I’m a 20-something millennial who has been in NYC for all my life (excluding college). Around 2012, everything seemed to be deteriorating. I’m sure it was mostly because of people moving in from different states, but it seemed things were on the rise just a few years before.
Can anyone build on this idea or share any anecdotes?
From the West, lived in 20+ states, lived and worked in NYC several times over the 10 years.. can surmise from having lived in Manhattan, Astoria (Queens) and right now Brooklyn that the culture has deteriorated by a lot. There are no more stereotypical NYers with the "hey oh" .. just now immigrants (mostly illegal) and hipsters. Neighborhoods are now literally defined by one or the other. You think Williamsburg, do you think middle class families.. nope.
NYC has no stable middle class family lifestyles so its now entirely antagonistic with cultures of people who can not sustain it in any functional way. When you see the Jews soon leaving Crown Heights, start to really worry. Brownville will expand, Bushwick will collapse, it will spread until the front lines are Park Slope and the bridge. Queens will be even more disease ridden. Manhattan will just be empty towers of bought locations so as to have a NY address. Hell, 90% of the UES is empty since before the shutdown.. no one lives here.
Your right there is no more typical New Yorker you know from the 80s/90s in New York City it’s just hipsters blacks and immigrants. All the New Yorkers moved to Long Island or suburbs of jersey