4 ms·

Will add a little context to what others are saying. Born and largely raised in NYC, both renter and property owner, raising 3 kids as well. Have loved but been

Will add a little context to what others are saying. Born and largely raised in NYC, both renter and property owner, raising 3 kids as well. Have loved but been ambivalent about NYC too. My wife, also a NYer, and I left in 2000 for California, but when 9/11 happened we KNEW we had to move back. The economics can be brutal. Have been reading an academic book, a study of rents in Manhattan from 1760-1850 (real book, written by Columbia U history professor). Fascinating, fascinating story but the distillation is a tale of property owners learning in the decades following the revolution how to make land income producing, and how the long series of flywheel-like incentive driven decisions made NYC the property owner dominated city it is today. As a renter, literally no matter your income, you ARE second class. The interests of large commercial and residential rentiers drive nearly all critical city decisions. Predator/prey is an oft-used metaphor, and it is not wrong, but it is not the whole story. You are prey who are competing to be prey. It is sick. So as a renter, you will FEEL it. Even if you are in a one of a kind 20k/mo penthouse with a celebrity as a neighbor, you are being used, and you will FEEL that. Beyond the economics, which will be forced upon you- especially right at this moment, because large owners took something of a hit during the pandemic and they are going for blood now, no joke- the status is a vibe you can never quite shake. All kinds of things in the city are great experientially for all kinds of people, and there really isn't a better place in the US at least to raise autonomous savvy children. And strategically NYC will be fine with climate change- large owners plan 50-75-100 years out, and the city will wind up increasing its dominance as a center. But if you don't own, you will feel it every day. And the economics make it incredibly difficult for almost all to own. After all that, my advice is- be careful about your decision making. There are many wonderful energetic places in the US that have fundamentally better economics. If you feel you have to come to NY, come with your eyes open. Hope that helps. Good luck.

polotics 4y ago
I am curious about your judgement on NYC's climate change resiliency. Did you see the flooded subway stations last time the tide swell? I see NYC as very exposed, and property owners plans based on faulty assumptions about how much the rest of the country would be ready to chip in. Katrina comes to mind.
- jonahbenton 4y ago
  Certainly, yup. To be sure, NYC is not ready NOW; a Sandy will happen again this decade, where the city will be disabled for a few days and the current gaps on the longer term resilience plan will be exposed. When that happens my read of the dynamics is that the capital commitments- which have already been made- will be accelerated and there will be new focus on delivering on the projects, many of which will then get completed in the 2030-2040 timeframe. Politics and economics of NYC are completely different than of New Orleans. Katrina was a disaster both because of what happened to infrastructure and what happened to people. Infra-wise, New Orleans as a political unit does not command its infrastructure- being dependent on the Corps and other federal entities- and otherwise from a capital perspective is extremely weak. People-wise, the immediately exposed populations were also those without their own means. NYC's Katrina moment was in the 1970s, specifically Oct 29 1975. The near default and Ford's abandonment is still crystalline in the minds of capital, even 50 years later. Since then to a first approximation NYC from a political, economic and infrastructure perspective has risen, and moved from strength to strength. NYC does not have the same kind of vulnerable exposed population- nearly all of the vulnerable housing stock is in fact high end, and/or controlled by interests, not individuals (with exceptions of course scattered throughout). COVID was far more of a Katrina than Sandy was in terms of impact on vulnerable populations in NYC. From economic and infra perspective, NYC has an operating budget of 100B/year. NYS is 200B. Capital projects up to the single digit B are just budget lines at this scale. NYC/NYS also have these unique entities called Authorities that have a long history of raising capital and operating larger scale projects like bridges and tunnels. The larger economic weight of spend of resident industries, from finance, to media, to real estate, to tech, to healthcare...on and on- reaches into the Ts (literally). Note all industries are represented (even agri/food) EXCEPT for energy. Politically, there is very little on the climate denier front and almost none on the Trump chaos actor front. The boroughs- while there are tensions and significant red/blue political differences between them- are far more unified as a pragmatic matter on environment issues. Significant and surprising changes are happening now around things like energy footprint- the banning of gas appliances in new construction is incredible. Anyway, NYC is certainly exposed as are most of the coastlines of the country. But when one looks at major coast cities and their resiliency planning, NYC is structurally in a much better place.
- 4y ago

polotics 4y ago

I am curious about your judgement on NYC's climate change resiliency. Did you see the flooded subway stations last time the tide swell? I see NYC as very exposed, and property owners plans based on faulty assumptions about how much the rest of the country would be ready to chip in. Katrina comes to mind.

jonahbenton 4y ago
Certainly, yup. To be sure, NYC is not ready NOW; a Sandy will happen again this decade, where the city will be disabled for a few days and the current gaps on the longer term resilience plan will be exposed. When that happens my read of the dynamics is that the capital commitments- which have already been made- will be accelerated and there will be new focus on delivering on the projects, many of which will then get completed in the 2030-2040 timeframe. Politics and economics of NYC are completely different than of New Orleans. Katrina was a disaster both because of what happened to infrastructure and what happened to people. Infra-wise, New Orleans as a political unit does not command its infrastructure- being dependent on the Corps and other federal entities- and otherwise from a capital perspective is extremely weak. People-wise, the immediately exposed populations were also those without their own means. NYC's Katrina moment was in the 1970s, specifically Oct 29 1975. The near default and Ford's abandonment is still crystalline in the minds of capital, even 50 years later. Since then to a first approximation NYC from a political, economic and infrastructure perspective has risen, and moved from strength to strength. NYC does not have the same kind of vulnerable exposed population- nearly all of the vulnerable housing stock is in fact high end, and/or controlled by interests, not individuals (with exceptions of course scattered throughout). COVID was far more of a Katrina than Sandy was in terms of impact on vulnerable populations in NYC. From economic and infra perspective, NYC has an operating budget of 100B/year. NYS is 200B. Capital projects up to the single digit B are just budget lines at this scale. NYC/NYS also have these unique entities called Authorities that have a long history of raising capital and operating larger scale projects like bridges and tunnels. The larger economic weight of spend of resident industries, from finance, to media, to real estate, to tech, to healthcare...on and on- reaches into the Ts (literally). Note all industries are represented (even agri/food) EXCEPT for energy. Politically, there is very little on the climate denier front and almost none on the Trump chaos actor front. The boroughs- while there are tensions and significant red/blue political differences between them- are far more unified as a pragmatic matter on environment issues. Significant and surprising changes are happening now around things like energy footprint- the banning of gas appliances in new construction is incredible. Anyway, NYC is certainly exposed as are most of the coastlines of the country. But when one looks at major coast cities and their resiliency planning, NYC is structurally in a much better place.
4y ago