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I think New York should welcome the uber-rich with open arms. NY's history is all about 1%ers, like Vanderbilt and Rockefeller and Bloomberg. But what is dele

I think New York should welcome the uber-rich with open arms. NY's history is all about 1%ers, like Vanderbilt and Rockefeller and Bloomberg. But what is deleterious to the feel of the city, in my view, is the Dubai-ization of the real-estate market. Entire buildings are empty. Apparently the global elite buy and sell New York real-estate like they do oil futures: not to use but as an investment. These folks aren't citizens, like the Billionaires I mentioned above, but transients. The New York Times had a good article on these empty buildings earlier this year: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/nyregion/paying-top-dollar-for-condos-and-leaving-them-empty.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/nyregion/paying-top-dollar... > “I was living on the 16th floor, and I was pretty much the only one there,” said Charlie Attias, a senior vice president at the Corcoran Group who rented an apartment at the Plaza for three years and has handled many transactions in the building. “We had the occasional visitor — I mean, the occasional owner — once in a while. Actually, when we saw somebody, it was a big thing,” he added. “Oh wow, somebody’s in my hallway!”

badman_ting 13y ago
> I think New York should welcome the uber-rich with open arms. > But what is deleterious to the feel of the city, in my view, is the Dubai-ization of the real estate market. OK, but that's being done by rich people buying properties as investments.
enraged_camel 13y ago
>>“I was living on the 16th floor, and I was pretty much the only one there,” said Charlie Attias, a senior vice president at the Corcoran Group who rented an apartment at the Plaza for three years and has handled many transactions in the building. “We had the occasional visitor — I mean, the occasional owner — once in a while. Actually, when we saw somebody, it was a big thing,” he added. “Oh wow, somebody’s in my hallway!” I'm pretty sure this is just me, but that sounds awesome. I love the idea of having an entire high-rise to myself and whoever I'm living with.
pessimizer 13y ago
>NY's history is all about 1%ers, like Vanderbilt and Rockefeller and Bloomberg. Not New York's creative history, which is largely based in gradual urban decay and eventually the default. Affordable housing for artists near affordable venues for art are what creates art (if that's not too obvious.)
- jamesbritt 13y ago
  which is largely based in gradual urban decay and eventually the default. Indeed. NYC in the '70s and '80s was a dangerously magical (and magically dangerous) place. Some good resources: VH1's (no, seriously) "NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1080761/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1080761/) Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever (http://www.amazon.com/Love-Goes-Buildings-Fire-ebook/dp/B0051O9YCU/ http://www.amazon.com/Love-Goes-Buildings-Fire-ebook/dp/B005...) I'd be interested in anyone can recommend good books or movies about the NYC art scene of the late '70s or '80s. (I've seen Downtown 81; it's good, but not a documentary. It does capture the downtown NYC of that time, though.) The whole loft scene was a result of squatting in empty industrial facilities, thanks to economic downturn.
  - l33tbro 13y ago
    “In the 1970s New York City was not a part of the United States at all. It was an offshore interzone with no shopping malls, few major chains, no golf courses, no subdivisions. We thought of the place as a free city, where exiles and lamsters and refugees found shelter. Downtown we were proud of this, naturally.” Luc Sante, Low Life. Interview here: http://www.believermag.com/exclusives/?read=interview_sante http://www.believermag.com/exclusives/?read=interview_sante
    - jamesbritt 13y ago
      He's almost correct. :) Perhaps surprisingly, there's a golf course in the Bronx, up in Van Courtlandt Park. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Van+Cortlandt+Park+Golf+Course&num=50&fb=1&gl=us&hq=van+cortlandt+park+golf+course&t=m&z=14 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Van+Cortlandt+Park+Golf+Cours... It's not new: "The Van Cortlandt Golf Course opened on July 6, 1895, as the first public golf course in the United States." http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/X092/highlights/11046 http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/X092/highlights/11046

badman_ting 13y ago

> I think New York should welcome the uber-rich with open arms. > But what is deleterious to the feel of the city, in my view, is the Dubai-ization of the real estate market. OK, but that's being done by rich people buying properties as investments.

enraged_camel 13y ago

>>“I was living on the 16th floor, and I was pretty much the only one there,” said Charlie Attias, a senior vice president at the Corcoran Group who rented an apartment at the Plaza for three years and has handled many transactions in the building. “We had the occasional visitor — I mean, the occasional owner — once in a while. Actually, when we saw somebody, it was a big thing,” he added. “Oh wow, somebody’s in my hallway!” I'm pretty sure this is just me, but that sounds awesome. I love the idea of having an entire high-rise to myself and whoever I'm living with.

pessimizer 13y ago

>NY's history is all about 1%ers, like Vanderbilt and Rockefeller and Bloomberg. Not New York's creative history, which is largely based in gradual urban decay and eventually the default. Affordable housing for artists near affordable venues for art are what creates art (if that's not too obvious.)

jamesbritt 13y ago
which is largely based in gradual urban decay and eventually the default. Indeed. NYC in the '70s and '80s was a dangerously magical (and magically dangerous) place. Some good resources: VH1's (no, seriously) "NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1080761/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1080761/) Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever (http://www.amazon.com/Love-Goes-Buildings-Fire-ebook/dp/B0051O9YCU/ http://www.amazon.com/Love-Goes-Buildings-Fire-ebook/dp/B005...) I'd be interested in anyone can recommend good books or movies about the NYC art scene of the late '70s or '80s. (I've seen Downtown 81; it's good, but not a documentary. It does capture the downtown NYC of that time, though.) The whole loft scene was a result of squatting in empty industrial facilities, thanks to economic downturn.
- l33tbro 13y ago
  “In the 1970s New York City was not a part of the United States at all. It was an offshore interzone with no shopping malls, few major chains, no golf courses, no subdivisions. We thought of the place as a free city, where exiles and lamsters and refugees found shelter. Downtown we were proud of this, naturally.” Luc Sante, Low Life. Interview here: http://www.believermag.com/exclusives/?read=interview_sante http://www.believermag.com/exclusives/?read=interview_sante
  - jamesbritt 13y ago
    He's almost correct. :) Perhaps surprisingly, there's a golf course in the Bronx, up in Van Courtlandt Park. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Van+Cortlandt+Park+Golf+Course&num=50&fb=1&gl=us&hq=van+cortlandt+park+golf+course&t=m&z=14 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Van+Cortlandt+Park+Golf+Cours... It's not new: "The Van Cortlandt Golf Course opened on July 6, 1895, as the first public golf course in the United States." http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/X092/highlights/11046 http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/X092/highlights/11046