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As someone who spent considerable time in Telluride in the early 2000's, including a fun run-in with THE cop (ie, the only one), I must say you just made the most ridiculous comparison to NYC anyone has ever made on this forum.
A lot of businesses have already been pulling out of NYC (due to prohibitive taxes and ability to do all business online nowadays), as well as middle class (due to the same reasons plus the cost of living). But I think Manhattan and some of Brooklyn will remain interesting to foreign tourists, and to better-off owners of pied-a-terres (non-residents of NY City or State). I think that the city will continue to cater to tourism and upscale leisure services, though the number of domiciled New Yorkers will likely shrink (which trend had started well before the virus).
Consider a smaller-scale example of the town of Telluride, CO. It started out as a mining town, but the mining business gradually disappeared for variety of reasons. But the town had a great appeal to upscale tourists because of its beautiful setting and romantic history... so it became a ski resort in the winter and golf resort in the summer. The town has a residential population of less than 2,500 people (median annual income about $55k) - but the tourist population at two peak times of the year is over 400,000 people, ie, almost 160 times the population of permanent residents. NYC could see some variant of that fate on a larger scale.
The thing is, tourists or pied-a-terre owners do not pay state income taxes. There is no mechanism to support any welfare population in Telluride, CO. There are the rich and the upper middle class who come to ski and golf, and there is a small local population all employed in hospitality business. With the exception of occassional traveling homeless hippie types, you don't see anyone poor in Telluride. The town has about 100 serious crimes per year, 80% of which are thefts. For a fairly recent year when I was briefly there, the statistics showed 18 assaults and 2 robberies (for the whole year, in a town that contains up to more than $400,000 people). These 20 things were the worst crimes registered in Telluride that year (that would correspond to about 380 assaults and 42 muggings per year extrapolated to the whole NYC population).
The Telluride, CO situation would be a pretty good outcome for NYC - if the city can figure out what to do with its welfare population. There is every indication that the city would not have been able to collect enough tax revenue this year to keep the same level of welfare benefits, even without the virus. There is also every indication that the city cannot count on too much federal help even in the year of the virus, let alone subsequently. I do maintain that the size of the welfare population is THE one and only problem that NYC has - everything else about NYC, including even its population density, has some positive aspect to it that can help the city more than it can hurt it. Only welfare has no positive aspects.
On the opposite side of Telluride (in terms of spectrum of outcomes for places with serious reduction in previously booming economy) is of course Detroit. NYC may choose to go that way too, as I said well before the virus...
While you were writing all of this, did you stop to think of 1) the difference in the nature of attractions in Telluride and NYC, and 2) even with that, how well is Telluride economically doing right now?
While you were writing all of this, did you stop to think of 1) the difference in the nature of attractions in Telluride and NYC, and 2) even with that, how well is Telluride economically doing right now?
I don't even know why she bothers with this country
Eleanor needs to move to Switzerland - that's what she's looking for, and she won't find it here
__________________
"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
While you were writing all of this, did you stop to think of 1) the difference in the nature of attractions in Telluride and NYC, and 2) even with that, how well is Telluride economically doing right now?
1. The difference in the nature of attractions between NYC and Telluride is actually well in favor of NYC. Sightseeing and social life are less demanding (and therefore interesting to more people) as recreational activities than skiing or even golfing, and there are many more things to see in one day in any of NYC museums or in any 20 blocks of Manhattan than in the entire town if Telluride. NYC has been getting over 60 million tourists annually, and at least half of that will persist because they are international tourists who do not intend to stop traveling (going by what I hear from family and friends overseas).
2. How is Telluride doing economically right now? You can check it for yourself. Telluride is the only town in the US (actually the entire San Miguel County of 6,000 people, where Telluride is located) where every single person was tested for COVID (it looks as though they found about a dozen of positives). I believe the testing was privately funded by a couple that either resides there or has a vacation home there. This is not the type of community that has zero reserves, and cannot weather comfortably one or two seasons of being shut down.
I don't even know why she bothers with this country
Eleanor needs to move to Switzerland - that's what she's looking for, and she won't find it here
Last time I checked, Telluride, CO was located in this country. This country is not ALL misery, welfare and crime - in fact, it is still predominantly NOT that. Sorry if misery, welfare and crime is the only aspect of the US that you know of, but your preferred sample of the US is not representative of the whole country.
I had to Google Telluride... I don't think it's relevance compares to NYC at all. 6,000 people? C'mon.
I said that Telluride is on a smaller scale... but not microscopic. The transient population of Telluride is larger than the residential population of New Orleans. The similarity between NYC and Telluride is their substantial reliance (in Telluride, 100% reliance) on leisure economic activity of temporary visitors. NYC can count on that activity even if all other sources of economy vanish, because of its history. But while the revenue from tourism and seasonal residents would be sufficient to take care of the needs of the employed part of NYC, it would not generate enough to support NYCHA and all the other current NYC poverty services. In the scenario of tourist business remaining as the only viable business in NYC, there is no place for much welfare spending.
Last time I checked, Telluride, CO was located in this country. This country is not ALL misery, welfare and crime - in fact, it is still predominantly NOT that. Sorry if misery, welfare and crime is the only aspect of the US that you know of, but your preferred sample of the US is not representative of the whole country.
Wow Eleanor, misery, welfare and crime is the only aspect of the US I know? Haha.
Look, you can think about me whatever you want, but you're living in a state of denial
This country does not have what you want, and what you want, you can't afford here.
If you can't accept that, it's not my problem.
__________________
"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
Last edited by SeventhFloor; 04-27-2020 at 02:58 PM..
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Whatsamattaforyou?
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