1972: "The Bronx is Burning"-- Historic BBC Documentary

Part of the trauma of the 1970's in NYC was the burning down of huge areas of the Bronx.  The whole story is a complex one,
 and as the problem gained momentum an historic BBC documentary was made:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO1hKcFH7Xo 

The reasons were complex and it is too long a story to tell here, so let me refer you to this Wikipedia article

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bronx_Is_Burning