Anyone live in Manhattan? Can't imagine never driving anywhere in town!

[mhsjax]

I Love NYC and when I retire, (wow, that is a long way off) I would like to live there. It is ironic, I live in Florida and most people from up north come down here to retire and I want to go up there. However, to the person who is insulted about the pp asking questions about kids playing and grocery stores. We are equally insulted down here in the "rural" south about being dumb hicks and we all drive pick up trucks and live in trailers. Stereo typing isn't just about you guys. WE get it down here too. It just happens.

 

[gm]

oh I would love to live anywhere in New York city. Brooklyn,Manhattan,Jersey City, Queens. DS is going to school at Columbia and when I visit, I just to want stay permanently. Its so fun to live in New York city. Everything is by subway, easy access to stores. I am so tired of driving everywhere here in Houston. Not to mention gas, long driving distances.

I really would like to move but it is so overwhelming about where to start looking for a place to live. Right now we have a 2600 SF home that we paid $135,000 here in Houston and I know that I will not find close to anything like that there but am willing to live in an apartment mostly owning not renting but I would be willing to rent also. I am thinking about moving within the next 3 years so I will be starting to save up from now.

The big question is where/what part of town should I live in? I really love Jersey city but am open to brooklyn and queens. Manhattan is out of the question. Do you think I could find something in the $1200 a month rent/own for a 2 bedroom apartment? is that impossible in queens,Jersey City,Brooklyn,Long island?

 

[fraggle551]

Oh, but you forgot one: "What's it like going everywhere in a boat?" For some reason, many New Yorkers I met when I spent time there as a kid and young adult had a persistant belief that all of Louisiana was swampland -- they didn't think that we had roads or cars. I think that they were picturing a rural sort of Venice

I live on Long Island. You would be shocked and amazed at the questions people ask me. So, how do you have a car if you need a boat to go everywhere? You must be a really great swimmer. Wow you must have one huge boat!.....Ever hear of a bridge people?

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Just got back from the city with DD who is looking at colleges. We love the city and if she goes to college there, I will be visiting often. DH on the other hand is afraid to be there. No matter how many times I tell him it is as safe as being at home, he can't get the "TV" images out of his head...

 

[lila]

I live in the Upper East Side for almost 10 years (!) and drive in the city sometimes, when work requires me to to NJ or Westchester or the like. In those cases, I get a rental car and a garage spot when I do. The garage is about $30 a day or $500 a month or so in my area, which is crazy. My firms pays for everything including my EZPass. I don't mind driving around the city - you just have to be on the offense. What is irritating is trying to get over the GWB or through the Holland. I primarily take the subway and buses though - taxis when work is paying, but rarely on my own dime.

Re: groceries. I do Fresh Direct sometimes. The bodega is a must. I genuinely have found what works best for me is not one big shopping excursion a week, but stopping every day and buying the couple of items I need. My job is very unpredictable, I am single, almost all of my social activities involve a meal out - I eat more meals outside my home than in. I waste a lot of food when I do a lot of shopping all at once.

Re: Walmart. I wish we had one. I load up when I am out of town and haul stuff back on the train or plane, or in my rental car.

 

[minnie56]

My DD orders from Fresh Direct-she really likes it! And no hauling up 2 flights of stairs either!

 

[gm]

When I was in New York recently, i saw that truck called Fresh Direct and always wondered what it was for. Also It is so neat that local stores deliver for a small fee. I bought a small tv and small mini fridge for ds who goes to college there and we stopped in at the Kmart somewhere in Soho/greenich village and I was going to have my ds carry it back to the subway since it was not to big and easy to carry but saw signs everywhere that they deliver in within Manhattan for $10 next day. I did that and they were there the next day when ds was moving in to the dorm.

I than realized that it is common there that even Kmart delivers for a small fee to residents of Manhattan and I think that is so cool.

 

[Imzadi]

When I was in New York recently, i saw that truck called Fresh Direct and always wondered what it was for. Also It is so neat that local stores deliver for a small fee. I bought a small tv and small mini fridge for ds who goes to college there and we stopped in at the Kmart somewhere in Soho/greenich village and I was going to have my ds carry it back to the subway since it was not to big and easy to carry but saw signs everywhere that they deliver in within Manhattan for $10 next day. I did that and they were there the next day when ds was moving in to the dorm.

You can open an account and order things online to be delivered to DS every once in a while. Especially if you think he's not eating properly. Or if you'd like to send him some extra treats.

I wish I could do this for my elderly mom. She doesn't go out much, especially in the icy winters. And she can't carry a lot back home. But, she doesn't have a Fresh Direct or delivery service where she lives.

 

[allison443]

You can open an account and order things online to be delivered to DS every once in a while. Especially if you think he's not eating properly. Or if you'd like to send him some extra treats.

I wish I could do this for my elderly mom. She doesn't go out much, especially in the icy winters. And she can't carry a lot back home. But, she doesn't have a Fresh Direct or delivery service where she lives.

I have done this with netgrocer.com for my dd at college. She isn't in NYC, she is in rural PA. I can send her a case of water, bottles of juice, etc.-things that are too heavy or not available close to campus (she doesn't have a car). Netgrocer says they ship anywhere-so maybe that could be an option for you!

 

[Aisling]

Just wanted to say I'm in my car right now driving in Manhattan! I'm picking up my son from school for an early Drs appointment to scan his knee from a sports injury. And then back to school, getting a pedi, and then home.

SO PEOPLE, IT CAN BE DONE!

 

[eliza61]

Just wanted to say I'm in my car right now driving in Manhattan! I'm picking up my son from school for an early Drs appointment to scan his knee from a sports injury. And then back to school, getting a pedi, and then home.

SO PEOPLE, IT CAN BE DONE!

You think I should tell them about alternate side of the street parking yet?

 

[punkin]

Just wanted to say I'm in my car right now driving in Manhattan! I'm picking up my son from school for an early Drs appointment to scan his knee from a sports injury. And then back to school, getting a pedi, and then home.

SO PEOPLE, IT CAN BE DONE!

YOU ARE DISSING FROM YOUR CAR?!!!????

 

[MUFFYCAT]

You think I should tell them about alternate side of the street parking yet?

 

[NotUrsula]

I live on Long Island. You would be shocked and amazed at the questions people ask me. So, how do you have a car if you need a boat to go everywhere? You must be a really great swimmer. Wow you must have one huge boat!.....Ever hear of a bridge people?

I'm guessing that these are folks who don't fly much? Or ever get to Queens for any other reason?

I actually encountered that, too, in NYC. It amazed me, but I met people who did not know that they lived on an island. If you're a NYC resident and you don't live in the Bronx or Marble Hill, you live on an island; crossing some body of water on a regular basis is an everyday occurrence for a LOT of New Yorkers. (I can hear faint strains of Carly Simon music somewhere inside my head.)

I think that what many of us who come from elsewhere can easily forget is that there are literally hundreds of thousands of adults in NYC who have never left it, and even many who have never ventured outside their home borough. When you live in a less urban place and have wheels of your own because you just have to, you tend to go well outside your neighborhood for more of life's necessities. In NYC, it will all come to you (well, sometimes for a price.)

... And thus endeth the PSA urging more geography coursework in all US public schools.

Seriously, I think that every American should try to visit NYC at least once. It's a special place for a lot of reasons.

 

[Robmom]

OMG that is too funny!

YOU ARE DISSING FROM YOUR CAR?!!!????

 

[Imzadi]

oh I would love to live anywhere in New York city. Brooklyn,Manhattan,Jersey City, Queens. DS is going to school at Columbia and when I visit, I just to want stay permanently. Its so fun to live in New York city.

The big question is where/what part of town should I live in? I really love Jersey city but am open to brooklyn and queens. Manhattan is out of the question. Do you think I could find something in the $1200 a month rent/own for a 2 bedroom apartment? is that impossible in queens,Jersey City,Brooklyn,Long island?

First of all, Jersey City is not part of New York. You shouldn't put Jersey City in the same sentence with NY. You've just insulted both states. (Just kidding - well, not really. )

Second, maybe you can get a $1200 apartment in JC. I don't know what the prices are there. In Manhattan, you can't even get a closet for that amount. The very far reaches of Brooklyn or Queens, maybe. But, that would entail and hour subway ride each way into Manhattan to Columbia. It would actually be faster for you to commute to JC. There are special shuttle buses to JC from Port Authority, then it's like 25 minutes.

Your best bet is to look for a one bedroom apartment and one person sleep on a futon couch in the living room, the way Mary Tyler Moore lived on hers in her TV show.

 

[gm]

thanks Imzadi: for all that info!!!

he will be staying at the dorm for the next 4 years so I am not too worried for him. Its me me me I LOVE NY okay and Jersey City too

I need to start saving up big time if my dream to move there will come true or if I win the lottery

Seriously, I really really want to move there in the next 3/4 years so lets see. I am tired of suburbia living which I have lived my whole life. Its time for a change but have to wait till dd graduates high school also. It will just be me and dh after that so we could live in a small 1 bedroom anywhere in NY or NJ.

 

[Imzadi]

I have done this with netgrocer.com for my dd at college. She isn't in NYC, she is in rural PA. I can send her a case of water, bottles of juice, etc.-things that are too heavy or not available close to campus (she doesn't have a car). Netgrocer says they ship anywhere-so maybe that could be an option for you!

THANK YOU!!!! I just looked at the website. They use Fedex for shipping, so packages can be shipped anywhere. Plus, shipping charges are really cheap. I was going to send a box of stuff to my mom in a flat rate Priority box from USPS. I can actually send her more from Netgrocer, for less shipping charges.

Plus, they are part of Shop Rite. Some of their Shop Rite brand stuff is cheaper than when we have sales on same items. It doesn't matter if some items are generics. So I can get stuff delivered to me, too. No more waiting till the times I rent a car, and make a side trip to Walmart.

You think I should tell them about alternate side of the street parking yet?

I think Webmaster Pete would toss you off the DIS. It would require too much bandwidth space to try to accurately explain alternate side of the street parking in a way so non-NYers get it. Heck, it took me years to understand it, and I only got it after I got many a parking ticket.

And don't mention how it costs $200+ if your car gets towed. That doesn't include the emotional trauma of standing and staring at the empty curb where you know you left your car.

 

[lisaviolet]

Oh you lucky lucky people!!!!

Well here it is in all its beauty.

All Manhattan. And if you venture over to Long Island you can see this -

Such a spectucular place!!!!

 

[mjkacmom]

The big question is where/what part of town should I live in? I really love Jersey city but am open to brooklyn and queens. Manhattan is out of the question. Do you think I could find something in the $1200 a month rent/own for a 2 bedroom apartment? is that impossible in queens,Jersey City,Brooklyn,Long island?

I live 10 miles from NYC, in NJ, suburbia, and there aren't any 2 bedroom apartments here for $1200! I'm a 20 - 40 minute bus or train ride there, and I could get there taking public transportation, because we do have city buses I can walk to, though. I think it would be hard to find a 1 bedroom in that price range.