10 Reasons New York City Is Painfully Overrated

PREACH THE GOSPEL OF TRUTH

Outside of the theater Manhattan holds little interest to me. There are many cities in the world that I like to visit more.

Everything is overrated. Don't come here. We're full.

And all the irate NYC shop bottoms whose life style this article so accurately describes will be responding in five, four, three....

Oh wait. It's the week before Christmas and all the shop bottoms and retail queens have to work until the stores close at 10PM.

Theater in NY is painfully expensive and overrated.

Yeah, but ya gotta go just once.

Everything is ridiculously overpriced & seldom worth the cost.

Burning hot & humid in summer. Bitter cold & windy in winter.

Corruption top to bottom in its govt. Esp the police.

New York City has a lot of things to keep visitors busy for at least 2 weeks. There are many affordable places to visit, you don't have to go to the most expensive restaurants or spend a fortune on the priciest Broadway shows. You example can spend an entire day at American Museum of Nature History for $35 supersaver ticket see most of the special exhibits and the Rose Planetarium.

NYC was interesting before all you flyover bitches turned it into an overpriced version of Des Moines.

R8 - not really. Not 2 weeks - but again that's a different topic, which is what you could see as a visitor.

This piece is the best articulated list of reasons why NY is overrated - from a regular person's perspective. Yes, life can be awesome there when you're pretty wealthy, but that's not the most of New Yorkers (or it wasn't before).

I think #3 is really on point - particularly if you're talking about other large US cities: Nearly everything people brag about getting here, you can get in most major cities.

The culinary or art scene is not the solely ownership of New York anymore. Maybe at one time - but almost all major cities have very urbane centers with hipster areas and very very good food offerings and art. Theater? Well, there may be less but LA and Chicago still churns out a lot (particularly Chicago).

What the author doesn't talk about is the electricity and excitement of the city - that cannot be exported and is pretty unique to NY. THAT is what is so addictive. But usually most New Yorkers sacrifice a lot to scratch and claw their way through while hoping to rub shoulders with the rich and powerful. I'm glad I moved away when I did - I love New York, don't get me wrong, but you give up a lot just to be around excitement.

[quote] You example can spend an entire day at American Museum of Nature History for $35 supersaver ticket see most of the special exhibits and the Rose Planetarium.

$35 to buy a single museum ticket is nothing to brag about. You can buy tickets for world class museums in most cities for a fraction of that cost. I can't even imagine what the non-supersaver cost would be.

NYC is an elaborate and beautiful insane asylum created by and for the inmates who are so unhappy but don't know how to escape.

Oh and I've been to both the Natural History museum and the planetarium - they are nothing to write home about. Many other cities have much larger natural history museums and equal planetariums. Why would you go to New York to see that any way?

Even the theater now - it's mainly film re-boots or biopics using a star's song catalog strung together with a contrived story to piece it together. Mamma Mia created it, but now it's fucking everywhere.

I went to the Museum of Natural History recently and I hadn't been there since I was a kid.

I was very unimpressed and $35 for a New Yorker is stupidly expensive if you are claiming it is one of the reasons you are living here.

And the Public Theater now charges $90 for a seat?

And mid town is no longer exciting it is simply exhausting and crushing.

Looks pretty across the river though knowing you don't have to go there.

New York is wonderful if you are a banker. But take a look at the joyless souls riding the subway during the day, and you'd think you were living in 1920s era Russia.

And residents boast about the wonderful summer months, but can't wait to get the hell out each and every weekend.

The subway is so ugly. It has the feel of a third world city.

NYC is a dump.

Number 9. My best friend has lived there now for 10 years. Goes on and on about the culture and arts yet I had to beg her to see Hamilton. Has never been to the Met. But has been shopping at Trump Tower. So pretentious.

I get what the article is pointing out, and there are lots of other cities to visit. Yet --- I have people I love there. None of them are close to wealthy. I spent 2 weeks there this summer and I never can do all the things I want to do. Then again, the people I love do partake of what the city has to offer, and so do I when I'm there. I go there every year. I am sure it would get tiresome if I lived there, at times, like any place might. Or just too gritty in some respects. And winter? NO.

It smells. Every time I'd get off the (Amtrak) train, I'd be like wtf is that & then realized it was the whole city.

It's not bad though. It's particularly a great place to be if your employer is paying your bills.

Don't you people care that your whole city smells like ass? Is that part of the charm too?

Why are people spending money to go to the Met or Natural History? I give a buck. I periodically go to different top-end restaurants, go to happy hours of interesting bars, I go to shows, ballet, opera, etc when I can get discounted tickets. I go to Shakespeare in the park (free). I get cheap tickets or deals to watch live sport events (baseball and tennis, mostly).

Yes, NYC is too expensive and yes it can be stinky, but Central Park is free and beautiful when you want fresh air and freedom. Riverside park when you want the water.

And, the rent is too damn high, but it’s better than the burbs. Born and bred NYCer.

The author is a moron, whether she lives outside of NYC or in it.

90% of NYCers can't afford to shop in the West Village? What is this, Minnesota math?

Some unidentified percentage of people who live in NYC don't enjoy the culture? Think again. Just because the the kind of "friends" the blog writer has doesn't do those things does not mean the rest of us are the same.

The blog basically boils down to why other cities are supposed to be so equal to NYC or superior and yet no such argument is made.

R21 Yes you can give any amount you want at these museums. But if you want to see all the special exhibits, $35 is reasonable.

Studies consistently show that city dwellers are less happy than everyone else. Anyone who has ever lived in a big city knows this. But the grass is often greener.

Humans haven't evolved to live in such densely populated communities. With those numbers there will be lots of problems and a shit ton of corruption obfuscating solutions. But misery loves company so more people move to the city anyway.

People still read blogs?

How... quaint.

I think that NYC is probably the gayest city I've ever been to. It's the center of fine arts, theater and fashion so if your interested in those things that is the place to be. It's also the financial center of the world. I don't think it's a great place for a middle class person who's not involved in those fields to live in. The quality of life has to be poor for middle class families; gay men probably find it exhilarating though.

In the city in the 70s when I was a kid I could afford to see musicals on Broadway from good orchestra seats at full price on Wed matinees.

No such thing as holding back seats except for the house seats.

Went to the City Ballet which was the greatest ballet company in the world(probably greatest ever) several times a week.

And I worked in supermarkets and book stores.

Now I might as well spend a 100k as a thousand dollars to see Hamilton.

Thank god I don't want to.

But if there were a new Prince/Sondheim musical still at the height of their powers that would be very frustrating.

And to me the whole point of NY was the professional theater otherwise you might as well be in Hackensack which at least had a couple of beautiful old movie houses.

Low information flyovers live like pigs. They'd never make it in NYC

Life in middle America is so soul crushing

The flyover states are so bland and white bread.

I don't think NY is all that bad but it seems to be suffering from the same problem a lot of other American cities have- a corporate blandness seems to be taking over and erasing everything that made NYC neighborhoods exciting and unique. The whole world is just one big Disneyworld/Chipotle etc. now.

The subway today is a pig sty.

I could use those jeans now.

If you can make it in NYC, you can make it anywhere

I learn so much every day living in NYC. Why would you live anywhere else

R27 If you have a car you may as well live in Hackensack. We have similar cultural offerings (except current Broadway, of course) that's often cheaper with less traffic and stress.

It got boring.

NYC is a clogged up public toilet. Only the delusional have anything good to say about it.

I've lived here for almost 40 years and I'm really getting tired of NYC. Subway service is awful and there are nowhere near enough trains on the weekends with all of the tourists. Broadway is practically a joke at this point, and a grossly overpriced joke at that. Come to think of it, Off-Broadway is way overpriced too though you can at least see some interesting work there.

If it wasn't for the level of health care here and the fact that - once you can't drive anymore - public transit is at least available, I would happily leave.

Middle America is full of backwards, inbred, intolerant people! They think they're so cool just because they have jobs, pay taxes, and don't live off of the taxpayers!

Ultra Orthodox Jews From Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Protest Against New Israeli Draft Policy

Excellent -- we are so sick of fat, rude, ugly Southerners coming to our city and clogging up the sidewalks. The more articles like this, the better NYC will be.

Hasidic Tensions in Williamsburg

The list is true, but I still love it.

[quote] Excellent -- we are so sick of fat, rude, ugly Southerners coming to our city and clogging up the sidewalks.

We are sick of orange Yankees stealing elections by pandering to white nationalists.

And the majority of voters chose a white Southern woman.

I lived in NYC for 3 years. Talk about a racist and segregated place. It's not progressive and city management is poor. They are among the most bottom of the barrel racist and homophobic Democrats walking.

R43 If you're referring to Hillary, she's not a Southerner. Shes from Illinois.

I blame the Italians for that, R44.

[quote] If you're referring to Hillary, she's not a Southerner. Shes from Illinois.

She lived in Arkansas long enough to qualify.

New York is arguably the capital of the world and anyone who can be here and not feel why it's a city apart from all others (with the possible exceptions of Paris, London and Tokyo) really [bold]should[/bold] stay away.

There's always Muncie, Indiana. I mean, why bother with New York when Muncie has opera (at Ball State) and steak restaurants (Amazing Joe's Grill AND Outback Steakhouse) too? Look at Muncie's history museum, shown below. New York, pshah! And houses are more affordable in Muncie.

[quote]I totally agree that New York City seems to get the absolute worst of the extreme seasons, punctuated by an admittedly gorgeous four-week period in spring and fall. It’s either summer, and the whole city feels like a concrete-lined sweat lodge, full of molten garbage and a humidity level of “beef stew.” Or it’s winter, and each row of skyscrapers forms its own little wind tunnel, where your eyelashes have the pleasure of freezing off within five minutes of leaving work.

Not true.

The warm spring days often start at the end of March & summer often only becomes wretched late July/August.

Even during winter you have many beautiful, crystal clear sunny days.

I'd swap dreary old London weather for NYC's, any day.

Stupid Southern cows always getting in the way and holding up traffic in NYC

R46 I didnt know Al Sharpton & his cronies were Italian!

You learn something new every day on the DL.

It is an overrated, overpriced, overcrowded shithole. People who rave about it have never been to another big city.

Where do you live, R52?

R47 You're obviously not a Southerner. They'll tell you they're born, not made.

Hillarys no more a Southerner than Rudy Giuliani.

Typical subway ride in NYC

The monthly NYC bashing thread. Joy.

It's the regular opportunity for the flyover morons and those who couldn't make it in NYC themselves to participate in one big circle jerk.

[quote]Hillarys no more a Southerner than Rudy Giuliani.

At least Rudy is actually from New York.

[quote] those who couldn't make it in NYC themselves

More like "not stupid enough to pay $2,000 for a studio apartment."

r56 is freaking out because he doesn't want to lose that rent money from all the freiers.

My pet peeve? People who say "only in NY" about things that could happen in any number of cities.

Cabbie speaking Somali while driving you to a Russian bar? Yeah, take your pick of a dozen of US cities.

Huge celeb studded gala? Yeah, LA does this all the time.

Schools with 128 different languages spoken? Please,, there are suburban counties that can match that.

Avante garde sex/art installation? Try SF or Seattle

The list goes on

Madrid R53

The "Only in New York" people are as dumb as W Bush

r58 2K for a studio apartment? Honey, you must be talking about renting in the South Bronx. Try 5K and up, and that's still not luxury living by any means.

New Yorkers love to celebrate diversity, and justice for all

Stay away. We're overpriced. We're terrible. Believe me, you don't want to come here

Especially at Christmas

Bah humbug

Only in New York

New York Rabbi Trafficking Human Organs:

Start a thread about any city in the world and the 'shithole' trolls and their variants arrive, en masse.

Gay Embarrassment Parade

This is for you, cracker breeder goy R62/R64/R68/R69 et al

Those church collection plates must be cracking to pay for the PTSD treatment of all the altar boys these perverted papist pigs raped.

Keep your kids away from goyim at all costs or they will be rape statistics before they're old enough to even consent to sex in the first place:

You could get a ògigantic house plus several acres of land outside of Omaha for what you pay for a shoebox in NY. You would be crazy to come here. You can watch NY on your TV, you don't need to be here.

The subway is dirty! The buses are overcrowded! The mayor is a communist! You can go to the stores on 5th Avenue in a nice warm shopping mall instead. Central Park is just grass and some trees, so what? National parks are 1,000 better.

Don't come to NY, it's horrible. You'll hate it. You'll wish you never wasted your money. Don't buy those "comfortable walking shoes" you heard you should have. They're not comfortable enough.

The prices are outrageous! You could do so much better in Pennsylvania with a lot less. Go to the nice Amish barn places. Or the Dells in Wisconsin. There's no rape or murder in those places.

The Dutch stole it from the Indians.

don't stress yourself hunty

NYC is for the RICH arabs and tacky Russians and vulgarians

shitty people you find everywhere buy somehow in NYC they congregate, they find their nest

says more about The City then about the haters

Yes R48 New York is the capital of the world. It was the reason I moved there. It was good to me. It made me. The best part is the people. New Yorkers are the most talented group of people anywhere, from everywhere.

But after 30+ years it wasn't enough. Nothing truly different could be done there. As the world capital it was best for presentation and recognition. It was and is the place to savor the best the rest of the world had to offer.

But to engage meaningfully with yourself and your own work as one matures one must move away. The need for the best that is on offer goes away. The best others offer becomes a distraction. It becomes a diversion.

One needs to be somewhat in the periphery, but connected, to expand. I remember Fellini saying he doesn't come to New York as it gets in the way of his own thinking and ideas. It offered him too much of others'. The static was overwhelming for his creativity.

The best, one realizes, is not good enough. It depends on where you are in your life and what you want to achieve next.

I still love New York. It will always be my home, my second birthplace. I'm still connected with it. But I'm done with living there.

[quote]New York is the capital of the world.

New York isn't even the capital of New York.

R63, bullshit, stop talking outta your ass. Clearly you have no concept of the reality of NYC prices. Yes it's expensive but you can still get a studio apartment in Manhattan for $2-2.5k/month.

That's still overpriced and insane. I thought they had rent control there and it was pretty much mandatory. If it was working, a studio apartment wouldn't cost anywhere near that kind of money.

I like your dry humor, r78

r78 I'm not living in the damn ghetto in the boroughs, and the prices you're stating is exactly where you'd be. Post a link showing where you can get a studio apartment in MANHATTAN for 2K - 2.5K a month.

[quote]Madrid [R53]

Well, I can see why someone who lives in a third world country would resent New York. I accept your apology.

[quote]That's still overpriced and insane.

Chump change. Some people just [italic]need[/italic] to live in lesser cities.

But nobody [italic]needs[/italic] to be a cunt, R83. You just chose to be one.

That's just way it looks from down where you are in the gutter, R84. Enjoy your dinner at Olive Garden!

r85 would never eat at Olive Garden. He cooks at home, in the kitchen/bathroom/bedroom.

R26 London is the financial center of the world. As for fashion and fine arts, that would be Paris and Rome. Theater is reasonable but again, London has its equal. The thing is every major city has great attractions. New York isn't unique and using preeminent.

I hate New York and I'm glad someone wrote this story!!!

R61 Madrid is wonderful city. I could see myself living there. Beautiful, lots of culture, hot men and open minded good gay scene.

R82 I hope you're kidding, but feel sorry for you if you're serious.

[quote] That's just way it looks from down where you are in the gutter, [R84]. Enjoy your dinner at Olive Garden!

Now who's the one engaging in cultural stereotypes? And NYC these days has just as many chain restaurants, in case you haven't noticed the McDonald's in Times Square.

And you foisted Drumpf on us.

R63 345 E. 94th Street, $2500 per month.

Anything NYC has I can get in Philadelphia. Why, I'm even getting New Yorkers...they've been moving down here to live and they commute to the Rotten Apple.

North Carolina has plenty of New Yorkers, too. Chapel Hill and Durham have tried to make Jewish delis happen for years but none of them last because the ex-New Yorkers they're aimed at are always dissatisfied with them for some reason.

[quote] I thought they had rent control there and it was pretty much mandatory.

For the 50 millionth flyover time:

Less than 2% of housing in NY is rent controlled.

Step back from the 1970s, hun.

The rest of the world has moved on

Isn't NYC on a fault line?

[quote][R26] London is the financial center of the world.

Nope. Was briefly when all the post-Lehman regulations went into effect and many deals migrated to London, but those days are over. IPOs in London were at a height of about 13% in 2007 or 2008 but they are down to about 7 or 8% now, a precipitous fall. That also ignores the fact that the London market is tiny compared to the NY market. In fact London isn't even number 2. It's not even number 3!

Go West!

I'd take NY over Pittsburgh, Cleveland, or any flyover city any day of the week. Been to SF, which totally lost its charm thanks to the techies. LA isa nice place to visit, but I wwouldn't want to live there --poor transportation, vapid population. Chicago is NY light (very light) and the southern cities have no excitement, just a lot of NY retirees down there for warmer weather and a lower cost of living.

You can keep En Why See and El Lay. I'm a San Fran man.

I could prolly get 3 HOUSES in Oklahoma for the price of a shoebox in NY! And there's not nearly so many Jew sand brown people. And when there are earthquakes here from fracking, the bigger buildings won't fall down because they aren't that big.

I'll spend my vacation money in DisneyWorld, thank you.

R101 projecting his prejudices onto the rest of the country as usual.

[quote][R82] I hope you're kidding, but feel sorry for you if you're serious.

Oh to the contrary, it is I who feel sorry for [bold]you[/bold]. Living in a city that [italic]used[/italic] to matter, but is now full of pickpockets, in a country who's per capita GDP is basically in the Third World. Which explains the pickpockets of course!

Any city in the PIIGS is really just to be pitied.

The point I agree with is sometimes people don't realize how much other cities have grown and evolved. This idea that great food scenes/interesting diversity/great cultural amenities and things like that can only be found in New York is silly.

[quote][R63] 345 E. 94th Street, $2500 per month.

It's "cheap" because that's a very shitty location.

My building in midtown rents about 2000 for a large studio. One bedroom is going for 3000. Post war and excellent location.

Agree 100% with this list.

[quote]Madrid [[R53]]

I'd choose NYC over Madrid.

Who'd want to live in fucking Spain?

Apart from Brits who look like this >

94th is no longer a shitty location. And 345 is close to the 2nd ave subway that wil open soon. All of the older 6 story buildings will be coming down soon.

Funny how PIIGS are mostly heavily Catholic countries, except for Greece, which is Orthodox.

[quote]94th is no longer a shitty location.

They moved it?

It's still a shitty location - too far up and too far over - also, it's depressing.

[quote]And 345 is close to the 2nd ave subway that wil open soon.

Yippee!

[quote] All of the older 6 story buildings will be coming down soon.

So it will look even more like Vancouver. Enjoy the noise.

Link r106? Not trying to say you are lying, I am honestly intrigued by this.

Hood Prank Jewish Landlord Collects Rent

I found this which I thought was interesting, the interest price of a studio apartment in different Manhattan neighborhoods.

For a non-doorman studio apt the average cost Manhattan wide is 2600. Unsurprisingly the cheapest is Harlem where for a non-door studio the average cost is under 2k at $1800.

average price*

If you are that intrigued, R112, then I suggest you try Streeteasy, Zillow, City Realty or even Google. Cause their ain't no way I am posting a link on DL that will give away my address. And r115, I live in a doorman (24/7) building.

R35 Jersey smells worse than Manhattan! If you said Westchester or Long island I would say yes to your proposition..but Jersey? The only place in the NYC area that actually reeks more than NYC is Jersey.

What does it smell of, R117?

Jersey smells of farts and rotten eggs.

New Jersey Gays > >

"The true New Yorker secretly believes that people living anywhere else have to be, in some sense, kidding."

John Updoke

That's about right, r119. The refineries, petrochemical, chemical and pharmaceutical plants give parts of Jersey a unique odor. My sister lived near IFF in Jersey and at least once a week they would release some flavor or fragrance into the neighborhood.

R97 I provided a link to prove that London is #1. You just whine. Where's your proof? Please provide some evidence to back up your false claims.

Everything post Brexit says the major finacial companies are leaving London, r123.

[quote]New York is wonderful if you are a banker. But take a look at the joyless souls riding the subway during the day, and you'd think you were living in 1920s era Russia.

This is how I - born in London - feel about London. I now live in France but attended a conference in London this year. Travelling on the Tube I saw so many weary. exhausted-looking, lifeless people, in cheap clothing, dusty footwear, with pallid skin (these were all white people, who looked working to lower middle class) as if they simply could not afford to eat fresh fruit and vegetables, and were either too poor or too worn-out to bother with their appearance. I shuddered and was glad to get off at my stop.

r125 And Marie Antoinette thought she had it bad.

I felt for them, R126. I truly did.

What is it then R97??

That's funny, r125. Cause everyone in my company's Paris office wants out of France because they are taxed to death and everything is very expensive. Even free health care isn't enough to keep them happy.

[quote]I now live in France

Where do you live, gurl?

I believe he lives in France r130.

[quote]Cause everyone in my company's Paris office wants out of France because they are taxed to death and everything is very expensive

& they all seem to come to London.

I live in a terrace of five houses. Two of them are owned French gens and this isn't even South Kensington.

Yes, R132, London seems to be the destination of choice for those leaving France, which makes R125 kinda funny.

[quote] What does it [New Jersey] smell of, [R117]?

A hairy, sweaty Italian nutsack right after the gym.

New Jersey lesbians.

Who does the one on the left remind you of?

Begins with an F.

R81, lots of Manhattan studio options in neighborhoods like the East Village, Lower East Side, Hell's Kitchen, etc. for under $2500. Yes expensive, but let's stop saying a studio costs $5k/month.

New York has the exact same issues as the rest of America, namely Local government is a mishmash of poorly managed nonsense. We need a national movement on local government reform, to take the power from the states which has been used to beggar and destroy the nation's urban areas. We also need laws to ban abortions like the Port Authority. Perpetual quasi-public authorities are just a way bureaucracies have of insulating themselves from the priority setting of true democracy.

R130, I live in Neuilly-sur-Seine. It's a little dull, truth be told. But preferable to horrible, filthy London.

UHG! look what that studio on Allen Street looks onto.

Years ago, I switched my affection from New York to Hamburg, Genève, Nice and Lisbon. None of them especially fabulous cities but all 4 exceedingly pleasant on a daily basis.

[quote][R130], I live in Neuilly-sur-Seine. It's a little dull, truth be told. But preferable to horrible, filthy London.

Keep telling yourself that, gurlfriend.

R139, tiresome.

Years ago, I switched my affection from New York to Hamburg, Genève, Nice and Lisbon.

Hamburg? Pleeeaase!

Geneve - all the rich people in Geneva ever talk about is how dreary and dull it is.

Nice got ruined when they started the cheap flights from England.

What is this thread?

Revenge of the flyovers?

Yeah the average cost for a non-doorman studio in Manhattan is 2600.

The idea it is impossible to find a studio for in the 2.5-2k range isn't true.

R124 can you name one? Just one. I've read lots of places that companies are going to leave but none have actually done it. Not one.

^ I think they wouldn't leave altogether - more like transfer base of operations from London to another city, so work and jobs would leave rather than "companies."

^ not r124 btw

None have left yet, R148 because the separation hasn't happened yet. I can say that one of the major banks is close to signing a real estate deal in Paris with the intent on relocating after the separation.

No one wants to leave London.

The language thing alone keeps them there.

The whole world speaks English.

Remember that.

I felt the same way when I lived in San Diego. I never actually WENT to the beach, but I liked knowing I could if I wanted to.

R150 doesn't make sense, if the whole world speaks English then relocating somewhere else will be extremely easy for the bankers.

Yes, the whole world does speak Englis, R150, which is why it doesn't matter where the financial institutions move.

And to add, R150, businesses aren't charities. They will move when and where they can make the most profit regardless of what damage is done to London.

All of you who hate NYC and live elsewhere, don't come here.

All of you who hate NYC and do live here, please leave.

More for me.

It's exciting if you're in the performing arts, because there's no limit how high you can go. If you're the most famous actor in Cleveland, no one's heard of you.

To believe that NYC is the "capital of the world" shows just how provincial, uneducated, and dimwitted New Yorkers are. It's just a run of the mill shithole. That it's bigger than most does not equate to a good thing.

Oh, dear!

You are the one that sounds uneducated r157. Global cities are a real thing. The two most influential and important global cities are London and New York. They stand in a category of their own in terms of their importance to the global economy.

Isn't NYC gonna be underwater soon? (And even sooner thank to Trump)

[quote]It's just a run of the mill shithole.

R157 lives in >>

R149 the banks have decided to stay in the financial capital of the world post-Brexit instead of flouncing off in a hissy fit because they didn't get their own way.

Is that why one of the big banks offered to pay our firm to break its Paris office lease early, r161? Because they are staying in London. And this was last week!

Not possible they may be opening another branch r162? Tell you what, you provide some evidence of financial institutions fleeing London and we'll believe you.

Sure, R163. The link I posted upthread fom the International Business Times was dated last week. And, no, it's not for a branch.

NYC wins this one!

R164 the article you posted was gossip from one Frenchman. Nothing actually from any financial institution.

And here is the BBC version, R166. Face it, they are going.

Says France.... again, not a word from any of these banks. Still the same old baseless gossip r167. Wishful thinking.

Citigroup’s efforts show banks are shifting from warning about moving jobs from Britain to firming up plans to do so by picking specific destinations. The US bank expects to have desks up and running across the region before the end of the expected two-year negotiation period and is in discussions with the European Central Bank and regulators in EU nations including Ireland about relocating other parts of its operations, one of the people said.

UBs did something similar last week. The only wishful thinking is on your part, R168.

I'ved lived here in NYC for over 30 years. I am over Manhattan, no question about it. The shopping also stinks; I shop online like everyone else. I live in Brooklyn, across the street from the park, and I like my neighborhood, the deli, my neighbors, some of the local stores.

There are parts of the city (Manhattan) I used to absolutely love. Rockefeller Centre. Grand Central. Driving south on the FDR drive. The Financial district. The theatre district. University Place in Greenwich Village when Cedar Tavern was still around. I hit my "enough already" point about 3 years ago.

I love visiting family in the suburbs and going shopping in a mall where the stores actually have stock (our Targets suck), or I can get everything done - oil changed, grocery shopping, nails done, take-out, etc. The convenience of the suburbs. NYC is supposed to have everything but the stores don't have half of the stuff you can get in the stores outside NYC.

I knew I was teetering on the brink when I envied a friend who lived in Jersey City. Easy access to Manhattan, but not Manhattan, manageable cost of living (not so sure about it now).

I bought in Brooklyn years ago and my mortgage is very low and is paid off next year. It's not the cost of housing.

What I do like here is the diversity. Work and socializing isn't as integrated as New Yorkers would like people to believe, but you do encounter everybody. I'm taken aback when I'm out of town and a family member has people pegged into little stereotypes because they don't run into a hijab that often, and they have to comment every time. I like that it's pretty hard to find the leggings, oversized shirt, blonde hair and perma-tan I see everywhere else (we get that, but it's not EVERYWHERE. It's not the default mom gear). There's not a lot of "beachy layered hair." I like that there's a bit of the European style sensibility where people focus on a couple of things - hair, maybe their coat - and relax about the rest of it. There's no head-to-toe "looks" where everything has to go together. I also like the trend of married couples where the woman makes the money, so on the weekends she's the one who looks like a schlub and the guy looks like he's a wannabe rock star. AND I like how the kids dress, which is pull anything random out of your drawers - polka dot leggings, plaid shirt, rainbow tutu style skirt from Old Navy, and a parka, and it's fine. Brooklyn, at least, has radicalized how little girls dress. Nobody's trying to look like Kate Middleton dressed them that morning.

[quote] It's still a shitty location - too far up and too far over - also, it's depressing.

Too far over from what?

$2850 for a one bedroom. Pool, gym, rooftop area.

No fee.

& look what it's like outside your front door, R172.

Are those projects across the street?

It's soulless and depressing and miles from anywhere any wants to go. That's why it's so reasonable.

If I'm paying $3k/mo to live somewhere it'd better have fucking palm trees.

No, R173. Those aren't projects. They are other condos or co-ops.

This thread is making me horny as hell!

If you're paying $2,500 for a tiny studio how much should you be making comfortably a year gross without stressing financially?

HARLEM, R81. And these are renovated apartments. Nice studios for 1300 to 1500 a month.

Stop the fear mongering about rent.

And Harlem is about to open a Whole Foods.

Harlem is absolutely lovely.

You can have palm trees in New York. It's contra-indicated by the climate, but you can.

[quote]There are parts of the city (Manhattan) I used to absolutely love. Rockefeller Centre.

No one who has lived in NY for 30 years spells it any other way than "Center," you twit.

Bensonhurst drags the city down...

KINGSBRIDGE IS WHERE YOU WANNA BE IN 2017

Remember, it's always sunny in philadelphia!

All these queens defending their choice to pay 2K for a closet, travel in a crowded, stinky subway (that could very well be the ugliest one in the world) and stand in line on a sidewalk, in the cold ,waiting to get in a Trader Joes to buy the few groceries they can afford are pathetic and have obviously never set foot on another mayor city.

How is it that every other city on earth that has a subway system has clean, quiet, safe, and efficient subways? Why is NY's subway system so over-the-top wretched? Obviously it doesn't have to be that way, so why is it?

R185, because the MTA is a corrupt clusterfuck that doesn't know it's head from it's ass. Combine that with the system being older than every other city you're thinking of.

London also has a wretched subway. Part of it is age.

Planting your New York palm trees

I dont know even one native NYer who's left to live elsewhere, who has any desire to go back there to live. And all of them now live in other major American cities.

And those that go back to visit friends & family say the city has changed so much in so many negative ways, that they actively dislike the place now.

[Quote]and stand in line on a sidewalk

Stand ON line, r184. In New York, one stands ON line.

That is all. Please proceed.

Nice to meet you, r189. I moved to Pittsburgh for work a few years ago and I REFUSED to get rid of my NYC apartment. I'm back here as often as possible.

I love NYC but what's frustrating about it is that it will never be finished. There are scaffolds up over existing buildings all the time all over the place. All of these new super-talls, HudsonYards, The Second Avenue subway line, World Trade Center (etc) look impressive when you see the plans and the artist's renditions of what they will look like, but they're often surrounded by or right up against some of the most craptastic buildings/neighborhoods there are. The new subway stations will still utilize those same old trains (even the PATH trains are cleaner and you never see panhandlers, break dancers or musicians).

People who come here expecting streets paved with gold and everyone dressed to the nines are in for a rude awakening when they see what it's really like. You just have to accept the fact that New York is vastly imperfect and that's part of its oddball charm. And that to get to the best parts you have to go through some of the bleakest, blandest boroughs and neighborhoods imaginable.

After living in Pitts, r192, the bleakest and blandest in NY is amazingly beautiful in comparison to Pitts. It's all relative to each person and each place.

Not true. Da burgh is gorgeous.

Yes, R194, the downtown skyline is pretty. The NY skyline is pretty too. But when you get down to street level, Pitts is very bleak and looks like the worst of Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten Island combined.

Can someone please start a thread on the Top 10 reasons why anti-NYC people and their lists are overrated?

I am so tired for flyovers and suburbanites coming to NYC and finding it too expensive and being so sure that they have everything they need "right back at home" and "better"! So go there and make a fucking list about why other places are so great. The love-hate relationship with NYC is painfully absurd. I'm sure NYC would be happy if these people just left.

R196 lives in the South Bronx & is very bitter.

We'll send Lens over you give you a teddy bear & a hug.

How do you get that R196 lives in the South Bronx because he is tired of the NYC bashing from flyovers, r197. It would be like saying you must be a flyover because your post is moronic.

Tthe ideal anywhere is to live in an affluent suburb of a manor city. Living on acreage in Bedford and going unto NYC when needed. Living in big cities has become too inefficient, too stressful.

I've lived in NYC for 25 years and it's getting old. You tend to keep to the same restaurants and neighborhoods so the excitement is gone. Plus there are just gobs of people everywhere.

I need to move somewhere warmer and cheaper

I agree with R198. R197, you read like the bitter one.

You don't see people posting thread after thread about why Alabama [or insert state here] is overrated. It's DLers who are obsessed with NYC and trashing it.

R200, you should leave like I did. I was born and raised in NYC and moved to a European capital for work. I miss NYC daily.

New Yorkers have such thin sin. It's so much fun to cause them strokes.

I've only been to NYC once. I've always loved visiting Chicago so I figured NYC would be like three Chicagos crammed into one. I was so afraid I'd fall in love with it and want to move there based on all the hype I'd heard beforehand and the fact that three Chicagos crammed into one really appealed to me when I imagined it.

Yea, didn't happen. Not for me. Never been back.

[quote]If you're paying $2,500 for a tiny studio how much should you be making comfortably a year gross without stressing financially?

As a general life rule it is recommended that you don't spend more than 30% of your income on rent.

The average New Yorker spends a jaw-dropping 65% of their income on rent.

The flyovers are projecting and trying to compensate for the fact that no one gives a flying fuck about their shithole "cities".

Honestly OP, FUCK OFF. If you don't like NYC, either get the fuck out, or don't come here. We certainly don't need you.

The flyovers are projecting and trying to compensate for the fact that no one gives a flying fuck about their shithole "cities".

But, those in other cities aren't worried about rising costs of everything, inefficient city services, and not enough spendable income. Also, if you look at all of the threads about anti-depressants and therapy, you would see that almost all are posted and discussed by New Yorkers. Believe me, we're happy that we aren't you.

And NYers are happy we aren't you, R207. I guess we're even.

R190 Insufferable.

R207, and NYers are happy not to live in Bumblefuck, USA. Enjoy oblivion!

Enjoy your pills, R210...and the therapist's bills..

Enjoy the Waffle House and Wal-Mart, R211!

Please, r211, it's bumblefuck America with the worst heroin and meth problems and not NYC.

Oh let's face it everywhere is shit these days.

The problem with NYC isn't the city but the people. They are oddly parochial. And braggarts. My issue too is that they think that any city outside of NYC is "bumblefuck" Like throughout this thread there is an assumption that you are posting from a flyover state/city. We are a nation of over 300 million. Is it hard to conceive many of the commenter's are from big metros?? The only thing I envy of NYC is a comprehensive subway. But even the NYC subway is pathetic compared to other countries--- even ones in developing countries.

[quote]NYers are happy not to live in Bumblefuck, USA. Enjoy oblivion!

Billions of happy people are oblivious to your existence too. Who cares where you live?

You NYC people spend 65% of your pay on rent!? Over my dead body. You barely have anything left at the end of the month to even enjoy the city with! Call me crazy, but I'd like to be able to retire someday. And own a house.

And R217, think of all of the money you save by not having to go to therapy or buy anti-depressants.

Real life in NYC is not a Sex And The City episode.

There's an energy to NYC that you don't find elsewhere.

That's the appeal and it's worth it for many people who thrive on it and find other cities too quiet.

OTOH, if I was in a job where I knew I'd never make more than $100K, I'd never live there. Quality of life in a smaller city is just overwhelmingly better for someone at that income level.

^^And please Olds don't start telling us about how you make $75K as a lighting guy on Broadway but have an apartment in the West Village you bought in 1977 for $20K. That ship sailed.

The pro NYC people like the energy and the accessibility of many things but my take is the place was many little villages with access to high quality shops and culture. This is akin to the 'manor' neighborhoods described above but without the energy just outside ones door.

It is all about what one likes -- I found the city draining but appreciate others might like it.

Of course many of the likable things have disappeared since it became global.

It's so overrated that there is a monthly thread on how overrated it is from jealous bitches who don't live here, yet come to the monthly thread to shit all over a city that is beyond their grasp.

As I thought I'd explained earlier, I am not jealous of anyone losing 65% of their pay to rent. That is ludicrous. You work to live, and when it's all over with you have absolutely nothing to show for it. But hey, at least you got to experience that energy, amiright!?

R224, why does it bother you so much what other people do with their money. Some people want to live in a major city and are willing to pay more for the experience. Some people don't and would rather live in rural areas. Who gives a flying fuck.

Agreed, R225.

My guess is to that those paying 65% of their income as rent are low income workers.

They dont even have washer and dryers in their homes. I was so shocked to find this out! 😱

The rats would creep me out. And the funk in the summer

It depends on the building, r227. Some have laundry rooms and some allow in apartment washer and dryers.

Id rather deal with rats and funk than be afraid to go out alone at night, R228.

I live in Providence and commute into Boston daily. I swear to a non-existent deity I'm becoming more of a misanthrope as time goes on. You don't know the special hell that is getting off a commuter train and plodding along with the living dead.

It takes a special type of person to live in NYC. Most Americans aspire for a single family home with a garage, lawn, good neighborhood schools, and friendly townsfolk.

Now that is most certainly flyover talk, r231.

No doubt, NY is a great city for millionaires and billionaires. For middle class and working class people, not so much. To really suck out the marrow of the city, you have to have millions of dollars at your disposal. That's why Manhattan has been nicknamed 'Billionaire Island'. Much of the city's mystique harkens back to a bygone era when you could live a fabulous, artsy, bohemian lifestyle for a pittance. Although that time no longer exists, people still associate the city with the heyday of the Greenwich Village beatnik scene, the 60s, 70s, and 80s Warhol scene, the 70s Studio 54 and gay scenes, the 80s and 90s nightlife scene with fabulous clubs like Danceteria, CBGB, Palladium, Limelight, and The Tunnel. That art scene and nightlife is gone and New York has been disneyfied and riddled with the same generic big box retail stores and chain restaurants you'd find in Anytown, USA. It's still one of the safest places to park your money if you're a Russian oligarch, Saudi royal, or one of 11,000 top ranking Chinese communist party members who have, over the past decade, funneled over 300 billion dollars to offshore accounts and multi-million dollar real estate investments to hedge against the collapse of the Chinese economy. If you're not part of this crowd, you will probably be living a dreary, workaday, window-shopping lifestyle.

Please, R233. You are making a sweeping generalization by pointing certain buildings in a certain section of the the city. MOST of Manhattan is not close to what you describe.

Very easy to tell who is this thread actually has informed opinions about New York and who is pulling shit outta their asses.

R234, what's your annual income? Wondering what your definition of 'middle class' is.

R235, anyone who does not worship NYC and ridicule every other city are the ass-pullers.

R224, we all go into the ground. Some of us will go into the ground having lived in NYC and some of us will go having WISHED they had but only being able to post bitter threads from their poor trash existence in BUMBLEFUCK, USA.

Which one are you, dear heart?

Some people have actually lived in New York, moved elsewhere, and lived to post about it on DL.

It's not that rare or difficult to move to New York.

It's a lot more difficult to leave, and start a new life elsewhere, which explains the defensiveness of the "natives."

If you came from somewhere else, why would it be hard to get out & go back? But for adult native NYers who never lived anywhere else, the barriers to leaving are huge. Most of my fam are stuck in that sinking shithole, been trying to pry them out for years. Hardly any of them even know how to drive a car! I fear they are fucked, condemned to spend the rest of their lives working their asses off to maintain horribly shitty lifestyles.

Just like New York City, just like Jericho - pace the halls and climb the walls, and get out when they blow.

Today the NY Times published an article entitled, "It No Longer Pays For Working Class Americans to Move to Big Cities". However, they failed to mention the role endless 3rd immigration has played in this.

What's rally sad is every major American city is trying to copy of duplicate Manhattan...DC and the NEWCOMERS from Flypover regions...who think they have arrived... drool over rumors that DC is competitive with NYC. Over priced real estate. nasty servers in over priced restaurants making $17-20-per hour when it costs $50.00 and hour to live comfortably. It's the new techie crowd with no taste and are stupid enough to ignore the 'let the buyer beware' mentality... the book, the Rise of the Creative Class is the Bible for these folk....Even a quick value meal u=in McDonalds resembles the hastily thrown together fast food restaurants in a NYC fast food place. Some level of money, no taste, or past experience with real quality...its trump's paradise!

At least once a month I meet a friend for lunch at the Met (Museum) or the Brooklyn Museum. Both are pay-what-you-wish for NYC residents. I like to cook and the absolute best ingredients simply can't be found elsewhere. Authentic Indian spices at Kalustyan's on Lexington, the best duck confit I've ever had at Dickson's at the Chelsea Market. Art house film you're not going to see anywhere else. Just sitting in Washington Square Park and watching the NYU kids do their mating rituals. Then, there's all the surviving friends I have from living here since the late 70s. I'm lucky. I have friends who have moved away and I'm welcome to visit whenever I want but I'm always more than happy to turn the key to my home. I go to the beach one day; I go to Times Square and have coffee with my friend who lives there and we sit and watch the tourists the next. I can't imagine living anywhere else. I think were I young, I may try other places but I'm not at all convinced I wouldn't end up here again.

Other cities have authentic Indian grocers, R244.

If all the tourists stayed away from NYC and the city lost all of that income, it would collapse. Taxes would kill . Yes, the sidewalks would be clear, so there will be room for New Yorkers to assemble their new cardboard homes.

But, but... this wasn't shown on Friends.

R29, oh look, some ditzy, dumb, 20-something white sluts spreading herpes around the city...

New Yorkers are perenially pissed. Very true.

The question is of NYC is still where the most creative and talented live to give it that buzz. It may not be what it used to be but maybe it's the best the world has tight now.

"most creative and talented. " Broadway? Fox News? Andy Cohen? The Trumps?

The OPs piece is the sort of sophomoric nonsense that someone having a bad day has published once every few months since the invention of the printing press. Could also be called "10 Cliché Reasons People Dislike Living In NYC" or similar. Nothing she says is untrue, it's just more like "yes, but you should know that going in." (I was born here so I guess I don't know any better.)

The piece at R242, while a few months old, is actually very interesting.

Living in NYC on next to no money must get old in a hurry. If I were in a career where I knew I'd never make a lot of money I'd move to a smaller city somewhere where my quality of life would be much better.

New York is increasingly becoming a city for the "haves" and that's made it less interesting.

NYC - Saw it a couple of times from the air when I changed planes. That's as much as I want to see.

This thread is killing my soul so here is a nice time when NYC was nice in the movies.

Do you ever do this?

New York City in 1988! It was even more of a violent dump then!

At least they have gay pride parades. I mean how many cities have them?

Young New Yorkers don't know shit about the real New York City - dirty, sleezy, filled with reprobates; but exciting and creative, with colorful characters and places that defined a generation. Now, it's Disney with milquetoast whiners who know nothing about surviving in unpredictable times, which made each of the residents stronger.

Colorful characters is right.

There is something interesting about the dirtiness but I would rather have it be as pristine as Toronto, ya know? Why not keep it clean.

Thanks for the article, r242. As usual with the NY Times, the reader comments tell the real story and are more informative than the actual article.

Cities are the great engines of liberal society, traditionally because of the social opportunity and intellectual mixing they can encourage. As this article mentions, due to the exorbitant cost of living in our large cities there is no real opportunity for the immigration to occur that supports this culture-creation function. Most of our large cities have become homogenous developments devoted to white collar office life served by an underclass that will never be socialized into the upper echelons due to lack of access to meaningful employment or expensive education systems. As a result, the culture of cities has been degraded into a sort of un-walled gated community that is really not a cultural improvement on the suburbs. Economic segregation is a losing proposition for cities and for liberal society.

Bump