New York Today: Becoming a New Yorker
Good morning on this teeth-chattering Thursday.
When do you become a New Yorker?
The conversation came up recently, as it so often does in our city, over drinks among acquaintances at NeueHouse, a shared work space near Madison Square Park in Manhattan.
“I’ve heard it’s 10 years,” said Ben Brooks, a tech start-up founder who lives in Chelsea.
Between sips of a gin and tonic, Mr. Brooks, 35, offered a loophole: “You get a bonus year if you’ve been mugged at knife point.”
It is our city’s perennial parlor game. What experiences must one have, or how long must a transplant have lived here, to be considered a full-fledged New Yorker?
Is it when you know how to hail a cab? The first time you nap on the subway? Or when you see a rat and think nothing of it?
We asked a few longtime residents to share their thoughts.
The New York attitude develops over time, according to the 72-year-old Patti Hayward, who was reared in Canarsie, Brooklyn.
“Attack everything you do here with a lot of heart,” Ms. Hayward said. “When you feel like you’ve persevered,” consider yourself a New Yorker. And know how to ride the subway, she added.
Doris Shankman, 92, was born at home in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and grew up in the Bronx. For her, becoming a New Yorker is all about shared experiences.
“Ride the bus. Join walking tours or cultural activities,” she said. “One becomes a New Yorker by participating.”
For Marilyn McNair the only real New Yorkers are those born here.
“There is no rite of passage,” said Ms. McNair, 67, of Harlem. “Even though you may have a New York address, there’s always a silhouette that separates you, like a cutout that’s pasted onto another picture.”
Others were more generous with their definitions.
“It doesn’t matter where you come from,” said Rose Binder, 93, who grew up on the Lower East Side in Manhattan.
“Maybe you have a different accent,” she said. “But if you’re decent and kind, you’re a New Yorker.”
So, how does it work? When do you think a transplant can be called a New Yorker? Let us know in the comments.
Here’s what else is happening:
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As a T-shirt or mug somewhere once read: “Today has been canceled; go back to bed.”
We wish, and so will you when you roll out from under those covers.
It may feel as cold as 15 degrees this morning, thanks to the wind. And what might that mean for later? You guessed it: Snow.
Seeing is believing — so hang tight and join us in doing a weather dance — but the first white blanket of the season may be upon us this evening.
In the News
• Centuries of New York history — written records dating back to 1674 — prepare for a move to a new home. [New York Times]
• Meet Rachel Freier of Brooklyn, a Hasidic woman elected to public office. [Gothamist]
• Before Trump Tower took on its present-day significance, it was just a piece of architecture. [WNYC]
• Should customers be able to weigh in on restaurants’ letter grades? [Crain’s]
• In case you missed it, here are our 52 places to travel in 2017. On the list: the South Bronx. [New York Times]
• Myasia Williams, whose husband is serving time for attempted murder and is set to be released in 2041, struggles to raise their son. [New York Times]
• Today’s Metropolitan Diary: “Finding Redemption in a Second Banana”
• Scoreboard: Bucks edge Knicks, 105-104. Rangers down Flyers, 5-2.
• For a global look at what’s happening, see Your Thursday Briefing.
Coming Up Today
• The Coil Festival, presenting contemporary theater productions, continues at Performance Space 122 in the East Village. Times and prices vary.
• An exhibition on the life and work of the New York filmmaker Martin Scorsese is at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. [$15]
• “Hundred Days,” a love story performed through song, part of the Under the Radar festival, at the Public Theater in NoHo. 2 and 8 p.m. [$25]
• The author Sady Doyle discuses her book “Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock, and Fear … and Why” at the Mid-Manhattan Library branch of the New York Public Library. 6:30 p.m. [Free]
• “Serious Matters,” a data-driven comedy show, at Union Hall in Park Slope, Brooklyn. 8 p.m. [$7]
• Nets at Pacers, 7 p.m. (YES).
• For more events, see The New York Times’s Arts & Entertainment guide.
Commute
• Alternate-side parking: in effect until Jan. 16.
And Finally...
A fleet of 3,000 taxis could replace our city’s 13,500 or so cabs and still serve 98 percent of demand, according to a study published this week by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
That is, if everyone shared rides.
Using data from three million taxi rides, M.I.T. researchers found that ride-sharing cabs could reduce traffic and pollution and result in fewer trips. Passengers would only have to wait an average of 2.7 minutes for a car.
Sounds great, right?
The only hiccup we can foresee is that the ride-sharing system would require every taxi-taking New Yorker to squeeze into a car with strangers, peacefully.
We’re not so sure that would happen.
As Phyllis Diller once put it: “Any time three New Yorkers get into a cab without an argument, a bank has just been robbed.”
New York Today is a weekday roundup that stays live from 6 a.m. till late morning. You can receive it via email.
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P.C: http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/nyregion/new-york-today-becoming-a-new-yorker.html
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