Layers: Squeezing millions of people onto an island

After we moved to NYC, I decided to do some math.  What if Utah had the same density as NYC?  How many people would be living in Utah?  The answer?

84 billion people!



The earth only has 7 billion people.  

So how does that many people fit on the island of Manhattan?  I think the easiest way to explain it is in one word.

Layers! 

After a few months of living here, I've tried to observe the layers that this city has to offer.  Because there are so many people, you can find several different layers.  Where a person fits mainly depends on one thing.

INCOME 

For my son's sociology class, we've been studying the social classes.  The bottom is called "lower class" and the top is called "upper-upper class."  I can't think of any other place that shows the stark contrast between the two than NYC.

LOWER CLASS


For those who don't know, there are people who are tricked into taking on debt to come to America with a promise of a job.  They become an indentured servant for the rest of their life.  I usually see them late at night scouring through the garbage looking for recyclables that they can turn in for 5 cents each.  While technically they have a job, they'll never pay off their debt, and since they are undocumented, they don't have any recourse.  Essentially, they are slaves.

While NYC has many resources for the homeless, many choose to go it alone with their cups and memorized speeches on the subway.  They tend to congregate near the tourists spots where they'll get more traffic.  As I walk past these individuals every day, I rarely see anyone give them money.  It is clear that some are battling some pretty severe health problems, particularly with their feet.  Since my mother battled health problems with her feet for 15 years, I can almost imagine the kind of pain they must be in.

Some people live in NYC and collect a welfare check.  One of my new dear friends is one of these individuals.  She was born with the cord wrapped around her neck and as a result has cerebral palsy.  All of her family has passed away with the exception of a brother who struggles with addictions.  She has lived on the same block all 50 years of her life.  She has home health care workers who come in to help her clean her apartment and take care of her personal hygiene.  She's very hard to understand, and uses a wheelchair.  She is a light in my life and I love her.

WORKING CLASS - Many commute every day from Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, and other boroughs to work as doormen, clerks, and other service jobs.  I met a woman who commuted on the subway 2 hours one way to work at a Duane Reade in the Upper West Side (those west of Central Park).

MIDDLE CLASS - While the middle class is definitely shrinking, you can still find evidence of it in NYC.  You have people crammed in one apartment to save on rent in Harlem (uptown from Central Park).  Young families with the husband working long hours hoping to get a promotion.  While it's hard to live in NYC on less than $100,000 it's not impossible.

UPPER CLASS - I don't know but I would guess this is the most represented here in NYC.  Especially if upper class is defined as $100,000 or more a year.  In some parts of the country that may seem like a lot of money, but not here in NYC.  These are people whose wealth came because of their own work and not from inheritance or trust funds.

UPPER-UPPER CLASS

A great example of the upper-upper class can be found in the Upper East Side which is east of Central Park (UES).  The UES wives will get injections to get their feet numbed so they can wear the latest shoes.  They have to find a dealer to help them buy a $150,000 purse.  Having the cash isn't enough, you also have to have the right connections to own one.  They hire tutors to make sure their kids pass their entrance exams and get into the right kindergarten.  That's right, kindergarten.  In the UES summer is a verb, not a season.  Where you summer is a sign of status.

How do these different income levels manifest in NYC?  A stark difference is in transportation and housing.

TRANSPORTATION

Here in NYC we have lots of transportation options.  I'll try to list as many as I can think of with their prices:

• Downtown Connection Bus - free but only runs along the edges of lower Manhattan
• Subway and Bus- Monthly pass $117 or $2.75 a ride 
• Car - @$600 a month to keep in a garage
• Bike - @$50 a month to store in a building
• Zipcar - @$100 a day 
• CitiBike - $15 a month or $150 a year
• Train - Between $95 to $485 a month depending on zone
• Taxi/Uber/Lyft/Juno - Minimum fare is between $8 and $25 dollars 
• Chauffeur and Limousines - $75 to $500 an hour - minimum 5 hours
• Personal driver - $150K a year
• Charter Helicopter - about $1750 to each airport (not sure about around town, I have to request a quote to find out and if I have to ask, I can't afford it.)
• Walking - free

I personally like the subway.  It's fast because it's underground.  I feel like I can get just about anywhere I want to go quickly.  I feel safer because I'm never alone.  But it definitely has its drawbacks. It's hot in the summer, has strange smells, and lots of pan handlers.  I like the bus too, but they aren't as reliable and you have to deal with street traffic.

Car services are nice, I like them to get to and from the airport.  I don't really like using them around town because I feel like I'm just paying all this extra money to sit at a red light.  They are great if you have lots of stuff you need to carry or you don't want to walk in the rain.

We bought a Trolley Dolly with stair climbing wheels so that we can transport lots of stuff easily.  It cost as much about 3 taxi rides.  We love it.

HOUSING

I'm not sure I know enough about NYC housing to include all the options, but I'll try my best.

• New York Housing Authority Developments a.k.a. "The Projects" - These are buildings designed to give low-income people a safe and affordable place to live with access to community and social access.  In my church's congregation we have some who live in these buildings.  The income disparity is huge compared to surrounding neighborhoods and buildings.  
• Micro apartments - by law an apartment in NYC must be 400 sq. ft.  (or the size of our shed in our backyard in Utah) but in 2015 a new micro apartment was born under Mayor Bloomberg's idea in 2013.  These apartments are 260 to 360 sq. ft.  (or the size of our daughter's bedroom in our home in Utah)
• Studio - These are apartments that have one room and usually a separate bathroom.  Some will have a separate kitchen, others will not.   
• Flex - this is where you take a a room and create a bedroom by adding a temporary wall.  Some buildings allow this, some do not.  If the room does not have a window that opens to a street, garden, or courtyard, it's not legally considered a bedroom
  
  
• Walk Ups- any building with more than 6 floors must have an elevator. A walk up is simply a building with multiple apartments without an elevator.  Each tenant must walk up and down the stairs to get to their unit.
  
  
  
• Penthouse - To be considered a penthouse it must be set back from outer walls, but not all penthouses are on the top floor.  Some will be 2 to 3 floors from the roof but with a recessed roof to have a terrace.  
• Loft - These were high-ceiling living spaces in old industrial buildings with exposed pipes and beams, but now builders are purposefully building a loft space in new buildings. 
• Prewar - These are old, thick-walled, beautiful architecture buildings in the Upper West and Upper East Side that get higher rents.  
• Floor-through - unit takes up an entire floor
• Duplex - unit is two levels and is connected, triplex is three levels
• Condo- each unit has it's own deed and tax bill, shares hallways and other amenities with rest of building
• Co-op - owner doesn't own a unit, but shares in the entire building based on the size of the unit
• Garden apartment - bottom floor of a townhome or Brownstone
• Railroad apartment - one room leads to the next, no hallways, like a shot gun house
• Brownstone - 4-story building built of sandstone in the early 1900's, located south of 125th street in NYC.  Other similar structures not made of sandstone is a rowhouse or a townhouse

In addition to the type of housing units, there are some key amenities that can affect your rent and your lifestyle in NYC.

• Elevator 
• Doorman 
• Laundry in building or Laundry in unit (huge difference)
  
  
• Rooftop access
• Workout facility
• Bike room
• Parking garage
• Proximity to metro stop
• Live-in super

We live in an apartment that has laundry in the building (we have 2 washers and 2 dryers on our floor) 24-hour doormen, 24 maintenance, a workout facility, rooftop access, large lounge with a kitchen, two dining tables, and two living rooms sets, yoga room, game room, playroom, and multiple bathrooms and within a quarter mile of multiple subway lines (this is why I love living in lower Manhattan, this is where most of the subways converge) We are in a quiet suburb-type part of NYC known as Battery Park City.  We are close to the Hudson River and the Esplanade which is the longest park in North America.  I would say that we are living in the middle class part of Battery Park City..  Sort of like being the smallest house in the nicest neighborhood.

So how do so many people fit in one little space?  We literally live, work, and travel on top of each other.  You know, in layers.




From what I have observed, you have different kinds of people within each layer.  There are those who are desperate to move up from where they are, either for prestige or just so they can know where their next warm meal is coming from.  There are those who feel lucky to be where they are.  There are those who know they are in a good layer, but annoyed by those below them.  And of course those on top, who don't even realize who is below them.  Luckily, I've met those who are very kind and loving to those living below them.  It's true, being kind doesn't cost a cent.

I believe that it's possible to be just as miserable living in the UES, as it is to be homeless living on the street.  (I mean, shots to numb your feet?  Jeez!)  It's also possible to be just as happy living in a walk up with no laundry as it is in a penthouse with a personal driver and maid.  It's not a matter of which layer you are living in, but your attitude while there.