Broooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooklyn. Some parts are wonderful, beautiful and charasmatic. Other parts are dumps.
Southern Brooklyn is suburban, sort of. But it takes about an hour to get into Manhattan. That can be a real issue, especially if you take the subway during rush hours.
You're packed like sardines, the train is physically hot, and there are nuts on the train who may try to feel you up. And the train often gets stuck.
But if you are willing to handle that, or if you travel to and from work during off-peak times, or if you work in Brooklyn or Queens, then southern Brookyn has some nice things to offer. There is the water, the beaches, Rockaway (Queens) and the open ocean across the Marine Parkway Bridge. There is Jamaica Bay. There are some interesting neighborhoods such as Gerritsen Beach, Manhattan Beach, Brighton Beach. There are some strongly ethnic neighborhoods. There is also a lot of ethnic and religious diversity. The Arab delis serve wonderful coffee to Jewish customers. There are lots of Jews, Christians and Muslims. There is the amusement park section of Coney Island. A dump, but historic and campy. And it is on the open ocean, but the ocean there doesn't have the big waves of Rockaway. There is diversity of architecture in Midwood, Prospect Heights, Ditmas Park.
Unfortunately, lots of the southern coastal areas of Brooklyn are built on landfill. If there were an earthquake, a lot of the land would probably liquify.
Coney Island Creek is gross. I pass there several times a week. I see sunken boats with their tops sticking out. The water could be lovely if it were cleaned up but right now it is disgusting. I think they are actually working on cleaning it up. Further north in Brooklyn is the Gawanus Canal. Also disgusting, but on the way to being non-disgusting. People actually kayak on it. And some fish actually swim in it.
The pace of life is slower than in Manhattan or Brooklyn Heights, which is both a plus and a minus. I have lived in Manhattan. I much prefer to listen to quiet or birds in southern Brooklyn than to heavy traffic in Manhattan.
Queens has some interesting and pretty areas. I really don't know Queens well, so I will not say much more. Parts of Forest Hills are gorgeous. The ethnic diversity in Queens is more breathtaking than that in Brooklyn, if ou can believe it. I believe that Queens is the most ethnically diverse county in the country.
The Bronx? Riverdale is beautiful, and there are some other areas of the Bronx that are nice. City Island is nice. But much of the Bronx is really ugly.
Staten Island is pretty in spots, but it is getting built up. I used to work there, and I found the people much more provincial than in Brooklyn. Also, you need to spend money to get off the island. It can be very insular.
But, in my opinion, I think Brooooooooklyn is the best borough to live in. It has its own charisma. But I am prejudiced, because I grew up there.
I'm still trying to get up the nerve to move to Vermont.
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