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NYC is fabulous for some - i.e. urbanist, yuppie, high income, and the rich and probably not great for others - typical American (re: suburban) household.
With NYC, they might admire it from the tube while watching glamorous shows like Sex and the City reruns or every other film that comes out in the cinema these days. Most Americans like their big SUVs, McDonalds (65%+ of Americans are overweight), and places like NYC or San Francisco are so different from the typical American big-box, SUV lifestyle.
But it's interesting how NYC is so strongly defined by their city proper unlike every other city. When one says "Seattle", "Los Angeles" or "Dallas", they also include the suburban areas of the metro area outside of the city limits. Even on City Data, New York (and D.C.) are the only city-proper forums. OP's problems with NYC don't exist in Greater NYC's suburban areas like Westchester and Fairfield County.
Last edited by Louis XVI; 06-04-2014 at 09:53 PM..
This thread is pretty funny since most people who post on this forum probably live in auto-oriented, suburban style housing. I bet most posters on this forum rely on their car to go grocery shopping, to commute to work, or even just to go out to meet with friends.
So I wouldn't really rely on anyone who criticizes urban places, such as SF or NYC, unless they have actually lived there, especially from some suburban outsider. Now that I'm living a car-free lifestyle in an urban neighborhood, I don't think I'll ever go back to the suburbs again. I'd drop dead with boredom.
Many people chose to live in particular places based on their family responsibilities, income horizon, professional prospects and as an encapsulating factor, age and experience. I'm glad you are getting a chance to go through your "urban explorer" phase, and I must confess, I rather enjoyed the time I spent living in NYC and London without a car (or even Boston with a car). Many people grow up, become successful adults, make enough money to afford houses in these respective metros and verify that it actually is quite nice to have a car, house and immediate proximity to these cities without having to take home the filth, tension-inducing density, inconvenience and lack of peace that truly big cities can often hand out (and a quick hint - Seattle is not a big city). I would present to you the state of Connecticut as an example, but I am sure you know this already.......
Back to the original question, I would say that in my limited experience with City-Data, New York is certainly romanticized here, but usually by people who don't know what it is like to live in Manhattan and work an 80-hour work week. I think the romanticism is a bit parochial - people tend to fixate on their home city or the city they moved to, and justify it with some "skyscrapers = good" logic that would not be understood by people that actually work in them. I understand the audience, but the romanticism here that I see tends to revolve around having tall buildings, solidly middle-class shopping options masquerading as luxury, renovated urban condominiums and new real-estate developments with a few average dining options thrown in. Is New York the ideal that this is copying? I guess - but it's not the Manhattan I knew.
Quote:
Originally Posted by citylove101
I love my hometown, but if we are world class in anything, it's in bitching andoaning about how awful the place is becoming. Sometimes I think the only people who love New York are people who don't live there.
I love my hometown, but if we are world class in anything, it's in bitching andoaning about how awful the place is becoming. Sometimes I think the only people who love New York are people who don't live there.
NYC is fabulous for some - i.e. urbanist, yuppie, high income, and the rich and probably not great for others - typical American (re: suburban) household.
With NYC, they might admire it from the tube while watching glamorous shows like Sex and the City reruns or every other film that comes out in the cinema these days. Most Americans like their big SUVs, McDonalds (65%+ of Americans are overweight), and places like NYC or San Francisco are so different from the typical American big-box, SUV lifestyle.
But it's interesting how NYC is so strongly defined by their city proper unlike every other city. When one says "Seattle", "Los Angeles" or "Dallas", they also include the suburban areas of the metro area outside of the city limits. Even on City Data, New York (and D.C.) are the only city-proper forums. OP's problems with NYC don't exist in Greater NYC's suburban areas like Westchester and Fairfield County.
I mean, that's good for them. Still have yet to see what the big deal is with NYC -- other than it's the largest city in the US and HQ for many large businesses (and I grew up going to the city quite often living in NJ!)
When people insult LA, it's like alright, whatever, you clearly don't get it. Whenever anybody insults NY, expect an uproar of insults to ensue.
You say most American's don't get NYC because of being overweight and liking McDonald's. I can tell you how many people living in suburban NJ don't like NYC either. They only like being "close" to the city in theory.
I mean, that's good for them. Still have yet to see what the big deal is with NYC -- other than it's the largest city in the US and HQ for many large businesses (and I grew up going to the city quite often living in NJ!)
When people insult LA, it's like alright, whatever, you clearly don't get it. Whenever anybody insults NY, expect an uproar of insults to ensue.
You say most American's don't get NYC because of being overweight and liking McDonald's. I can tell you how many people living in suburban NJ don't like NYC either. They only like being "close" to the city in theory.
For every 1 person who decamps New York for suburban New Jersey on the weekend, there are 1,000 NJ people crossing a bridge and tunnel into Manhattan. I don't think you want to compare the desirability of the two places to one another. People in the city are way, way more likely to dislike NJ than the other way around.
And you may not understand the big deal with New York and that's fine. So our opinions cancel each other out and we're back to square one. It's not about you as threads like this speak in generalities so a way to analyze this is to pull out surveys, sort of like this one: New York voted favorite destination in annual survey of wealthy travelers - Yahoo Finance
Last edited by Louis XVI; 06-05-2014 at 11:59 AM..
For every 1 person who decamps New York for suburban New Jersey on the weekend, there are 1,000 NJ people crossing a bridge and tunnel into Manhattan. I don't think you want to compare the desirability of the two places to one another. People in the city are way, way more likely to dislike NJ than the other way around.
And you may not understand the big deal with New York and that's fine. So our opinions cancel each other out and we're back to square one. It's not about you as threads like this speak in generalities so a way to analyze this is to pull out surveys, sort of like this one: New York voted favorite destination in annual survey of wealthy travelers - Yahoo Finance
NY and NJ are neighbors. They will hate on each other no matter what even though they share the same bridges, tunnels, and transit systems. Desirability? Both regions are completely overrated -- mainly due to COL and miserable people.
And your article: Kind of goes back to the theory of the liberal media having a massive boner for anything NYC. Can't change that.
NY and NJ are neighbors. They will hate on each other no matter what even though they share the same bridges, tunnels, and transit systems. Desirability? Both regions are completely overrated -- mainly due to COL and miserable people.
And your article: Kind of goes back to the theory of the liberal media having a massive boner for anything NYC. Can't change that.
From an economic standpoint, there is no such thing as "overrated". NY has the most elite of any city in the world for a reason. Desirable places always have high COL.
Last edited by Louis XVI; 06-05-2014 at 01:43 PM..
From an economic standpoint, there is no such thing as "overrated". NY has the most elite of any city in the world for a reason. Desirable places always have high COL.
Right, because no other cities compare to NYC Keep up that elitist mentality.
Growing up in NJ and PA, I always had that elitist mentality about NYC. No other city can compare, right?!
Then I moved to London for a couple years and my eyes were opened.
Well, no other cities can compare with New York, London and Paris and Tokyo - the "Big Four." :-)
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Keep up that elitist mentality.
