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It's pretty basic: But for some reason still fatally challenges the intellectual capacity of people. RS helps lower-income people and profiteering audits and verifications for landlords and developers, especially as regards unchecked and abused tax benefits, should not be fought tooth-and-nail.
See how it works ... ? Any thinking ? Anything at all ...?
When you provide a factual and detailed piece of evidence proving your point of view, I'll gladly consider.
With the exception of those in our society needing a helping hand like Seniors, Disabled, the very poor, etc, people need to live where they can afford. You are not owed a penthouse on CPW with park views, you work for it. Thread after thread is of people moving here with unrealistic expectations.
RS is not income based. That's the problem - as some posters here are trying to explain. People screaming here that there should be low-income based housing so that's why we have RS!.... except RS isn't low-income based housing. In fact you can earn up to $199,000 a year and still be in RS protection.
The point is we should make low-income based housing actually low-income based. As it is currently set up, its random whether the people in an RS apartment actually are low or moderate income. They just can't earn $200,000 for 2 yrs running....!
That sort of thing escapes the intellectual universe of Harlem Resident - who calls capitalism baloney.
I don't know what to say or where to begin. First off you will be moving to NYC as a "transplant". Transplants tend to live in areas where people who are like them congregate, careerist, suburban minded, liberal while being closet conservative, educated and so on. Affordable neighborhoods in NYC that are decently priced are not located in prime areas and are a bit further away. Also folks in none prime areas are not so career oriented, probably locally native to NYC or from immigrant backgrounds, but folks here are very hard working. Also some of these areas that I have mentioned have decent public schools vs transplantish arears where schools still might be crap and parents send their kids to private schools. Some folks in NYC can afford to live here due to living in subsidized housing like NYCHA, living in an rent control apartment for decades, or owning a home before real estate market sky rocketed here.
My advise to you is to probably brain storm with your wife, talk to a real estate broker, if that does not work maybe hire a think tank and here what they have to say. My suggestion would be hip prime areas of Brooklyn like Park Slope, that's if you can afford it. Its also good for families also. Try Jersey City if anything. Another good look would be Forest Hills Queens, Parkchester in the Bronx.
That's exactly why I'm asking for advice So I can get insight from people who have lived in NYC for their whole lives and can suggest areas I'm missing as an outsider.
As for us: we are honestly and truthfully liberal, academics, and NOT suburban minded. I'm not sure about "career-oriented": my job is important to me, I want to do it well, perfectly happy to work long hours, but I don't care about money and power.
I'm an immigrant myself - maybe I don't look like it (I'm European, very white, have lived in a few different countries and traveled extensively) - but nevertheless, I'm not American. I've lived in a big European city in a predominantly South Asian neighborhood and was very happy there. I've also lived in an inner, white Boston suburb and hated it with passion. So I want to stay away from typical middle-class white suburbs. I don't know how else to say it, suburban life is not for me. The isolation is making me clinically depressed. It's a place made for cars and dogs, IMHO, not for humans. I need a neighborhood with people walking around. Ethnic groceries, cheap eateries all very welcome.
What exactly are you seeking? Are you fixated on being within the boroughs or would the commuter suburbs work for you? Also do you want to live in a house, apt,own a car? These are big variables.
I don't want a car. I don't want a home. I can seriously compromise in space.
But I do want to live in a "city". I'm not obsessed with it being Manhattan, but it has to be a place where people walk around instead of driving to get milk, where there is a cafe that is not Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts, a bunch of cheap eateries and bars. I don't order take out more than twice a month and rarely go to bars nowadays with a baby, but these things show that there is "life". If there is public library and a park within walking distance - excellent!
As for us: we are honestly and truthfully liberal, academics, and NOT suburban minded. I'm not sure about "career-oriented": my job is important to me, I want to do it well, perfectly happy to work long hours, but I don't care about money and power.
Seriously, just come and you will find your niche.
Keep in mind - a "transplant" is not simply anyone who moves here from elsewhere.
It is someone who belongs in suburbia but decided they were entitled to move to New York. They commence to change their new surroundings into suburbia - one (grantedly) reductive definition. Just because you are not from here does not mean that you won't fit in.
Harlem resident, I'll try to explain what I mean by "suburban":
Having to drive to buy milk. Public transport that sucks big time. Streets dead at 7 pm or 5pm in the winter. No cafes other than Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks. No stores to walk by or stop on your way back home. No variety. No life. People who have never travelled outside of the country. Sure it looks very pretty (at least where I live now), but it kills me.
That's also why I want to move to NYC, although the incentive is the career progression. I've spent 5 years in a European city pretty equivalent to NYC in size and cost of living (I think) and loved it. Best time of my life. I could walk on a different neighborhood for hours every weekend and never had to go to the same one again if I didn't want to. By the time I'd visited all of them and had to start from the beginning, there would be plenty of new places to see. People from all over the world. Plenty of free or cheap culture events if you spent some time searching. Lived 15 miles from work and was there in 40 min door-to-door 24/7. I was on a student stipend and saved money (well, a bit). I don't have expensive tastes.
I guess I'm mainly worried about children complications, since this is new for me.
Many NYC suburbs are not recognizable by that description. They are often older and rail-centric. Many were towns/villages hundreds of years before the railroad came in the mid-1800s. As for diversity, most won't go over 25-30%, still not exactly large city standards, but far exceeding many smaller cities. In my suburb, for example, many of the people not only have travelled (with passports!) they actually originate from abroad. Japan, Nigeria, Croatia, Australia, Peru, Venezuela, Korea, Philippines, France & Germany, lots from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador are all represented locally in the school students whose parents came from those countries and some of whom were also born in those countries. Some of the schools have bilingual programs. We have live theater (with a repertory program and a once a year movie program with a visiting director), library with author readings, cinema, a real butcher, some old pasta makers, an actual bakery, a fish smoking house, Turkish restaurants, Italian, Peruvian, Indian.. There are many local parades, cook-outs, sports festivals, mud runs, fishing contests. Ice rink, swimming pools. Nature preserves. Halloween shop window painting, community soup kitchens, harbor-clean up wildlife days... But you can't just stay indoors looking at the walls, you have to get out. The suburbs can't make you interesting, but the city can't make one interesting either! That's up to you. Neighbors on our local streets include a Met conductor, a Japanese carpenter, a children's book author and two escapees from the old Romanian regime.
Sure its not NYC of course, but its not recognizable from your description. You seem to be referring to more modern autocentric suburbs. But NYC has plenty of non-autocentric suburbs. While without a doubt NYC is a fantastic place to live if you can make it work, your idea of NYC suburbs as a monolithic kind of place is a bit awry.
But good luck - sounds like you've got a good adventure ahead.
I don't want a car. I don't want a home. I can seriously compromise in space.
But I do want to live in a "city". I'm not obsessed with it being Manhattan, but it has to be a place where people walk around instead of driving to get milk, where there is a cafe that is not Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts, a bunch of cheap eateries and bars. I don't order take out more than twice a month and rarely go to bars nowadays with a baby, but these things show that there is "life". If there is public library and a park within walking distance - excellent!
You actually probably would really like Jackson Heights, as it fits the description you gave. The only drawback is that a commute to Columbia would probably be about 1 hour. You can find some info about it in the mainstream press like NY Times Block by Block: Jackson Heights and Wall St Journal In Jackson Heights, a Little of Everything - WSJ
Also, one of the most charming things about it is probably the community for families/kids/parents. Check out this video to get a sense of that. [vimeo]15514741[/vimeo] A Car-free Street Grows in Queens
I'm not trying to be a cheerleader for the neighborhood because it's not for everyone (some people, for example, on this board, don't seem to like areas with too many immigrant businesses) but I think for what you described, it could be a good match. Also it matches your income and what you could afford for rent.
RS is not income based. That's the problem - as some posters here are trying to explain. People screaming here that there should be low-income based housing so that's why we have RS!.... except RS isn't low-income based housing. In fact you can earn up to $199,000 a year and still be in RS protection.
The point is we should make low-income based housing actually low-income based. As it is currently set up, its random whether the people in an RS apartment actually are low or moderate income. They just can't earn $200,000 for 2 yrs running....!
That sort of thing escapes the intellectual universe of Harlem Resident - who calls capitalism baloney.
The Star Middle Class income tax rebate for homeowners is up to 500K.
That's your opinion. There must be set-asides for low- to moderate-income people in NYC's housing market and because they comprise the majority of NYC residents, that should be the majority of the housing stock. 60% of units being regulated in some fashion is way too low.
It's pretty basic: But for some reason still fatally challenges the intellectual capacity of people. RS helps lower-income people and profiteering audits and verifications for landlords and developers, especially as regards unchecked and abused tax benefits, should not be fought tooth-and-nail.
See how it works ... ? Any thinking ? Anything at all ...?
Agree 100% with your post.
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So I can get insight from people who have lived in NYC for their whole lives and can suggest areas I'm missing as an outsider. 
