Why I Left New York City During the Pandemic

Published by PolisPandit on October 18, 2020October 18, 2020

I hate to admit it.  I am part of the exodus from New York City amidst the Coronavirus pandemic.  My wife and I stuck it out for a while, working from home since early March, but as the walls closed in around our 700 square feet of living and now co-working space, we had enough.  There were only so many places to escape when joining confidential meetings or calls (we are both lawyers).  I had to wall myself off in our one bedroom, perched on an ottoman my wife previously used for handbag storage.  By the end of each week, my back often screamed with pain as I slouched toward the computer screen resting on the bed across from me.   

Needless to say, our apartment, much like the city around it, was not conducive to working from home.  So much of New York City’s economy is dependent on workers going to the office, whether it’s spending money on lunch and coffee or entertaining clients after hours.  With offices still only at a fraction of their capacity (at best), the entire economy of service, hospitality, and retail workers has suffered.

Now is the point where the Jerry Seinfelds of the world will chastise me for not being one of the “real, tough New Yorkers who . . . stayed and rebuilt it.”  With all due respect to Jerry, he hasn’t cohabitated in a small New York City apartment full time in decades, let alone during a pandemic.  I may be one of the fortunate white collar professionals who has been able to work from home, but keep in mind the cost and realities of New York City real estate.  Even the modestly affluent can rarely afford anything more than a one bedroom apartment in Manhattan.  Forget about second homes on Long Island or other bucolic environments that the “Jerrys” of the world enjoy.  Try living and working full time in the same small space with your significant other for six months and come talk to me.  

I have lived in the city for over 6 years.  My wife went to high school here and has lived in Manhattan on and off for over 20 years.  We know and love New York City, but the practical challenges of working from home day in and day out became too much.  Those challenges coupled with the fact we were paying the same rent when surrounded by mostly shuttered businesses, rising crime, a summer of intense protests immediately outside our front door, and an out of control homeless population, were enough to push us over the brink.  No longer could we justify the exorbitant costs of living in Manhattan.  The convenience of walking to work or commuting for a few minutes on the subway were gone.  We moved to Westchester.          

Working From Home In a Shoebox 

At first, working from home in our Tribeca apartment – all 700 square feet of it (when measuring generously) – was novel and exciting.  My wife and I spent more time together, all day everyday in fact.  We loved it.  No dry-cleaning bills, and not commuting was amazing.

By May, however, no end was in sight.  The city was desolate, especially downtown by us.  At this point the walls of our once enjoyable apartment started closing in around us.  After work ended each day, we became more aware that we could not easily separate personal living from professional space.  There was nowhere to go after work.

Any time we did venture out, mask compliance was average at best.  All it took was for one maskless jogger huffing and puffing past us near Hudson River Park to ruin the experience.  When summer hit, most New Yorkers had COVID fatigue already, particularly downtown where people still wanted to go out to bars and restaurants (understandably).  So we hunkered down.  Exploring the city – as we had always done on many nights and weekends – was not worth the risk.

Hunkering down eventually seemed like Groundhog Day.  After working all day in 700 square feet, the last thing we wanted to do was relax in that same 700 square feet.  We did not have the option of retreating to country or beach abodes like wealthier New Yorkers.  We were trapped in a luxury prison.  First world problems, I know, but even the most headstrong among us would be tested by that situation, all of which was compounded by increasing sirens, endless protests literally outside our windows, skateboarders smacking their boards in the courtyard across the street, and mentally unstable homeless people screaming and yelling at all hours. 

New York City Is Not Really “Open”

It is not like we could have gone somewhere easily for a reprieve because almost nothing was open in the city.  At that time we did not own a car.  We had never needed one.  My wife and I were true urban animals.  We had always relied on public transportation for everything, but we did not feel safe on the subway, for both crime and COVID reasons. 

With that said, many of the city’s restaurants and bars did a great job over the summer with outdoor dining.  Comedians and other artists performed in parks at socially acceptable distances.  The city tried to make the same cultural resources that place it as one of the greatest destinations in the world, open and available.  Museums started accepting reservations. 

Nothing quite returned to normal though, nor could it.  Like many other New Yorkers, we turned to bikes to escape our neighborhood.  We wiped down Citi Bikes vigorously before each ride.  We were close to buying bicycles and turning cycling into a full blown hobby, but decided to save our money and move instead.  The temporary escape on the bicycles always returned us to the same 700 square feet.  

Unsafe and Unsanitary City Conditions Didn’t Help

I am glad we didn’t buy bikes because thefts have surged across the city.  Crime in general spiked, with the news more horrifying by the day.  Any thoughts of taking the subway were discarded after this video surfaced of a man sexually assaulting a woman on an open platform in broad daylight.  It’s unclear whether there were less police, more criminals, or some combination of both.

We had to stop watching local news and perusing the Citizen app.  It was too depressing.  Anecdotal evidence of increased crime was still communicated to us, however, by our fellow New Yorkers.  One of my coworkers who was fortunate enough to escape the city woke up one morning to his Nest camera alerting him to the fact a homeless man had broken into his apartment and established residence.  When the cops cleared him out, they discovered he had lived there for a few weeks, leaving drug paraphernalia all over my coworker’s child’s bedroom.  My wife’s hairdresser told us of how she witnessed her neighbor held up at gunpoint on the Upper East Side at 9pm on a weekday.  Similar stories abounded.  

When we finally purchased a car to achieve some mobility over the summer, walks to the garage we parked at near Fulton Street were terrifying early in the morning and late at night.  Homeless people and junkies lined the streets.  Many aggressively pan-handled. Cardboard shelters and dirty mattresses littered the sidewalks.  When the city announced it was moving homeless from their infamous Upper West Side hotel to some downtown locations, we were thankfully already well on our way out.                 

Make It Cleaner and Safer, and the People Will Return

On a recent trip back to the city, my mother-in-law commented, “I’m not even excited to be back.  I used to always feel so much excitement on returning.  There is no energy anymore.”  I could not agree more. Energy is what made New York City great.  As Jerry Seinfeld aptly put it:

Real, live, inspiring human energy exists when we coagulate together in crazy places like New York City. 

That coagulation and density, however, is precisely what has led to New York’s temporary demise, along with a number of other major international cities.

Despite all of this though, I am still bullish on New York City long term.  It is a city that endured through the Great Depression, two world wars, white flight in the 1970s, 9/11, and the 2007-08 financial crisis.  I feel intense guilt for not persevering throughout the entirety of this pandemic, but six months of supporting the city and its high taxes was all we could take – economically, mentally, and emotionally.  

New York City will return and be more vibrant than ever.  I know this because I know the city’s soul.  Once people can start to comingle more – it’s not a question of if, but when – the city will come roaring back because of its innate energy.  Big tech firms are already positioning themselves to capitalize on cheaper commercial real estate.  They know, as do other business leaders, that New York City will reopen for business again.  As companies like Amazon have realized – they need New York City more than it needs them.  

City leaders, however, need to do their part and make the city habitable for businesses, residents, and tourists alike.  Their job to date has been lackluster at best, with Governor Cuomo and Mayor De Blasio continuing their ongoing feud and communicating often conflicting messages.  If their petty squabbles persist, it will only prolong any chance New York City has of returning to normalcy and convincing people like myself to come back.

I am ready and waiting, but in no rush for now.  As much as I hate to admit it.