# Do people ever decide to leave New York? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 5, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162 "2003-03-05T03:07:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/41 "2003-03-06T01:27:52Z")
Many of my New York City friends, both native and non, have no desire to leave “the city.” This includes two friends of mine who grew up in New England (as I did), moved to NYC thinking they’d leave after about two years, and are now here for the long haul. It’s a truly fantastic place to live. ---
**Author:** ![DrLizardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@DrLizardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrLizardo)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/42 "2003-03-06T02:07:29Z")
Only when they hit 70 and run into the mandatory “move to Florida” regulations. ---
**Author:** ![bettybad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bettybad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bettybad)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/43 "2003-03-06T02:15:49Z")
I’m with LolaCocaCola…I always leave and I always move back and it will always be my “home” and my personal favorite place to live. That doesnt mean I dont burn out on it or that other cities I have lived in dont have their own charms, some of which far outweigh comparable NYC charms. That said, I HATE DC and am plotting my escape at this very moment. What a backwater pit of mediocrity. ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/44 "2003-03-06T03:16:29Z")
Yes:(. I left a month ago after living there for four years and I miss it _desperately_. I left because I want to return to graduate school and I need to pay off bills, but I still consider it the greatest city in the world. I miss my friends, my roommate (who’s Will to my Grace), bagels, great restaurants, people yelling at me, bad drivers, the subway, and just about everything about the city. I can’t wait to go back for a weekend at the end of March. Ava ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/45 "2003-03-06T03:39:02Z")
I met a guy last year who was from New York. He’s probably one of the most “TV stereotypical” New Yorkers i’ve ever met - NY accent, Jewish, grew up on the upper west side, left-liberal intellectual. (I know there’s more than one NY stereotype - he just happens to fit one of the molds). Anyway, i asked him a similar question, and he said, only half jokingly, that a lot of the “real” New Yorkers (i.e. those who constantly go on about how great the city is and how they would never leave) are actually people who have moved there from somewhere else. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/46 "2003-03-06T04:06:27Z")
I live in New York. Upstate. It’s not even part of the same damn state. Really. New York City is its own damn thing. I got the “How far were you from the Towers?” thing all the time down South, too. Dammit, I’m from a nowhere town near Albany! Until last month I had never, ever been to NYC in my entire life, nor had I particularly wanted to! I never did care. Whether I ever visited that big chunk of asphalt that lay two and a half hours south of me was just not a big deal. I finally did, though, and I loved it. It’s a great place to visit - but I’d never live there. I couldn’t live in a city as big as all that. ---
**Author:** ![DrLizardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@DrLizardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrLizardo)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/47 "2003-03-06T04:14:41Z")
Definitely concur with you about the “how close were you to the towers?” question. Seems like EVERYONE asks me that first off. Answer, BTW, is “5 blocks, saw them both come down with my own two eyes, and would give anything to not have those memories” ---
**Author:** ![av8rmike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/48 "2003-03-06T15:29:27Z")
Thanks to everyone who’s responded so far. This is the kind of stuff I’m looking for, as once upon a time I was actually considering moving there. There’s a very long story here, which I won’t share here, but it basically involves me and a … “friend” who moved to the city a few years ago. Now she’s all but entrenched and it doesn’t seem like there’s any way she’d consider leaving. I wanted to hear what reasons others would give for moving out. > [@](#): > > _DrLizardo said_ > Definitely concur with you about the “how close were you to the towers?” question. Seems like EVERYONE asks me that first off. People’s sense of location applies to more than just NYC. People who knew I was somewhere in the “Maryland area” were asking me if I was near the Pentagon. I guess people look for a human face to put on things anywhere. But I digress… ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/49 "2003-03-06T18:35:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Smeghead \* > \*\*I’ve been there a few times. You couldn’t pay me enough to live there. I can’t stand cities. I’m sure we’re all happier with things the way they are. \*\* My opinion exactly. I’m a country-bumkin from rural Ohio. I’m 35. I’ve never been to NYC. I’ve never _wanted_ to go. Well, actually, the former is not true. I went to NYC for the first time last month… I am currently working on a job for the FAA. To make a long story short, my boss and I had to go to JFK Airport to gather data for the study. We stayed in Philadelphia and drove to NYC for the day. Driving across the bridge to Staten Island was like **descending into hell**. I felt “trapped” as we were traveling around Brooklyn. It’s the first time I ever experienced claustrophobia. We (finally) got to JFK Airport, gathered data, then immediately headed back to Philadelphia. All in the same day. We never stopped to eat or look around. I _ **hated** _ the entire experience. And now they say I have to go back next month to visit JFK and LaGuardia airport. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/50 "2003-03-06T18:42:13Z")
So, you have nicer airports in rural Ohio? If I came to your home town and hung around in the airport, you could honestly say that I was enjoying the finest experience you had to offer? ---
**Author:** ![Balduran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Balduran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balduran)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/51 "2003-03-06T18:55:17Z")
**Ike** , are you a born and bred city-slicker? If you are, you may not understand first-time reactions to large cities. The first time I went to Toronto I had about the same experience as **Crafter\_Man** describes. I was there for a couple days, spent it all freaked out and wanting to leave. And that was Toronto for goodness sakes! Happily I can say it wears off. Next time you’re there **Crafter** , try and do something fun, I’ll bet NYC won’t seem so terrible after that. ---
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/52 "2003-03-06T19:04:06Z")
Soooo…what do people do in St. Paris, Ohio? I mean between contemplating suicide and watching Days of Our Lives? Calm down, jus’ kidding. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SlowMindThinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@SlowMindThinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlowMindThinking)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/53 "2003-03-06T19:14:23Z")
Apologies to nonUSAmericans, this is aimed at Americans. I grew up in a small town outside of Philly. I knew kids that wanted to live in NYC in the worst way. I knew kids like me, who couldn’t understand why. NYC provincialism is best summed up by those noting that their streets have trees, and there are big parks. Have you ever been anywhere else? In PA, I walked outside my door and I was in a forest. Now I live by the Rocky Mountains. Oddly enough, I don’t/didn’t need a park in either place. I have friends who might run for 40 miles on a Saturday, what are they supposed to do, run laps around Central Park? Run on a freakin’ treadmill? :rolleyes: Everyday I can run for 6 miles and see new, spetacular sites. I doubt I’d ever run through a herd of Big Horn sheep in NYC. It seems to me that it depends on what kind of person you are. If you are a city person, NYC, Boston, DC, Atlanta, and LA seem to be archetypes. I’ve met people from all of them, some of whom couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. (I also knew a New Yorker in DC, who turned down a good job offer in San Diego. He just liked DC better.) I’ve met exNewYorkers, who said they didn’t know what New Yorkers were missing, until they left. If you are a city person, then NYC might very well be your ideal home. Or LA. If you’re not, then NYC is an ugly place with nothing to do. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/54 "2003-03-06T19:23:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Balduran \* > \*\*[you may not understand first-time reactions to large cities. > \*\* I admit to being a little confused by it. Seeing as how I seldom go out of _my_ way to aim gratuitous slaps at rural or small-town life. I enjoy hiking through mountains in Wyoming, or along the coast of Maine, or through Arizona desert. Remember that Yang needs Yin. As I once pointed out during a ramble through a South Carolina pasture redolent of fresh cowflop, “City smells like piss…country smells like shit.” ---
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/55 "2003-03-06T19:28:57Z")
I think one other thing many people aren’t aware of is that a mere 30 mins outside of NYC will find you in spectacular countryside, or if you head the other direction, the beach. Best of both worlds, baby! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/56 "2003-03-06T19:45:13Z")
. . . And so I am . . . ---
**Author:** ![NYR407](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@NYR407](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NYR407)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/57 "2003-03-06T20:37:28Z")
Well said **Lola** and as Billy Joel said: …but I’m taking a Grey Hound on the Hudson River Line. I’m in a New York State of Mind. \*\*SlowMindThinking \*\* if your friends are running for 40 miles on Saturdays I would love see how well they will do in the NYC Marathon. You can run for as much as you like here as well. Not sure what your problem is for running in a park? Sorry but you can’t run through Big Horn sheep though. For some reason you country folk get jealous if we pet the sheep too long? 😃 When you are done with your exercise can you go to a major sporting event? Broadway show? countless museums? Fine dining from all over the world? the Beach? The country side? etc etc etc? Most within a short 30 min walk or subway/car ride away. ---
**Author:** ![epolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@epolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epolo)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/58 "2003-03-06T21:42:10Z")
To answer the OP: Yes. But people also do things like sniffing glue, writing loveletters to prisoners, and watching Tom Green movies. Just because people do it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BlackKnight \* > \*\*I’ve never been to NYC, so I have a question about the trees: Just how many trees does the city have outside of places like Central Park? How are they situated? I mean, are they in those square concrete pots along the street like in some cities I’ve seen? Are they in little groves spaced here and there? \*\* According to the [Parks Department](http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_faqs/park_faqs.html#t1), the City has about 500,000 street trees (in the little square concrete pots). The City has many more in small parks and “Greenstreets” (a program to convert paved street properties, like triangles and malls, into green spaces). I’m a city-boy born and bred, but I’ve always understood the rural impulse. Someone’s got to ranch and farm the food that we eat. I can also understand the appeal of a small town. Just like in the old tv shows. But I don’t think I’ll ever understand the appeal of the suburb/exurb that now dominates the American landscape and psyche. epolo -two jobs out of college, two organizations with New York City in the title- ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/59 "2003-03-06T22:01:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Governor Quinn \* > \*\*Of course people leave NYC. The population dropped by 1,000,000 in the 1970’s, and people leaving is the only sensible explination. \*\* Well, that or giant sewer rats. ---
**Author:** ![NYR407](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@NYR407](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NYR407)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162/60 "2003-03-06T22:02:30Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by epolo \* \*\* According to the [Parks Department](http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_faqs/park_faqs.html#t1), the City has about 500,000 street trees (in the little square concrete pots). \*\* _nit pick_ we also have street trees that grow directly out of the ground.:eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-ever-decide-to-leave-new-york/159162.md?page=4)