New York City has certainly undergone a radical change from the gritty place it once was in the 1970s and 80s. It is hard to imagine Bryant Park as anything but the hot spot that it currently is, or to imagine 42nd Street as a “center of sex and sleaze” (p.101). The changes that these areas, and the rest of the city, have undergone can be attributed to the construction projects that began in the 90s and that are still happening today. The drawback to this urban renaissance, however, is that New York City, particularly Manhattan, is extremely expensive to live in. It is fantastic that “clubs, coffee bars, chic shops, and trendy restaurants” (p.99) are springing up throughout the city, but they do not come cheap, and frequenting them would cost a New Yorker a great deal of money.
Similarly, the price of housing in the city has dramatically increased; apartments in the city cost $2,000 – $5,000 a month to rent, and lofts can cost upwards of $700,000. This is to be expected, however, because new construction costs money. Business Improvement Districts seem to be helping the city, but these, too, cost money. Some people may not view the rising cost of living in the city as a big deal; many simply accept this as a fact of life. But this could have serious consequences for the city’s future. In both this article and the previous one, Macionis and Parillo mention that an efflux of people from a city can harm the city’s economy. With fewer people living and working there, the city government receives less tax money, so the quality of life in the city naturally starts to deteriorate. The positive changes that New York City has undergone have raised the cost of living to the point where more people, especially the middle class, might start to move away to less expensive areas. This could ultimately harm the city’s economy and bring it back to the state it was in during the 70s and 80s. But without those positive changes, the city would still be in that state today. Obviously, there are pros and cons to every situation, and it is important for New York City to strike a balance between safety and affordability.
Discussion question – How can the cost of living in New York City be decreased while maintaining the current quality of life in the city?
