How many New Yorkers actually like living in NYC?? (insurance, hotels)

[FreyaG]

Obviously, NYC is not perfect, but then no city is. It's just that people have different definitions of what quality of life means. Personally:

- I have no interest in big cars, or in driving either. Have you ever dragged a toddler (can't imagine how people deal with more than one) in and out of a car 3 times a day? Having a grocery store around the corner is heaven.

- Not only I don't need a big house, I don't want one. Are you going to clean it for me? And what does it offer you any way other than storage for a whole load of crap that you don't need? How often do you see kids play in yards or people reading on their porch? They are in their air-conditioned house staring at a screen or another.

- Crowds in the streets: love them. They make me feel alive. In contrast to depressing, alienating suburbs.

- Multiculturalism: amazing. How many times can I eat BBQ? Once a month? Now if I can alternate it with everything else I can find in Queens, I will never get bored in my life.

- For me, being able to choose between 10 different art-house films each week is quality of life. Or what happened last week: saw one in Cinema Village, and at then the director showed up and said "I'm happy to have a chat with you guys". This is what makes my life interesting.

- Not trying to offend anyone, you are entitled to your views, but I can't stand socially and politically conservative places. And I don't want to raise my child in one. This is something matters to me.

Would I like cheaper daycare? Hell, yes.

[wawaweewa]

NYC is all about whether you can support your preferred lifestyle.
If you make enough, there's nothing not to like. If you don't then your QOL suffers more than if you were somewhere else in the states.

[NYC refugee]

I hate the commute. To get into Manhattan is 2 hours from here. Here is Queens, far east end, and I love it. I love all the beautiful big trees and the little gardens and the QUIET. I sometimes leave the house, look left and right, and see no one. Amazing, the whole world to myself for a split second.

I hate the rent, which means I have to get a smaller place or I get a similar sized place in a neighborhood I don't love, or absolutely hate. My vestibule is growing mold from the hole in the ceiling, my kitchen window leaks, and getting these things repaired is out of my hands. "It's the roof," says the super. "They know all about it. They gonna fix it."

I would love outdoor space to barbecue, to garden and grow fresh veg, to paint old furniture or have a big dog. I would love to park in my own driveway for free.

And don't get me wrong, I love the public transportation in Queens and will gladly take 4 buses to get from here to there. I take the subway, I take the LIRR, and NYC is one of the few places where you can do that. I HATE driving here. But that daily grind commute at the same time as everyone else in the over-populated city would make you hate heaven itself.

How about shopping? How much of my life have I spent standing in lines? I wouldn't miss that for a minute. Uncomfortable crowding I can do without. Something on sale is usually sold out, ditto tickets and the cost of doing anything at all.

But the mix of ethnicities, the feeling that this is the center of the earth and everyone passes through, I would miss like breathing. I can't imagine never having tried all these cuisines and heard all those curse words in so many different languages! I love how broad my mind is from knowing so many different kinds of people.

It's an easy city to hate when you're trapped here and a hard city to leave if you have the means to have the choice.

[bklynkenny]

There should be a resident exchange program. NY'ers who hate NYC get to swap houses/apartments with non-NYers dying to move to NYC!

[That_One_Guy]

I love it. I grew up in Queens and then moved away for a few years to suburban NJ, not the Jersey near us, but South Jersey over by Philly. It took for me living away to realize how much I liked it here. So then I moved back! First to Manhattan, then to BK. And I discovered that I really love Brooklyn, or at least Brooklyn today, in the 2010's. Growing up I didn't really go to BK too much because areas near Queens like Bushwick, Williamsburg, Greenpoint were areas to avoid. Now I love it though!

[sasie123]

Originally Posted by DarkLoFan

I'm in Lancaster, PA now


Well that may be true, i consider myself working-class

SO you are in Lancaster, Pa., Home of the Amish. Lovely people, better off is you are Amish. I love New York........I have done 48 states out of 50, and still here.....

[sasie123]

Originally Posted by PDF

That's interesting. I've actually been looking into Staten Island recently. While I live in Manhattan now, and the city lifestyle is definitely for me, before I moved to NYC I had a strong desire to own property. I realize, in the short-term, that's all but impossible here. But I work in Battery Park City, and housing prices in SI don't seem as outrageous as elsewhere. Glad to hear you like it out there.

I live on Staten Island, and I love it. It is suburban in most of the borough, lots of parks, the ocean, lakes, deers, eagles, lots of green zones that cannot be built on. Good neighbors, lots of nice ethnic stores, houses of worship........there is nothing that I cannot say against it. Yes, maybe a little more crowded in some areas than others. I love my house, I love my community, I love my neighbors, I love the food with all the wonderful restaurants that we have. Manhattan is not so far away.........I just went to see Jersey Boys, and had a lovely time..........

[sasie123]

Before you go to live in Palm Springs, California, it is a lovely city. I go there for my winter vacation, I am retired. However, make sure that you spend some time when the temperature soars to 120 degrees, and you need gloves to open the door to your car.

It is a small, gay city. I am straight, but have no problems with this group. Just so you know.

[sasie123]

Originally Posted by That_One_Guy

I love it. I grew up in Queens and then moved away for a few years to suburban NJ, not the Jersey near us, but South Jersey over by Philly. It took for me living away to realize how much I liked it here. So then I moved back! First to Manhattan, then to BK. And I discovered that I really love Brooklyn, or at least Brooklyn today, in the 2010's. Growing up I didn't really go to BK too much because areas near Queens like Bushwick, Williamsburg, Greenpoint were areas to avoid. Now I love it though!

"The grass always looks greener, in some other peoples' backyard," they say. Once you go beyond certain counties in New Jersey, lovely state, you will see that you may not have anything in common with the people living there........................specifically, Western, Southern NJ, below Atlantic City. They are more like the people from West Virginia, again lovely people, but coming from NYC all my live, I have nothing in common with them......

And one has to take this into consideration, if one wants to be happy...........when choosing a place to live...

[5-all]

My family has been in NYC since the 1600s but I'm the last one standing. The rest have all moved away. Mostly to Philly and its surrounding towns. I love it here and really want to stay but I'm getting older and having no family around is a problem. Especially when I was hospitalized in July. I'm semi retired but my current work is in Philly so I take the train back and forth. It seems crazy to stay here when work and family are down there but I can't yet bring myself to leave since I really belong here. Anything I could want or need is here. I can walk my neighborhood for most things I need or take the subway for other things and activities. I'm being heavily lobbied to leave NY by my family. It's a real conflict because I miss them but would rather live here for the rest of my life even if it's not realistic.