), or his company inventing some new tech (that is stolen by a supervillain) is basically a Batman cliche at this point.

Sure, you'll have people like the Joker or Ras Al Ghul, who will attack no matter what, but you know what they rely on? Henchmen. You have a prospering economy in which people have guaranteed social services like healthcare and are able to afford homes, you don't have things like, for instance, from the Dark Knight, cops so financially compromised that they'll agree to do the Joker's bidding to support their dying mother's hospital bills. If Joker can't financially squeeze people into complying, or Ras Al Ghul can't blackmail or bribe city officials into doing his bidding, then a lot less happens because the system doesn't break down due to the lower classes being unable to survive without turning to crime. If Wayne Industries or some other company is hiring ex-cons with forgiveness programs and giving them second-chances, they're less likely to join Two-Face in robbing banks, lowering the amount of potential recruits Batman's enemies can grab.

We get allusions to Bruce Wayne's charities, or with his bringing jobs to Gotham, but they seem to be so ineffectual that no one really seems to benefit from them, and often, are revealed to be fronts in Batman's war on crime, with some other purpose in place for him to keep taps on people or have information that will lead him to save the day. That's the issue. Batman's efforts seem singularly targeted towards the big costumed people, not to the regular people that prop them up. Maybe it's because it's how Bruce Wayne, as a billionaire, thinks, that he prefers the top-down approach in taking down crime in Gotham rather than fixing the problem at it's source and building up those who have very little choice. And yes, a lot of this is due to DC's wanting to tell the same story over and over, to keep their audience. It makes it frustrating for someone like myself, who has actually worked in the non-profit sector, and knowing that Batman doesn't seem to be approaching the problem correctly.

Yes, a war on crime is a daunting prospect, especially as crime will always exist. But, crime can and has gone down in the real world. We've seen violence go down in the past century. This is part of why, in the real world, legislators have had to introduce minimum sentencing laws to keep the prison population demand up as a way to support the private prison industry, to help keep their profits, as opposed to going with saner law enforcement and dealing with things like drug offenses in rehabilitation methods. It's a big part of why Batman's war doesn't work. Unless Batman really believes that possession of marijuana is worthy of sending entire waves of people to jail, then he runs into ethical issues when we know the reality of how crime works.

We do see some of his attempts at rehabilitation, by having Wayne companies hiring on ex-convicts to try and help them get a fresh start, but it's such an after thought in portrayal and presentation that it's a fresh coat of paint on a rusty boat with holes in it. This is also part of why Batman's portrayal has had issues when dealing with the oppressed, as he is the one on the side of law and order. It's also why his approaches to it, when viewed from a pop culture standpoint, start making him seem like how some fans view him, as a bored or crazy oligarch. Because there are better ways for him to use his money, such as boosting police salaries to prevent them from being easy to bribe, or as shown in the Dark Knight, desperate to pay family medical bills, as opposed to buying a bunch of Batboats.

The main focus of such a story, if Batman is laser targeted towards crime, is how much should Batman be doing towards eliminating the factors that lead to crime. Instead, DC has made it to where Gotham is just unfixable, because crazy people and there's just something plain wrong with the city that even a man that makes Jeff Bezos look middle class can't fix.

The response to that was here: [url]http://sfdebris.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3761&start=30#p59672[/url]

Part of the problem is that the whole medical issue is not a Gotham problem. It is a national one. That is why no one batted an eye over the detective needing that money. Fixing Gotham by pouring money into it will encourage people without means to congregate there and exasperate the problem. Then you get villains like the Joker, et al that show up and blow up buildings. Why are once prosperous cities with businesses terrible today? Look at Camden and Detroit. Street level crime came in because money was there. Government got ineffective at curbing it. So businesses left in droves. The city economies fall and more people are now out of work and need to do anything just to survive.
Now in Camden they eventually take policing from the city and gave it to the state. But they basically drove through like it was a high speed run and didn't help. Till they changed policy again. And got out of the cars. Walked beats and got to know neighborhoods. It is better than it was. But still not to the level it had to really encourage businesses to come in.
Then look at something Chuck has brought up. The crab bucket mentality. Being better than your peers. Putting on airs. Etc. The people around you don't want to see you pull yourself up. So they try to sabotage your efforts. Keep you down so they don't seem as bad.
Gotham is the DC equivalent of Camden or Detroit as of now. Struggling because the environment makes it hard to turn it into a self sustaining system again.
As to Bruce using various charities to aid him as Batman. Look at the data collected on you every day. How they use systems to decipher patterns and get you to shake loose more of your money. Just by watching what you buy on your credit card. Gathering data behind a benign front is hardly new. Bruce just happens to use it for crime fighting instead of marketing.
As to just spend his money fixing things. I don't think the money will fix a broken system. Not by itself. It has to be targetted at the right improvements. As intelligent as Bruce Wayne is shown time and time again. Why is it he can't figure out a solution? Perhaps he has, and it is too big for Bruce Wayne alone.

I responded thusly here:[url]http://sfdebris.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3761&start=40#p59714[/url]

Another one: I've heard the old chestnut "Bruce Wayne spends all his money dressing up like a bat to punch poor people when he could use his money to fight the sources of crime!". First of all, all the soup kitchens and after school programs in the world aren't going to stop the likes of the Joker or Ras Al Ghul, they're called *super* criminals for a reason.

Second, Bruce Wayne hosting a charity ball (which is then crashed by a supervillain), or his company inventing some new tech (that is stolen by a supervillain) is basically a Batman cliche at this point.

Sure, you'll have people like the Joker or Ras Al Ghul, who will attack no matter what, but you know what they rely on? Henchmen. You have a prospering economy in which people have guaranteed social services like healthcare and are able to afford homes, you don't have things like, for instance, from the Dark Knight, cops so financially compromised that they'll agree to do the Joker's bidding to support their dying mother's hospital bills. If Joker can't financially squeeze people into complying, or Ras Al Ghul can't blackmail or bribe city officials into doing his bidding, then a lot less happens because the system doesn't break down due to the lower classes being unable to survive without turning to crime. If Wayne Industries or some other company is hiring ex-cons with forgiveness programs and giving them second-chances, they're less likely to join Two-Face in robbing banks, lowering the amount of potential recruits Batman's enemies can grab.

We get allusions to Bruce Wayne's charities, or with his bringing jobs to Gotham, but they seem to be so ineffectual that no one really seems to benefit from them, and often, are revealed to be fronts in Batman's war on crime, with some other purpose in place for him to keep taps on people or have information that will lead him to save the day. That's the issue. Batman's efforts seem singularly targeted towards the big costumed people, not to the regular people that prop them up. Maybe it's because it's how Bruce Wayne, as a billionaire, thinks, that he prefers the top-down approach in taking down crime in Gotham rather than fixing the problem at it's source and building up those who have very little choice. And yes, a lot of this is due to DC's wanting to tell the same story over and over, to keep their audience. It makes it frustrating for someone like myself, who has actually worked in the non-profit sector, and knowing that Batman doesn't seem to be approaching the problem correctly.

Yes, a war on crime is a daunting prospect, especially as crime will always exist. But, crime can and has gone down in the real world. We've seen violence go down in the past century. This is part of why, in the real world, legislators have had to introduce minimum sentencing laws to keep the prison population demand up as a way to support the private prison industry, to help keep their profits, as opposed to going with saner law enforcement and dealing with things like drug offenses in rehabilitation methods. It's a big part of why Batman's war doesn't work. Unless Batman really believes that possession of marijuana is worthy of sending entire waves of people to jail, then he runs into ethical issues when we know the reality of how crime works.

We do see some of his attempts at rehabilitation, by having Wayne companies hiring on ex-convicts to try and help them get a fresh start, but it's such an after thought in portrayal and presentation that it's a fresh coat of paint on a rusty boat with holes in it. This is also part of why Batman's portrayal has had issues when dealing with the oppressed, as he is the one on the side of law and order. It's also why his approaches to it, when viewed from a pop culture standpoint, start making him seem like how some fans view him, as a bored or crazy oligarch. Because there are better ways for him to use his money, such as boosting police salaries to prevent them from being easy to bribe, or as shown in the Dark Knight, desperate to pay family medical bills, as opposed to buying a bunch of Batboats.

The main focus of such a story, if Batman is laser targeted towards crime, is how much should Batman be doing towards eliminating the factors that lead to crime. Instead, DC has made it to where Gotham is just unfixable, because crazy people and there's just something plain wrong with the city that even a man that makes Jeff Bezos look middle class can't fix.

Part of the problem is that the whole medical issue is not a Gotham problem. It is a national one. That is why no one batted an eye over the detective needing that money. Fixing Gotham by pouring money into it will encourage people without means to congregate there and exasperate the problem. Then you get villains like the Joker, et al that show up and blow up buildings. Why are once prosperous cities with businesses terrible today? Look at Camden and Detroit. Street level crime came in because money was there. Government got ineffective at curbing it. So businesses left in droves. The city economies fall and more people are now out of work and need to do anything just to survive.
Now in Camden they eventually take policing from the city and gave it to the state. But they basically drove through like it was a high speed run and didn't help. Till they changed policy again. And got out of the cars. Walked beats and got to know neighborhoods. It is better than it was. But still not to the level it had to really encourage businesses to come in.

Your argument boils down to, If Gotham became a prosperous economy, people would immigrate there? Yeah, no shit. That'd be a good thing. Here's the difference between Gotham and Detroit. Wayne owns a Fortune 500 company that can make all sorts of scifi crap, and can use that to employ thousands of people. He can lobby Congress for better medical care. He can influence the Governor to ensure their state has better conditions. He can ensure that Arkham Asylum and Blackgate have better security so that they can't escape every Friday. Or he can compete and build his own mental facilities and prisons that are actually competent. That's the power of being a billionaire.

We also know that reformative justice works. It might not work for someone like the Joker, but making sure that the guy can't get out, while Harleen Quinzeel gets the right antipsychotics and therapy to break out of that abusive relationship would help. We can also see all those crooks who worked for Two-Face getting counseling about why they needed to rob banks in the first place, get help in employment training, and receiving a fresh start. Batman doesn't really do that, and it doesn't seem to be a priority for him.

Then look at something Chuck has brought up. The crab bucket mentality. Being better than your peers. Putting on airs. Etc. The people around you don't want to see you pull yourself up. So they try to sabotage your efforts. Keep you down so they don't seem as bad.
Gotham is the DC equivalent of Camden or Detroit as of now. Struggling because the environment makes it hard to turn it into a self sustaining system again.

Are you arguing that Bruce Wayne isn't helping Gotham be better because he wants to be better than them?

As to Bruce using various charities to aid him as Batman. Look at the data collected on you every day. How they use systems to decipher patterns and get you to shake loose more of your money. Just by watching what you buy on your credit card. Gathering data behind a benign front is hardly new. Bruce just happens to use it for crime fighting instead of marketing.
As to just spend his money fixing things. I don't think the money will fix a broken system. Not by itself. It has to be targeted at the right improvements. As intelligent as Bruce Wayne is shown time and time again. Why is it he can't figure out a solution? Perhaps he has, and it is too big for Bruce Wayne alone.

Remember, he's rich enough to make Jeff Bezos look middle class, and as noted, the problem of crime can be severely curtailed. Increase the general quality of life in Gotham City through infrastructure, through groomed politicians who vote for stopping the causes of crime, such as poverty, lack of medical care, lack of options, etc.Through funding education so that children have better options than dealing on the street as a career choice. Through better training of the police force and giving them adequate salaries so that they'll not see turning to bribery as the only option to survive.

Sure, he'll still have the occasional crazy like Scarface or Killer Croc to deal with, but they'll be much more limited if the police aren't also fighting Gang wars, the mafia, drug dealers, etc. while all their kid dealers are instead working towards becoming future investment bankers, artists, research scientists, and business owners. That then dries up a lot of their income, and Batman can fight the much weakened criminals when they run into income and manpower problems.

More often than not, though, he's not. Because Status Quo is god, and it's better if Batman fights common street punks on the way to getting to their boss, whether that be Falcone, the Joker, Scarface, or Two-Face than actually tries to use his wealth to fix their lives so that they aren't pursuing such options.

The response was here: [url]http://sfdebris.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3761&start=40#p59734[/url]

@FaxModem1Okay avoiding a quote as we are starting to get a bit deep with them.
First I was talking the medical issue. That police officer from the movie with the sick mother? That was accepted by movie goers because it is easy to empathize with. Being ill in the US is expensive. If Bruce Wayne throws billions to making the healthcare superior. It will be swamped by an influx of those from other regions that can't afford it where they are.

Bruce Wayne the way they write him varies as the richest man on the planet to one of the top one hundred. Seriously up there. But not on the create a politician from scratch and rewrite entire infrastructure levels. And it has been shown that politicians love pools of money laying around. Bruce puts a city endowment to improve the schools? The city will reduce their funding by a similar amount so they can spend it on a pet project. Like putting vacuum tube around to send messages or some drivel. Something that actually won't help.

As the recent video was about humanity can be better. Gotham is a mirror of the worst cities we have now. And just throwing money at it does not help.

Oh and you seemingly did not understand the crab bucket metaphor.
A way of thinking best described by the phrase "if I can't have it, neither can you". The metaphor is derived from a pattern of behavior noted in crabs when they are trapped in a bucket. While any one crab could easily escape, its efforts will be undermined by others, ensuring the group's collective demise.

The analogy in human behavior is claimed to be that members of a group will attempt to reduce the self-confidence of any member who achieves success beyond the others, out of envy, resentment, spite, conspiracy, or competitive feelings, to halt their progress. It is the people of Gotham helping to keep it poor. Not Bruce Wayne.

Now I would like to debate more. But this seems to be getting heated and appears to be getting off the thread topic. Should a separate thread to debate this be started?

Edit: The colored area is a direct quote on the subject from Wikipedia. I don't want to be cited for plagiarism. =^_^=

Next post is my response.

[Beelzquill]

I haven't read a Batman comic since Final Crisis and I don't think I will for a long time because of this issue. I recognize the overarching Meta reason, people want to watch Bats fight crime and be superheroic, but the instory rationalization always bugs me. The two best reasons Bruce has to be Batman first, billionaire philanthropist second come down to Gotham being either literally or metaphorically "cursed" where no philanthropist can fix the system without a Batman or that Bruce Wayne is so psychologically scarred from his parents death that being Batman is his delusional coping mechanism. Due to the static nature of the comic book industry, none of this can actually develop or change. There is no hope for Gotham because there has to be no real hope for Gotham in order to exist.

I have no idea if that word salad added anything to this, but this conversation just reminded me why I haven't been interested in Batman stuff in a long time. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe Gotham has gotten better since new 52 or whatever's going on now, though I doubt it.

[FaxModem1]

The following presumes, of course, that the people of Gotham can be helped, and are not stuck in a narrative status quo because they're a comic book, and have to always be a hellworld because of the audience demanding more adventures of Batman.

Again, my response to Bruce Wayne improving Gotham's economy will cause a wave of immigrants is....So what? That's a sign of a prospering economy and new labor will feed into that. Same with improved medical care, a saner justice system, better prisons and mental health care facilities, etc. If people are WANTING to come to Gotham, that's a good thing. That means the city is getting back on it's feet, and will survive through the sources of capital, people, and resources coming into Gotham, revitalizing the economy.

Now, when we define Bruce Wayne, we have to realize that sometimes, they write Bruce Wayne as "Funds the JLA's construction and purchase of moonbases and space stations." If Wayne can afford that, he can afford better public transportation in the city, better hospitals, better schools, hiring sane doctors to treat people like Jervis Tetch, Harleen Quinzel, or Harvey Dent for their mental problems. He can also pay for Victor Fries's wife to get some research dedicated to her medical problems, etc. And an army of toady politicians who will rubber stamp every initiative he wants to fund on the City Council.

If the politicians don't play ball, Charles Foster Kane, I mean Bruce Wayne, can simply fund their opponents in the primaries and replace them with the next Ivy League law student while running a smear campaign in the press. Luthor does this all the time in Metropolis, and they're supposed to be equal in wealth. It's why people want to move to Metropolis, even while monsters like Metallo or Atomic Skull are destroying the city every month or so.

The reason Detroit went to hell? The money left for fear of the black people, the white people with money moved out, and all the companies moved out. That, plus globalization. Gotham isn't facing those issues. Hell, Gotham was rebuilt after something much worse, the huge earthquake that turned it into No Man's Land. Bruce Wayne controls most of the wealth of Gotham. He could gentrify Gotham, revitalize Gotham, or just plain rework it to be better however he wanted. Someone comparable in wealth, Lex Luthor, rebuilt the city from scratch after No Man's Land. Wayne went into an existential funk and fought a block by block turf war with various gangs instead of just rebuilding it.

And Gotham doesn't have to be the victim of the 'Crab Bucket'. If he opens up enough programs for everyone, and gets the ball rolling, people will sign up for it. There's also the Bystander effect, wherein people are shocked into doing nothing until someone does something, and they get jolted into action, helping out. Gotham may just need enough of that to get moving.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I'm not concerned with the hyper conservative rhetoric of influx migration, I think that's a bit speculative and extraneous as something that just needs to be considered when talking about fixing Gotham. We can just assume that the economy expands because Bruce Wayne adequately implements positive systemic changes in the economy, fixing problems and not ailing symptoms as far as city finances are concerned.

I agree with Nealithi though that stuff like the medical condition of family members is beyond Gotham's scope of problems. Bruce Wayne could channel better insurance coverage to the cop that otherwise succumbed to Joker's corruption. But on a level, that is actually a symptom of the issue considering it is just handiwork by the Joker.

And that's where I disagree with most. The corrupt cops and politicians aren't the meat of the henchmen. They are supplemental, and we are to assume that organized crime as a factor is entrenched in Gotham. From Moscone to Falcone to Black Mask to the Court of Owls, Gotham is entrenched in crime. They update the Wayne murders again and again, where at first it was just a random criminal emblematic of crime, but has evolved to be grander and grander conspiracies to accomodate for the problem that you're talking about as far as Bruce Wayne becoming more and more omnipotent with wealth.

[Nealithi]

First, thank you for the new thread.

I do not think you would get a brand new wave of immigrants. You would get refugees of the broken system from elsewhere flooding in. Getting the cheaper treatments, then leaving. Your improved medical system will be stressed, likely to the breaking point, and probably still not fix the root issues.

Bruce paying for the entire JL, I think may be poor writing. How do they pay for the wonderful toys? Oh they have a rich guy on the team he writes them a check. . . Sorry we could derail this thread on how hard a space station or three is just a 'line item'. If we take that kind of spending at face value however. Why does he not just buy Gotham wholesale? He has the funds. So why doesn't he? In world and real world I see the answers as other rich men like Luthor would get into the act and it would bring more crime. RL, why doesn't Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates? Because for all they have. It is a drop in the bucket compared to the spending for governments. Now I did look it up. Bill Gates is valued at $109 billion as of 2019. And the Annual budget of Detroit is only a paltry $2 billion. So in theory he could pay for the city as is. But his wealth is not cash. It is assets. Homes, vehicles, businesses. How much can he just flat out spend out of his wallet.
There was an episode of JL or JLU I forget which, this is pre-coffee. Bruce Wayne is walking a street in Gotham and someone needs money. So he gives it to him. Then another and another. He can't keep up. He can't give enough to do more than a moments worth of good for those people. And it crushes him. His team had to remind him he is a generous man who does more than anyone to help.

No man's land, Batman was not initially there. Because Bruce Wayne tried to get the ball rolling for emergency services and rebuilding. To get the government to step in. And no one would listen. The US Government wrote the city of Gotham off and blockaded it like it was Escape from New York. Now if you want to argue how unlikely That was. I would be happy to point out that FEMA would have been in any US city damn fast. And the state and federal government would not write off a city hit by a natural disaster because it would cost them elections. So No Man's Land is pretty hard to swallow.

As to Gotham and the crab bucket and bystander syndrome. No place has to succumb to it. But so many do. Coal mining towns were known for discouraging education because everyone works the mines. This is what we were born into. This is where we stay. That is why fighting that apathy is so tragic. They could be better. But they choose not to.

Honestly I think Bruce Wayne does what is needed. Because if he found he could change things better as Bruce than as Batman. He would. But his world, he can't.
I am not saying that because they write it so Gotham is always the dark side of the coin to Metropolis. I think they probably do. But the DC Universe, you can be a costumed crime fighter. And can make a difference directly. Because greed and corruption? They are not going anywhere.

[ProfessorDetective]

There was an episode of JL or JLU I forget which, this is pre-coffee. Bruce Wayne is walking a street in Gotham and someone needs money. So he gives it to him. Then another and another. He can't keep up. He can't give enough to do more than a moments worth of good for those people. And it crushes him. His team had to remind him he is a generous man who does more than anyone to help.

That was actually from Batman: The Animated Series, specifically Episode 108, 'The Forgotten'. And it was part of a dream sequence while he was an amnesiac in a slave labor camp full of enslaved homeless. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6js7g5

And Batman HAS used his money to actually improve the city or to help solve the plot less-violently... just very rarely IN THE RECENT COMICS. One of my favorite bits is from JLU, where the Leauge is fighting Luthor's Injustice Gang and one of the methods he uses to break up said gang (besides sewing suspicion and a bit of seduction)... is to make a HUGE donation to a PBS expy in one villain's name.

Or in the Telltale game, where Wayne is trying to have Arkham finally closed down and modernized in his parents' names... That DOES hit a snag, but still...

THE COMICS need to have him to throw his wealth around more often, just to show that he doesn't have a damn fetish for the costume... unless he's with Catwoman, he totally does when she's involved.

[CharlesPhipps]

My rebuttal doesn't require a wall of text.

Gotham City doesn't have a crime problem, Gotham City has an urban terrorism problem. Therefore, Batman is entirely necessary.

He also does spend money on infrastructure, which is probably why Gotham City is a massively huge Art Deco city and not just a hellish slum where the populace has fled in terror.

[Karha of Honor]

The following presumes, of course, that the people of Gotham can be helped, and are not stuck in a narrative status quo because they're a comic book, and have to always be a hellworld because of the audience demanding more adventures of Batman.

End of thread.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Refugees are a type of migrant. And again, we can assume that the economy expands as they are put to productive work. Plus, there's nothing suggesting that Bruce Wayne is allotting for free healthcare. I'm not even sure how much free healthcare would cause a city influx compared to opportunity, but we aren't to assume that Bruce Wayne just foots the bill out of his pocket, it's a matter of investments on key reforms. And also, like a city budget doesn't entail what a city costs at face value, it's just its pool of tax revenue and state/federal dispersion. It doesn't reflect any type of proprietorship at all since it's essentially a public tribune. Bruce Wayne surely could buy all the private land, it happens in real life, but he could not kick out or disenfranchise organized crime as I see it.

As far as FEMA, it's written pretty conveniently several times that Gotham just gets isolated from the rest of New York by blowing up bridges and using rocket launchers to stop air support into the city. It's a bit of speculation probably, but it's more fun to abide to. Also, in Batman Bad Blood, the Watchtower is a joint collaboration between Wayne Enterprise and Star Labs. I think it might be interesting if it was a joint between Wayne Enterprises and LexCorp, only for Lex to take it over but fail and eventually acquiesce it to JL. That seems more inconspicuous than Wayne just footing the bill.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

My rebuttal doesn't require a wall of text.

Gotham City doesn't have a crime problem, Gotham City has an urban terrorism problem. Therefore, Batman is entirely necessary.

He also does spend money on infrastructure, which is probably why Gotham City is a massively huge Art Deco city and not just a hellish slum where the populace has fled in terror.

Pretty much, but crime is at the heart of Bruce Wayne's plea to save Gotham. He doesn't start doing it because of the super villains.