The reality in New York City and the economy...

jem · Apr 5, 2009

Quote from Landis82:

That was my last year in NYC.
I was there in WTC #4 when the bomb went off (van filled with fertilizer) in the parking garage near the Vista Hotel, back in 1993.

I was just sliding my tray and lunch down to the cashier in the cafeteria when you could here a muffled "blast" go off underneath the World Trade Center Plaza down below. No one thought anything of it, and continued to trade for the next 90 minutes. Shortly thereafter, it was an eery scene for sure.

The ventilation system was shut-off and the temperature on the trading floor surged to 85 degrees or so. I remember looking over to the COMEX part of the floor and noticed that no one was standing in the gold or silver pits, even though it wasn't time for those contracts to close yet. I wondered how the metals every got "settled".

My Dad had called the Spear, Leeds booth wondering what was going on because CNN was reporting that a subway may have jumped the track down below. Lots of "stories" were being rumored about, but no one knew for sure what had happened till much later.

Next thing you knew, the lights were shut off, and people were all lined-up at the coat check room trying to get their jackets because it was cold outside with some light snowflakes falling. Everyone was very calm, except for a security guy who was sweating bullets and yelling on a bullhorn at everyone. He kept telling everyone to leave out the staircase ( and take the 8 flights down to the Street ), but no one budged . . .

We all wanted our coats!

The coat checkers knew who "buttered" their "bread" at Xmas time so they were very loyal and stayed; manually grabbing everyone's coat off these huge coat-racks via flashlight.

I casually walked down the stairwell to Broadway and as I popped out onto the street I noticed a TON of emergency vehicles, patrol cars, you name it. Even some fire hose scattered about. But no sirens, and no noise. Just some light snowflakes falling . . .

It was extremely surreal.

On another note, my commute was a breeze after the World Financial Center got built. I no longer had to walk across the west side highway because they installed a glass enclosed walkway that exited on the other side of the highway, right across the street from the WTC.

Actually, if the weather was REALLY bad on a brisk Winter day, I could walk outside my apartment complex at Gateway Plaza, head right into the Dow Jones building, up the escalator to the 2nd floor, and then walk over into the American Express Tower ( where the Atrium is with Palm Trees ) and then cut back right into the World Trade Center via another enclosed "overcross".

Never had to be exposed to the elements for more than 30 seconds.

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interesting read.

knocks420 · Apr 5, 2009

NYC wasn't designed for middle class aspirations. It's built around the uber poor and the uber rich. The middle class is like an organism the other classes leech off of, work for the rich to support the poor.

It's retarded to think you can live comfortably off 60k in the city but if thats your goal, then like you said, Jersey is affordable.

The 'loser' living in a railroad apartment, cold calling, working in restaurant/bar, going to auditions, pitching some scheme, or even joining a day-trading firm can one day come in and make a MM dollars. Probably not very likely in Bayonne, NJ.

Quote from lolatency:

A cheap affordable joke.

My friend who makes like $60,000 a year has a nice house, a car, and a view of a lake. He bought his place in 2004 and he could pay it off any day.

Had I done the same thing in Manhattan, I'd be going into foreclosure and would probably be a divorced chain smoker who sounds like some kind of horse-voiced, steroid-addled Fran Drescher.
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moonlightxpress · Apr 5, 2009

dude i was at 400 gateway plaza when the bomb went off..those were the days..

robparis · Apr 6, 2009

The housing market it in the city relies on the job market. Until jobs come back to the city the housing market can't recover.

A lot of the blame for the housing crisis in the city can be placed square on the government.

This article explains about rent control in the city and how it's messed up the housing market.

http://robparis.blogspot.com/2009/04/government-influence-on-housing-in-new.html

bidask · Apr 6, 2009

and why are those people losers? nothing wrong with working a menial job to pay the bills or as a means to pursue bigger goals.

Quote from knocks420:

NYC wasn't designed for middle class aspirations. It's built around the uber poor and the uber rich. The middle class is like an organism the other classes leech off of, work for the rich to support the poor.

It's retarded to think you can live comfortably off 60k in the city but if thats your goal, then like you said, Jersey is affordable.

The 'loser' living in a railroad apartment, cold calling, working in restaurant/bar, going to auditions, pitching some scheme, or even joining a day-trading firm can one day come in and make a MM dollars. Probably not very likely in Bayonne, NJ.
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robparis · Apr 6, 2009

You're right, there's nothing wrong with working a menial job to pay the bills. But when you can't afford to live in NYC because the rents are too high, then you shouldn't be living in NYC.

It's wrong to be subsidized by everybody else because you refuse to commute to your job. Rent control is the worst of it. The property owner is told how much he can charge for his property. If that's how it's going to be, don't call it ownership.

http://robparis.blogspot.com/2009/0...ing-in-new.html

knocks420 · Apr 6, 2009

Quote from bidask:

and why are those people losers? nothing wrong with working a menial job to pay the bills or as a means to pursue bigger goals.
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I dont think they are, thats why 'loser' is in parenthesis.

MandelbrotSet · Apr 6, 2009

Quote from Port1385:

IBTW, the old Limelight is now a dollar store. Amazing...
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LOL, I have to get down there to see that one!

moonlightxpress · Apr 6, 2009

Quote from robparis:

You're right, there's nothing wrong with working a menial job to pay the bills. But when you can't afford to live in NYC because the rents are too high, then you shouldn't be living in NYC.

It's wrong to be subsidized by everybody else because you refuse to commute to your job. Rent control is the worst of it. The property owner is told how much he can charge for his property. If that's how it's going to be, don't call it ownership.

http://robparis.blogspot.com/2009/0...ing-in-new.html
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thats half the story..the owners bought the building cheap knowing its gonna be rent controlled and now they are trying to kick people out ..

robparis · Apr 6, 2009

I somewhat agree. A lot of the people who own the buildings now bought at a lower price because the building was rent-controlled.

If rent control was suddenly ended, these owners would hit the jackpot.

Since the rent control is wrong in the first place. I'd rather see these owners get lucky than keep the bad system.

It's a fundamental problem and it needs to end one way or the other. It's not like the building owner could sell in this market anyway!

http://robparis.blogspot.com/