This is the kind of change that we humans can actually guide and control. It is not an asteroid or earthquake. This is top-down gentrification, not bottom up. It is the result of zoning changes and decisions made largely at the level of local and state government. Same way they encouraged white flight in the other direction during the days of redlining.

Not all change is good. If we just throw up our arms at everything and say "change happens" we aren't taking control of our destiny or protecting what we have.

I am a photographer and this is not a problem. Unless you are really far away from it, I guess? But even then, there is no greater chance of this happening in New York City than other major cities in the US or Western Europe.

Screw uber and lyft. Train or taxi every time.

New York poisons rats.

Very bad news😥 When they said BBB was closing I thought at least there would be Harmon left. Their prices are the best in the city for personal care. Saline solution is such a good deal there, and an alternative to Listerine that is much cheaper but just as good. Among many other items! Their store branded stuff is fantastic.

Should be 25-50 for an eighth including tax instead of 40 -60 plus tax. Or the illegal places will still be attracting lots of customers.

Will this do anything to relieve some of the crowding on the E train? It has been terrible.

Nice drawing. This view won't exist once the tower planned across the street from it is completed and blocks the Chrysler.

Charming and beautifully done. I used to love painting with gouache when I was a textile designer.

Well McDonalds is one of the few places still open in the City That Used to Never Sleep.

You must expect a hand job after all that attitude you showed up with

Refuting absurd recommendations for urban planning by a basement dweller who's cranky because his mom is late with his lunch.

It's only mumbo jumbo to someone who remains willfully ignorant and has no understanding of New York City neighborhoods. Either you are annoyingly young and immature or you have never spent more than a week in New York. "Dude".

More trees than you can ever imagine, having never set foot here.

What a dumb wish.

You would need another mandate to ensure all of the interesting retail, clubs, restaurants, art galleries and street life down there isn't obliterated by the way those buildings are designed at street level. You know (or maybe you don't) those low rise neighborhoods are where people actually go to hang out and feel the real pulse of city life. The city is better by having a mixture of low rise and high rise. Plenty of places to build up elsewhere without razing the last incredibly vibrant and unique neighborhoods in Manhattan.

Ssshhhh....don't tell them.

A big part of the problem is the way big new buildings are designed at street level.

Retail footprints are large and tend to be rented to chain stores and sterile uses like bank branches- especially all of the prominent corner locations. It creates a feeling of boredom and sameness. The retail spaces face the sidewalk with mostly flat panels of glass and no appearance of individuality or interesting human sized features, no awnings or much of anything protruding or creating semi-protected space for outdoor activity. No variety of scale.

Often, one or two sides of a whole block are designed with dead zones that are nothing but loading docks, service zones and mechanical spaces.

Food is relegated to indoor "food courts" (often in windowless basements of all places), or everyone is eating out of trucks (but lots of coffee coffee coffee shops). Stick an "art gallery" here or there with colorful non-threatening works that the people in the adjacent new condos can match with a sofa. Instant "culture".

Plazas and public spaces are nicely planted but usually lack amenities beyond a few benches, if we're lucky. Open expanses offering little incentive to linger there. These neighborhoods from scratch could easily be designed to be more inviting and charming. A place like Hudson Yards provides locals with very few reasons to ever return, after a first curious walk through.

Cool but old and missing a lot of prominent new skyscrapers. Hudson Yards in this shot has only one building near completion. It's a whole cluster now. 57th is missing several supertalls as well. The Queens and Brooklyn waterfronts are much more developed now. Also missing One Vanderbilt and Downtown Brooklyn is more built up now. Amazing how much development happened since this was captured.

You're a strange take.