Choosing the Suburbs Over Brooklyn
Are would-be Brooklynites flocking to the suburbs? The cover story in yesterday’s real estate section of the Times looks at how relatively cheap home prices in the suburbs are luring New Yorkers who find they can get way more bang for their buck in parts of Westchester, Connecticut and Jersey than in the city. While…
Are would-be Brooklynites flocking to the suburbs? The cover story in yesterday’s real estate section of the Times looks at how relatively cheap home prices in the suburbs are luring New Yorkers who find they can get way more bang for their buck in parts of Westchester, Connecticut and Jersey than in the city. While the article mostly focuses on the widening price gap between Manhattan and suburban properties, it notes that some people who would’ve bought in Brooklyn are also finding the suburbs cheaper:
Ludovic and Fabienne Ledein, who live and work as jewelry designers in Dumbo, visited nearly a dozen lofts in Dumbo, Red Hook and Williamsburg looking for something to buy for less than $600,000. They needed enough space to work at home and to put up friends and relatives from Europe. But what they wanted cost more than twice what they could afford…They found their answer in Westchester County, in New Rochelle. For about $600,000, they bought 1,350 square feet in the newly renovated Knickerbocker Lofts, a converted factory downtown that was built 117 years ago.
Any readers contemplating a similar move?
Cashing Out of New York City [NY Times]
Photo by uicukie.
Also, while we suburbanites do drive cars, many of us are quite green, thanks. We buy most of our milk, eggs, meat, and poultry from the local organic farm and there are many CSA’s which only get products from farms within a 75 mile radius (to reduce the carbon footprint of transporting goods). Our kids tend to our own vegtable garden, which produces lots of our food, and we have a small orchard which produces a huge number of apples and pears.
As for energy, many of our neighbors have solar panels (we don’t, I admit). Our friends in yorktown have started a neghborhood group (Green Yorktown) which is working on getting approval for installing wind turbnes on a local horse farm and recongiuring a local waterfall to produce energy.
Not only are many suburbanites (at least in northern Westchester) very conscious, we also have many ways of being green that are not availalbe to city dwellers. In the near future I bet (and hope) that we’ll all be driving Smart Cars–and the burbs will be the far more environmentally freindly choice.
Croton resident checking back in.
Over the holiday vacation, my kids went hiking, sledding (the one day we had snow), to the Natural History Museum, to the local aquarium, to a local museum kids’ art center, and ice skating. Plus we had a neghborhood holiday party, and about 3 play dates.
There are three gay parents (that I know of) in my PTA and there is absolutely no bias against them or any gay residents in town. Like most Westchester schools, ours have a gay student organization.
We live 35 miles outside of the city and go in pretty regulrarly–although there is more than enough to keep us busy nearby. It’s a 45 minute drive or a 43 minute train ride. Not a big deal at all.
I am sure many burbs have dreadful, stupid, fat, republicans in them. But guess what–there are plenty of those in the city and no one uses them as a reason to denigrate all cities.
So you might be a fish out of water in your sisters’ town(s), but i bet you would feel right at home in Croton or any number of other suburban towns.
brilliantly said, 4:05.
i have had similar experiences that you have had.
My two sisters live in NJ and they seem to enjoy it and it fits with who they are. I on the other hand couldn’t wait to move out of NJ. My one sister and l were roommates in the city in our early 20s and while I embraced city living (plays, museums, bars, restaurants) she treated it more as a youthful experiment and when I got married, she moved back to NJ while I choose to stay.
Because of my family and friends I frequently go back to NJ so I see and hear a lot of things first hand. Some experiences reinforces my feeling that I would be a fish out of water in the suburbs.
1) My sister who lives in a town with a very good school system told me her 9 yo daughter who is very intelligent, artistic and verbal gets teased by her school mates for the way she thinks and for using “hard words”.
2) My teenage nieces main interests seem to be centered on going to the mall, looking like every other teenager (wearing expensive clothes like abercrombie and fitch, uggs and coach bags) and fitting in. In contrast the teens who live in my building seem to be better rounded with more varied interests like painting, acting or writing.
3) I went to a dinner party at my sister’s house. When the subject of gay marriage was brought up, not one single person thought it was a good idea (with the exception of my sister ). One person actually made a homophobic joke and some people laughed.
4) During the holiday season, my 3 yo son went to several museums, puppet play, ice skating, bowling, tree lighting and several brunch and dinner dates in Manhattan. My nieces and nephews spent their time shopping, going to the movies or watching TV. I find that people in the suburbs, even when invited, don’t take advantage of the city. They cite the hassle of driving and parking in the city. 15 miles outside the city borders can seem more like 150 miles if you don’t walk or take the subways.
Though there are many more reasons why I don’t want to live in the suburbs there is not one single reason I can think of for me wanting to live in suburbs. My two sisters think I’m crazy to live in a 2 br apartment with two kids but its about what you value and to me I rather live in my small apartment and have the community and openness of my neighbors and have all the city perks at my finger tips.
My cheese will be worthless once AY is built.
i’m pro atlantic yards.
as are a lot of people who think the green benefit is becoming something that should be a top priority for the world, not just a fad.
I hanker for a hunk of cheese.
What I cant figure is if so many people can see the green benefit of high density, pedestrian centric, urban environments to the point that they will condemn suburbanites as basically the cause for the destruction of our planet, then what intellectual game do you play with your mind when you are yelling the same thing about Atlantic Yards’ density?
you’re right, 5:59.
since no one else is doing it, we might as well not either.
or for that matter, people who have been living in destitute situations for decades should deny themselves any prosperity because you’ve already maxed our world out for the past 50 years.