I must say that in my city, Milwaukee when it was under the control of Socialists fared very well. It was under Zeidler, our last Socialist mayor that Milwaukee nearly double in size, and had many of her current programs created. One of the reason Milwaukee Public Housing is some of the best in the country is because of Zeidler in my opinion. We got our citywide Sanitation program stregthened, city parks were being created in many places, and taxes were quite low suprisingly. However Milwaukee has a Socialist tradition so I believe this was one of the reasons of Socialism working here. Unfortunately taxes are not as low here as they used to be, but I have hope for the future. Milwaukee still has very good services compared to what Ive heard from friends in some larger cities. I know Milwaukee may not be the best run city, as what it could have possibly been 50 years ago (please forgive my arrogance I may be wrong hehe), but it still has a low amount of corruption compared to some other cities.
Socialism would work better if humans werent so greedy, I do not in turn consider myself a Socialist.