Ask the New Yorker

What is one thing that would most surprise an non-new yorker about the city?

No matter how often it's said, the price/size of apartments here. Boston an San Francisco are both expensive difficult markets as well, but you get more for your $$ although the price of entry is just as high there.

People also keep telling me they are surprised by how many trees we have.

I have a friend who calls herself "Spock" online - do you know her? (silliness deliberate!)

Ok... seriously - how bad is the traffic in the city?

Joan,

heh.

General NYC wisdom is that if you're late anywhere say you took a cab. So yeah, pretty bad.

Do you ever get claustrophobic with all the people and traffic? It is a fun city to visit, and I've been amazed at how many small parks you have, but I think I'd get claustrophobic and really miss the open spaces and nature. Granted, you grew up in the city, so you're probably used to it.

Another question... Which part of Manhattan do you live in? My nephew works near Wall Street but lives in Hoboken and takes the PATH to work each day. And I'm still amazed at what he pays in Hoboken for a tiny fourth-floor walk-up apartment.

I am also a born and bred New Yorker. I have only space outside my windows - 13 of them! I have an apartment on Riverside Drive facing the Hudson River and the building across the street (there's a parking lot there first).
I don't know about apartments downtown, but the ones uptown can range to 9 rooms. I have 6.
Uptown and Downtown are VERY different!

What is your favorite season in the city. And why?

I have lived in NJ for a couple months now, from Seattle originally, and I was suprised at the smell/lack of cleanliness in such an expensive city.

My question, however, is don't you feel like you are on-stage all the time? I mean, since there are so many people in most public places all the time, do you feel (you may not because you are used to it) like you are on-stage because someone can see you most of the time in your life?

My girlfriend and I were talking about this in central park the other day. I guess that is why NYers are more outgoing than most people. Maybe?

I used to in-line skate aggressively (aka the x-games stuff *teeth clinch*). We used to learn rails in parks when no one was there, and I was watching some skaters in central park and realized that most people in NYC would have to learn (aka fall and look stupid sometimes) in front of people all the time.

Amy,

You're exactly right. It's just how things are to me. The traffic doesn't really effect me at all -- I don't drive. It's merely an occassional nuisance in a cab. As for the people -- I actually loathe crowds, but most parts of NYC, while busy don't really contain compressed crowds as far as I'm concerned. That said, yu couldn't pay me to attend something like the San Genaro festival. That stuff does make me stressed out.

Amy, I live in Spanish Harlem.

Elaine -- we often joke that NYC only has trhee seasons -- winter, summer and fall. Spring lasts about two weeks, thus ruling spring out. Fall works for me best, as I hate teh cold and summer is digusting here. It's also worth noting that NYC is old enough that in teh fall you can smell fireplaces on lots of blocks and things like that. It's at its 19th-century best here in the fall.

Tyler,

This assumes that anyone in NYC gives a crap about anyone else in NYC ;). Seriously though, it's one of those things you get inured to I guess. I've never thought about it that way. Althugh I've heard lots of instances of it. I remember my friend Meg wasn't allowed to visit me uptown when we were kids if she wasn't well-dressed, because peopel might think her mother wasn't sophisticated. Like peopel were going to say "there's Meg! Her mom is so middle class!" I always thought it was very absurd. The peopel who want to be on stage here are -- that includes everything from teh extreme eccentrics to the people who think they look cooler shouting into their cell phones.

I used to visit NYC fairly regularly -- once or twice a month -- back in the early '70s. One thing I noticed, especially in the winter, was the grime. I have always assumed that it was soot from coal-fired electrical generators and oil-fired heating systems settling down over the city. It was most apparent on snow -- only two or three days, and the snow became really nasty-looking. But it also seemed to settle on building ledges and other horizontal surfaces. Is this still a problem? Breathing that stuff would seem to be as bad as the muck we have for atmosphere here in L.A.

Pete,

The air quality is much better than it was in the 70s, aminly because we don't have incinerators in buildings anymore, I don't think. Snow still gets nasty quick and the grime is still real -- mostly from car and bus exhaust though.

How would an outsider go about meeting people/making friends in a city that size? It doesn't seem like the kind of place where you knock on your new neighbor's doors and introduce yourself.

Elizabeth,

People come to NYC to do things, so one doesn't knock on the neighbor's door usually -- not because it would be rude or dangerous, but because there's really no reason why one would have anything in common with them. I suppose we meet people in the same places anyone else does -- merely there are more of those places here -- museums, gyms, athletic pursuits, houses of worship, volunteering, community centers, etc.