This place is a toilet for everyone but the rich (Boston: loan, top schools)
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Besides the fact that you just judged and demeaned an entire group of people, 'disgusting homeless people', without even knowing an individual's story or history, there's a lot else wrong with your post.
The subway isn't dirty and smelly, and when it is, it's no worse than any other city. I'm sorry NYC ain't Singapore but it's a functioning city and a great city at that. People live there because it's beautiful. Maybe in a way you wouldn't understand but it's amazing there. The rawness and grittiness of it all makes that city great, along with the diversity, the entertainment, the people, the food, etc, etc. And yes, I said the people. Some of the nicest people I ever met were in NYC and the city is fast-paced so not everyone has time to just chat away. Yes there are rude people but there are rude people everywhere, and I don't even live here but I'ma defend this kicka$$ city.
I've lived here 20 years, I love the city, and I ride the subway every day, but to claim that the subway isn't dirty and smelly is just willful ignorance, or perhaps spoken by someone who's never been to Washington DC. Ever been on the 59th street 4/5 platform in the Summer (or any time)?
Levittown & Hicksville are not New York City. Long Island (while complaining about their own Middle Class disappearing) does not suffer the same issues that NYC does.
Most of Queens is quite similar to Nassau county - it was the original suburbia, after all. Queens and Brooklyn suffer from one problem that sets it apart from the suburban counties. They are magnets for immigrants, who put up with overcrowding, awful schools and other problems to be with their own communities. Yuppies and Wall Street have nothing to do with the fact that housing in these boroughs can be even more expensive than housing just outside its borders in Nassau county, despite awful schools. Living several families/generations to a house would do that.
So, do you want to complain about immigration? Or you're still blaming Wall Street for the cost of housing in Flushing?
You want to complain about the disapperance of middle class jobs? New York City was home to almost 150 of the 500 largest corporations in America in the 1950's. By mid-90's, that number declined to just above 40. Every corporation that could leave did just that. What were they escaping? Wall Street? The yuppies?
No, they were fleeing from pretty much the same things the middle class was fleeing from: high taxes, high crime, filth, social engineering projects, and a generally disfunctional government.
You want more middle class jobs in the city? Welcome the corporations back. Slash taxes - both for corporations and for their top management, beef up police presence and clean up the streets (even at the cost of severe cuts in social spending), break up the department of education and establish locally financed schools. Yes, it will mean the Upper East Side and Park Slope will have lavish schools while ghetto schools will go to hell, but these things will gradually change with gentrification. The important thing is that middle class neighborhoods, like Bay Ridge, will have decently financed local schools that will be competitive with suburban schools.
To everybody agreeing with the OP and saying 'I'm leaving this dump too!' lol...yea right. I'll bet that in 5 years every one of you will still be there. I on the other hand, actually did leave NYC. I'm in Santiago, Chile paying $500/month to live in absolute paradise. I go grocery shopping for the entire week and spend about $20...a pack of cigs is about $1....and you go to the street markets and get the freshest fruit and veggies God has ever planted. You guys can KEEP New York!
Those of you who cling to living in NYC because you think it's the "cool" thing to do or whatever, are a bunch of suckers, and don't complain, because you KNOW you'll never leave.
To everybody agreeing with the OP and saying 'I'm leaving this dump too!' lol...yea right. I'll bet that in 5 years every one of you will still be there. I on the other hand, actually did leave NYC. I'm in Santiago, Chile paying $500/month to live in absolute paradise. I go grocery shopping for the entire week and spend about $20...a pack of cigs is about $1....and you go to the street markets and get the freshest fruit and veggies God has ever planted. You guys can KEEP New York!
Those of you who cling to living in NYC because you think it's the "cool" thing to do or whatever, are a bunch of suckers, and don't complain, because you KNOW you'll never leave.
$500 a month for an apartment in a country where the median wage is $900 a month or so? (just guessing)
$500 a month for an apartment in a country where the median wage is $900 a month or so? (just guessing)
lol Gringos don't make median wage here my friend. If you can speak English and Spanish fluently you're looking at about a $2000/month salary. The job market here right now for English/Spanish speakers is out of control because US companies are straight up invading the country right now, there's so much work it's unreal...I do translations and can basically charge whatever I want...a friend of mine opened up an English institute and he's 23 years old and almost a millionaire.
Now that the socialists are out of power for good in Chile you wouldn't believe how the economy has EXPLODED in the last year, it's been absolutely unreal.
I am originally from the midwest too and I love it here. The only thing is, I wouldn't want to raise a family here and that's my personal choice. Some people are fine with raising a family in a big city, poor, rich, or somewhere in the middle.
I agree with some things the OP said and not with many other things. I wonder why you picked Harlem of all places? Why didn't you check out an outer borough? They are more midwest friendly in that it seems like more of a neighborhood vibe. Then again my neighborhood in Indiana was quite cold. Didn't know any of the neighbors. I lived in TriBeCa for awhile, and I prefer an outer borough.
If you haven't been here long you have to give it a chance, I can't see how you would still dislike it. Find a neighborhood more suited for you though!
lol Gringos don't make median wage here my friend. If you can speak English and Spanish fluently you're looking at about a $2000/month salary. The job market here right now for English/Spanish speakers is out of control because US companies are straight up invading the country right now, there's so much work it's unreal...I do translations and can basically charge whatever I want...a friend of mine opened up an English institute and he's 23 years old and almost a millionaire.
Now that the socialists are out of power for good in Chile you wouldn't believe how the economy has EXPLODED in the last year, it's been absolutely unreal.
Well I know it doesn't sound like much to you, but when you live in a place (as earlier posted) where the median monthly pay is around $900 (usually less), then it goes a long way.
that's only $24,000 a year, only 9G's over the poverty line for a family of 4. Seems dangerous to be living around many people making a whole lot less than you, and to also be the foreigner there.
that's only $24,000 a year, only 9G's over the poverty line for a family of 4. Seems dangerous to be living around many people making a whole lot less than you, and to also be the foreigner there.
Not really...I got mugged once since I've been here (2 years). In my community there really aren't that many people who make less than me. The line between rich and poor is disappearing here like quicksand anyway. Or maybe you're another one of those americans who hears the words "latin america" and starts thinking that means there's drug cartels on every street corner with pipe bombs and machine guns...This isn't Mexico my friend. Chile is actually much more like a European country than a Latin American one.
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