The “Cities Under Siege” article talks a lot about the fact that most urban areas are inhabited by minority groups who are usually of the lower-income classes and that suburbs are inhabited by mostly white people of the upper classes. However, I feel that this paradigm does not really fit New York City.  Anyone who lives in NYC knows that everything here is more expensive and that each borough, with the exception of Staten Island, is extremely diverse in terms of race and socioeconomic status. Nonetheless, Manhattan is the most expensive area to live in and can be considered the “inner city” when compared to the other boroughs. Most people have to move to the surrounding boroughs because of this rise in cost of living. Yet, Manhattan as a whole is still quite diverse. This fits in with how things were dealt with during Hurricane Sandy. Manhattan was helped first while some parts of other boroughs were left by the way side. This is especially true of southern Staten Island, a practically all-white neighborhood that was hardest hit by the storm. Although the rest of the country might fit the “inner city” and suburb paradigm, New York does not.

How then, can we explain the lack of aid that outer city areas of New York received?