NYC to Maine

[chaser]

I'm a 36 yr old female who moved to Portland last March after 9 years in NYC working in publishing and then public health. I lived in the East Village, Park Slope, Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights, Lower East Side...pretty much all the young, "hip" neighborhoods.

I love living in Portland, and having just visited NYC this past weekend I agree with a previous poster that living in Maine and visiting NYC is, for me, the better way to go. When you live in NYC, you never have enough money to do half the things you're supposed to live there for--dinners out, shopping, theater, etc. I stayed in my old apartment while I was there, with my old roommate, in a 2 BR co-op apartment he owns on the Lower East Side (i.e., a good deal). When I moved in there two year ago, it was the biggest, nicest, most spacious apartment I'd lived in during my entire time in New York. Now, coming from the even more spacious, ocean-view apartment with a deck that I live in now with my boyfriend, my old place seemed much smaller than I remembered. I can't imagine going back to that life. I also worked much harder in NYC than here, for less money (believe it or not) and less respect than I get in my job here. Now I am home by 5:15 with time to walk along the Eastern Prom, go to yoga, shop for dinner or do whatever before deciding how to spend my evening. The pace of life really is different, even more so than I expected.

However, I will also agree with another poster in that Portland can be a bit seedy. As anyone currently living in New York knows, the city is squeakier clean than Mickey Mouse. I never once felt unsafe living there. But I would be afraid to wear my iPod while walking down Congress Street here in Portland; I always feel like someone is sneaking up behind me there. It does have a seedier feel than most of the streets in Manhattan and Brooklyn where I lived. I've seen a homeless, drunk, crazy guy harassing a pregnant woman and her young child there at 5 at night--ostensibly one of the busiest times of the day. That's kind of scary, especially since Congress is one of the city's main arteries, not some out-of-the-way side street.

One caveat to bear in mind is that I grew up in a small town in Rhode Island, and went to college in Vermont, so New England and all its eccentricities are not new to me. Also my father and grandmother lived here so I did visit York County quite a few times as a teenager. My boyfriend (who I met in NYC right before I left) moved up here in August and I think he's had a harder time adjusting--he had never set foot in New England until he met me, though he is originally from Minnesota and had only been in NYC for 5 years before moving here. It also took him a good four months to find steady IT work, like the work he was doing in NYC. Before that he was bartending in a hotel bar near the airport.

Overall, I am very pleased with my move to Portland from NYC. We had a blast visiting the city this past weekend, but neither of us wished we were still living in NYC--we were just happy to know the city well enough to be able to enjoy one of the world's greatest cities without feeling like tourists, but we were even happier to come home.

[Boomerang]

Originally Posted by chaser

However, I will also agree with another poster in that Portland can be a bit seedy. But I would be afraid to wear my iPod while walking down Congress Street here in Portland; I always feel like someone is sneaking up behind me there. It does have a seedier feel than most of the streets in Manhattan and Brooklyn where I lived. I've seen a homeless, drunk, crazy guy harassing a pregnant woman and her young child there at 5 at night--ostensibly one of the busiest times of the day. That's kind of scary, especially since Congress is one of the city's main arteries, not some out-of-the-way side street.

Those of you who've lived in Portland awhile -
do you think crime is worse, the same, or better than when Mike Chitwood was Chief of Police? Pretty sad when a small city like this is less safe than NYC!

[Bobbidan]

Oh My God, Bless you for being able to adapt like you sound you have. As a native nyorker who moved here after 9/11, "for the children", I'm am eager to relocate somewhere closer to the city. Portland would be a nice alternative to my present locale but the costs.....! Anyways, more power to you and your love of ME but I'm sorry the silence is stifling already.

[Mainer61]

Last August when we took our daughter to NYC to college, we walked all over and were very pleasantly surprised .... drivers were polite (probably saw the Maine plates. ). Portland is getting bad...yes, worse now than when Chitwood was there it seems...Boston is worse yet (at least the driving).

[AustinB]

Originally Posted by contented

in a nutshell........

NY........unfit for human habitation
MAINE......almost perfect for human habitation

Pssst... if you don't stop telling these people stuff like that, they all may move up here. Do we really want that? I always try to get that a home depot will be coming to town soon, into each conversation.

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by AustinB

Pssst... if you don't stop telling these people stuff like that, they all may move up here. Do we really want that? I always try to get that a home depot will be coming to town soon, into each conversation.

So true! But along with the influx of people comes places like... oh say, Home Depot.

[contented]

good point austinb.........gotta say i've been adding to the traffic in your town lately as i love to go through brooklin on my way to blue hill from deer isle. accross the ben/river bridge and up the river road.............nice ride and everybody waves

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Great post, Chaser. You have your finger on the pulse of Portland. I think the Portland Police Department is still finding its way from the pattern of busting heads under Chitwood and a friendlier community policing model. They need to find that middle ground where a young Mom is not threatened at 5 PM because the malefactor knows nobody will do anything about it.

[Zymer]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

They need to find that middle ground where a young Mom is not threatened at 5 PM because the malefactor knows nobody will do anything about it.

*I* would do something about it, if I saw it happening. I have "interfered" in such events before and I would do it again. Cops mostly just do the clean-up after, they rarely prevent anything. It is concerned citizens who need to stand up and defend those who cannot defend themselves when the time arises, instead of turning their heads and pretending they don't see it.

[chaser]

Originally Posted by Zymer

*I* would do something about it, if I saw it happening. I have "interfered" in such events before and I would do it again. Cops mostly just do the clean-up after, they rarely prevent anything. It is concerned citizens who need to stand up and defend those who cannot defend themselves when the time arises, instead of turning their heads and pretending they don't see it.

It would be nice if we could all step in to stop a situation like harassment, but in my case, I am a pregnant woman myself, and would not have felt safe doing anything--especially with the icy sidewalks. True, I could have alerted another passerby, but on this particular day the streets were pretty empty.