We have been back in NYC for about a week after being away for the entire pandemic. We were in LA when the pandemic hit and then spent the summer on the east end of Long Island.
Like everyone, we have read the horror stories of NYC being a wasteland of homelessness, crime, shuttered storefronts, filthy streets, and more. These stories occupy the front page of the NY Post every day and cannot be avoided.
While we have not ventured into every borough and neighborhood, we have been in downtown Manhattan and North Brooklyn, and what we have found is almost the exact opposite of what is being reported.
New Yorkers are out and about, wearing masks, keeping their distance, and enjoying our city very much. Fall is the best season in NYC and New Yorkers are taking advantage of it. My daughter and I biked in Prospect Park yesterday like we do most Sunday mornings and it felt as busy as any Sunday morning in my memory.
The Gotham Gal and I have been going out to dinner at our favorite restaurants in lower manhattan, sitting outside, and enjoying the experience. The walks to and from dinner through lower manhattan are amazing, the streets are bustling and NYC feels very much alive.
It is true that the streets are filthier. It reminds me of NYC in the 80s and 90s when we first fell in love with this place. It is also true that many storefronts are empty, a continuation of something that has been going on in NYC for the last decade and has been accelerated by the pandemic.
I am sure there are parts of the city that are not doing so well. I’ve heard that midtown is empty and facing challenges. I know that the neighborhood around the USV office in Flatiron is not as vibrant as it usually is. And I am sure that there are challenges in the neediest neighborhoods where the pandemic hit hardest and the economy is the most challenging. I am not saying that NYC is doing great.
What I am saying is the demise of NYC seems to have been greatly exaggerated by the media and others. The NYC that we are experiencing is showing its resilience and makes me very confident that it will once again get back up from the punch it just took and start swinging again.
