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Old 10-22-2011, 04:17 AM
 
149 posts, read 360,421 times
Reputation: 125

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I don't understand this, it's something interesting I've noticed. These are some things I've observed:

-Being 40 miles from the border of a major city in other states, you're considered pretty damn close to that city. For NYC it seems like you have to be within like 20 miles to be considered really in the area.

-It seems some people in Suffolk who are closer to NYC than the East End like to play up how far out they live assuming that it gets richer and richer the farther East you go. They exaggerate how far out east they live when they really are in central LI.

-When I went to college I met lots of kids from Nassau and when I told them I was from central LI around Ronkonkoma their responses were" oh wow so you're way out there!" and "oh so you live on the east end". I understand everything is relative, but how is central LI the east end? Most people seem to realize the beginning of the real "out east" is around Riverhead. Ronkonkoma by car is probably about 45-50 minutes from the Queens border. Anything under an hour I would think is considered pretty close, especially if it's a major city.

-Some people are almost in denial and want to pretend like we live in the country I don't get it. It's like instead of being proud of living so close to the greatest city in the US, you don't want to be grouped in with being in the NYC area.

-In so many advertisements or websites for companies I will see stuff like "We are located 1 hour and a half from NYC!" when in reality it's only 1 hour. I have even seen things in Babylon described as being 1 hour and 20 minutes from NYC while it's 25 miles from the Queens border! All of these false statements are so misleading. These sayings only refer to the time from MANHATTAN! Many people don't realize Queens is our border with NYC. Queens is a much shorter commute by car and is still technically NYC and the closest part of NYC to LI, so why don't ads say "Only 40 miles from NYC" instead of "60 miles from NYC!"? That's a pretty big difference of 20 miles. I also remember a story on the news of a NYC cab driving to Patchogue to drop off a guys money he left. They said "Patchogue, a small town 70 miles from NYC"...are you kidding? Patchogue is like 45 miles from the Queens border. 45 miles to NYC not 70.

-My point is...why do some people act like central Suffolk is WAY out there when we have a major airport in MacArthur which is considered a legitimate NYC airport. It's literally listed as a New York City airport if you look it up. Yet We get treated like we live in Greenport.
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Old 10-22-2011, 04:40 AM
 
886 posts, read 2,647,898 times
Reputation: 913
Holy Smokes! We were just discussing this Thursday night at our dinner table. Last night the conversation was which way the toilet paper roll should placed on the roller.
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Old 10-22-2011, 05:37 AM
 
Location: Inis Fada
16,966 posts, read 34,727,089 times
Reputation: 7724
OK, I'll bite.

I am Bronx born and partially bred. When my parents left the Bronx for LI (Levittown) their families reacted like it was moving to the end of the earth. It was (then) a completely different animal compared to any of the OUTER boroughs of NYC.

My parents referred (as do many people) to Manhattan as NYC; the remaining boroughs by their names. When some of my family moved to Bayside, and we would go to visit, we were either: "going to Queens" or "going to Bayside". Two of those family members worked on the UWS. So Bronx born and bred, relocated to Queens, but they said they "worked in NYC".

When I am heading to NYC, like my family, and like many friends families who moved from a borough of NYC to LI, when we refer to NYC we, too, mean Manhattan.

Depending on traffic -- I have had 1 instance where I was able to make it home to Stony Brook from Times Square in a little over an hour. Traffic was with me, and I was frantic with a sick child in the car. Let's just say I exceeded the posted speed limit and wasn't caught. More often than not, I am looking at 90 mins with normal Manhattan traffic and Queens roadwork/congestion. I head into NYC (Manhattan to those not from a Borough) for entertainment only, so I have the luxury of traveling off peak hours by car. The LIRR is another story completely -- 2 hours.

Those from Stony Brook who have to commute from Stony Brook to the City (Manhattan) have an over 2 hour ride one way by train into Penn, followed by subway or walk to their offices.

Looking at it from that time perspective, it's hardly close.

For those of us in Suffolk, it is different than living in a Borough of NYC. We prefer not being lumped into that category. As it is there are plenty of non NYers who have no idea that Manorhaven and Manorville are no where near each other, or that you don't roll out of bed on the UES and land in East Hampton. Speaking for myself, I don't do it to give some sense of wealth, but because to me, having roots in The Bronx, being close to the City is relative.

Perhaps it does boil down to pride in where we live -- that we don't feel that we have to embrace 'we are close to Manhattan' to define ourselves.
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Old 10-22-2011, 07:40 AM
 
Location: under the beautiful Carolina blue
22,671 posts, read 36,810,996 times
Reputation: 19891
Nobody is referring to Queens when they refer to "the city". Techinically, is that the border? Of course. But when someone says "hey do you have something special planned for your 25th anniversary" and the other person responds "yeah we're spending the weekend in the city! so excited!" NO ONE THINKS THEY ARE REFERRING TO QUEENS!!!

I have also never, ever seen an ad where someone tries to make the city look farther away than it really is. Even on this board you will see people saying "oh, yeah, buy a house in Ronkonkoma - your commute won't be much more than an hour!!" In fact the other day I saw an ad for a house rental in Huntington touting the fact that Huntington is "20 minutes from NYC!" with an accompanying picture of Times Square. Perhaps that's your house you are trying to rent???

I don't think most people are trying to make it out like they live farther away than they normally do. It's just that Manhattan is unique in that it's an island, which presents different challenges in getting there that don't exist other places. I used to live - technically - 18 miles from mid-town Manhattan. Any best scenario, whether train or driving, would never get me there in less than 1 hour. On the other hand, I was practically walking distance from the Queens border.

Last edited by twingles; 10-22-2011 at 07:51 AM..
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Old 10-22-2011, 07:53 AM
 
Location: Wallens Ridge
3,122 posts, read 4,954,897 times
Reputation: 17269
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhBeeHave View Post
OK, I'll bite.

I am Bronx born and partially bred.


I guess that's better than me being fully spawned
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Old 10-22-2011, 07:54 AM
 
Location: under the beautiful Carolina blue
22,671 posts, read 36,810,996 times
Reputation: 19891
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhBeeHave View Post
I am Bronx born and partially bred. When my parents left the Bronx for LI (Levittown) their families reacted like it was moving to the end of the earth. .
LOL, same exact scenario with my parents. When they went from Levittown to Huntington, my dad's co-workers told him he was crazy - Huntington was the "end of the line" for the electrified LIRR!
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Old 10-22-2011, 08:05 AM
 
7,658 posts, read 19,177,363 times
Reputation: 1328
Quote:
Originally Posted by LINY89 View Post
I don't understand this, it's something interesting I've noticed. These are some things I've observed:

-Being 40 miles from the border of a major city in other states, you're considered pretty damn close to that city. For NYC it seems like you have to be within like 20 miles to be considered really in the area.

-It seems some people in Suffolk who are closer to NYC than the East End like to play up how far out they live assuming that it gets richer and richer the farther East you go. They exaggerate how far out east they live when they really are in central LI.

-When I went to college I met lots of kids from Nassau and when I told them I was from central LI around Ronkonkoma their responses were" oh wow so you're way out there!" and "oh so you live on the east end". I understand everything is relative, but how is central LI the east end? Most people seem to realize the beginning of the real "out east" is around Riverhead. Ronkonkoma by car is probably about 45-50 minutes from the Queens border. Anything under an hour I would think is considered pretty close, especially if it's a major city.

-Some people are almost in denial and want to pretend like we live in the country I don't get it. It's like instead of being proud of living so close to the greatest city in the US, you don't want to be grouped in with being in the NYC area.

-In so many advertisements or websites for companies I will see stuff like "We are located 1 hour and a half from NYC!" when in reality it's only 1 hour. I have even seen things in Babylon described as being 1 hour and 20 minutes from NYC while it's 25 miles from the Queens border! All of these false statements are so misleading. These sayings only refer to the time from MANHATTAN! Many people don't realize Queens is our border with NYC. Queens is a much shorter commute by car and is still technically NYC and the closest part of NYC to LI, so why don't ads say "Only 40 miles from NYC" instead of "60 miles from NYC!"? That's a pretty big difference of 20 miles. I also remember a story on the news of a NYC cab driving to Patchogue to drop off a guys money he left. They said "Patchogue, a small town 70 miles from NYC"...are you kidding? Patchogue is like 45 miles from the Queens border. 45 miles to NYC not 70.

-My point is...why do some people act like central Suffolk is WAY out there when we have a major airport in MacArthur which is considered a legitimate NYC airport. It's literally listed as a New York City airport if you look it up. Yet We get treated like we live in Greenport.

One can only assume its to justify the unreasonable and clearly questionable taxes and premium of Nassau.
"40x100.....wot a deal!"

Ill take that question one a step further.Why is our proximity to the City line seemingly exaggerated to seem further away than it really is?As if once youve passed the Cross Island youre in the cozy confines of the Burbs.

Theres seems to be some kind of mass delusion in Queens East. The truth of the matter is that the internets changes everything.Telecommuting has eliminated time and space for many and the magnet of NYC is not what it was for our parents.

Nassau better find something more compelling than a mediocre NYC commute to offer or its just going to be a bedroom community for NYC cops, firemen, and civil service workers. Perhaps it already is?

I think Nassau really s4it the bed when it passed on the Lighthouse project and history will judge it as such.It was a good project that would have complemented the region greatly. If Nassau were a bit more like White Plains it would definitely not be a bad thing for LI.

"The times they are a changin"

Bottom line...it's mythology cooked up by a frail Real Estate ecosystem thats slowly eroding by virtue of reality.

Crooks
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Old 10-22-2011, 08:41 AM
 
Location: On a Long Island in NY
7,800 posts, read 10,110,162 times
Reputation: 7366
Long Island developed differently, people came out to Long Island to get away from "the city" and that mentality has persisted. In many ways that is a good thing; Long Island is culturally, politically, and economically independent of New York City.

New York City is the symbol of all that is wrong with the United States today: too much immigration and not enough assimilation, too much diversity, too much government regulation, stupid politicians like Bloomberg, etc. I don't blame my fellow LIers for not wanting to be associated with that mess. The sooner the Five Boroughs floats off into the Atlantic the better.
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Old 10-22-2011, 10:05 AM
 
Location: Planet Earth
3,921 posts, read 9,131,897 times
Reputation: 1673
Quote:
Originally Posted by LINY89 View Post
I don't understand this, it's something interesting I've noticed. These are some things I've observed:

-Being 40 miles from the border of a major city in other states, you're considered pretty damn close to that city. For NYC it seems like you have to be within like 20 miles to be considered really in the area.

-It seems some people in Suffolk who are closer to NYC than the East End like to play up how far out they live assuming that it gets richer and richer the farther East you go. They exaggerate how far out east they live when they really are in central LI.

-When I went to college I met lots of kids from Nassau and when I told them I was from central LI around Ronkonkoma their responses were" oh wow so you're way out there!" and "oh so you live on the east end". I understand everything is relative, but how is central LI the east end? Most people seem to realize the beginning of the real "out east" is around Riverhead. Ronkonkoma by car is probably about 45-50 minutes from the Queens border. Anything under an hour I would think is considered pretty close, especially if it's a major city.

-Some people are almost in denial and want to pretend like we live in the country I don't get it. It's like instead of being proud of living so close to the greatest city in the US, you don't want to be grouped in with being in the NYC area.

-In so many advertisements or websites for companies I will see stuff like "We are located 1 hour and a half from NYC!" when in reality it's only 1 hour. I have even seen things in Babylon described as being 1 hour and 20 minutes from NYC while it's 25 miles from the Queens border! All of these false statements are so misleading. These sayings only refer to the time from MANHATTAN! Many people don't realize Queens is our border with NYC. Queens is a much shorter commute by car and is still technically NYC and the closest part of NYC to LI, so why don't ads say "Only 40 miles from NYC" instead of "60 miles from NYC!"? That's a pretty big difference of 20 miles. I also remember a story on the news of a NYC cab driving to Patchogue to drop off a guys money he left. They said "Patchogue, a small town 70 miles from NYC"...are you kidding? Patchogue is like 45 miles from the Queens border. 45 miles to NYC not 70.

-My point is...why do some people act like central Suffolk is WAY out there when we have a major airport in MacArthur which is considered a legitimate NYC airport. It's literally listed as a New York City airport if you look it up. Yet We get treated like we live in Greenport.
That's odd. I would've thought that people would've advertised themselves as being closer to NYC, since the housing prices generally go up the closer you are. Then again, I guess how they talk to their friends is different from how they advertise their home when they sell it.

But as far as being a certain distance from Queens, people generally don't care about how far you are from the city line: They care about how far you are from Manhattan. When people move out to LI, they're looking for a decent commute to Penn Station, not Rosedale, Little Neck, or Bellerose.

But as far as being in the country, I guess compared to Manhattan, they are in the country. Instead of living in a 20-story apartment building, they're living in a 2-story house with more land.

But as far as being considered near NYC, our metropolitan area is pretty big (I guess because the city itself is big, so the suburbs extend proportionately further out)

Quote:
Originally Posted by WIHS2006 View Post
Long Island developed differently, people came out to Long Island to get away from "the city" and that mentality has persisted. In many ways that is a good thing; Long Island is culturally, politically, and economically independent of New York City.

New York City is the symbol of all that is wrong with the United States today: too much immigration and not enough assimilation, too much diversity, too much government regulation, stupid politicians like Bloomberg, etc. I don't blame my fellow LIers for not wanting to be associated with that mess. The sooner the Five Boroughs floats off into the Atlantic the better.
It's not economically independent of NYC. If it weren't for NYC, it would be a very different place. Companies locate out in LI because of the proximity to NYC, and provide a source of employment for LIers (of course, many go to work in NYC itself)

As far as the problems, I don't see a problem. It's not like there are a ton of illegal aliens, and it's definitely not "too diverse" (would you rather it be like East St. Louis which is 97% Black, or Detroit which is about 80% Black?). And all over the country, you have stupid politicians and government regulation (including many areas of LI I'm sure)
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Old 10-22-2011, 10:44 AM
 
Location: On a Long Island in NY
7,800 posts, read 10,110,162 times
Reputation: 7366
Quote:
Originally Posted by checkmatechamp13 View Post
That's odd. I would've thought that people would've advertised themselves as being closer to NYC, since the housing prices generally go up the closer you are. Then again, I guess how they talk to their friends is different from how they advertise their home when they sell it.

But as far as being a certain distance from Queens, people generally don't care about how far you are from the city line: They care about how far you are from Manhattan. When people move out to LI, they're looking for a decent commute to Penn Station, not Rosedale, Little Neck, or Bellerose.

But as far as being in the country, I guess compared to Manhattan, they are in the country. Instead of living in a 20-story apartment building, they're living in a 2-story house with more land.

But as far as being considered near NYC, our metropolitan area is pretty big (I guess because the city itself is big, so the suburbs extend proportionately further out)



It's not economically independent of NYC. If it weren't for NYC, it would be a very different place. Companies locate out in LI because of the proximity to NYC, and provide a source of employment for LIers (of course, many go to work in NYC itself)

As far as the problems, I don't see a problem. It's not like there are a ton of illegal aliens, and it's definitely not "too diverse" (would you rather it be like East St. Louis which is 97% Black, or Detroit which is about 80% Black?). And all over the country, you have stupid politicians and government regulation (including many areas of LI I'm sure)
NYC is the nation's most racially and ethnically diverse city.
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