My parents retired to NYC – they love it. Unlike me, they like the opera and live near Lincoln Center. they go to lectures, they go to museums, the theater, and have friends scattered around the city as well. It is MUCH better than spending their old age staring at the TV and listening to talk radio. Healthier, too.
Also, I lived in NYC for years right after college, into getting married, and my kids were born there (we moved to SoCal when they were little) and the only place I was ever a victim of a crime was Kansas City.
My d lives in Queens right now and has a nice size apartment at a reasonable rent (although it is more than our mortgage payment!). She and her fiancé are looking to move, just because. @FallGirl - pm and let me know what part of Brooklyn your d is in as it sounds nice.
I sent this story to ds2 as a warning. His response: “That article was so dope!” :))
" the 30 minute subway ride to the boroughs. Lovely - especially at 8 am and 5pm in 90 degree heat and various disgusting and not disgusting people shoved up next you."
Most young NYC dwellers I know ride their bikes everywhere unless the weather is really crappy. Green, cheaper than the subway, and it gets in some daily exercise.
^Also I don’t know any young NYC dwellers who look at subway rides that way–that sounds more like a suburban middle-aged reaction rather than a young cosmopolitan. (also,also, commutes up and down Manhattan can take 30 minutes, too.)
I live in a mid-sized city and I know tons of people who spend > 30 minutes commuting from the burbs. By car, so you have your space, unlike a subway. But you can’t read or do anything else while you’re doing it. Now I hate the thought of driving that much every day so we choose the live in a more central area. But spending an hour or more a day commuting is hardly unique to NY.
For a commute time? 30 minutes in NOTHING for most people, NYC or elsewhere.
I have actually seen people driving with a newspaper or a book sitting on the steering wheel. I kid you not.
I think a 30 minute commute time is a law or something.(sarcasm) The one person i know has office time optional, drives all day long and or flies for work. she is never --not on the move so I do not envy her.
We have a family home–originally 3bedrooms one bath. At some point, the tenants put on walls so it now has 4-5 bedrooms and still one bath. H isn’t happy but it’s 5-6 flights from the street to the front door and only one parking space, so that limits the people who want to rent the house. It has a gorgeous view but I haven’t seen the place since the partitions were installed and we are pretty unhappy.
We need to sit down with the property manager and have a heart to heart about the place as we also want to have some maintenance performed on the place.
The old manager was his dad, who just remarried and is dying of cancer so the transition is a bit bumpy.
@himom I’d be pretty ticked off if someone made structural changes to the inside of my property without prior notification and approval. If it’s not freestanding, it shouldn’t be allowed. If it isn’t there already, that should be a clause in any future rental contracts plus paying for a fix if the clause is broken.
H believes he approved when the manager called at one point but was dismayed when he visited and actually saw it. H honestly can’t remember but believes he must have approved without realizing what they were doing.
“I have actually seen people driving with a newspaper or a book sitting on the steering wheel. I kid you not.”
I have too. I guess I should have said you can’t SAFELY do anything else 
“I have actually seen people driving with a newspaper or a book sitting on the steering wheel. I kid you not.”
I have seen a woman doing a cross-stitching project on her steering wheel while commuting to downtown Seattle
I was unaware that you could not text, read, cross stitch, shave, have a sandwich in one hand and a coffee in the other and drive! is this a problem?
You could get ticketed at some states for distraction while driving. It could be for applying makeup, eating, talking on the phone. I can’t tell if #76 is serious or not.
http://www.wfsb.com/story/27886842/man-ticketed-for-eating-while-driving
Saw someone on the DC beltway with the Washington Post draped across the steering column and using an electric razor in one hand in 8:15 am rush hour traffic. Had his phone on speaker and was talking, too. Was trying to merge into his lane to make my exit.
Maybe self-driving cars can’t come fast enough!