Park Slope Versus The Burbs
New York has a reputation for being an expensive town, which of course it is. But the high housing prices and rents don’t tell the whole story. You see, New Yorkers don’t necessarily need cars. And our property taxes are pretty low. Which is why a Times story this weekend comparing the cost of living…
New York has a reputation for being an expensive town, which of course it is. But the high housing prices and rents don’t tell the whole story. You see, New Yorkers don’t necessarily need cars. And our property taxes are pretty low. Which is why a Times story this weekend comparing the cost of living in Park Slope versus Orange, NJ found that a family of four with a household income of $170,000 could actually live more inexpensively in Brooklyn than Jersey. In fact, monthly expenses were $1,285 cheaper in the County of Kings. “Specifically, each month, the suburban family needs to lay out about $5,668 to run their home and commute to work in Manhattan, compared with $3,852 for the urban family,” said The Times. “That includes most relatively static expenses — from the mortgage, property taxes and homeowner’s insurance, to transportation, utility bills and, for the house, landscaping. ” The major caveat: If you want to send your kids to private school, fuhgettaboutit. You’re better off moving to the burbs.
High-Rise, or House With Yard? [NY Times]
Photo by Betty Blade
I enjoy everyone in my building, DH. Lots of really nice people who work hard, love what they do and love their neighborhood tremendously. Sorry that sounds obnoxious to you. Not enough people writing their “screenplays” while sipping coffee for you?
The West to East Hudson river crossing is my defination of torture. I can deal with NJ Transit if I absolutely had to but NOT BUSES and for the LOVE OF GOD, the tunnel situation is enough to make you tear your hair out. I had a consulting gig in Montvale, NJ for a couple of months and it was very illuminating. I came “home” on the weekends and came into Manhattan once during the week and I HATED NJ and the commute with a passion.
My theory is that crossing the Hudson River is so much trouble that many people understandably decide not to voluntarily cross the river and make them prisioners of NJ with all that entails.
My humble opinion.
FSRG nailed it (no homo) at 1:44.
“By Butterfly on July 6, 2010 1:37 PM
quote:
I guess I live in a different world than you, Rob.
yes. i believe in tolerance.
*rob*”
Except when it comes to peakcocks, nurses and children.
you’re buliding sounds like an obnoxious reality show.
Same-ness has very little to do with skin color.
In my building alone, there is a woman who’s from the United Arab Emirates and works at Google, a lesbian couple (one is an actress on Broadway…been in 2 shows in the past year, the other is a lawyer from Spain), an African American guy who runs a not for profit helping underprivelged boys and girls in Brooklyn, a hippie couple who’s lived there for decades (both were in peace corps and then became teachers in the NYC public school system for 30 years, a 90 year old former nurse in the navy and the one and only couple with a (adopted) child….both are designers.
Sorry, but find me a suburb where you can find all that in a 1 mile radius, much less on the same street or building.
To add to this [meaningless] debate –
1. the reason why the suburbs (not small urban centers) that maybe diverse and filled with creative interesting people SEEM boring and same, is because other than your immediate neighbor or 2 your interaction with other people is limited by the fact that your travel is almost exclusively by car. Other than “purposeful” connections (church, groups, etc…) in the suburbs you hardly see people except through the windows of an automobile.
2. Ask yourself this…does the average (or even above average) suburb have enough relevant dynamics to support a blog like this (or even more narrow focused to a Brooklyn nabe) – in the suburbs do enough people really care about the architecture of a house 5 blocks away, or a coffee shop opening or a restaurant closing or dogs barking at a dog run, etc, etc? Even on the ‘big’ issues like schools or zoning that a suburban community may be passionate about it, are there really enough people involved to get an interesting debate about it (online or elsewhere) – I would say the answer to that is generally NO and that is why many people can legitimately say that urban environments are more dynamic and interesting than suburban ones – without necessarily being snobs about it.
This thread is hilarious. Keep goin guys.
“To move to the burbs, we’d have to buy 2 cars, since we don’t own one now.”
If you live close to a commuter rail or an express bus and at least one of you works in Manhattan, you’d just need one car. I know a couple who live in Bronxville and one car works out great.
I don’t know if it’s really a city vs. suburb argument. You just have to find the right town for you and you might find that in either category.