NYC has the best and the worst of just about everything there is to have. People who avoid it entirely are foolish.
Now that I have a granddaughter living near Union Square, I go in quite regularly. I either drive or take a bus. When I take a bus, I arrive at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, walk over to Broadway, sometimes above ground, sometimes below in a pedestrian tunnel, and then take the subway down to Union Square. Saying that it is filthy, dirty, and smelly is a bit much. Ever been in a barn; or Rome? I don't exactly use cabs every day, but I'm pretty sure I'm over 1000 lifetime cab rides. I've never been in one that was stopped by a cop. And I've never seen your sign either. I'll admit that I haven't looked for it, but I do walk by the Intrepid once in a while.
Are you sure you've really been to New York?
ML/NJ
Yes. I am sure that is where I was. New York doesn’t do it for me, but hey...it is a personal preference.
I tried to make the point that I didn’t see all New Yorkers as filthy, dirty and smelly, because I know they aren’t. I hoped people like you didn’t take it personally, but being from Massachusetts, I know how hard that is to do when you pretty much get kicked in the teeth all the time because you live in the same state as a bunch of liberal weenies.
I used to do it myself with California, making statements about “The Big One” and sliding into the ocean to solve the country’s problems.
And BTW...I wasn’t exaggerating about the cabs. We took the train down from Boston, squeezed past a bum and some guy getting ready to have a fight while leaving Penn Station going up to street level, nearly witnessed another fight between people waiting in line for a cab and the people who didn’t want to wait and just walked 20 feet up the street before the end of the line to grab a cab before it got to the queue. Then, when we got into a cab, the guy went up about 50 feet and did a 90 degree turn cutting across all lanes, and did it right in front of a cop car, who pulled him over as we drove up the street with the loudspeaker blaring “CAB DRIVER: PULL OVER.” Then, while he was pulled over, some other cab came alongside, handed the guy a card and said something to him. The next cab we took over the the USS Intrepid, and I don’t think the guy knew where it was, and he literally stopped in the middle of the road, in the middle of an intersection with a red light. The cop got him. And so on. We thought perhaps we were bad luck, and considered telling our cab drivers to be careful, but felt pretty sure that would not be interpreted correctly.
Bottom, line, your statement is probably correct. Best and worst of everything, but it is all crowded into one area.
And...I DID spend a huge amount of time in Naples, Italy. If there is another city in the industrialized West that is dingier and dirtier than nearly any other, it would have to be Naples.
They don’t call THAT the armpit of Italy for nothing.
“People who avoid it entirely are foolish.”
Having been to New York on a regular basis these last few months I can say there isn’t anything there I want. The only happy people I’ve seen in mid-town are the gay boys standing outside the all male strip club which I have to pass by to get to my hotel.