We (San Francisco) do have them. Some people don't like them, and there are ongoing fights about that. Generally speaking, "the government" here is trying to "take responsibility" like you ask. It is a certain segment of the population that you should be taking issue with.

I'm not singling you out, but a personal pet-peeve of mine is this "us vs. government" thing. You, the reader, are a part of your government. Pretending like government should be like a restaurant and service you is a category error that causes lots of unnecessary problems while not solving real ones. Take responsibility, indeed.)