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In 29 days, I will be moving to Downtown Manhattan. I will be going to school in the area, and was incredibly excited until I began reading through all of these posts. Most of them consist of bashing this wave of hipsters and yuppies, general unhappiness with the noise/dirt/ect of the area, and missing the "Old NYC" days. I feel as though a dark shadow is cast over all of these posts, and everyone here is unhappy about life in New York City.
Now, I've been to New York City (generally just Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens) about10times in the past two years, and came in contact with generally friendly people. I was able to strike up conversations with random people at the Port Authority as well as the subway station. This is really why I fell in love with New York, because everyone seemed so accepting. However, now after reading this forum, I feel as though my perceptions of New York have been shattered, and no one is as accepting and friendly as my naive heart wants me to believe.
Please just give me some opinions, and just tell me why you love NYC.
Its a cool place to live. You will be making a good choice.
A lot of people gripe about how expensive the city is (a justified complaint). I is an expensive city, and a lot of really fun things might be too costly. My only two gripes would be this, and the wretched summer heat.
Some people on this board are miserable about the smallest things. While I think the gap between rich and poor people is getting wider, the overall direction of NYC is positive.
A while ago they had a topic, where quite a few of the posters believed they liked living in NYC better when it was crime infested and dumpy, rather than a gentrified yuppy filled domain. While both have their pros and cons, the yuppie infestation is far better than the crime/drug ridden NYC, and the homeless and rundown elements of city now almost part of its past. Some people claim this was the 'real' NYC, suggesting the new NYC is fake.
The truth is both of these NYC are a reality, but if you tell me the old crime/drug infested abandoned home New York was the 'real' New York, then it is reality I wouldn't want to be a part of.
New Yorkers are not really as rude as they are portrayed to be. I witness extremly kind acts to strangers, and tourists be native New Yorkers. As an example, I have never seen an old lady or pregnant woman have to stand. Everytime one has come onbard a subway, I see someone giving up their seat.
Some people like to complain. Maybe they need a break from new York (I strongly suggest North Carolina for those folks). Some points are valid, those of which I wholeheartedly agree with.
But the thing about complainers is day and night they are still complainers.
The truth is both of these NYC are a reality, but if you tell me the old crime/drug infested abandoned home New York was the 'real' New York, then it is reality I wouldn't want to be a part of.
Oh please. What crime does a resident of the Upper East Side have to deal with? Then and now. A broken car window? Like they won't smash your window in tonight if you have a GPS in plain view.
Life still sucks for the poor in this city. As bad as it did years ago. As for those with, they can enjoy NYC.
Difference now is things are very expensive and overpopulation is a huge problem. Not to mention yuppies are anoying.
New York was my home for the first 30 years of my life. To this very day, I can pick the transplants and suburbanites out of a typical Manhattan crowd, because growing up in the city shapes and chisels you into something that stands apart from everything and everyone else.
New Yorkers are adaptable, self-reliant and wary. You can't pull the wool over a born-and-bred New Yorker's eyes- he won't let you get close enough. The tolerance, street-smarts, worldliness and confidence is obvious in the way a New Yorker walks and talks. We're at our best when things are at their worst because hey, we're NEW YORKERS! We can deal with anything that's thrown in our paths because anything and everything is thrown at us every single day of our lives, living in a city that's just about the center of the world. Other Americans look at New Yorkers with a mix of awe, envy and loathing. They want to be us, but they hate us because we make them uneasy. Maybe it's our suspicious natures. Maybe it's the tough outer shell. Love us or hate us, we grew up at the center of it all. Museums. Art Galleries. Restaurants. Skyscrapers. Night life. We seem to have it all. Don't we?
Well we must, because everyone who dreams of making something of themselves dreams of doing it in New York. Sometimes I wonder whether there aren't more Midwesterners in Manhattan than there are in Tulsa, or Topeka, or Omaha. And it's not just other Americans who come here. Immigrants from all over come to New York and settle in their little cultural pockets. Hey, it's New York. The great Melting Pot. The brightest and best city in the world!
So why do people on this forum get so down on New York? Because we've lived here. We've seen what lays beyond the veneer that outsiders see when they look in and we don't like it- not one little bit. It's like the "perfect family" in your neighborhood. Everyone has one. They look like they have the perfect life- great jobs, beautiful house, kids making straight A's, little Johnny's captain of the football team, BMWs in the driveway. But behind closed doors, dad's an alcoholic, mom's banging the mailman, little straigt-A Suzy's cutting her wrists because dad and mom work constantly and don't give her the love and attention she wants and needs and little Johnny's dealing weed as a side business. New York is the SAME WAY. Behind the Broadway shows, Central Park, booming nightlife, wealth of jobs and cultural diversity lies a city that's pushing out its middle class, becoming SO overcrowded that ugly disasters of architecture are replacing historical sites and green spaces, a traffic NIGHTMARE because people insist on owning 3 or 4 cars in a city with extensive public transportation and often shops within a 5 minute walk, an abominable public school system and little money spared for the people who deserve it most- TEACHERS, POLICE OFFICERS and FIREFIGHTERS (and all the other hardworking city workers who get the shaft).
New York. A great place to visit. An awesome place to grow up in (at least it was, when I was growing up). Over hyped. Overpriced. Overcrowded. Most native New Yorkers are moving on towards greener pastures. As for me, yes, I love New York for what it is. For what it was. I'm not sure what it will be, but it doesn't matter anymore, because like all the rest of the middle class I've been priced out of my home and moved on. You need to remember that with anyplace you move, you need to have a clear perspective of what you're getting into. There are positives and negatives that NEED to be seen clearly- not through rose-tinted lenses. Beware, and don't fall for the hype.
Some people like to complain. Maybe they need a break from new York (I strongly suggest North Carolina for those folks). Some points are valid, those of which I wholeheartedly agree with.
I've been recommended North Carolina before, but why? What makes NC so attractive to NYers? I've lived in NYC my whole life and I'm ready to move out. The apartments are crazy expensive, once in a while some rowdy youths try to start **** with you, and if you live in a no-elevator apt., carrying your groceries up IS A *****! Asthma rates are the highest, tap water tastes like metallic ****, outside of Manhattan, the buildings looks uniform, and crime/emergencies are so random & common, you can never catch a break.
There are so many ***'D up people here too. Of course there are PLENTY of good wholesome people but many are F-d up. Slitting wrists, joining gangs, DRUGS, spouses shooting eachother, kids getting F-d up, low lives everywhere (esp. at night), and the more you stay in NYC, the more and more reality hits you. "This isn't everything, there is better things out there."
Oh please. What crime does a resident of the Upper East Side have to deal with? Then and now. A broken car window? Like they won't smash your window in tonight if you have a GPS in plain view.
Life still sucks for the poor in this city. As bad as it did years ago. As for those with, they can enjoy NYC.
Difference now is things are very expensive and overpopulation is a huge problem. Not to mention yuppies are anoying.
There IS crime on the Upper East side...it just isn't as sensational as other goings on, so it's less publicized.
If you dislike NYC so much, why don't you leave instead of spewing your envy, bile and vitriole here?
I was born in Manhattan and have lived here practically my entire life, with short breaks for other places. There is NOTHING that even comes close to NYC with respect to cultural opportunities, the myriad of things to do, restaurants, and, yes, the huge demographic mix. Every city...NO - every COMMUNITY has it's problems. Those of NYC are outweighed by its positive aspects. If you can't find it in New York, it doesn't exist!
People from NYC and other parts of the northeast moving to North Carolina all at once is a good example of chain migration. What this basically means that one person moves to a place, enjoys it, and then calls/writes home about how great it is and as a result his friends and relatives follow him to the place where he moved.
You can see the same thing happening in this area all the time with random immigrants. One guy will move to a neighborhood, like the places and write home about it and within a couple decades that neighborhood could be ground zero for XYZ immigrant group.
Quote:
Originally Posted by clubBR
I've been recommended North Carolina before, but why? What makes NC so attractive to NYers?
I love New York. I am a born-and-raised New Yorker, and I am not leaving anytime soon. Sure I'll travel to other places, but NYC will still be my rest! No other city I've been to is like it.
It's not perfect, but for me, it's better than anywhere else, for a whole host of reasons!
I want to get away from the congestion, dirt, pollution, materialism, crime, rampant dishonesty, ugliness, rudeness and (low) risks of terrorism, aging infrastructure and hurricanes. I need a greener, cleaner, less congested, less paved-over place. I am nourished by natural beauty. I also want to go somewhere with a lower cost of living.
The rudeness in New York City is real. In my experience, it takes the forms of condescension, coldness, unfriendliness, overbearingness, abrasiveness, irritability, angry outbursts and/or flat-out nastiness. Sometimes people can be menacing or threatening. But the rudeness is not omnipresent. People can be friendly and helpful.
One thing I really dislike about NYC is that you always have to be on your guard with people. You have to be suspicious. You can rarely take people you don't know at their word. It is very hard to find an honest businessperson, even though they exist.
That said, it is very hard to let go. I am a born and bred, dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker. I have always had access to NYC things, although I live about an hour away from midtown and I don't want to spend a fortune on a show. But I also have access to lots of free or low cost arts. I live in Brooklyn, in a quiet, low-crime neighborhood. I hear birds (and an occasional bus) in the morning, not loud traffic noises. And not gunshots. But a deli clerk was murdered a few blocks from my house last November. And there was a home invasion in the next neighborhood.
What do I love about NYC? I love the diversity of people, the multicultural environment, the ocean, the access to world-class arts, the ability to find just about anything I want, the music in the subway and the fact that I can explore the city for a lifetime and not run out of new things to discover. I'm not into serious nightlife or world-class shopping, but it's there if I want it.
I have written about these things in other threads, mostly in the Vermont forum (see the thread What Do Ex-New Yorkers Miss?). The thread ended up with a lot of informative, insightful posts. There are other threads with posts by people from, or knowledgeable about, New York.
A very big issue for me is, simply, that New York is home.
I am afraid that if and when I move to Vermont, I will feel dislocated and homesick. I fear I will miss the pace of the city. I will want to return. But there is no place in NYC I really want to live in. And it really is much healthier to live in Vermont. The air, water and food are cleaner, the crime rate is extremely low and the visual beauty is nourishing.
Maybe another issue is that I have been brainwashed by the self-adulatory hype of New York. It's as if my leaving means a kind of personal defeat or self-destructive experiment. I mean, why would I leave "the Greatest City in the World"?
But no place is perfect. It helps to be clear about what you want, what you are willing to tolerate and what you are willing to let go of. There is an exercise in What Color is Your Parachute about finding your ideal locale. If I remember correctly, you list all the places you have lived and what you disliked about each of them. For everything you disliked, you list its opposite as a desirable quality. You also list what you did like. Eventually, you come up with the qualities you want and don't want in a locale. It's a great exercise and I have learned a lot from doing it. It's not enough to sit down and intellectually decide what you want and don't want. Unfortunately, even with the exercise, you often can't know all of that until you are actually living in the new place and have had time to settle in and acclimate.
In 29 days, I will be moving to Downtown Manhattan. I will be going to school in the area, and was incredibly excited until I began reading through all of these posts. Most of them consist of bashing this wave of hipsters and yuppies, general unhappiness with the noise/dirt/ect of the area, and missing the "Old NYC" days. I feel as though a dark shadow is cast over all of these posts, and everyone here is unhappy about life in New York City.
Now, I've been to New York City (generally just Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens) about10times in the past two years, and came in contact with generally friendly people. I was able to strike up conversations with random people at the Port Authority as well as the subway station. This is really why I fell in love with New York, because everyone seemed so accepting. However, now after reading this forum, I feel as though my perceptions of New York have been shattered, and no one is as accepting and friendly as my naive heart wants me to believe.
Please just give me some opinions, and just tell me why you love NYC.
It depends a lot on how old you are. You will be coming for "school" so you're probably in your late teens or early twenties, childless, with not much money. There is no better place to be than New York at that stage of life. Sure, apartments are tiny, cockroach-infested and overpriced. But it's not like you will be stuck at home with a toddler. You don't need a grand place. New York has America's best public transport system, its best museums and its best restaurants (which, thanks to the competition, are pretty cheap given the quality). You can stand at the Met and City Opera for a pittance. You can buy last-minute tickets to Mets games and BAM for only a little more. In the summer there is free jazz. You can easily survive without a car. And most New Yorkers aren't rude. Narcissistic, self-obsessed and ultra-competitive, but not rude.
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