What things do you love (or not) about living in New York?
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At this point of my life, the positives of NYC far outweigh the negatives.
What I like about this thread subject is that its very realistic and shows how many places in the world have their positives AND negatives including NYC.
I want to ask the NYers how many of them will like to swim in Hudson River? Because here in CH I can swim in any lake or river without any fear and without seeing all that trash! NYC is the dirtiest city in the Western World (Italy is not part of the western world... they are 3rd world as far as I'm concerned).
They say that NYC has a lot of opportunities and you can't do anything in it. Ok... I'm an engineer... how many jobs are there for industrial/manufacturing engineers? Not too many! And usually pay so little that you won't be able to live in NYC.
Other thing that I dislike about NYC is that is too much poverty there that sometimes you think that you are in a 3rd world country!
You said exactly what I feel about NYC and most American cities.
The pervasive poverty really grinds on you after awhile (unless you live in really posh neighborhoods and drive/taxi)...
Worse is realizing that much of the poverty and gangbanger culture is self-inflicted, and a huge drag on the rest of society. Makes one want to be a Tea Partier.
What I don't love about New York:
People that walk down the street holding lit cigarettes, so that if you are walking next to or behind them, you are forced to smoke their cigarette. They are mostly not even smoking it, they are holding it and waving it around. Smokers -- what if I set off a stink bomb and waved it at you? It's the exact same thing.
What I love about New York:
Everything else
(@MilkDrinker, they do the 'smoking on the street' thing in Europe too, even worse in some places, like Bratislava. I have been there.)
Milk, this is the reason people are walking around the streets smoking -- they can't smoke inside anymore. Outside every restaurant, pub, bar, and office buiding there is such a toxic cloud in Europe you have to cross the street to avoid it. People huddle in doorways in the middle of the winter, creating a mess and bad air and crowding the sidewalk. A friend's 6-year-old daughter had her face burned and permanently scarred by someone in Paris carrying a cigarette in just the way I described in post #53.
I think the thing that most annoys me is the financial gap between the Upper and the Middle classes here. When joe "brown bag" can nolonger afford to own a home in his neighborhood because of politics that are beyond his control, then I think it's a problem.
About a year ago the idea to actually charge people to go into Central Park was actually brought up, but immediately was shot down by city council.
And just the other day out of curiosity, I looked up the costs of actually owning a parking space in a lot in Manhattan and I saw that some of the going rates were easily over 100k. Some were even over the 200k mark.
Then you have the Gestapo like parking police which is operated as a for-profit business venture handing out $80 and $100 tickets for not moving your car on this alleged "street cleaning" alternate side parking day
Seems like they're turning this into some kind of playground for the rich.
Parking time on side of street ended at 4:00, parking ticket at 4:16 -- $115
Badly parked for 5 minutes to take a picture, parking ticket -- $115
$230 in parking tickets before I even moved to NY -- and I moved here anyway!
It never made sense to anyone.
Alternate side parking is a hoax. They call it "street cleaning" but in reality a machine with twirling brushes just comes down the street and swirls the trash and leaves around without actually "cleaning" anything. They'd get more done just by hiring someone to sweep with a simple broom and dustpan.
Also the cost of the tickets themselves is simply outrageous. Years ago (5-10 to be exact) alternate side parking tickets were $35 in Brooklyn, now they're somewhere in the $50-$75 range. In Manhattan they're much higher like you said. When the question comes up of why they are so expensive the simple answer is "operating and processing costs." When you inquire further about what that actually means--you get a shrug of the shoulders.
Oh and let's not forget if your car is illegally towed. If you're lucky enough to have it by the NYPD, it'll be $175 for the tow, plus the $200 ticket pasted on your windshield, plus $50 a day storage fee (better pray it didn't happen on Friday because that's automatically 3 days charged.) And if you take it to court and actually win,--sure you don't have to pay the ticket after you spent 6 hours waiting to get your turn to explain the problem to some judge, but you will not be reimbursed for the tow or the storage because technically it wasn't part of the penalty and it's catagorized as an "operating expenditure."
OK, my God's honest view of NY from a foreigner's perspective who only spent about a week there in total.
I have to say on whole I did not like it too much but it was in Febuary and it was snowing so maybe I would view it differently in the summer. The roads, yes they are pretty crappy I was quite suprised it was so run down. Also in the cab from JFK a lot of neigbourhoods looked pretty shabby.
Our hotel in Manhattan was insanely expensive, then there were a ****e load of rubbish cheating government taxes on top of the bill. WTF can't they fix the roads with those taxes
Manhattan was nice, I like it but looking on zillow at rents you need to be quite wealthy to stay there. Personally I could afford it but it would sort of irk me that I have to pay through the nose for a modest flat just to live on the island. Anyway I really liked it, I do not think I would be content living in some suburb...like Queens.
We went to Queens to do some shopping, did not like that at all. Lots of apartment blocks, dirty streets. We also had our baby boy, no subways have lifts ( elevators) Come on NY it is 2010 not the 1950's.
The Milk guy mentioned resturants and I have to concur on the cheaper take away sort of places. The food was sloppy and basically tasted the same. I would say most of the time the quality was pretty bad.
On the other hand fine dining is a delight, I have never had so many people kiss my butt all at once. Really I was amazed but the downside is the totally insane tips that are expected, 10% is normal for me here in Europe. 15% is still ok, but 20-25% is just silly when you are already spending 120 USD on dinner for 3. I know, I know, that is the way things are done there so I can live with that.
What else....hmm. Every cab driver I spoke to wanted to leave NYC, they were all trapped there and wanted something else but could not afford to move away.
Oh BTW, someone mentioned Bratislava earlier, absolutely beatiful place in the old town, not as nice as where I live now in Prague but still nice ( central europe actually, not Eastern Europe)
So to sum up, I think NY is like any mega city. A nice energetic centre which is too expensive for most to live in, surrounded by people struggling to pay over priced rents in run down suburbs. For most on the lower end of the economic scale it is tough, even for those on good incomes you burn a lot on accommodation if you want a nice lifestyle.
NY reminded me of London in many ways, not architecturally but more in the struggle of high property prices, dirty suburbs, enthicity, public transport and the paradox of people thinking that they are on one hand they are living dream but on the other they are living the nightmare of day to day reality of an overcrowded, expensive city.
Freedom
Diversity and the acceptance/enjoyment of cultural and individual differences
Lots of great things to do and eat--cheap, cheap, cheap (or expensive, if that's your thing)
All-night diners
Incredibly high-quality entertainment everywhere--at every income level (I am in heaven)
Washington Square Park (the beauty, the entertainment, the chilled out atmosphere)
The Village
Pelham Parkway area (a new discovery)
That most people speak their minds (still recovering from my year in the midwest, no offense)
Public transportation at all hours of the day and night
That no one looks at me with disbelief or boredom, or as if I am from the Planet Zaytar, when I tell them I am a poet, performer, and instructor
The open mic scene for poets, musicians, and performers
The bookstores
The cafes
The architecture
The scenery
The parks
The rivers
That there is so much to do and to see that you could live here a lifetime and never do and see it all
What I do not like:
The rudeness (on occasion) of certain store clerks
Pushing and shoving on the trains
Tourists who hog the sidewalks
Litter
Pollution
Noise
Crowds
Traffic
That Manhattan apartments have become too expensive for those of us in the middle-income bracket
That finding an apartment has become a feat worthy of applause
Last edited by Nala8; 09-04-2010 at 06:11 PM..
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