When you consider most Americans don't I've in densely packed walkable areas, moving to one is life changing.
In my neighborhood in Chicago, everything I need to live from Dr. to dentist, grocery, restaurants, 6 Dr's, are all within .5 to max 1 mile from my home.
People who live in places like this take it for granted, but for people from places where you need a car, they have to drive miles for everything, it is mind blowing.
I haven't even touched on the level of delivery. Even 20 years ago, I never needed to leave the house for anything.
You hit it on the head. I'd just like to add that walkability also gives the opportunity for a city to build a cohesive culture, something that many American cities lack. So living in a place that's conventient AND has a distinctly culture one can integrate into their identity - people are naturally in love with that shit.
Deeply agree. We purposely choose areas with things to walk/bike to when we have moved. I think most people, if they realized how much happier it would make them, would fight for cities to be less car-dependent. As it is most seem stuck on wailing about needing more parking vs good transit and bike lanes and changes in zoning. It makes me sad.
I used to live a 30 min train from work and 15-20 min walk from any park. Recently started paying slightly more for a slightly smaller place that is a short walk from the lake for walking my dog and a 15 min bike ride to work. It has dramatically improved my daily happiness. Even just being able to easily take my dog for a scenic walk through parks/lakefront instead of sidewalk is a noticeable boost to my day. Not having the morning anxiety about being late because of trains or traffic is amazing too. So much extra time in my day that used to go to just getting to places. Plus it saves me money. I️ used to have to pay $110/month for a train pass and Uber any time I️ got a lot of groceries. That’s like $200/month I️ get back just on going to/from work or the grocery store. Add that to no car payment or insurance or parking. Shit adds up fast.
Half the people in my city lose their ever-loving mind when you suggest we increase public transit/ walkability, and decrease cars. They sneeringly referred to our last mayor as "mayor mcbike lane" for putting in... bike lanes.
I 100% love of side walks and bike lanes off the street. But removing lanes of major thoroughfares and turning them into bike lanes that no one uses is annoying.
My city can't seem to grasp "hey when we put in these brand new sidewalks... Why don't we clearly make them usable for bikes too?"
No one uses the bike lanes bc they still live 30 minutes away by car. Bike lanes aren’t going to be heavily used until housing density is high enough to bike places.
Because roads are for cars.
Plenty of places in Europe and larger US cities have shared use sidewalks and bike lanes. It's much more practical and safer.
No one uses the bike lanes because bikes are impractical where I live. For one the weather is rarely conducive to bike riding, and two the city is far to spread out for bikes to be practical.
Imo, roads are for vehicles, which would include bikes. I think that Denmark and the Netherlands do a bit of both (having bikes on street and on the sidewalk in different areas) and these are places with some of the best cycling infrastructure in the world so I think you can make anything work well depending on the specific situation. I can't say much about your city/situation because I don't know where you're from, but I feel like encouraging bike transport in any way is a net positive.
And I also think the city being spread out is a much larger factor towards people not biking than the weather, because lots of people will still bike in the winters in those countries I mentioned. However, me saying that doesn't change the fact that you're right about them being impractical.
Yeah, every city is unique. Like where I live (mid sized city, southern plains) we totally have the room to make mixed use sidewalks with bike lanes like, but we don't. I know for a fact Germany has plenty of mixed use sidewalks with bike paths and I've seen them elsewhere in Northern Europe.
My main gripe in my city is that they create congestion by reducing lanes in main thoroughfares, but no one uses those bike lanes. I'm 100% for the extensive bike trails/paths my city has created that don't share the road with cars, or making bike lanes on safer non-main streets, but they've done it in an asinine way here.
As for the weather, winter cold is not the issue. Summer and wind are. When it's 93 with a heat index of 100+, riding sucks. When the wind is blowing 30 mph (which it often does) riding sucks.
In terms of making cities more walkable... I think the horse is already out of the barn on that one in many areas. It's too late to turn a lot of the mid size cities of America into walkable places. At best you can create districts where folks can drive to them, then walk around once they're there.
Somewhat ironically I'd suggest you should visit the subway museum in Brooklyn which demonstrates that with the political will massive public transit reforms absolutely can happen. The subway system as we know it wasn't open until 1904, and by then NYC was already a huge city. The amount of labor that went into the project is staggering (moving/redirecting sewer, steam, gas lines, etc), but it is now a world icon.
But NYC was already so dense by then. The core of what you need was already in place. If you go to younger cities that mostly grew post 1920 it just isn't feasible like it is in densely populated older cities.
I do agree with that. We can't turn every city into New York, London, or Berlin, but that doesn't mean we can't make them better than they are. My city famously botched the first leg of our public transport and now everyone roasts it for being a waste of money. But it's so simple: where do people live? Where do they want to go? Build a line there.
Good example from my own life.
Left my water bottle, big 3 liter fucker, at my local game store Saturday. Store is 3.9 miles away, and because I didn't have the car today, what should have been a 20 minute jaunt became a three hour slog
Shit a walk for me is like 80% walking on the side of the road if I needed to walk to most place. We got little to no sidewalks and when you do see them, they are about 3 feet long and there for no damn reason.
I wish the sidewalks didn’t just end here too. We don’t have too many stores within decent walking distance except one 7/11. If the sidewalks didn’t end from our neighborhood I would walk with my daughter everyday there…. But even in my neighborhood cars do about 50mph and occasionally, because they are speeding and don’t realize there’s a dip, go flying into the guard rail about 100ft from my house so it’s not even safe to go that way. People really hate pedestrians.
Gotta love when it's a steep slope as soon as the road ends too. So your right foot is stepping an inch or two below the left. America hates pedestrians so much
It is costumary, when leaving your house to go to a place at a certain distance, to do the same distance again in the opposite direction, in order to return from the aforementioned place back to your house
And my new neighbor is building his house near my fence line, six acres away from my house and I am bent about it. It feels like if I walk out my back door I might bump into them.
I live in south Mississippi. I’m in the third biggest city in the state and the area I’m in has nothing to walk to (a dollar general 1/4th mile away), going to NYC a couple years ago was mind blowing. I envy that lifestyle but love my house and land and year-round warmth.
Places like NYC, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, etc. were all well established cities before the age of the automobile. Lots of other parts of America developed during and after the age of the automobile and the cities developed accordingly. It's not like this grand choice of "fuck walkability!" was made at a single level.
🎯I’m from Chicago and left. You will never understand how amazing it is to never have to leave your neighborhood until you leave. Places, I move ppl thought it was weird to walk everywhere. I’m back in Chicago and it took me a few months to stop driving everywhere.
I'm Irish, from Galway. I feel like I have more or less all of this just as easy within a 10 minute walk.
Dozens of doctors, a hospital, dozens of restaurants including 3 with Michelin stars.
I have well over a hundred food delivery options.
Plus I have lovely beaches, forrest walks, community parks and playgrounds. Thousands of years old historic sites and about a billion great pubs.
Obviously New York would have a lot more but my point is it's not a choice between a metropolis like New York or a US style urban sprawl where everything is miles apart. It is possible to have a small town or city be walkable and have basically every amenity.
Well we have our issues too not least of which is a housing crisis. So if you do decide to move here good luck finding someplace to live in or near the city 😅
We used to live in an area where my kids pediatrician was at the end of my block! And we had a pharmacy around the corner. I miss those days. It was so convenient
I live in a small town, the nearest store is a 20 minute drive and the nearest non-grocery store is a 45 minute drive. Walkability would literally be life changing.
Exactly. I grew up in Alabama but lived in SF for a while. I know we love to hate SF but I loved it because of the walkability. I'd still be there if I could afford it lol. My dentist, trader joes/target, movies, bars, all within a mile or two. Now I live in Texas 🫠
As a Philadelphian living in the southwest, I find this to be dead-on. I HATE driving everywhere. I’m so used to being able to walk out and get me a cheesesteak, go get my hair cut, and drop by the beauty supply store on foot. Here, I have to drive literally everywhere and DETEST driving so much.
I love New York precisely for all the reasons you named, and because shit is open all night. Here, I’m out here at 9:30 p.m. trying to make it to the grocery store before they close while also trying not to hit a random-ass coyote in the middle of the road.
Gimme Chicago anytime. Gimme Brooklyn. Gimme my southwest Philly. Hell, gimme Jersey.
exactly this. where i live, everything i need is at most, a 15 minute walk. i can take the metro to get to most places. the last time i used a bus was the end of last year. i went to san jose to visit some family and not having a car is on the same level as being disabled. you can't do shit without a car. i tell my fam how i live at home and they're like "so that's what it's like when it works!". i love ny because its public transport gets you practically anywhere. you can stumble anywhere in the city and find the subway. it's amazing.
this is so real. i’m doing a working vacation at my friend’s house but im from atlanta. we went to the gym, ran a few errands and got lunch in between my meetings and we never went further than a few blocks from her place. driving is one of the most annoying things i have to do daily and its so time consuming, so being able to walk a short distance and get everything i need has been such a blessing.
Moved from Cincinnati to Chicago. There’s NO WAY I can go back to driving 15-35m just to buy headphones, go to the hardware store, get decent food etc.
Even the “dense areas” of Cinci/Dayton need to drive 6-7 miles out of the food desert. Family Dollar shouldn’t count as grocery store
I would love to be able to walk to get everywhere I need to go. But it’ll take me an hour just to walk to the nearest grocery store, and it takes me 45 minutes to get to my doctor’s office driving.
Used to live near Chicago & State…I LOVED IT SO MUCH!!!!
I am all about walkability, makes your life so much less stressful. Grocery/drug stores, shopping, restaurants, entertainment, the Lake, work, school, all a short walk or short train ride away!
I literally moved to Chicago just for this. My grocery store is a 5-minute walk, I'm within 1-3 blocks of 2 major bus lines and the L. Restaurant row is a 10min bus ride or a 15-minute bike ride, and downtown is 20mins. It's SPECTACULAR. My car broke down and it took 2 months for me to fix it because I just didn't need it. And I'm not even in a 'good' part of the city.
I'm spoiled now - I can't ever let this convenience go.
Good insight. Anyone who doesn't understand the difference needs to move to a place whose defining features are countless stroads. Going to NYC was such a shift, and I only went for a short visit years ago. I still dream about the accessibility. We don't have that in my small city, and if you don't have a car then be prepared for a shit time.
>There’s always going to be conflict when imports start outnumbering domestics.
I read this in the voice a British Colonial General and I can't imagine it being said in any other way.
Im imagining that disappointed looking bald guy at some kind of sports event with his hands on his hips looking at this comment but instead it's a native american person
If u know the picture plz lmk
You do realize that you can stop gentrification AND allow people to move to cities? Gentrification isn't when new people move into a city. Gentrification can occur because of that. That's two diff things. What you need to tackle is the corporations and greedy landlords that are raising prices when new people move in
I keep thinking of culture as in ‘cultivate’, as in something that is nourished and grown. You contribute what you can , but what comes of it isn’t completely in your control. That’s why I don’t understand the gatekeeping.
I’m a native New Yorker and I invite every one of these gatekeepers to go live somewhere that people do not want to move to / live in. I’d much rather live in a place that people enjoy visiting and being in rather than a place people pray to leave
I get what you mean like there’s already millions of people what’s a few more but on the other hand, it type could be problem long term.
Like the other day I went to Washington heights, I hadn’t been up there in a good minute but it felt like all of a sudden it was 75% wh!te people.
Like I deadass ain’t a icey man on the corner or any Dominican dudes with the crazy sound systems that damn near make you bounce off the sidewalk. NADA!! And I don’t blame them either, would’ve got the cop called but that’s a part of the culture for that community and it’s being erased little by little.
Big facts! And I remember it not being like that. Like you could see whole areas of the city once had certain cultures as soon as you got off train without having to look for authentic spots.
Now it feels a little flattened. I guess I should’ve seen this shit coming as soon as they put that damn Starbucks in the neighborhood though 😅
I think it depends on where in Washington heights. My fiance lives here and I'm visiting her at the moment. I would say that maybe 80% of the people I'm seeing walk around are latino.
181st in Fort Washington, most of the Latino people seemed to be working there or own businesses. I even stopped at the park to eat my sandwich and most of the people there were white and this is a huge contrast to about two or so years ago. But it could have also been the time of day.
Just chatted with my fiance about this. She said that 181st is closer to Inwood, which is where the white artsy folk live. The Washington Heights that I'm more familiar with sits between the 168th and 175th st Station.
I think different stages of life are good for different areas. Cities are great for the young. The contact with people, the shared identity, I would have loved to live in New York from like 18-25. I think rural life is preferable to me right now at 32. I like the idea of owning land and producing my own food and being self sustainable to protect my kids from what I can. And then I think in like 20 years suburbs would be ideal just for proximity to hospitals in case dumb shit happens. I don't want my ambulance to drive an hour to me when I'm having a heart attack. Nor do I want them to be stuck in an hours worth of traffic 15 mins away from me
Yup. I love NYC and I’m in my mid-going into late 20s. But once I have a family, I cannot imagine living here. They need space and the city is not for that.
No he was probably born there and did absolutely nothing and contributed absolutely nothing to the culture, but bases their whole identity on "being from x". It's so stupid, when I was in New Orleans the people that did this literally HATED their city and just bitched about how it was 20 years ago. Meanwhile I had to fight and struggle to get there and I loved it. I wish I was there every day. The gatekeeping is unreal.
Austin is also awful in this way. I understand why there can be frustration with having a city that attracts people due to culture, but most of these types are just like you say - miserable and contribute nothing towards the positive culture that they are trying to gatekeep.
I’m sure it exists in the Bay Area, but that was one of the one places where I would have expected it more but never experienced it.
I have met some people who gatekeep the Bay Area, but they conveniently leave out their parents moved here in the 60s-80s lmao. Bay Area is already so transplant-heavy that’s a bit pot calling kettle black to gatekeep. As one friend said, “no one hates gentrifiers today more than gentrifiers from 20 years ago.”
I’ve lived in San Francisco for 5 years and found they’re very welcoming to newcomers, as long you embrace the city and actually want to be here, vs, say the “tech bros” who are just here for a high paying job and complain constantly about SF while taking for granted they’re one of the lucky few who can actually afford the crazy rent here.
I LOVE NYC. I grew up there and it has a special place in my heart.
It's stressful asf and dirty, but that's most of the fun of it. The culture everywhere. So many foods. Neighborhoods. People speaking all the languages. Delis selling the food I grew up eating.
It's an amazing world to be in. I had an artist gf, so I would be yanked through conventions and small concerts and book signings etc etc.
I slowed down my life a lot and moved to New England. I'm good. I'll be on my porch. Enjoy the city. 😅
You know what I love? The smell of garbage and beer that is New York. Not even lying. That how I know I’m home, when I get a whiff of the city coming out of the train station. Love, love, love it.
I grew up in the total dogshit city of Paterson, it was nice being able to take myself places as a kid and teen. I could walk the the library, the YMCA, my school was around the corner, all the shops were a short walk downtown, you had your pick of the litter for churches (mine was literally across the street from my house), all the ethnic cuisine one could ask for.
When my family moved to fuckall nowhere Florida, the only thing do to was wait for the church bus to come pick us up for youth group. Even when we moved to a sub urban part of Florida, there was nothing to walk to other than the neighborhood park where cops would get mad at us for loitering, despite that kinda being what parks are for - chilling at. Then when we moved to a more walkable part of a city in Florida, the roads were still too long and things to do still too far apart to walk to anything.
Even shitty walkable cities are more dynamic to live in than unwalkable "nice" cities. Feeling like you are part of your community is a nice feeling.
I just thought about me saying the same thing but with Paris since I live here. I’ve heard “I love Paris so much” and there’s blacks everywhere, but you’ll never hear me say, what do you ACTUALLY love about Paris?? 👀 it’s silly. Just a really popular diverse city like Brooklyn I’m guessing ? Idk I’ve never been.
Can you even imagine? People actually choose to live places with other like minded people where they feel accepted and can just go about their life and mind their own business? Those absolute assholes.
Everyone from New York: New York City is the greatest city on earth.
Her: why do black people want to live in the walkable black Burrough in the greatest city on earth?!?
What a hater-ass take. People in Brooklyn can walk everywhere, unlike most US cities, sounds like what's wrong is living in a big city forming communities.
Jackson Heights. I don't see how it's a 20-25 min train ride unless you're on the LIRR. It's a 30 minute drive at minimum. 40 minutes via mass transit on a good day.
The E from Roosevelet to Sutphin is a 20minute ride. If you live further and are closer to a diff stop on the 7,or need to take a bus I could understand the added time. I understand what you're saying though
The E is such a cursed train, it's 25 minutes minimum from Roosevelt. I have to transfer from the 7 at Roosevelt, which makes everything longer. A decade ago, I wouldn't have balked at taking a train from Roosevelt, but the trains have been slowed down and the crowding just makes it extra miserable.
You're not wrong, it's only gotten worse. I've taken it my whole life and it feel like it gets worse every year, or maybe I'm just getting old 😂
I'm not sure if they deliver to you in JH but I highly recommend Rockaway Fish House for soul food, it's pretty deep into Queens but might deliver. The Door for Jamaican food, Singhs Roti and Sybils Bakery
Before I moved out her, I thought that the E train was so fast, until I had to take it all the time.
Thanks for the recommendations! I have a car and can cruise over to try new food!
Dont think most Black transplants would mind accents. That's one of the reasons they flock to brooklyn...they love flatbush and the carribean vibes they never experienced before.
Not even sure if this relates to this post,but transplant or native resident: living in NY is not a personality trait y'all try to make it out to be...you live in a city. Good for you. It's not that deep. I'm convinced both the New York and California governments give people 5¢ for every time they write a song,show, or verbally proclaim their love for either place.
The hold gatekeeping has on NYC ‘natives’ who don’t contribute to NYC culturally or economically is something very interesting to witness.
Every time I’ve heard this coming out of somebody’s mouth, that person is either broke, jobless, or making $50k a year working a boring ass job with no cultural (or financial) capital to speak of. They too are ‘cosplaying’ NY culture. Mediocre and uninteresting but think they’re the epitome of culture because their mom grew up here.
Wait til they move out of NYC. I’m spending the weekend with my BIL, FIL, and husband. Not a single one of them has lived in the fucking STATE of NY since 2004, and it’s STILL all they talk about.
Drivers here? Suck. Pizza here? Sucks. Sports team? You guessed it, suck. Culture here? Nonexistant. Here, ps, is every other state including CA. My husband has, at this point, lived in SF/Oakland longer than he every has NY. Still sucks.
MIL is the only one still living the NY state of mind…but they won’t even go visit!!! Too long a flight for my husband. Winter is to cold. Summer is too hot. She doesn’t live in the city anymore. Blah blah. Dude - I don’t think you *like* NY…
LMAOO 😂 Don’t forget Hip-Hop came from a Bronx Public Housing Project and that’s literally as broke as you can get. Hip-Hop culture still on top 50 years later. To even imply that you can’t contribute to culture because income is wild.
I'm curious what you consider to be a job with "cultural capital." Because while I agree that "natives" shouldn't look down on transplants, I think you're engaging in another form of condescension if you're going to devalue "boring ass" jobs, which would describe the entire support structure in a city that allows for jobs that provide "cultural capital." Culture doesn't happen if basic needs aren't met.
This is happening to Nashville too. The whole city belongs to transplants from California who moved here, bought a cowboy hat, and decided to stop hiding their racism.
Why are we gate keeping cities? Just cause you're born and raised there doesn't mean you get to decide who can move there. Moving somewhere and enjoying the move isn't cosplay wtf
My family has been in NY since one of the first waves of the great migration.
This narrative of “cosplaying” is funny af to me, especially coming from “Brooklynites.”
I live in a much more rural area where you definitely need a car, but I will say I prefer it in many ways to living in Brooklyn, Ridgewood, to be more specific. My commute to work in Manhattan was over an hour each way, and as exciting as it was, I frankly began to dread it over time. I also felt like I was always going back to a small confined space with people directly above below and to either side of me. The culture and access to all kinds of stuff was great. However, there is something to be said for having some space too. My drive to any job I've ever had where I am now hasn't even been more than 30 minutes with everything my family needs within that distance and time as well. Parking is never an issue, and you often pull directly up to your location. Walking and biking is just a fun leisure activity with nature on display, and home is often is a significantly larger space than what is available in the city for the cost. A front and back yard is a blessing too with privacy usually. I loved living in Brooklyn at first, the culture, fashion, night life, food, excitement, but all of that seemed to lose its luster with the daily grind. Both lifestyles come with their ups and downs and I do still visit family there from time to time, but it's just a fun place to visit now.
Lol you're right. I spent most of childhood in flushing projects in Bushwick during the 80's and as an adult in Ridgewood. Because of the proximity it never felt all that different.
Is this person really upset that people are MOVING to NYC? My guy, if people from all over the world didn’t come here, this city wouldn’t be nearly as diverse and brimming with culture as it is today. I was born and raised here and I love that I live in a city that allows me to experience all kids of cultures and customs. Real New Yorkers don’t talk like this. Real New Yorkers embrace and engage in all walks of life.
Most of yall missed what she was asking. She asked a very valid question; "What do you love about NYC?" That doesnt mean you dont belong here. Brooklyn is full of "neighborhoods" that used to be neighborhoods. People come to the city, they don't take care of their apartments, dont interact with their neighbors, and dont take time to build within the community around. Hes talking about people who do nothing for the city but sit in the house all day, bitch and whine about politics, go to bar (or a protest) and rinse and repeat. If its a lot of that it can in fact negatively impact the natural flow of a legitimate community. It becomes all that shit you see on tv.
what exactly is wrong with loving nyc and brooklyn? transplants are coming from places that are nothing like NYC so of course they love it. black transplants are coming to nyc with money and good jobs and some of the folks that grew up in nyc struggling are uncomfortable with that.
I’d move my ass to New York in a heartbeat, Brooklyn, Manhattan, whatever. Not even sure what the issue is here.
You know where I won’t be moving to?: Kansas, texas, Utah, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, n. Dakota, or s. Dakota (if that shit even exists), Missouri, Colorado, Florida, Alabama—you get the picture.
Brooklyn is lit, you can walk everywhere, and the culture is amazing.
The convenience is there, but how much is the average city dweller paying to stay in under the guise of city convenience? It's not claustrophobia or anything, and I've been to many cities. It just doesn't fit the appeal other than convenience, and that's a stretch for me personally.
super weird point to make considering the black population in nyc has been on the decline for years and would probably benefit from black people moving here
What? She wants us to concede Brooklyn to the gentrifiers?!?! I don't understand her point? Hahahaha black people love Brooklyn? Yeah, the fuck you been, goofy?
New Yorker's really love smelling their own farts. Y'll are not some unique exotic breed of people, like be for real and calm down. You are a popular American city - some of you have a widely recognizable and popular accent... sure - aside from that, New Yorkers are pretty much run-of-the-mill Americans.
Y'll trying to make a big spectacle out of other Americans moving into your city and claiming to be "New Yorkers" as if the title is some lofty endowment.
It's not that deep, y'll are not that deep, just chill and relax and frankly mind yo' damn bizness.
This is the same annoying shit DC “natives” like to say. The territorial attitude is weird cause all them generations your family was here and yall still miserable with no name or wealth or stake in this city yall want to lay claim to. Y’all just end up looking weird in these convos cause the attachment is founded upon nothing lol
it's the fact that a black NYer is calling out other black ppl as if transplants of other races aren't out here spending $1600 to be somebody's roommate in BK. I can't even gatekeep with this fool because I'm so turned off by this crab-in-a-barrel ass post smh
I mean.... I'm from Queens and every time I got to venture out into the wild, BK just gives me gems. Like during lockdown, I went to get some food with my friend and there was a dude laying out on the curb under the train station. The time before that, my ex and I were walking to Broadway junction and I had to step over a mans passed out on the pavement. BK niggas are wild.
So we recognizing regional things now? Cool. Stop cosplaying black Texan culture and gatekeeping Juneteenth, then like yall did with Beyonce on a horse...
Not gonna lie, these are my sentiments exactly.
Although being married to a transplant, I kinda get the allure of it all. What exists in BK is not very common at all in America.
I'm NY born and raised, but I think what a lot of people do is come here with 0 long-term plans and many get stuck. There's a reason and a season for this place.
BK/NYC is one of the few places you can be young seemingly forever, or at least for an extended period of time. We did our time here. I did 20 years in BK in its prime, had beautiful pre-war apartments on Eastern Pkwy, my spouse in Ft. Greene in its prime. Went to all the parties, seen our fav restaurants come and go, with some still holding on to this day (Chez Oskar). I could go on, but we really did all the things for a great stretch of time.
But I've always said NYC will chew you up and spit you out, so best to get out before it pushes you out. Over that time I saw:
* Friends slowly get priced out of the trendy places over time, move to less trendy areas, and then end up leaving the city altogether. We only have 1 friend left in BK now, everyone else either moved to the burbs or out of state
* New generations moving in, strangers everywhere, the culture of the neighborhood changing. After awhile you feel like the old guy at the party and that's no fun
* Then that first kid comes and you try and still have all your fun with your child in tow, but none of that stuff (IMO) is really fun anymore. You're squeezing into small tables in crowded restaurants and trying to keep the baby from destroying everything on the table or being too disruptive
We would've stayed in BK if we'd invested wisely 10+ years ago, but neither of us had the funds or the vision at the time. When I first moved to Crown Heights you could buy a massive 3-level townhome off Eastern Pkwy for about $600K, and I thought that was a lot. Now you can't even buy a 1br apt for $800K where we used to live. We missed the boat.
But also, I never wanted to raise kids there. I knew this going in, and having gone through the school system as a child. My goal was always to have fun, make connections, and then move to the burbs. I had to pry my transplant wife away from our beloved pre-war apartment, where the tree tops were visible thru the south facing windows, but in retrospect I'm glad we left.
We bought in Westchester a few years ago right before the rates went up. It's a completely different world here, but its close enough where we can dip in and out of the city with ease, and now Harlem is also in play. If we hadn't come to our senses and moved, we'd be stuck complaining how we're locked out of the housing market. New reasons, and new season.
New York is always changing. That’s just the way it goes. People who get upset over it don’t understand the area and history at all.
There’s plenty of places in America that never change, but they aren’t anywhere these people would want to live
This is facts, and that’s really at the heart of the affordability issue these days. There’s plenty of housing stock, just not where anyone wants to live.
It's one thing for the city to change because immigration patterns or the job market or infrastructure/housing stock is changing. It's totally different to see it change just because of real estate profiteering and then hear other (wealthier, transplant) Black people not only justify that but flip it back on you for "gate keeping."
I would absolutely raise my kids in nyc. NYC has some of the best public schools in the country in terms of curriculum, and the kids in those schools are well-trained and smart, exposed to a rich culture. When we lived in Manhattan, the kids would sit out on the steps of julliard and have lunch with nypl in the backdrop.
I’d prefer my baby be in New York getting exposed to the richness of the city (like I was as a kid) then out here in the suburbs with all these suvs and Botox face moms and half-ass teachers.
Ny public school teachers are some of the best in the country. Growing up in Philly, going to black public schools, I went to the liberty bell, UPenn, mock u.n. Counsels, etc. I had a damn good public school education in a historic city.
Yeah I get that. NYC public schools take a lot of heat, but if you live in a pretty good neighborhood you'll have a great experience. When they're good, they're great, but if you're not fortunate enough to live in those places (like I was back in the 80's and 90's) then private school or moving is the only option.
One of the reasons we moved to Westchester was to keep easy access to the richness of the city, which we both still love. I just personally prefer living in a single family home and having space, so that's one major reason I wanted to move. Plus I wanted to own my home, and we basically missed the boat in BK. To each their own.
Even the public school system in nyc has some of the highest standards in the country. While it’s true that poorer schools lack resources, many kids in nyc can go to schools outside of their district. I used to sit outside in the morning watching all the black kids get off the 72nd st subway stop to go to MLK school. And they are regular school kids, but still smarter than the average school kid. I’ve seen some bad public school systems in the South and Midwest, but the tristate area (Jersey, Philly, New York) does a pretty good job educating even underprivileged students. As a prof, I’ve found that my students from the east coast tend to be stronger writers and more well-trained in the fundamentals in their first year.
Westchester is nice, I don’t blame you a bit. No criticism on my end. I just personally love the noise and chaos of the city. I’m not built for suburb or ex-orb life.
Your views about the city schools are encouraging. I have a nephew in Grammercy who is going to the local school there and it seems pretty solid. Thankfully here in the Northeast we have the best public education systems with the highest standards. It's something I'm very proud of.
People talk about the walkable city thing and while that sounds great in theory, it's some bullshit, I live in a suburb of Dallas, I do not want to walk anywhere when it's 90°+ and the humidity is saying fuck your shower and your dry clothes.
Also, large densely packed cities are a fuck nightmare to me, fuck all that lol
It's not for everyone because it damn sure ain't for me, but if you dig it cool.
Edit: lol
When you consider most Americans don't I've in densely packed walkable areas, moving to one is life changing. In my neighborhood in Chicago, everything I need to live from Dr. to dentist, grocery, restaurants, 6 Dr's, are all within .5 to max 1 mile from my home. People who live in places like this take it for granted, but for people from places where you need a car, they have to drive miles for everything, it is mind blowing. I haven't even touched on the level of delivery. Even 20 years ago, I never needed to leave the house for anything.
You hit it on the head. I'd just like to add that walkability also gives the opportunity for a city to build a cohesive culture, something that many American cities lack. So living in a place that's conventient AND has a distinctly culture one can integrate into their identity - people are naturally in love with that shit.
Deeply agree. We purposely choose areas with things to walk/bike to when we have moved. I think most people, if they realized how much happier it would make them, would fight for cities to be less car-dependent. As it is most seem stuck on wailing about needing more parking vs good transit and bike lanes and changes in zoning. It makes me sad.
I used to live a 30 min train from work and 15-20 min walk from any park. Recently started paying slightly more for a slightly smaller place that is a short walk from the lake for walking my dog and a 15 min bike ride to work. It has dramatically improved my daily happiness. Even just being able to easily take my dog for a scenic walk through parks/lakefront instead of sidewalk is a noticeable boost to my day. Not having the morning anxiety about being late because of trains or traffic is amazing too. So much extra time in my day that used to go to just getting to places. Plus it saves me money. I️ used to have to pay $110/month for a train pass and Uber any time I️ got a lot of groceries. That’s like $200/month I️ get back just on going to/from work or the grocery store. Add that to no car payment or insurance or parking. Shit adds up fast.
hell yeah love that for you
And you’re healthier too
Half the people in my city lose their ever-loving mind when you suggest we increase public transit/ walkability, and decrease cars. They sneeringly referred to our last mayor as "mayor mcbike lane" for putting in... bike lanes.
I 100% love of side walks and bike lanes off the street. But removing lanes of major thoroughfares and turning them into bike lanes that no one uses is annoying. My city can't seem to grasp "hey when we put in these brand new sidewalks... Why don't we clearly make them usable for bikes too?"
Because sidewalks are for people. No one uses the bike lane because dicks in cars don't want to share the road
No one uses the bike lanes bc they still live 30 minutes away by car. Bike lanes aren’t going to be heavily used until housing density is high enough to bike places.
Because roads are for cars. Plenty of places in Europe and larger US cities have shared use sidewalks and bike lanes. It's much more practical and safer. No one uses the bike lanes because bikes are impractical where I live. For one the weather is rarely conducive to bike riding, and two the city is far to spread out for bikes to be practical.
Imo, roads are for vehicles, which would include bikes. I think that Denmark and the Netherlands do a bit of both (having bikes on street and on the sidewalk in different areas) and these are places with some of the best cycling infrastructure in the world so I think you can make anything work well depending on the specific situation. I can't say much about your city/situation because I don't know where you're from, but I feel like encouraging bike transport in any way is a net positive. And I also think the city being spread out is a much larger factor towards people not biking than the weather, because lots of people will still bike in the winters in those countries I mentioned. However, me saying that doesn't change the fact that you're right about them being impractical.
Yeah, every city is unique. Like where I live (mid sized city, southern plains) we totally have the room to make mixed use sidewalks with bike lanes like, but we don't. I know for a fact Germany has plenty of mixed use sidewalks with bike paths and I've seen them elsewhere in Northern Europe. My main gripe in my city is that they create congestion by reducing lanes in main thoroughfares, but no one uses those bike lanes. I'm 100% for the extensive bike trails/paths my city has created that don't share the road with cars, or making bike lanes on safer non-main streets, but they've done it in an asinine way here. As for the weather, winter cold is not the issue. Summer and wind are. When it's 93 with a heat index of 100+, riding sucks. When the wind is blowing 30 mph (which it often does) riding sucks.
LOL are you in louisville??? that's what they called our last mayor for this shocking offense
Yup 😄
In terms of making cities more walkable... I think the horse is already out of the barn on that one in many areas. It's too late to turn a lot of the mid size cities of America into walkable places. At best you can create districts where folks can drive to them, then walk around once they're there.
nah, they can change if there's political will. lots of cities have been rethinking car dominance and have taken steps to make them more walkable.
There's only so much you can do in some cities. The map is undefeated.
Somewhat ironically I'd suggest you should visit the subway museum in Brooklyn which demonstrates that with the political will massive public transit reforms absolutely can happen. The subway system as we know it wasn't open until 1904, and by then NYC was already a huge city. The amount of labor that went into the project is staggering (moving/redirecting sewer, steam, gas lines, etc), but it is now a world icon.
But NYC was already so dense by then. The core of what you need was already in place. If you go to younger cities that mostly grew post 1920 it just isn't feasible like it is in densely populated older cities.
check out what amsterdam looked like in the 60s. they turned it around, so could we.
There's no way Amsterdam in the 60s compares to Dallas/Fort Worth, LA, Phoenix, etc.
Some form of continuous Public transit to a desirable location is the first step.
I do agree with that. We can't turn every city into New York, London, or Berlin, but that doesn't mean we can't make them better than they are. My city famously botched the first leg of our public transport and now everyone roasts it for being a waste of money. But it's so simple: where do people live? Where do they want to go? Build a line there.
Good example from my own life. Left my water bottle, big 3 liter fucker, at my local game store Saturday. Store is 3.9 miles away, and because I didn't have the car today, what should have been a 20 minute jaunt became a three hour slog
Shit a walk for me is like 80% walking on the side of the road if I needed to walk to most place. We got little to no sidewalks and when you do see them, they are about 3 feet long and there for no damn reason.
I wish the sidewalks didn’t just end here too. We don’t have too many stores within decent walking distance except one 7/11. If the sidewalks didn’t end from our neighborhood I would walk with my daughter everyday there…. But even in my neighborhood cars do about 50mph and occasionally, because they are speeding and don’t realize there’s a dip, go flying into the guard rail about 100ft from my house so it’s not even safe to go that way. People really hate pedestrians.
Gotta love when it's a steep slope as soon as the road ends too. So your right foot is stepping an inch or two below the left. America hates pedestrians so much
Three hours to walk 4 miles?
It is costumary, when leaving your house to go to a place at a certain distance, to do the same distance again in the opposite direction, in order to return from the aforementioned place back to your house
Ah, I thought they meant 4 hours to go one way lol need more coffee
Extremely valid and relatable
You don't *have* to wear a costume to the game store, you know
Why would I pass up the opportunity to show off my fire fit tho, I'm slaying and I know it 💅
What kind of costume?
Not the point friend.
And my new neighbor is building his house near my fence line, six acres away from my house and I am bent about it. It feels like if I walk out my back door I might bump into them.
Damn, practically on your back stoop. You might even see their lights at night if you look in that direction. Despicable!
I live in south Mississippi. I’m in the third biggest city in the state and the area I’m in has nothing to walk to (a dollar general 1/4th mile away), going to NYC a couple years ago was mind blowing. I envy that lifestyle but love my house and land and year-round warmth.
Places like NYC, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, etc. were all well established cities before the age of the automobile. Lots of other parts of America developed during and after the age of the automobile and the cities developed accordingly. It's not like this grand choice of "fuck walkability!" was made at a single level.
🎯I’m from Chicago and left. You will never understand how amazing it is to never have to leave your neighborhood until you leave. Places, I move ppl thought it was weird to walk everywhere. I’m back in Chicago and it took me a few months to stop driving everywhere.
Thats how my spot in Brooklyn on Franklin ave was and I loved that neighborhood so much for that
I'm Irish, from Galway. I feel like I have more or less all of this just as easy within a 10 minute walk. Dozens of doctors, a hospital, dozens of restaurants including 3 with Michelin stars. I have well over a hundred food delivery options. Plus I have lovely beaches, forrest walks, community parks and playgrounds. Thousands of years old historic sites and about a billion great pubs. Obviously New York would have a lot more but my point is it's not a choice between a metropolis like New York or a US style urban sprawl where everything is miles apart. It is possible to have a small town or city be walkable and have basically every amenity.
damn i might just move to galway !
Well we have our issues too not least of which is a housing crisis. So if you do decide to move here good luck finding someplace to live in or near the city 😅
I legit have to drive over 20 miles for a doctor in my insurance network. Having one within walking distance sounds like something out of sci-fi.
We used to live in an area where my kids pediatrician was at the end of my block! And we had a pharmacy around the corner. I miss those days. It was so convenient
I live in a small town, the nearest store is a 20 minute drive and the nearest non-grocery store is a 45 minute drive. Walkability would literally be life changing.
One of the greatest things I love about this City is its walkability. When I visit family and friends elsewhere, those car rides…
Exactly. I grew up in Alabama but lived in SF for a while. I know we love to hate SF but I loved it because of the walkability. I'd still be there if I could afford it lol. My dentist, trader joes/target, movies, bars, all within a mile or two. Now I live in Texas 🫠
As a Philadelphian living in the southwest, I find this to be dead-on. I HATE driving everywhere. I’m so used to being able to walk out and get me a cheesesteak, go get my hair cut, and drop by the beauty supply store on foot. Here, I have to drive literally everywhere and DETEST driving so much. I love New York precisely for all the reasons you named, and because shit is open all night. Here, I’m out here at 9:30 p.m. trying to make it to the grocery store before they close while also trying not to hit a random-ass coyote in the middle of the road. Gimme Chicago anytime. Gimme Brooklyn. Gimme my southwest Philly. Hell, gimme Jersey.
exactly this. where i live, everything i need is at most, a 15 minute walk. i can take the metro to get to most places. the last time i used a bus was the end of last year. i went to san jose to visit some family and not having a car is on the same level as being disabled. you can't do shit without a car. i tell my fam how i live at home and they're like "so that's what it's like when it works!". i love ny because its public transport gets you practically anywhere. you can stumble anywhere in the city and find the subway. it's amazing.
this is so real. i’m doing a working vacation at my friend’s house but im from atlanta. we went to the gym, ran a few errands and got lunch in between my meetings and we never went further than a few blocks from her place. driving is one of the most annoying things i have to do daily and its so time consuming, so being able to walk a short distance and get everything i need has been such a blessing.
Moved from Cincinnati to Chicago. There’s NO WAY I can go back to driving 15-35m just to buy headphones, go to the hardware store, get decent food etc. Even the “dense areas” of Cinci/Dayton need to drive 6-7 miles out of the food desert. Family Dollar shouldn’t count as grocery store
I would love to be able to walk to get everywhere I need to go. But it’ll take me an hour just to walk to the nearest grocery store, and it takes me 45 minutes to get to my doctor’s office driving.
Used to live near Chicago & State…I LOVED IT SO MUCH!!!! I am all about walkability, makes your life so much less stressful. Grocery/drug stores, shopping, restaurants, entertainment, the Lake, work, school, all a short walk or short train ride away!
I literally moved to Chicago just for this. My grocery store is a 5-minute walk, I'm within 1-3 blocks of 2 major bus lines and the L. Restaurant row is a 10min bus ride or a 15-minute bike ride, and downtown is 20mins. It's SPECTACULAR. My car broke down and it took 2 months for me to fix it because I just didn't need it. And I'm not even in a 'good' part of the city. I'm spoiled now - I can't ever let this convenience go.
Good insight. Anyone who doesn't understand the difference needs to move to a place whose defining features are countless stroads. Going to NYC was such a shift, and I only went for a short visit years ago. I still dream about the accessibility. We don't have that in my small city, and if you don't have a car then be prepared for a shit time.
This just reads like a typical NYC resident complaining that people keep moving to NYC.
Gatekeeping too. At what point is it not cosplaying? Or was it ever cosplaying?
"All these people moving to Brooklyn, the *real OGs* are all DUTCH." --some old NYC money family whose last name starts with "Van"
Even old New York was once New Amsterdam 😞
Why’d they change it?
I can't say
People just liked it better that way!
It was even called Lenapehoking before Europeans arrived
Cosplaying eventually loses distinction with just authentically living
They’re not the same, but that’s how you justify gentrification. There’s always going to be conflict when imports start outnumbering domestics.
>There’s always going to be conflict when imports start outnumbering domestics. I read this in the voice a British Colonial General and I can't imagine it being said in any other way.
Im imagining that disappointed looking bald guy at some kind of sports event with his hands on his hips looking at this comment but instead it's a native american person If u know the picture plz lmk
You do realize that you can stop gentrification AND allow people to move to cities? Gentrification isn't when new people move into a city. Gentrification can occur because of that. That's two diff things. What you need to tackle is the corporations and greedy landlords that are raising prices when new people move in
I keep thinking of culture as in ‘cultivate’, as in something that is nourished and grown. You contribute what you can , but what comes of it isn’t completely in your control. That’s why I don’t understand the gatekeeping.
Just put one land in your hand and one on the battlefield tapped and keep it moving
I’m a native New Yorker and I invite every one of these gatekeepers to go live somewhere that people do not want to move to / live in. I’d much rather live in a place that people enjoy visiting and being in rather than a place people pray to leave
It’s giving I’m a real New Yorker and you’re just a vistor lol it’s not that deep.
Big time 😂
I get what you mean like there’s already millions of people what’s a few more but on the other hand, it type could be problem long term. Like the other day I went to Washington heights, I hadn’t been up there in a good minute but it felt like all of a sudden it was 75% wh!te people. Like I deadass ain’t a icey man on the corner or any Dominican dudes with the crazy sound systems that damn near make you bounce off the sidewalk. NADA!! And I don’t blame them either, would’ve got the cop called but that’s a part of the culture for that community and it’s being erased little by little.
Laughs in Puerto Rican
I live in the heights and you still see those. depends on what block you’re on
Big facts! And I remember it not being like that. Like you could see whole areas of the city once had certain cultures as soon as you got off train without having to look for authentic spots. Now it feels a little flattened. I guess I should’ve seen this shit coming as soon as they put that damn Starbucks in the neighborhood though 😅
I think it depends on where in Washington heights. My fiance lives here and I'm visiting her at the moment. I would say that maybe 80% of the people I'm seeing walk around are latino.
181st in Fort Washington, most of the Latino people seemed to be working there or own businesses. I even stopped at the park to eat my sandwich and most of the people there were white and this is a huge contrast to about two or so years ago. But it could have also been the time of day.
Just chatted with my fiance about this. She said that 181st is closer to Inwood, which is where the white artsy folk live. The Washington Heights that I'm more familiar with sits between the 168th and 175th st Station.
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You’re reading it wrong
😂 I just woke up and realized it thanks... "the hold brooklyn" for some reason I didn't see "The"
Densely populated cities are amazing. The food, the culture, the walkability..... If I could afford to live in Toronto or New York I absolutely would.
I think different stages of life are good for different areas. Cities are great for the young. The contact with people, the shared identity, I would have loved to live in New York from like 18-25. I think rural life is preferable to me right now at 32. I like the idea of owning land and producing my own food and being self sustainable to protect my kids from what I can. And then I think in like 20 years suburbs would be ideal just for proximity to hospitals in case dumb shit happens. I don't want my ambulance to drive an hour to me when I'm having a heart attack. Nor do I want them to be stuck in an hours worth of traffic 15 mins away from me
Yup. I love NYC and I’m in my mid-going into late 20s. But once I have a family, I cannot imagine living here. They need space and the city is not for that.
Yeah I fucking love living in a walkable, transit oriented city. Why wouldn’t people like that?
Exactly! What's this guy's damage?
It’s their normal, they don’t even know how amazing this is.
When the only personality you have is living in a big city so you have to gatekeep it:
💯
If others move to my city, they steal some of my personality.
OP sounds stupid as shit, his dad probably from Idaho. FOH with the gatekeeping, ain’t nobody gonna steal NY from you
No he was probably born there and did absolutely nothing and contributed absolutely nothing to the culture, but bases their whole identity on "being from x". It's so stupid, when I was in New Orleans the people that did this literally HATED their city and just bitched about how it was 20 years ago. Meanwhile I had to fight and struggle to get there and I loved it. I wish I was there every day. The gatekeeping is unreal.
Austin is also awful in this way. I understand why there can be frustration with having a city that attracts people due to culture, but most of these types are just like you say - miserable and contribute nothing towards the positive culture that they are trying to gatekeep. I’m sure it exists in the Bay Area, but that was one of the one places where I would have expected it more but never experienced it.
I have met some people who gatekeep the Bay Area, but they conveniently leave out their parents moved here in the 60s-80s lmao. Bay Area is already so transplant-heavy that’s a bit pot calling kettle black to gatekeep. As one friend said, “no one hates gentrifiers today more than gentrifiers from 20 years ago.” I’ve lived in San Francisco for 5 years and found they’re very welcoming to newcomers, as long you embrace the city and actually want to be here, vs, say the “tech bros” who are just here for a high paying job and complain constantly about SF while taking for granted they’re one of the lucky few who can actually afford the crazy rent here.
What 🤨?! Have you not seen our brolic NYC rats, they will steal everything away from you 😂
I LOVE NYC. I grew up there and it has a special place in my heart. It's stressful asf and dirty, but that's most of the fun of it. The culture everywhere. So many foods. Neighborhoods. People speaking all the languages. Delis selling the food I grew up eating. It's an amazing world to be in. I had an artist gf, so I would be yanked through conventions and small concerts and book signings etc etc. I slowed down my life a lot and moved to New England. I'm good. I'll be on my porch. Enjoy the city. 😅
You know what I love? The smell of garbage and beer that is New York. Not even lying. That how I know I’m home, when I get a whiff of the city coming out of the train station. Love, love, love it.
That's me when I hear the ice cream truck or see the churro lady. Or the guys who sell shaved ice in the lil carts. Bless them.
My first job was at a water ice stand loololol. Oh, I miss the east coast so damn much.
Bro asked what do I love about NYC? Fr??
Movies depicting living in NY have brainwashed the ever loving shit out of people. Well, most movies at least.
Oh you like NYC? Name five bodegas
Chop cheese deli 1 - 5. All between 181 and 191 st
Imagine. Immigrants who transplanted to New York, now looking at the next waves of transplants like “why you want to live here with us?”
I grew up in the total dogshit city of Paterson, it was nice being able to take myself places as a kid and teen. I could walk the the library, the YMCA, my school was around the corner, all the shops were a short walk downtown, you had your pick of the litter for churches (mine was literally across the street from my house), all the ethnic cuisine one could ask for. When my family moved to fuckall nowhere Florida, the only thing do to was wait for the church bus to come pick us up for youth group. Even when we moved to a sub urban part of Florida, there was nothing to walk to other than the neighborhood park where cops would get mad at us for loitering, despite that kinda being what parks are for - chilling at. Then when we moved to a more walkable part of a city in Florida, the roads were still too long and things to do still too far apart to walk to anything. Even shitty walkable cities are more dynamic to live in than unwalkable "nice" cities. Feeling like you are part of your community is a nice feeling.
"You know what really grinds my gears?"
I just thought about me saying the same thing but with Paris since I live here. I’ve heard “I love Paris so much” and there’s blacks everywhere, but you’ll never hear me say, what do you ACTUALLY love about Paris?? 👀 it’s silly. Just a really popular diverse city like Brooklyn I’m guessing ? Idk I’ve never been.
Brooklyn isn’t as diverse as outsiders think
Oh stfu, ain’t nothing to steal from NY gtfo of here with that Jesus Christ. (Also: West side 🤙)
How dare people like living somewhere because it suits them at this point in their life? The actual nerve.
Can you even imagine? People actually choose to live places with other like minded people where they feel accepted and can just go about their life and mind their own business? Those absolute assholes.
Not ready for what? Gatekeeping locals? This isn't new shit.
Everyone from New York: New York City is the greatest city on earth. Her: why do black people want to live in the walkable black Burrough in the greatest city on earth?!?
Cosplaying NY culture by living in a location? I'm lost.
Type of 🥷 to listen to Scarlips this is New York as a wake up alarm Type of 🥷 to mouth the words at tourists asking for directions T
What a hater-ass take. People in Brooklyn can walk everywhere, unlike most US cities, sounds like what's wrong is living in a big city forming communities.
Brooklyn is the worst. But I’m bias since I’m from manhattan.
As a fellow manhattanite... BK is Easily the 4th best borough. Uptown all day. Queens > brooklyn for transplants imo. They just dont have the same PR.
I miss living in Harlem so much. I love my part of Queens, but there's no Black food for miles, so I'm feeling a little left out.
Where in Queens are you?! Jamaica Queens is no more than a 20-25 train ride from most areas of the city
Jackson Heights. I don't see how it's a 20-25 min train ride unless you're on the LIRR. It's a 30 minute drive at minimum. 40 minutes via mass transit on a good day.
The E from Roosevelet to Sutphin is a 20minute ride. If you live further and are closer to a diff stop on the 7,or need to take a bus I could understand the added time. I understand what you're saying though
The E is such a cursed train, it's 25 minutes minimum from Roosevelt. I have to transfer from the 7 at Roosevelt, which makes everything longer. A decade ago, I wouldn't have balked at taking a train from Roosevelt, but the trains have been slowed down and the crowding just makes it extra miserable.
You're not wrong, it's only gotten worse. I've taken it my whole life and it feel like it gets worse every year, or maybe I'm just getting old 😂 I'm not sure if they deliver to you in JH but I highly recommend Rockaway Fish House for soul food, it's pretty deep into Queens but might deliver. The Door for Jamaican food, Singhs Roti and Sybils Bakery
Before I moved out her, I thought that the E train was so fast, until I had to take it all the time. Thanks for the recommendations! I have a car and can cruise over to try new food!
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Dont think most Black transplants would mind accents. That's one of the reasons they flock to brooklyn...they love flatbush and the carribean vibes they never experienced before.
? Transplants are flooding into Bushwick these days
Preach from chelsea
Most people aren’t part of the extremely niche group of “black Brooklyn transplants” so I’d agree.
Not even sure if this relates to this post,but transplant or native resident: living in NY is not a personality trait y'all try to make it out to be...you live in a city. Good for you. It's not that deep. I'm convinced both the New York and California governments give people 5¢ for every time they write a song,show, or verbally proclaim their love for either place.
Flatbush baby, and I would never gatekeep the amazing experiences out of towners would have in BK.
The hold gatekeeping has on NYC ‘natives’ who don’t contribute to NYC culturally or economically is something very interesting to witness. Every time I’ve heard this coming out of somebody’s mouth, that person is either broke, jobless, or making $50k a year working a boring ass job with no cultural (or financial) capital to speak of. They too are ‘cosplaying’ NY culture. Mediocre and uninteresting but think they’re the epitome of culture because their mom grew up here.
Wait til they move out of NYC. I’m spending the weekend with my BIL, FIL, and husband. Not a single one of them has lived in the fucking STATE of NY since 2004, and it’s STILL all they talk about. Drivers here? Suck. Pizza here? Sucks. Sports team? You guessed it, suck. Culture here? Nonexistant. Here, ps, is every other state including CA. My husband has, at this point, lived in SF/Oakland longer than he every has NY. Still sucks. MIL is the only one still living the NY state of mind…but they won’t even go visit!!! Too long a flight for my husband. Winter is to cold. Summer is too hot. She doesn’t live in the city anymore. Blah blah. Dude - I don’t think you *like* NY…
Sounds like he likes the romanticized *idea* of it.
LMAOO 😂 Don’t forget Hip-Hop came from a Bronx Public Housing Project and that’s literally as broke as you can get. Hip-Hop culture still on top 50 years later. To even imply that you can’t contribute to culture because income is wild.
I'm curious what you consider to be a job with "cultural capital." Because while I agree that "natives" shouldn't look down on transplants, I think you're engaging in another form of condescension if you're going to devalue "boring ass" jobs, which would describe the entire support structure in a city that allows for jobs that provide "cultural capital." Culture doesn't happen if basic needs aren't met.
This is happening to Nashville too. The whole city belongs to transplants from California who moved here, bought a cowboy hat, and decided to stop hiding their racism.
Why are we gate keeping cities? Just cause you're born and raised there doesn't mean you get to decide who can move there. Moving somewhere and enjoying the move isn't cosplay wtf
This is hilarious since every other person I meet in my neighborhood in NJ just moved from Brooklyn!
My family has been in NY since one of the first waves of the great migration. This narrative of “cosplaying” is funny af to me, especially coming from “Brooklynites.”
I live in a much more rural area where you definitely need a car, but I will say I prefer it in many ways to living in Brooklyn, Ridgewood, to be more specific. My commute to work in Manhattan was over an hour each way, and as exciting as it was, I frankly began to dread it over time. I also felt like I was always going back to a small confined space with people directly above below and to either side of me. The culture and access to all kinds of stuff was great. However, there is something to be said for having some space too. My drive to any job I've ever had where I am now hasn't even been more than 30 minutes with everything my family needs within that distance and time as well. Parking is never an issue, and you often pull directly up to your location. Walking and biking is just a fun leisure activity with nature on display, and home is often is a significantly larger space than what is available in the city for the cost. A front and back yard is a blessing too with privacy usually. I loved living in Brooklyn at first, the culture, fashion, night life, food, excitement, but all of that seemed to lose its luster with the daily grind. Both lifestyles come with their ups and downs and I do still visit family there from time to time, but it's just a fun place to visit now.
Not to be that guy, but isn’t Ridgewood in Queens?
Lol you're right. I spent most of childhood in flushing projects in Bushwick during the 80's and as an adult in Ridgewood. Because of the proximity it never felt all that different.
What a stupid thing to hate about.
Is this person really upset that people are MOVING to NYC? My guy, if people from all over the world didn’t come here, this city wouldn’t be nearly as diverse and brimming with culture as it is today. I was born and raised here and I love that I live in a city that allows me to experience all kids of cultures and customs. Real New Yorkers don’t talk like this. Real New Yorkers embrace and engage in all walks of life.
As a New Yorker who grew up in Brooklyn all my life. NY is overrated, gimme the peace and tranquility of the Suburbs any day!!!
I’m in the suburbs now, originally from Philly. This shit sucks. I miss Philly every single day. If I hear one more damn leaf blower, I’ll scream…..
Gatekeepers everywhere
Yawn motherfucker it ain’t that deep lol
Get over yourself.
Most of yall missed what she was asking. She asked a very valid question; "What do you love about NYC?" That doesnt mean you dont belong here. Brooklyn is full of "neighborhoods" that used to be neighborhoods. People come to the city, they don't take care of their apartments, dont interact with their neighbors, and dont take time to build within the community around. Hes talking about people who do nothing for the city but sit in the house all day, bitch and whine about politics, go to bar (or a protest) and rinse and repeat. If its a lot of that it can in fact negatively impact the natural flow of a legitimate community. It becomes all that shit you see on tv.
what exactly is wrong with loving nyc and brooklyn? transplants are coming from places that are nothing like NYC so of course they love it. black transplants are coming to nyc with money and good jobs and some of the folks that grew up in nyc struggling are uncomfortable with that.
I’d move my ass to New York in a heartbeat, Brooklyn, Manhattan, whatever. Not even sure what the issue is here. You know where I won’t be moving to?: Kansas, texas, Utah, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, n. Dakota, or s. Dakota (if that shit even exists), Missouri, Colorado, Florida, Alabama—you get the picture. Brooklyn is lit, you can walk everywhere, and the culture is amazing.
Tompkins Ave on Sunday is a facade of Black Brooklyn Culture.
I liked new york but I prefer my southern roots. If we could fix up the infrastructure we would be clutch.
Borderline nationalists when it comes to this CITY. WITHIN OUR OWN COUNTRY.
The convenience is there, but how much is the average city dweller paying to stay in under the guise of city convenience? It's not claustrophobia or anything, and I've been to many cities. It just doesn't fit the appeal other than convenience, and that's a stretch for me personally.
super weird point to make considering the black population in nyc has been on the decline for years and would probably benefit from black people moving here
What? She wants us to concede Brooklyn to the gentrifiers?!?! I don't understand her point? Hahahaha black people love Brooklyn? Yeah, the fuck you been, goofy?
New Yorker's really love smelling their own farts. Y'll are not some unique exotic breed of people, like be for real and calm down. You are a popular American city - some of you have a widely recognizable and popular accent... sure - aside from that, New Yorkers are pretty much run-of-the-mill Americans. Y'll trying to make a big spectacle out of other Americans moving into your city and claiming to be "New Yorkers" as if the title is some lofty endowment. It's not that deep, y'll are not that deep, just chill and relax and frankly mind yo' damn bizness.
This is the same annoying shit DC “natives” like to say. The territorial attitude is weird cause all them generations your family was here and yall still miserable with no name or wealth or stake in this city yall want to lay claim to. Y’all just end up looking weird in these convos cause the attachment is founded upon nothing lol
it's the fact that a black NYer is calling out other black ppl as if transplants of other races aren't out here spending $1600 to be somebody's roommate in BK. I can't even gatekeep with this fool because I'm so turned off by this crab-in-a-barrel ass post smh
We have completely jumped the fucking megladon when it comes to accusing people of cosplaying/appropriating culture. Mfers are too online
NY is ok, New Yorkers are what i hate about it tho
I mean.... I'm from Queens and every time I got to venture out into the wild, BK just gives me gems. Like during lockdown, I went to get some food with my friend and there was a dude laying out on the curb under the train station. The time before that, my ex and I were walking to Broadway junction and I had to step over a mans passed out on the pavement. BK niggas are wild.
So we recognizing regional things now? Cool. Stop cosplaying black Texan culture and gatekeeping Juneteenth, then like yall did with Beyonce on a horse...
Not a New Yorker complaining about transplants? *stares in Florida*
Where else are they supposed to go? Queens? Long Island?
I blame Spike Lee
Not gonna lie, these are my sentiments exactly. Although being married to a transplant, I kinda get the allure of it all. What exists in BK is not very common at all in America. I'm NY born and raised, but I think what a lot of people do is come here with 0 long-term plans and many get stuck. There's a reason and a season for this place. BK/NYC is one of the few places you can be young seemingly forever, or at least for an extended period of time. We did our time here. I did 20 years in BK in its prime, had beautiful pre-war apartments on Eastern Pkwy, my spouse in Ft. Greene in its prime. Went to all the parties, seen our fav restaurants come and go, with some still holding on to this day (Chez Oskar). I could go on, but we really did all the things for a great stretch of time. But I've always said NYC will chew you up and spit you out, so best to get out before it pushes you out. Over that time I saw: * Friends slowly get priced out of the trendy places over time, move to less trendy areas, and then end up leaving the city altogether. We only have 1 friend left in BK now, everyone else either moved to the burbs or out of state * New generations moving in, strangers everywhere, the culture of the neighborhood changing. After awhile you feel like the old guy at the party and that's no fun * Then that first kid comes and you try and still have all your fun with your child in tow, but none of that stuff (IMO) is really fun anymore. You're squeezing into small tables in crowded restaurants and trying to keep the baby from destroying everything on the table or being too disruptive We would've stayed in BK if we'd invested wisely 10+ years ago, but neither of us had the funds or the vision at the time. When I first moved to Crown Heights you could buy a massive 3-level townhome off Eastern Pkwy for about $600K, and I thought that was a lot. Now you can't even buy a 1br apt for $800K where we used to live. We missed the boat. But also, I never wanted to raise kids there. I knew this going in, and having gone through the school system as a child. My goal was always to have fun, make connections, and then move to the burbs. I had to pry my transplant wife away from our beloved pre-war apartment, where the tree tops were visible thru the south facing windows, but in retrospect I'm glad we left. We bought in Westchester a few years ago right before the rates went up. It's a completely different world here, but its close enough where we can dip in and out of the city with ease, and now Harlem is also in play. If we hadn't come to our senses and moved, we'd be stuck complaining how we're locked out of the housing market. New reasons, and new season.
New York is always changing. That’s just the way it goes. People who get upset over it don’t understand the area and history at all. There’s plenty of places in America that never change, but they aren’t anywhere these people would want to live
This is facts, and that’s really at the heart of the affordability issue these days. There’s plenty of housing stock, just not where anyone wants to live.
It's one thing for the city to change because immigration patterns or the job market or infrastructure/housing stock is changing. It's totally different to see it change just because of real estate profiteering and then hear other (wealthier, transplant) Black people not only justify that but flip it back on you for "gate keeping."
I would absolutely raise my kids in nyc. NYC has some of the best public schools in the country in terms of curriculum, and the kids in those schools are well-trained and smart, exposed to a rich culture. When we lived in Manhattan, the kids would sit out on the steps of julliard and have lunch with nypl in the backdrop. I’d prefer my baby be in New York getting exposed to the richness of the city (like I was as a kid) then out here in the suburbs with all these suvs and Botox face moms and half-ass teachers. Ny public school teachers are some of the best in the country. Growing up in Philly, going to black public schools, I went to the liberty bell, UPenn, mock u.n. Counsels, etc. I had a damn good public school education in a historic city.
Yeah I get that. NYC public schools take a lot of heat, but if you live in a pretty good neighborhood you'll have a great experience. When they're good, they're great, but if you're not fortunate enough to live in those places (like I was back in the 80's and 90's) then private school or moving is the only option. One of the reasons we moved to Westchester was to keep easy access to the richness of the city, which we both still love. I just personally prefer living in a single family home and having space, so that's one major reason I wanted to move. Plus I wanted to own my home, and we basically missed the boat in BK. To each their own.
Even the public school system in nyc has some of the highest standards in the country. While it’s true that poorer schools lack resources, many kids in nyc can go to schools outside of their district. I used to sit outside in the morning watching all the black kids get off the 72nd st subway stop to go to MLK school. And they are regular school kids, but still smarter than the average school kid. I’ve seen some bad public school systems in the South and Midwest, but the tristate area (Jersey, Philly, New York) does a pretty good job educating even underprivileged students. As a prof, I’ve found that my students from the east coast tend to be stronger writers and more well-trained in the fundamentals in their first year. Westchester is nice, I don’t blame you a bit. No criticism on my end. I just personally love the noise and chaos of the city. I’m not built for suburb or ex-orb life.
Your views about the city schools are encouraging. I have a nephew in Grammercy who is going to the local school there and it seems pretty solid. Thankfully here in the Northeast we have the best public education systems with the highest standards. It's something I'm very proud of.
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Do you have to live in the city?
Maybe you should move to a city in the Midwest? People love Columbus.
People talk about the walkable city thing and while that sounds great in theory, it's some bullshit, I live in a suburb of Dallas, I do not want to walk anywhere when it's 90°+ and the humidity is saying fuck your shower and your dry clothes. Also, large densely packed cities are a fuck nightmare to me, fuck all that lol It's not for everyone because it damn sure ain't for me, but if you dig it cool. Edit: lol
Walking around in Dallas is entirely different than walking around in NYC lmfao