NY Observer > Atlanta

Flyover Country or Bust

Tom Acitelli — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 18:14:04 -0400

We all know one—that friend or relative who split New York City recently for the common cascade of reasons: high home prices, high rents, high living costs, high noise, high stress, or too much getting high or all of the above.

And when these people exit our five boroughs, they really exit: City Comptroller Bill Thompson’s office analyzed the Census Bureau’s recent American Community Survey and found that about two-thirds of the 190,150 people age 25 to 64 who left in 2005 moved not to the green suburbs to get just a daily break from the city grind, but outside of the metro area altogether.

Nearly a quarter of them split for the South, with 14.9 percent settling in Florida and 5 percent in Georgia, especially Atlanta. (And, no, the Florida settlers weren’t all ancient—far from it: over 90 percent were under 65.) Another 4.4 percent went to California. Only about 36 percent settled in New Jersey or elsewhere in New York state.

About 40 percent left big-city life altogether, opting out of the metro region as well as out of those large cities that traditionally compete with New York. L.A.? It claimed 2.6 percent of our people; Boston, even less at 2 percent. Wheezing Philadelphia (motto: Please Let Us Be Your Sixth Borough! We Got Rid of the Rocky Statue!)—claimed 3 percent; San Francisco and Chicago less than 2 percent. Atlanta led all cities with 4.5 percent. The rest of the percentages were dotted all over American exurbia.

In the end, of course, who went where depends on why. New Yorkers with younger children were more likely than childless people to leave the city, according to the comptroller, and those that left and stayed in the metro region—most of them still work in the city, trading the costs of living here for longer commutes. read more »

The Afternoon Wrap: Wednesday

Observer Staff — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 11:44:31 -0500

A brand-new Top 50 New York Restaurants list is an undeniably exciting thing, though phrases like "in-the-know New Yorkers," "culinary thrill-seekers," "casual chowhounds," "the Great Restaurant Boom," "celebrity-driven design showcase," "young culinary alchemist," and "greenmarket guru" may turn you off. [Travel + Leisure]
Stewart Rahr's $45 million Burnt Point estate in the Hamptons has already been dubbed one of the Most Expensive Homes in the U.S., and now, thankfully, it's also one of Forbes' Millionaires' Green Mansions. That's because the 18,000-square-foot house has a geothermal cooling system in addition to its private dock and swimming pool. [Forbes]
Be grateful you don't live in Atlanta, where Claude Monet's ghost is the new Donald Trump. [Architectural Record]
Straight from Deerfield Beach, Fla., "Super Sleek" florescent lighting is oh so back. But you'll have to ditch your "grandpa fluorescents" if you want the very finest in "undercabinet task lighting." [Apartment Therapy]
If you haven't had your daily fill of useless Manhattan lists, this week's profile of "Top 7 Bars With Fireplaces" is a must-read. Go for the crackling winter cuteness -- stay for the British-obsessed patrons, the mini cupcakes and "librarian's classics." [Resident]

- Max Abelson

Solution to Affordable Housing? Old Prisons in Brooklyn. (Sort of)

Observer Staff — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 10:00:55 -0400

Not this kind of Brig.

It's been exactly a year since we've heard about the City's plans for the fascinating Brig site in Wallabout. Today, however, brings an official Request for Proposals for the redevelopment of the former prison (conveniently neighboring the Brooklyn Navy Yard) into 400 new housing units.

According to the city's press release, commercial and community space--plus sustainable design--are also in the mix. The Brooklyn House of Detension (and retail shops, and "boutique hotel"?) has nothing on Brig.

But best of all: There will be 300 units of affordable housing, a small step towards Bloomberg's "$7.5 billion Housing Plan [for providing] homes for 500,000 New Yorkers over ten years, more than the entire population of Atlanta." Take that, Ted Turner.

But how much will the city charge potential developers for the 103,000-square-foot Brig? $1. - Max Abelson

The Bloomberg Enlightenment, Cont.

Observer Staff — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 10:09:06 -0400

Mayor Bloomberg continued to push his science-over-faith policy theme today in an address that concluded a public health conference at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We respect science," said the mayor. "We base policy not on what we think is true, but what we can prove is true."

That echoes his speech at Johns Hopkins, which put him clearly at odds with conservative Republicans on some of the country's most deeply felt issues.

He also added gun control to the list of public health menaces.

"To this list of public health problems, I would add our intolerable inaction in stopping the flood of illegal guns onto our city streets."

All in all, probably not a speech that Washington Republicans were crazy about. read more »

Read the whole thing after the jump. - Jason Horowitz

Soldiers

Observer Staff — Sun, 21 May 2006 20:00:00 -0400

It was not your typical V.F.W. reunion. read more »

The C.B.A. Tourney

Observer Staff — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 07:06:56 -0500

The New York Observer's First Annual Community Benefits Agreement Tourney just wrapped up. What are those, you say, wrinkling your nose? Well, C.B.A.'s are ways for the community and developer to come together and create win-win situations for everybody! Those are words that everybody but The New York Sun editorial board likes to hear: together, community, win-win. The idea is that a neighborhood consents to being turned into a construction zone so long as it gets some jobs or housing out of the deal. The questions is, how real are those jobs and housing? We compare the C.B.A. by Forest City (Bruce) Ratner for Atlantic Yards and the one by The Related Companies for a shopping mall in the Bronx. Who won? Turn to the jump. read more »

Barbara Cook

Lizzy Ratner — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 19:00:00 -0500

Barbara Cook, Broadway’s favorite Golden Age ingénue turned cabaret queen, perched on a read more »

Barbara Cook

Lizzy Ratner — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 19:00:00 -0500

Barbara Cook, Broadway’s favorite Golden Age ingénue turned cabaret queen, perched on a couch in read more »

Randy Daniels

Observer Staff — Thu, 28 Apr 2005 10:06:00 -0400

We agree with the Sun's editorial line today that Randy Daniels is in many ways a serious guy, and too quickly dismissed in some circles.

But we wish he and his interpreters would get together a coherent narrative of how he came to be who he is, because we don't quite understand it.

Here's the Sun's version:

"He became a reporter for CBS News and worked for Democrats such as Atlanta's Andrew Young and New York's Mark Green before moving toward the conservative end of the political spectrum, inspired in part by a stint covering Ronald Reagan and by face-to-face experience, as a reporter, covering the horrors of communism."

A correspondent is skeptical: "He was so inspired by Reagan that he worked for Mark Green 6 years after Reagan came into office, then worked for Democrat Andrew Stein and then attempted to join the Dinkins administration 3 years after Reagan left office. He remained a Democrat until becoming a spokesman for well known conservative thinker Abe Hirschfeld."

Aaron Brown's 'Weird' Science

Jason Gay — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 20:00:00 -0400

Wednesday, April 9Aaron Brown is having a strange war. read more »