New York City (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [0]
Maps
Experience New York City
Exploring Manhattan
Museums
The Performing Arts
Nightlife
Shopping
Where to Eat
Where to Stay
Brooklyn
Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island
Travel Smart New York City
About Our Writers
Copyright
MANHATTAN
Lower Manhattan: with Ground Zero
Financial District and South Street Seaport
Chinatown and TriBeCa
SoHo, NoLIta, and Little Italy
SoHo, NoLIta, and Little Italy
Lower East Side and the East Village
Lower East Side
The East Village
Greenwich Village, the West Village, Chelsea, and the Meatpacking District
Greenwich Village and the West Village
Chelsea and the Meatpacking District
Union Square, the Flatiron District, Gramercy Park, and Murray Hill
Union Square and Gramercy Park
The Flatiron District and Murray Hill
Midtown: With Times Square and Rockefeller Center
Midtown
Times Square Area
Rockefeller Center Area
The Upper East Side
The Upper East Side
Central Park
Central Park: 59th St. to 72nd St.
Central Park: 72nd St. to 86th St.
Central Park: 86th St. to 96nd St.
Central Park: 96th St. to 110th St.
The Upper West Side
The Upper West Side: 59th to 85th St.
The Upper West Side: 104th to 123rd St.
Harlem
Central Harlem
BROOKLYN
Brooklyn
Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO
Williamsburg
Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and BoerumHill
Fort Greene
Park Slope and Prospect Park
QUEENS, THE BRONX, AND STATEN ISLAND
Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island
Long Island City and Astoria
Jackson Heights
Bronx Zoo/Botanical Garden/Arthur Ave.
Staten Island
Main Table of Contents
New York City Today
New York City Planner
What’s Where
New York City Top Attractions
New York City With Kids
New York City Like a Local
Sitting in a TV Audience
New York City for Free
New York’s Best Architecture
NYC’s Waterfront Parks
Sightseeing New York City
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What We’re Talking About
Gotham doesn’t stay on the mat for long, and that’s most certainly the case in 2011. After a rough 2008 and 2009, the city has staggered back to its feet. Are things as peachy as they were pre-recession? Not quite. But real-estate prices are starting to climb again, restaurants big and small are opening apace, and new neighborhoods are gentrifying. This city, which thrives on work, is very eager to get back to business.
Indeed, things are businesslike thanks to our mayor, Mike Bloomberg, now in his third and final term. Any major gripes locals may have had with City Hall seem mostly to be in the rearview mirror. As for the mayor, most of the time you’ll see bemusement at his gruff assessment of political problems in the city, from the Ground Zero mosque to MTA fare hikes.
As always, the state of the city’s real estate is a top-of-mind for all New Yorkers. Despite hard times elsewhere in the country, prices continue to rise here. Rents in Manhattan are up, with vacancy a shade under 1 percent. Apartments in Manhattan, meanwhile, sell for an average of $1.33 million. So while Brooklyn continues to enjoy a steady influx, Manhattan is hot again among real-estate moguls in the know. The East Village keeps expanding east, SoHo keeps expanding west, and the Upper West Side gets more and more upper with each passing week.
On a more day-to-day level, a slice of pizza is usually $2.50, a glass of wine is rarely less than $10 (and can easily creep as high as $17), and a pack of cigarettes sets smokers back $11. Cab meters seem to hit $10 seconds after you get in, and even a bagel with a schmear is verging on $2 in some hoods.
What has really hit locals’ wallets hard is increases for subway and bus fares the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) has passed. A 12 to 2 vote at the end of 2010 bumped a single ride ticket to $2.50. Prices on 30-day unlimited cards made a 17 percent jump from $89 to $104. The only good news, if it can even be called that, is that a weekly unlimited pass—which tourists often rely upon heavily to sightsee—only went up $2 from $27 to $29.
So savvy New Yorkers are more attuned to bargains than ever before,