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But if you hate it, why do you go there, and even pay a toll?
Joked quoted by Woody Allen in Annie Hall:
Old woman: I hated that resort. The food was awful.
Second old woman: Yes, the food was awful, and the portions were so small.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bilmin
I don't think it is the island that is hated but some of the residents who are the basis for the stereotypes that are not really liked. The one thing that I hate about SI is that you have to pay a dam toll on VZB just to get there. Even with an easy pass it can be quite costly. I actually bring my car to a repair shop there and he is great and his rates are affordable but when comparing it I always have to add in the toll. You will always have some people who are prejudiced against the population of SI but so what. Do you really care
It seems like it is stranded away from the rest of the city, like gilligan's island somewhere; like it is stuck between two worlds, the world of new jersey and the world of new york. I don't hate it though.
I think it should be noted that the island was basically disconnected from New York until the Verrazano was finished in 1964. Let me repeat that date: 1964. For 400 years New Amsterdam had been growing, evolving and refining its identity as a metropolitan city. The other four boroughs were intricately connected by trains and bridges. SI only had ferry service. The character of many parts of SI was RURAL until just a few decades ago. The last time you could have said Manhattan was in any way rural was in the mid to late-1800s.
I take a geographic/ecological view of NYers antipathy for SI. If you were to take, say, a camel out of its normal habitat and transport it to the Canadian Arctic, it would have no idea what to do. It's much the same for the Manhattanite who has experienced nothing but concrete, glass and asphalt for 90% of their lives. They literally don't know what they are looking at. On some baseline cognitive level they might understand that the presence of the island's mature stands of trees make them feel different inside but it's so different from the visual effect of the cityscape. It's disconcerting in a way. It's also substantially quieter. Without the aural assault and subsequent mental carnage of traffic, jackhammers, screaming, poor grammar, and snippy speech patterns they just don't know what to do with themselves.
^ S.I. must have more in common with nassau and suffolk than nyc,
even though it is still technically part of nyc. A lot of nyers don't do
the suburbs at all but oh well. Even that can be gotten over one day.
I think it should be noted that the island was basically disconnected from New York until the Verrazano was finished in 1964. Let me repeat that date: 1964. For 400 years New Amsterdam had been growing, evolving and refining its identity as a metropolitan city. The other four boroughs were intricately connected by trains and bridges. SI only had ferry service. The character of many parts of SI was RURAL until just a few decades ago. The last time you could have said Manhattan was in any way rural was in the mid to late-1800s.
I take a geographic/ecological view of NYers antipathy for SI. If you were to take, say, a camel out of its normal habitat and transport it to the Canadian Arctic, it would have no idea what to do. It's much the same for the Manhattanite who has experienced nothing but concrete, glass and asphalt for 90% of their lives. They literally don't know what they are looking at. On some baseline cognitive level they might understand that the presence of the island's mature stands of trees make them feel different inside but it's so different from the visual effect of the cityscape. It's disconcerting in a way. It's also substantially quieter. Without the aural assault and subsequent mental carnage of traffic, jackhammers, screaming, poor grammar, and snippy speech patterns they just don't know what to do with themselves.
I definitely agree with you about Staten Island being more suburban and less urban than the rest of the boroughs even though I feel like it's started to change over the past few years and is starting to become more like Brooklyn, but yes I agree with you. I never even realized how late the Verrazano bridge came after New York was founded. I knew it wasn't built a long time ago but wow I never knew it was only built in 1964. That is kind of crazy to think about.
The last part of your post is a good thing btw lol
^ S.I. must have more in common with nassau and suffolk than nyc,
even though it is still technically part of nyc. A lot of nyers don't do
the suburbs at all but oh well. Even that can be gotten over one day.
It is more like Long Island and jersey than the other four boroughs tbh
The reason a lot of Italians live in SI because in the 80 and 90s, it was dirt cheap to buy a home there and be away from the immigrants and criminals in Brooklyn. Most of the Italians that lived in Brooklyn started leaving the area in the 90s and moved over to SI and kept a very segregated community. Very similar to Howard Beach, a non-white walking around would get stared at or even followed by Italian kids those days.
Today, it's much different so many immigrants have flocked to SI.
I would never live in SI because it used to be a dump site and the traffic is horrible getting in/out of there.
SI is the equivalent of a big dead-end street in Brooklyn not much roads to drive around before you hit a dead end.
And the road conditions are awful.
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