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
It’s easier to be creative in the city, Ditto because one isn’t surrounded by so much same-ness.
if one is counting on the city to make one interesting…
Most of us in the tri-state area try to justify why this is worth all the money and all the financial/school stress. City? Suburbs?When you are in NY, NJ, CT does it even really matter? Maybe we’re really the joke and people in cities like Portland are laughing.
It’s not scientific Broke, but it’s real life.
Listen, I’m not happy that people are unhappy. But when I have people writing on my page that if I ever want to switch places with them (regularly) I know it’s not just an outlier situation.
It would be nice if they had something more interesting to write about than 2 hour commutes on the Washington Beltway, wishing there was a size between grande and venti and trips to Costco, but you know…I love them all the same.
Many people love living in NYC as long as they can live with people who look just like them. I’ve walked down streets in Williamsburg that have been labeled sketchy all all I found were some brown people.
But here I am a black woman living in Bed-Stuy, so it’s not like I’m in a very diverse neighborhood either.
Despite the scientific study that is 11217’s Facebook Page, the article below suggests the whole damn metro area is miserable. Then again, its the same rag that wrote the stupid article that started this thread.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/nyregion/22nyc.html
“it [NY Case-Shiller] has a pretty good Beta to the rest of NYC, albeit with some time lags.”
You’ve nailed it, Brokedeveloper. Keep it up and you won’t be broke anymore.
For the rest of youse, ’round and ’round we go.
***Bid half off peak comps***
fsrq — Why does there have to be an existing model?! That’s absurd. And I do find you continued use of the word “rant” to be annoying.
HOWEVER, there are MANY MANY models of communities that are returning to how communities USED TO BE before suburbs took over. Concentrating *both* business and residential in an “urban” core. Would these models support a city of 8-10 million? Not necessarily, but it could certainly take a lot of pressure off.
I think it’s interesting in this city that neighborhoods freak out when a major employer thinks about moving in. They should be embracing it. Imagine if just 15% of NYC’ers walked to work or had a similarly short commute… ya know, instead of almost EVERYONE going to Manhattan. Actually, even mediocre jobs like baggage handler at one of the airports seems to entail a 1-1/2 hour commute each way. This must be the “struggle” 11217 talks so lovingly about.
“All you are doing is referring to tired, negative stereotypes of the suburbs.”
Actually I’m referring to what many friends tell me every day. You should see my facebook wall littered with people’s unhappy postings from the burbs about their long commutes, their obese children, and their boredom.
To suggest that because I live in the city I have no interaction anymore with people in suburbia is odd, to say the least.
Maybe you know people happy in the burbs…sure…so do I….but they seem to be in the minority.