Any Long Islanders thinking of moving into NYC?

[AlexisT]

We're considering moving into the city for the next year, only because we want to rent and Queens has much more choice.

Brooklyn is a little too congested for us, though.

[omigawd]

The only part of Brooklyn I would live in would be Greenpoint.... One stop into Manhattan on the "L". Unfortunately, people have "discovered" this and Greenpoint, once a beautiful little immigrant (Polish) community is now becoming a Yuppie (yuck) haven. Developers are buying up all the buildings, land, and warehouses and making them into condos, coops, and lofts and charging a fortune for everything.

Other parts of Bklyn (bay ridge, etc) are much too suburban for my taste.

[fyrisle]

I'm a former Long Islander that moved into the city almost 20 years ago. I've lived in some nice sections: Battery Park City, Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn and now near Gramercy Park in Manhattan. If you can afford it, you can live comfortably in NYC. That is the catch. After elementary school, the school test scores plummet. I'm not willing to pay $30,000/yr for a private school so we will be moving to a good school district in the suburbs within the next few years. On top of that, the real estate prices are stil very lofty. I don't know about rental costs but in Manhattan and the nicer parts of Brooklyn (Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carrol Gardens, Park Slope, etc) you are paying close to $1000/sq foot for an apartment. A 1000 square foot apartment in good condition would cost at least $1,000,000.