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I have mixed feelings about this piece, it is a little heavy handed and does come across as the rant of an old person who is disoriented by change. So I sympath

by CPLX 8y ago

I have mixed feelings about this piece, it is a little heavy handed and does come across as the rant of an old person who is disoriented by change. So I sympathize with those who are leveling that criticism. But with that said, as someone who's been in NYC for 20 years or so, I have to agree that there's definitely something to his underlying point. It's just a fact that New York feels like it's rapidly becoming a place that literally just has no place for anyone that doesn't have significant economic resources. It hasn't actually happened yet, the city is still incredibly diverse in nearly every dimension. And so some extent some of the change is just the poor/hip neighborhoods moving around, as they always have, as the artists go from Tribeca, to Williamsburg, to Bushwick, to Ridgewood, or wherever is next. But like I said this era really does feel different. The author's central premise here is that NYC soon will have no place for anyone that's not economically elite. I'm not sure he's wrong about that.

naravara 8y ago
>But with that said, as someone who's been in NYC for 20 years or so, I have to agree that there's definitely something to his underlying point. It's just a fact that New York feels like it's rapidly becoming a place that literally just has no place for anyone that doesn't have significant economic resources. Of course the era feels different, it's a different era. We have new architectural styles now, arguable better building and safety standards, and different relationships in terms of how we get around, socialize, and use and navigate public spaces. What bugs me about these pieces is they have a gauzy, nostalgic view of the past and a pessimistic view of the future, but spend no time actually grappling with what the actual problems are that we need to solve. We don't need a return to rat infested slums and burnt out husks of cars lining the streets for people to smoke rocks in. What we need is for rents to be about $500/mo cheaper across the board. Manage that and the rest will take care of itself, but instead we get a lot of complaining about how we're not in Reagan's America anymore and we've lost the crucial gritty aesthetic that the authors grew up in.

by CPLX 8y ago

naravara 8y ago

>But with that said, as someone who's been in NYC for 20 years or so, I have to agree that there's definitely something to his underlying point. It's just a fact that New York feels like it's rapidly becoming a place that literally just has no place for anyone that doesn't have significant economic resources. Of course the era feels different, it's a different era. We have new architectural styles now, arguable better building and safety standards, and different relationships in terms of how we get around, socialize, and use and navigate public spaces. What bugs me about these pieces is they have a gauzy, nostalgic view of the past and a pessimistic view of the future, but spend no time actually grappling with what the actual problems are that we need to solve. We don't need a return to rat infested slums and burnt out husks of cars lining the streets for people to smoke rocks in. What we need is for rents to be about $500/mo cheaper across the board. Manage that and the rest will take care of itself, but instead we get a lot of complaining about how we're not in Reagan's America anymore and we've lost the crucial gritty aesthetic that the authors grew up in.