People in New York City and Suburbs - Case Study Example

 New York City vs. The Suburbs This paper asks me to discuss the difference in culture between the people who live in New York city and the surrounding suburbs. The people that live and work in New York city seem to live in their own world. New York City is the Mecca of food, fashion, real estate, and the arts. The inhabitants are more than well aware of it. It almost seems as if New York city is a world of its own. For example, the real estate crisis suffered throughout the state of New York has somehow missed the city. This is because people will pay whatever they have to so that they can live in the city. The rich live for the most part in Manhattan, though there are pockets of affluence in the other boroughs. Manhattan offers its wealthy residents the best of almost every urban amenity from penthouses and theaters to the stretch hummer limousines that are a calling card of the powerful. New York is one of the few United States cities in which the very rich still live downtown. Education is important to those married couples in the city. I interviewed the Executive chef of Butter. Butter is a restaurant in Manhattan which finds it way on Page 6 almost every day. If you are a celebrity, and you want to be seen, the place to be especially on Monday nights is Butter. The Executive chef just had a daughter. She and her husband, even now, have her name listed on wait lists in the most exclusive schools that Manhattan has to offer. To not have your child in these schools is a tremendous source of embarrassment. The food industry dominates the city always. Openings of restaurants happen everywhere but not with the fanfare known only to New York. One does not simply walk off the street and get a glass of champagne. Rather, one must have an invitation, which will be checked by security and perhaps, if you are lucky you may find your way into the VIP section and enjoy a glass of Krug. Money is everything to this population. Indeed, city residents are more than happy to admit it. Your address is everything. Soho and Gramercy park are the ultra exclusive areas to live, but Gramercy requires “old money” or what is commonly known as an inheritance. The Park is magnificent but you can only glimpse from the outside. To keep its’ exclusivity, those who live in Gramercy Park have their own key to the park. Outsiders are not tolerated. Soho is an interesting part of the city. You will find many actors, artists and Wall street executives shelling out thousands of dollars per month to live in a lush loft. Society is trendy and everyone is aware of who lives in the area but pretends not to. In Soho, people talk about money unabashedly. A tour of any apartment in Soho, will solve any question you may feel uncomfortable asking. Indeed, you must qualify to even look at an apartment available for rent! The majority or people from New York city look down upon those who live outside the city. This is especially so as applied to Long Islanders and those from New Jersey. People in the city speak as fast as they walk and they view the lack of fast paced speech as a sign of stupidity. Moreover, as one attorney stated to me, “The Long Island accent is just painful!” The New York Times is the prevalent newspaper in the city. The Sunday Times, is often sold out before 10:00 a.m. so it is best to have a subscription. An article or review of your work or establishment in the Times can make of break you career wise. The Sunday edition of the New York Times can either put a new restaurant on the map or shut it down. The spring time will find most New Yorkers lounging at outside morning café’s reading the times and feasting on an organic breakfast which has a French name and costs at least $30.00. Summertime in New York city is best described as tedious. The social whirlwind of the city heads to the Hamptons, which is a part of Long Island and really, the only one that matters. There many city dwellers relax at their mansions with lush lawns and gorgeous pools. The club scene opens up with a bang and invitations abound only to the exclusive. According to an editor at U.S. News, if you are not invited anywhere out of the city during the summer it is probably best to pretend you are not home. This means not being seen at your regular spots just in case you bump into someone. If by chance you do bump into someone during a summer weekend in the city, you are immediately branded a social outcast and everyone knows that you were stuck in the city. You are, therefore, a looser. Pathetic yes, but true. Living in the city is a tremendous source of pride. Those who live in the city enjoy a fast paced life style and feel that they have reached the zenith of their being. They cannot imagine living anywhere else and would rather die than leave the city. Additionally, there seems to be a heightened level of respect of professionals who work in the city than those who work outside of it. This is especially so for attorneys. I spoke to a criminal defense attorney who told me that she specifically has an address in the city because a city address is connected with power. She further stated that with power comes success and people always hire a city attorney before anyone else. My own observation of the city dwellers I interviewed was that they were all thrilled to live in the city. Even thought there were issues with landlords, and space was cramped, none would ever give up their space. Traffic and hailing cabs bring you to a level of insanity, but they remained undeterred. They all viewed moving to the suburbs as moving to another country. Moreover they also felt that people who did not live in the city were jealous about that. Westchester County is a suburb that is 20 minutes north of New York City. It is scenic, picturesque and calmer. “Westchester is not as fast paced as the city but there is still pressure to perform” said one securities investor who moved his growing family out of the city a few years ago. “Anyway, the kids are all going to Dalton” he offered. Dalton is an exclusive school in the city that requires massive connections just to obtain an application. Westchester has a lot of soccer moms mulling about with SUV’s touting that their child is on the honor roll of the local school. “Nothing original here…” says Steffanie C., a mom whose three kids attend private school and who lost her husband in 9/11. If you have the money, anywhere you live is nice. Westchester boasts exclusive high schools and grammar schools but the majority of students “can’t wait to get the hell out”. The high school generation views Westchester as confining but admits that their homes are great. Most students at Iona Prep., (an all boys college preparatory school)look forward to heading to college. The majority are not staying in New York. Most kids want the ivy league but that seems to be given to more kids coming out of the city. Westchester kids find that “city kids are stuck up and think they are better than everyone else”. There is very little socializing between city and suburb kids while in high school. “Here the partying is done at people’s houses” says Megan, a sophomore at the sister school of Iona Prep., Ursuline”…Plus we really don’t party the same way. In the city the kids do more coke, up here its really alcohol.” I think we are the same way with college though, parents put the same pressure on whether you are in Westchester or the city.” Westchester residents view city residents as hyperactive and impatient. Perhaps this is a byproduct of living a fast paced life but interestingly, parents who commute to the city, “can’t wait to go home…and get away from it.” Al, an engineer for Turner Construction based in New York city, who works in the city had this to say about people who think that the city is the only place to live. “I work at one of the top engineering firms in the city, where profits per partner are well into the seven figures, and I could not tell you how many of those partners live in the outer boroughs by choice. Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Fort Greene, Riverdale, Forest Hills, Bayside, Jamaica Estates, Bay Ridge, Staten Island... I don't know who these egocentric city dwellers think the 6.5 million people who live in the outer boroughs are, but half of Wall Street lives in Brooklyn. Shockingly, a lot of engineers are ORIGINALLY FROM the outer boroughs and don't think it's the wasteland city dwellers think it is. And unlike other metropolitan areas, you have to go pretty far before there are "no single chicks." I know people who live in eastern Queens, way out on LI, in the middle of NJ, and in White Plains and they all go out in those areas and meet "single chicks" all the time. There are about as many people in Nassau County as in Philadelphia the 5th most populous city in the U.S. He offers the following to the women in New York city “On the one hand you talk so dismissively about everywhere other than Manhattan clubland, on the other you're whining about how tired you are of New York and the "Sex and the City" attitude. Maybe you wouldn't have these issues if you realized there's a lot more to the areas outside of the city.” Another suburb I interviewed in was Long Island. Long Island is different from both New York city and Westchester. The accent is stronger and more pronounced and there is “no culture” says Andrea H. “but very large Jewish community and all the houses look the same”. As I mentioned earlier, the Hamptons and Montauk are exclusive areas which are predominantly run by New York city dwellers. One long Islander noted: “Suburban kids are more laid back, I can relax when I am with them. Manhattan kids are high strung, they talk fast and are always doing something…like never chilling”. Interestingly, those who live on Long Island are very aware of their reputation and that they are often mocked for saying “New Yawk” instead of New York. “Perhaps I should keep my mouth shut for fear of offending people. Wait, maybe they should keep their mouths shut for fear of offending people. All I know in my experience of knowing LI girls is that they are full of drama. Not sure why. On the plus side, I do have a really good friend from LI so perhaps she's a rare one”. This statement came from a young man who had recently moved to Westchester from Long Island. Another male student noted that “I live right on the border of Nassau and Queens. My neighborhood is pretty much a playground for nearby long island folks when they're too tired to trek out to Manhattan. Majority of the girls I've met or know definitely have some entitlement issues. Is this necessarily a Long Island girl trait? I don't know and I don't think I'm qualified to make that kind of call. All I know is that whenever I walk home from the LIRR and pass by some local bars during the weekends, I know I'll see a few "strong island" girls starting up some drama. Finally, one college student stated “Well, to anyone out of state, LI'ers usually proclaim themselves as NYers, or get associated with them. Heck, even if you are from upstate NY, you are still a NYer, but of a whole different breed than what out-of-staters generalize. LI girls are typically self-absorbed daddy's girls hanging out with guido jocks and post photos on myspace daily, or fragile pampered beings. Its like that in any suburbia. I know some genuine girls from LI who don't fit this bill, so it is by no means an all inclusive stereotype. Some do have a good head on their shoulders and a direction in life. Others are still waiting for the silver platter to be delivered on their doorstep. LI, to me, is where people live extravagantly, in debt, with all the latest toys and gizmos to keep their kids out of the parents hair. I don't go for that stuff and see right though it.” In conclusion, one thing that Westchester residents and Long Island residents have in common is the constant pursuit of sports. City students find that academics are more important for college applications whereas Long Islanders and Westchester residents noted that Lacrosse is the sport to master to get into the ivy league. Read More