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I have a real life example. NYC has 4 times more subway stations than DC. But compare NYC's best subway station to DC's best subway station and DC wins.
so what? More in many ways means better in terms of public transportation. I think the one major difference NYC has is that most people do not drive. It gives the city a vibrancy in all the neighborhoods that other cities cannot match.
Also NYC attracts the best and brightest and most ambitious. This also adds to the city.
I have a real life example. NYC has 4 times more subway stations than DC. But compare NYC's best subway station to DC's best subway station and DC wins.
IMO, that's a terrible example. It's only a good example if you think the way a subway LOOKS is more important than its usefulness. One of the most amazing things about NYC vs other cities that have fairly comprehensive subway systems (Boston and Wash. DC for example) is that the scope and range of NYC's system and the frequency that the trains run makes NYC's system much, much more useful -- so useful that you really don't need a car.
It's very nice that Washington has cleaner and nicer looking stations. I do like that. However, I will take NYC's system any day because it's fast, comprehensive, and allows me to get pretty much anywhere in the city I want to go.
Don't be ridiculous. You can totally compare it to ANY other city in the U.S. People do it all the time.
New York has MORE of everything. So if having more of everything is your only criteria.. then sure.. NYC blows everyone out of the water. But there is more to a city than just having more "stuff" than another city. What if Philly has the best Cat food in the country, but NYC has the MOST cat food in the country. Like who really cares? I don't.
Most cities in the US you have to drive. NYC's extensive public transportation network is rivaled mainly by the big cities in Europe and Asia like London, Hong Kong and Paris.
In Los Angeles the nation's second biggest city one generally needs a car to get around the city (they do have public transportation that they are expanding but they have a long way to go).
NYC has people and food from around the world to a degree most US cities don't.
For culture and media (plays, opera, film festivals) you have a lot of this in NYC, most US cities have little of this (outside of a few big East Coast cities, Chicago,and Los Angeles).
You can walk to pretty much everything you need if you live in an expensive part of Manhattan. Few other American cities are like this, if any.
And how many of those bars and restaurants are even worth visiting?
This goes back to my earlier point.. about quality over quantity. NYC is obsessed with quantity and ignores quality. More doesn't mean better. NYC might have more cat food varieties than any other city in the country. But if Philly, LA and DC all have less options.. yet the few they have are superior.. then it becomes a moot point.
Take the BEST of everything in NYC and compare it to the BEST of another city. Then you can really see how it measures up.
I have a real life example. NYC has 4 times more subway stations than DC. But compare NYC's best subway station to DC's best subway station and DC wins.
Those city don't have better options. For ethnic restaurants in NYC I have done Mexican, Jamaican, Italian, Colombian, French, Sengalese, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Brazilian, German, Polish, and Indian.
All of them were good quality and many of these groups are not represented in other cities in the US to even have restaurants.
And quanity can influence quality. I can go over a huge part of NYC with public transportation and like Henna said I prefer functionality over prettiness. NYC is 5 counties and I can travel, work, or do whatever else I need to do in them without a car. Most people in Manhattan do not have cars, and that is unique in an American city.
I agree that there are a lot of exagerations when describing NYC, and I also think NYC is awesome. The diversity you find in NYC is unmatched anywhere else. The people, the food, entertainment, etc. However, IMO, what is not exagerated is how expensive it is to live in NYC. You would think that a household income of $120k would suffice to own a single family home, in a decent place where your kids are safe and go to a good school. Not in NYC........... A lot of young families have made the move because of that and found the lifestyle they sought somewhere else. Most people don't want to live the single life forever. Most people don't want to go bar-hopping every weekend. At some point, it gets old, and you start to want to settle things down a little. This is very hard to do in NYC if you have kids and want to move live in an affordable residential area. There is no question that living in NYC is too expensive. To live anywhere in Manhattan south of like 125th street, without assistance, you'd have to be somewhat wealthy.
Not only that, we are the center of the universe that is the center of all the other parallel universes. People in the know will tell you that God himself owns a condo on 57th street
What I don't understand are those willing to pay outrageous rents to live in NYC (Manhattan specifically) because they "need to have all this stuff around them", and then once they get here, they pretty much ignore most of the city, i.e. the "I never go to Brooklyn/Queens/north of 14th" crowd. If you're going to confine yourself to such a tiny part of the city, what's the point of paying all this money to live in such a large place? If your whole world is 1-3 square miles, why not go someplace smaller where the rents are cheaper and leave NYC to those of us who actually appreciate the entire city?
Whether the city is being praised or trashed.. its almost always an exaggeration. Its like something about NYC makes people more dramatic than they would normally be.
Seriously... I agree its a large and exciting city. However, its not as over the top as everyone makes it out to be. its not THAT dirty. Its not THAT expensive. Its not THAT amazing. Its not a mind blowing place or anything. Its really just a larger version of most other U.S. cities. Sure it has its unique "only in New York" things.. but so does every other city. NYC just has more of everything.. but not necessarily higher quality everything.
It can be THAT dirty, it can be THAT expensive, and it can be THAT amazing. But on average yeah it's not like that. However I will say that I have yet to experience a dirtier or smellier city in the USA.
And how many of those bars and restaurants are even worth visiting?
This goes back to my earlier point.. about quality over quantity. NYC is obsessed with quantity and ignores quality. More doesn't mean better. NYC might have more cat food varieties than any other city in the country. But if Philly, LA and DC all have less options.. yet the few they have are superior.. then it becomes a moot point.
Take the BEST of everything in NYC and compare it to the BEST of another city. Then you can really see how it measures up.
I have a real life example. NYC has 4 times more subway stations than DC. But compare NYC's best subway station to DC's best subway station and DC wins.
There is nothing amazing about Manhattan anymore. The city is disgusting. Not sure how many of you walked along 6th ave lately. There are scaffolding everywhere, garbage everywhere and on Friday afternoon when I was walking to Penn I saw a guy pee right on the wall at the McDonalds on 28th and 6th. There are bums on every block either sleeping or pan handling. The food decent but there are much better choices in Queens and Brooklyn. All of my favorite places the eat are slowly closing because of the sky high rent prices. All the cool clubs are gone and so are the bars. Manhattan lost its soul in the 90's and now it is a haven for the rich or homeless. The only nice parts are the Upper West Side and Greenwich Village.
I think the the new heart of NY should be Brooklyn. To me it is a night and day experience. Williamsburg is what the Village used to be like in the early to mid 90's but a lot safer. You will find incredible Spanish, Italian, Middle Eastern and Pizza in Bay Ridge and Park Slope.
I do not know what people see in Manhattan or why people would want to come here. I know a lot of people that came for a few years and moved back. It just not the city that it used to be. The ONLY good thing about the city is the employment opportunities.
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