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I live in NYC and feel the region is too big to have the same type of cohesive feel as smaller regions. I don't get the sense that most people know much about other boroughs little less places outside of NYC.
That is because you are a transplant that lives in a neighborhood full of transplants. (I am not using "transplant" as an insult here btw, just saying you are still don't have the knowledge a lot of NYers have). Most native New Yorkers, with the exception of people from the projects maybe, know most boroughs pretty well, or at least have been in them countless times. The fact that you have friends that don't visit your house because its in another borough is 100% a transplant thing. I assume you also don't know the name of your local guy at the deli either... small things like that.
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And this goes for someone like my wife who's lived in NYC for most of her formative years. There are high schools in NYC that she and her friends have never heard of. I can't imagine someone saying the name of a Philly high school and me being like
This is perfectly normal if you live in a big city. Most people in all of the big cities roughly the size of new york don't know about all the school names in the city.... Your mind just hasn't adjusted yet. Thats like somebody coming from a small country like Belgium and saying, I can't believe most people in the United States don't know every single high school name in the country.... Or a person from a rural area saying I can't believe you guys don't know the names of all your neighbors, you big city folk are so stuck up and provincial! ... don't even greet every single person you meet on the street either...
That is because you are a transplant that lives in a neighborhood full of transplants. Most native New Yorkers, with the exception of people from the projects maybe, know most boroughs pretty well, or at least have been in them countless times.
Didn't you say you didn't even grow up in New York?
I don't live in a neighborhood full of transplants.
I don't get the sense that most New Yorkers know other boroughs well at all.
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Originally Posted by Gantz
This is perfectly normal if you live in a big city. Most people in all of the big cities roughly the size of new york don't know about all the school names in the city.... Thats like somebody coming from a small country like Belgium and saying, I can't believe most people in the United States don't know every single high school name in the country....
My point was that this makes the region feel less cohesive than, say, the Delaware Valley. My "small" hometown only has 37 public high schools, and I know all of them. I even know all of the suburban schools (at least on the PA side).
In this regard, it's almost like going to a small liberal arts school like Williams compared to a big state school like Texas A&M.
By the way, I think DC area is much more cohesive, but it has nothing to do with the arguments in this thread. Its because it is not really a tri-state area anyway. Everything is much closer together because its de facto a two state area, not a tri-state.
Mentally, I think the comparison in this thread largely boils down to NY/NJ vs. PA/NJ vs. MD/VA.
CT and DE are too far out of the loop for most people. And DC is almost like a city in Maryland.
This is asking about cohesiveness of 3 major metro areas. Chances are, everyone responding has not lived in or maybe even been to all 3 of these areas. So locals are the best people to ask, especially lifelong residents or people who lived there for many years and traveled around the area a lot to get a good idea of how it works. This is why a local's opinion matters more. Ideally, getting someone who has lived and spent considerable time in all 3 would probably give the best, most real answer, but it's probably pretty unlikely. So you listen to what locals say.
You may think it's too large, but we don't. I know I personally do not. You would rather listen to some poster from CA (for example) who's never even lived here than take my word and my personal experience for it? Okay, but that seems dumb to me. You may as well say, anyone who lives there, don't respond.
But how is your word better than others? Have you lived in DC Metro? No? So how is your professional opinion that Metro NYC is more cohesive across 3 states better than someone who's lived in DC but not NYC? How is either opinion (resident of one but never the other) better than someone who visits either and has no emotional ties to either, and is thus perhaps a little more unbiased?
Conversely, and I can say the same about certain other cities/metros when it comes to certain things (like the perspective of apartments/cost of living by both New Yorkers and residents of SF will be way out of whack compared to 99% of most people), but how is it that a resident of New York's opinion about cohesiveness, size/scope, etc anything remotely typical for a question such as this? More people live in an environment similar to DC or smaller than New York or similar/larger.
Mentally, I think the comparison in this thread largely boils down to NY/NJ vs. PA/NJ vs. MD/VA.
CT and DE are too far out of the loop for most people. And DC is almost like a city in Maryland.
Yeah this is true. People say CT is a little more flung from NYC compared to NJ but really how close is DE to Philly? I get the sense that it's not that much.
Chances are, everyone responding has not lived in or maybe even been to all 3 of these areas.
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Originally Posted by anonelitist
But how is your word better than others? Have you lived in DC Metro? No? So how is your professional opinion that Metro NYC is more cohesive across 3 states better than someone who's lived in DC but not NYC? How is either opinion (resident of one but never the other) better than someone who visits either and has no emotional ties to either, and is thus perhaps a little more unbiased?
I've lived in all three.
NYC is a big place. Queens alone is about the size of Philly. Brooklyn is physically larger than DC. The Bronx is roughly the size of Boston. That's a lot of territory to learn. I mean, there are people in Mt. Airy who literally never go to South Philly, and people in West Philly that never go to the Northeast. So can you imagine what it's like in a place where each borough could be a major city on its own?
Yeah this is true. People say CT is a little more flung from NYC compared to NJ but really how close is DE to Philly? I get the sense that it's not that much.
DE is about 8 miles from the closest border of Philadelphia, actually the closest border of MD is only about 20 miles, and just for giggles the closest border of NY (Staten Island NYC) is only 46 miles as the crow flies from Philadelphia to NYC
But how is your word better than others? Have you lived in DC Metro? No? So how is your professional opinion that Metro NYC is more cohesive across 3 states better than someone who's lived in DC but not NYC? How is either opinion (resident of one but never the other) better than someone who visits either and has no emotional ties to either, and is thus perhaps a little more unbiased?
Conversely, and I can say the same about certain other cities/metros when it comes to certain things (like the perspective of apartments/cost of living by both New Yorkers and residents of SF will be way out of whack compared to 99% of most people), but how is it that a resident of New York's opinion about cohesiveness, size/scope, etc anything remotely typical for a question such as this? More people live in an environment similar to DC or smaller than New York or similar/larger.
My word's not better than others'. It's just my opinion based off the fact that there's nothing else like the PANYNJ. I think this alone makes the NYC area unique. And this is a fact, there is no other bi state agency that does nearly as much as the Port Authority and ties in so much of two states under one agency. But somebody can think another metro is most cohesive for another reason.
Like I said, the only true opinion that matters regarding a place is those who live there - for anywhere. Living here, we have to deal with the good and the bad. A visitor could roll through and say, the area's too large, it's not cohesive, or this place is too small, I like bigger, but that person merely visited. They don't experience life there everyday and the positives and negatives of the size or other factors. I wouldn't pretend to be an expert on LA and what the climate is like without having experience actually living there. I think a local's opinion would matter more. The same works for here. I can't talk to you about DC or really Philly but I CAN talk to you about the New York area and if you care for a genuine opinion coming from a local who knows things, you would listen a bit more than a visitor not used to it, not living it, who says that it's too big and too intimidating. Perhaps if they moved here, with time they would adjust and change their mind then say, wow yeah, I see the cohesiveness in this way despite the size, etc.
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