I lived there for thirty years. The idea that slanted parking would lead to a wave of mugging is simply silly.

In reality, crime in New York City is at record lows: https://www.disastercenter.com/crime/nycrime.htm

> It's also difficult for street-level cameras to track people.

And that's another good thing.

I'm certain they will never do it, but one can dream. I mean, they already do it for police precincts. I have not considered the crime element that you're describing either, but this doesn't need to be a citywide initiative, they can take it block per block.

I must be missing something obvious... what about angled parking makes it especially friendly to robbers?

It's extremely easy to hide, invisibly, between cars with angled parking. Angled parking also shortens the gap between your front and back tires perpendicular to the street. Less light passing through means less opportunity to see shadows that shouldn't be there.