The Granny City

I've found an amazing apartment and as of July 1st will be living in said new apartment. Hooray! While investigating new neighborhoods and potential living quarters, Emily and I had many criteria such as:

• Good size kitchen
• Bedrooms that could fit a bed
• Lots of cabinets
• No apparent bug problems
• Good windows that open and close
• Bathroom with tile that stays on the wall
• Pet friendly

... you get the idea. Of all our criteria, the absolute most important was location. Location, location, location. After living in the middle of nowhere on a train line that runs well about 50% of the time and nowhere near a direct bus route to anything, we realized just how crucial it was to live in a place where we would never be stranded when the train stopped running.

As a result, the place we will be moving to is within a 5 minute walk of 12 train lines and countless bus stops. Plus it is close enough to my work that I will be able to walk if I so choose. Which brings me to my next point...

NYC transit is facing a shit storm. Excuse my language, but it's true. Next year they are facing a $1,000,000,000 deficit (yes, that's a billion). As a result, drastic fare increases and service cuts are being made. As if this wasn't bad enough, it was recently announced that they may even consider cutting some night service all together. If this happens, I will be forced to rename NYC from "the city that never sleeps" to "the granny city: it's 10 o'clock - did you catch the last train home?"

I understand why these service cuts seem like a necessity, but in my mind it is incredibly sad. One of the main reasons I moved to NY (well, apart from the fact that I had a job offer here) was because I wanted to live in a place with one of the best public transit systems in the country. It seems I may have made a bad decision.

In sum, I think I may be walking to school next year, but not necessarily by choice.