"We" being New Yorkers that is (all due respect to Anthony Trollope of course).
Today I found four articles that perfectly sum up the exigencies of living in NYC today. In short, this city's getting too damn expensive. That's not news, obviously, but these articles make very clear how it's affecting people.
First, this article from the Times about rent stabilization. Yet again the Rent Guidelines Board is holding a vote to raise rents on these kinds of apartments. As someone who lives in such a pad, I'm obviously very interested in how it turns out. Last year two-year leases went up 5.75% and one-year leases went up 3%. In 2006, the raises were nastier, 7.25% and 4.25% respectively. How much rents will go up this year is any one's guess. It's a miserable situation all around: the landlords are getting screwed because the price of oil is driving up maintenance costs and the tenants are getting screwed because their wages aren't going up enough.
Second, and this one really bummed me out, was this Times article about supermarkets that are disappearing from poor and middle-class neighborhoods (due to, you guessed it, rising rents). People are being forced to take the bus and train to shop for food. Obviously poorer people don't have the best diets to begin with and suffer from things like obesity and heart disease in greater rates than most. Not having easy access to supermarkets where they can get fresh and healthy foods means, in the long run, that they'll eat more junk and have even more health problems. Not good. Not good at all.
Third and fourth were two very different articles in this week's New York magazine.
The first one was about the grueling and incredibly dangerous jobs of transit workers. I know I bitch a lot about the MTA but my wrath is directed to its incompetent crony management and not the decent folks who actually make it run. Several track workers and have been killed the last few years in tragic accidents. Like police officers and firefighters, these are good, middle-class New Yorkers who put their lives on the line each day so that the rest of us can be safe and, in this case, on time to work and play.
The other article is about, of all things, Sarah Jessica Parker, Miss Sex and the City herself. You'd think that she's the epitome of rich New York, pampered Yuppie who's driving up the prices of everything and driving out the middle class. The thing is, the gentrification of New York even upsets and bothers her!!! In this article she bemoans, as I do, how the city has changed in the last twenty years and how Manhattan in particular is turning into a big gated community. Now if the tyranny of uberwealth bothers this icon of New York City glamour, then you know it's gotten bad. Bravo Sarah Jessica. I like her even more than I did.
Sorry to make this post such a downer but when I saw these articles today, they really made me think. Think about how the city I love is becoming inhospitable for so many and instead seem to be catering more and more to so few (mainly the wealthy and wealthy tourists). It's nearly impossible to be middle class in this town today and maintain any decent quality of life. I grew up middle class here in the 1980s under Mayor Ed "How'm I doin'?" Koch and, while the city had a lot of problems then (namely a high crime rate), people and families of modest means could still hack out a decent living. Today, it's virtually impossible. The city's getting too gentrified and sterile, a city of the haves and have-nots, and it's making New York City lose it's gritty, sexy, distinctive edge.
While Mike Bloomberg's been a good Mayor in many ways, the dying middle class in this town has not been one of this top priorities. Let's hope his successor, whoever that is, feels differently.
Today I found four articles that perfectly sum up the exigencies of living in NYC today. In short, this city's getting too damn expensive. That's not news, obviously, but these articles make very clear how it's affecting people.
First, this article from the Times about rent stabilization. Yet again the Rent Guidelines Board is holding a vote to raise rents on these kinds of apartments. As someone who lives in such a pad, I'm obviously very interested in how it turns out. Last year two-year leases went up 5.75% and one-year leases went up 3%. In 2006, the raises were nastier, 7.25% and 4.25% respectively. How much rents will go up this year is any one's guess. It's a miserable situation all around: the landlords are getting screwed because the price of oil is driving up maintenance costs and the tenants are getting screwed because their wages aren't going up enough.
Second, and this one really bummed me out, was this Times article about supermarkets that are disappearing from poor and middle-class neighborhoods (due to, you guessed it, rising rents). People are being forced to take the bus and train to shop for food. Obviously poorer people don't have the best diets to begin with and suffer from things like obesity and heart disease in greater rates than most. Not having easy access to supermarkets where they can get fresh and healthy foods means, in the long run, that they'll eat more junk and have even more health problems. Not good. Not good at all.
Third and fourth were two very different articles in this week's New York magazine.
The first one was about the grueling and incredibly dangerous jobs of transit workers. I know I bitch a lot about the MTA but my wrath is directed to its incompetent crony management and not the decent folks who actually make it run. Several track workers and have been killed the last few years in tragic accidents. Like police officers and firefighters, these are good, middle-class New Yorkers who put their lives on the line each day so that the rest of us can be safe and, in this case, on time to work and play.
The other article is about, of all things, Sarah Jessica Parker, Miss Sex and the City herself. You'd think that she's the epitome of rich New York, pampered Yuppie who's driving up the prices of everything and driving out the middle class. The thing is, the gentrification of New York even upsets and bothers her!!! In this article she bemoans, as I do, how the city has changed in the last twenty years and how Manhattan in particular is turning into a big gated community. Now if the tyranny of uberwealth bothers this icon of New York City glamour, then you know it's gotten bad. Bravo Sarah Jessica. I like her even more than I did.
Sorry to make this post such a downer but when I saw these articles today, they really made me think. Think about how the city I love is becoming inhospitable for so many and instead seem to be catering more and more to so few (mainly the wealthy and wealthy tourists). It's nearly impossible to be middle class in this town today and maintain any decent quality of life. I grew up middle class here in the 1980s under Mayor Ed "How'm I doin'?" Koch and, while the city had a lot of problems then (namely a high crime rate), people and families of modest means could still hack out a decent living. Today, it's virtually impossible. The city's getting too gentrified and sterile, a city of the haves and have-nots, and it's making New York City lose it's gritty, sexy, distinctive edge.
While Mike Bloomberg's been a good Mayor in many ways, the dying middle class in this town has not been one of this top priorities. Let's hope his successor, whoever that is, feels differently.
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