i disagreei quite like the title.
the movie is not just a procedural, it's a layered story about a cop with an addict son and the area in which he grew up that has become deteriorated. the once attractive epithet of city by the sea, which brings forth imagery of boardwalks and bustling stores and throngs of people, is made ironic by decay and abandonment. deniro once was a family man with wife and baby and now alone and estranged from his strung-out son, so the title underscores the idea of lost dreams and hope neglected.
anyway, i think some irony was the writer's intention.

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