We had all been closely paying attention to the “Race for HQ2” as Amazon, the worldwide retail giant was announcing the search for a location to put its second headquarters. The excitement mounted as we all thought Amazon could bring rejuvenation and vitalization to a growing or previously declined city. Some warned it would bring more bad than good. In the end the eCommerce leader went with…. New York. And Washington. Long Island City and Crystal City to be more exact. While I don’t have a problem with the Washington neighborhood just 3 miles south of Downtown, it is the NY location that is upsetting.
One of the downsides of this is that Bezos will obviously factor in tax incentives that these cities will give to the company. Some cities, like Newark NJ who pledged $7 billion, are in no position to do so. Furthermore the majority of the 50,000 jobs to be brought into the city are basically going to be employees already employed with Amazon, probably mostly from Seattle. Supposedly the new center should enrich the community, instead it will replace it.
Queens is not Seattle and we don’t need it to be. LIC is somewhat affordable but that is going to disappear pretty soon. It and surrounding neighborhoods are also vibrant immigrant communities, often the first leg of a family’s journey to America. Seattle is the unaffordable opposite of that. I’m not a NIMBY fan by all means, but the Seattlization of NYC is textbook gentrification.
As discussed before on my first post, generation Y is urbanizing fast (Because who wants to spend their 20’s in some lame suburb?). On the Northeast, New York is attracting the young, talented professionals who are starting their journeys in adulthood. But, because everyone can’t fit onto Manhattan(or afford it), they choose the next best thing, the NJ waterfront towns of Hoboken, Cliffside Park, Jersey City, and even West New York.
This would be your West New York | The New York Times
Developers saw the opportunity at the end of the last century and started taking it, gentrifying the shit out of the prime areas and constructing modern high density dwellings with hefty price tags.
My friend’s buildingLounge area with a drink
I had the opportunity to visit a friend in one of these complexes in Jersey City. Her place was very nice, with a public terrace, pool and communal lounges. Transport is excellent with the PATH station being a short walk and the presence of the light rail. The district kind of felt like a college town except the upgraded slightly bougier version. The crowd was exclusively early 20’s something on their way to the gym or from a boba joint.
One helluva view from the apartment
Nearby Grove Street looked amazing with strung lights and tons of interesting shops and restaurants. A lovely nearby Newark Street also became pedestrianized a couple years back. If you take a few steps away from that center, you’ll come across beautifully refurbished brownstone-esque houses and small parks nestled among them. Further yet you’ll find the grit of the former Jersey City (if you don’t notice it on the way to town first). Moral of the story: JC might be the next Williamsburg.
Upcoming spots are highlighted | Google Maps
Personally, I’d love to live here in the future if I ever get a well-paying job in the city. For me, the NYC waterfront towns in Jersey illustrates the concept in urbanism of designated urban spaces for certain time frames of life. I think that’s pretty cool because it feels like an extension of college – being around people of the same place in life, probably similar interests in areas with lots to do. (Don’t even get me started on the “strollertown” of Hoboken. It’s like people specifically move there to pop out the baby before running to the burbs as soon as it turns 5.) So it’s pretty different from the last American urban era of entire families living in cities.
The future One Park residence in Cliffside Park | DMG Investments
Ten years ago if you told someone you wanted to live on that side of the East River, they would have thought you lost your mind. It’s nothing short of a miracle how far the area has come in such short time. I can’t wait to see which towns are next, maybe Bayonne and even Newark? Who knows.
New York’s nickname should be the Comeback Kid (who the hell decided it to be the Big Apple??). This is because the city has faced so many upswings and downswings. After party that was the “roaring twenties”, the Great Depression hit the city hard.
I’m piggybacking this documentary for this post; it’s a great one for history lovers and NYC lovers alike. The years prior to the crash saw Manhattan rising to be one of the most modern cities in the world. Aspirations were great. Giant firms and conglomerates were crowding the skies in their palatial towers as impoverished immigrants were crowding the lower east side.
Then the markets failed. This was a huge turning point for the city as they realized that they cannot survive on their own. This is also when LaGuardia and the infamous Robert Moses came into the picture. But that’s another article. At the start of the 30’s, New York was characterized by hardship, broken trust and breadlines. Manufacturing, especially garment, took a hard hit; this was the same across many other industries. People had been evicted en mass and started to camp out and squat where they could.
Breadline in New York during the Depression | history.com
Shanty towns known as “Hoovervilles” sprung up on the East River, Hudson River, and in Central Park, which was the largest camp. It resembled the slums of today’s developing nations. One of the saddest things from this documentary were the children who picked through piles of garbage. There was also civil unrest to a great degree. Riots broke out in Manhattan, the Bronx as well as other boroughs.
Below are some stills from New York: A Documentary.
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The opening of the iconic Empire State Building was coincided with the Depression. Initially, much of the building was not rented and sat empty. Its nickname had become “Empty State Building”. The observation deck brought in as much money as rent; the landmark had not even become profitable until 1950!
Was all this suffering inevitable? In a short answer, mostly. BUT there was a ton of corruption from Tammany Hall as well as a corrupt, greedy, ineffective mayor at the time. Relief to a degree was siphoned off into officials’ pockets.
Although I talked about a plethora of negative aspects the Depression had on the Big Apple, no storm cloud is without its silver lining. Roosevelt’s New Deal gave the city millions in government funds through which many public works projects were funded. A weak mayor gave way to LaGuardia, one of the most influential mayors the city ever had. If anyone is credited for revitalizing the city, and restoring public faith in City Hall, it would be him. The most powerful change, in my opinion, was the fact that there was now a notion that New York would need to work hand-in-hand with DC. It was not the mighty colossus capital of some empire. It was, in fact, a city, just like many others in this country. The Great Depression definitely helped set that into the minds and hearts of many New Yorkers.
Fiorello LaGuardia used his close relationship with FDR to secure funds for the city | jewishcurrents.org
For more information on NYC during the Depression, I highly recommend thisbook as well as the documentary linked above.
URBN SENSE 
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