Patti Smith Says NYC Is Closed, Find A New City
- Thread starter Dusty Ayres
- Start date
Maybe, but it's still the center of the universe, and I'd rather be poor in NYC then rich in (gag) LA or any other so called city.
Well, that's certainly the way to bet.
She's right. East siders like Bloomberg have totally eviscerated the city of its character. Guilliani started it when he Disnified Times Square.
Dusty Ayres
Commodore
I used to think that way about Times Square, too, 'till I heard a story of my sister and her husband being mugged when they were in New York for a visit. Then I realized that Times Square had a history way beyond what everybody came to know it as, and that the changes back into what it used to be weren't that bad. Even if Times Square had never changed back due to Guilliani & Bloomberg, it would have had to due to porn going over to the Internet and home video. Besides, what would you rather have; the freedom to be able to walk down Times Square unmolested, or the Square as it used to be, but with people mugging you for cash every five feet or so?
As for the other things that Smith mentioned, yeah, I agree with her, and I add this; instead of someplace else in the USA, why not some city in Europe?
I thought that was a big thing in Misc.
Sacramento California is the best place in the world. The sun rises and sets on us.
It has me, after all.
Since I grew up with the muggings and (as a result?) am big and scary enough to have had that freedom since I was 16 (professional thug, you know), I feel a little cheated.
Of course, it's not just the seediness. It's the creative spirit, and even the diversity (real, organic diversity, not the quota affirmative-action stuff) that's really missing from the city these days. That's what happens when everything becomes too expensive for anyone but the established and overprivileged.
The problem is New York City has gentrified, severely. For better or worse, that's a byproduct of being an artistic mecca: cheap rents --> artists --> urban pioneers --> attractive neighborhood --> gentrification. That's simply how it works. The Greenwich Village, Harlem, the Lower East Side, SoHo, they've all gone through this process. And while that definitely makes for a safer, more prosperous city, it does have the affect of essentially killing most artistic communities. Others will spring up in other places, but will almost certainly go through the same cycle. That's just how it works these days.
Aw. 
And I've only been there once, for about 36 hours. Can't I come back for a little visit?
Blergh. You can have it. It's like a mini-LA now.
Old, tired Europe? Please! She's clearly thinking about some up and coming city that is new and vital.
And I've only been there once, for about 36 hours. Can't I come back for a little visit?My home town!
Blergh. You can have it. It's like a mini-LA now.Old, tired Europe?
Please! She's clearly thinking about some up and coming city that is new and vital.Unfortunately these elements have crossed into Brooklyn and are beginning to price people out. I sort of wish they would go away
While the economic fallout of gentrification is a concern and a problem, I do not miss crushing crack vials under my shoes and ducking hookers and muggers in Time Square and many other parts of the city. Hell, I almost cried when CBGB closed, but a person could not leave there without walking in a group for fear of personal saftey. One did not enter Tompkins Square Park without armed escort - there are still unique personalities there, but I don't hesitate to hang out there now with my kid. Given a choice, I much prefer my city the way it is now than what it was. Of course, I'm older too, so that may have something to do with it.
My home town!
A mini L.A.?? Them's fightin' words!!
You used to live here?? What the hell made you leave? Surely my wonderfulness made you feel safe and secure.
Or was that it? My brilliance shown so brightly you just had to get away from the glare for fear of going blind?
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