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This is one of the reasons that, despite the immense cost, we're trying to stay in NYC as long as we can. Two small children in an apartment definitely has its
by afavour 3y ago
This is one of the reasons that, despite the immense cost, we're trying to stay in NYC as long as we can.
Two small children in an apartment definitely has its tough moments. But we live by a giant park packed with playgrounds, when we go we frequently bump into friends from school, meet friends of friends, etc. Everyone can go get an ice cream, head home happy. We have dozens of museums an easy subway ride away. etc etc etc
It's not like it's a perfect life but for this moment in life I really wouldn't trade it.
- icepat 3y agoWhy is this a New York specific phenomenon? Living in a large town/small city in Europe, I find the same effect plays out here. A very few number of times my social activities have been actively planned. Most occur after bumping into someone at a local venue, concert, or other event.
- The_Colonel 3y agoI guess it's quite rare within US.
- hypeit 3y agoIt's actually not, every city in the US has packed parks and stuff to do.
- afavour 3y agoI am talking from a US perspective. There are few cities in the US that offer this, though NYC is by no means the only one.
- hypeit 3y agoYou should really get out of NYC sometime. Pretty much every city and even mid-sized town in the US has what you're describing. A lot of it is far easier to navigate than Brooklyn as well.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- afavour 3y agoI get out of NYC plenty! I’m not saying mid-sized towns have no amenities. I’m saying the sheer density of NYC provides many more opportunities. If you’re claiming that even mid sized towns have dozens of museums accessible by public transit… they do not. But to provide more context to my original comment about serendipitous connections: the default path for many people living in NYC is not to move to a mid-sized town (fewer job opportunities, for one), it’s to move to the suburbs. Out in the burbs (where I’ve spent more time than I ever care to) you’re driving absolutely everywhere and people are scattered all over the place. That is what I don’t want.
- hypeit 3y agoWell you talked about having ice cream and going to parks, so I'd say yes pretty much everywhere in the US has that. Other places are also much more walkable than Brooklyn, tons of smaller cities have started focusing on revitalizing their downtowns and providing walkable communities.
- afavour 3y ago> Well you talked about having ice cream and going to parks That's two of the things I mentioned, yes. I also mentioned museums and other amenities which are also "third places", as discussed in the article.
- ryanklee 3y agoIt still sounds like the things you claim are unique to NYC aren't. Maybe your strong preference rests on something else you aren't identifying. In my experience NYC has nothing in it that you can't find in dozens of other US cities for far cheaper. Edited to remove worthless snark.
- 3y ago
- ant_li0n 3y agoI agree, it's not exclusive to NY. I live in a college town of around 65k (100k with the student population) and it's amazing. We have a very modest home, but it's super walkable: 1/2 mile to a small grocery store, 3/4 mile to downtown, 1 mile to the river, 1 1/2 mile to the library. We moved during COVID from one of those cities where "a park is a giant empty field of grass". Major life changer.
- robotburrito 3y ago[flagged]
- screye 3y agoNYC, Boston and Chicago ?
- AlchemistCamp 3y agoThis seems nuts to me. I grew up in Colorado and have also lived in several other states where people are more comfortable and likely to bump into each other in public spaces than NYC. In NYC, people are nearly all strangers and in a big hurry. Even living in Mountain View was better. In terms of serendipity, I'd put a college town far ahead of a large city.
- afavour 3y ago> In NYC, people are nearly all strangers and in a big hurry Maybe you've only been in midtown Manhattan? I live in a Brooklyn neighborhood where we bump into people we know constantly and no-one is rushing around madly.
- AlchemistCamp 3y agoYou got it exactly! Every time in NYC, I've spent nearly my entire time in Manhattan, excluding one trip to my friend's folks' place on Staten Island. That seemed much better in terms of the odds serendipitous bumping into friends, but still less so than mountain state.
- gipp 3y agoAnecdata: currently living in NYC in a very similar situation to GP (possibly the same neighborhood based on their description?), and I have easily 10x more such serendipitous encounters than in any of the 4 other places I've lived (from suburbia to another major US urban center). It's a pretty well known phenomenon here that you see people you know (or, say, notice the same person twice in the same day in totally different parts of the city) way more often than you'd expect. Sure, 10x as many people live here, but you see 100x as many people each day. The "people who don't live here assume that residents are rushing around places that look like Midtown 24/7" is another pretty well known phenomenon, fwiw
- screye 3y agoWe constantly joke that Brooklyn is a village. I know like 20 people in the city, but somehow run into 1 of them every time I go out for a walk.